Ms. Claire Moore - Professional

Claire grew up in England and always wanted to ride. Her parents supported her aspirations and purchased a 13.1 hand New Forest pony named Banjo. Thus she began fox hunting at the age of 12 with the Cheshire Forest Hunt. “It was all about jumping for me,” she said. “We had big hedges that we soared over. It was quite thrilling actually.” They would begin hunting at 10 or 11 in the morning and hunt until dark. Some members would exchange their mounts for a fresh horse around 2. “After we finished we’d meet up at a pub and talk about the hedges we jumped. After several pints the hedges got bigger and bigger,” she said laughing. “And then we boasted about jumping over barbed wire.”

Next Claire got into 3 day eventing. She bought a horse from the Cotswolds’ that was ¼ Irish Draft and ¾ Thoroughbred. She rode him every day on the beach in Formby where Red Rum the famous 3 time winner of the Grand Nationals trained. Claire would gallop through the salt water which is credited for healing Red Rum’s hooves. Claire would go for a therapeutic swim with her horse in the Irish Sea. She would later bring her horse over to America and competed at FEI level eventing.

She studied Equine and Business at Bishop Burton Agriculture in Yorkshire. She passed her British Horse Society Exams in the UK and began teaching children to ride. During the summer of 1996 she became an exchange student and accepted a position at Falling Creek Camp in Tuxedo, NC in Henderson County running their horse program. One day she decided to explore and was driving on the Saluda grade on I-26. She decided to take Hwy 176 into the quaint downtown of Tryon where she saw the colorful statue of Morris the Horse. “Wow,” she remembers thinking. “This is a lovely town that is dedicated to horses. And then I discovered The Farm House Tack Shop!”  (If you know, you know.) The first question she asked if there was any foxhunting in the area. She was told there were several and was pointed to the Greenville County Hounds and Gerald Pack, MHFA.

Claire had a big decision to make. Could she leave England and really move to the US? When camp was over that summer she made a plan to go to London and see if she’d like living in a big city or was she really a country girl at heart. She landed a swanky position at a gym in the West End where all the celebrities worked out. She soon found herself catching the train on Fridays to go foxhunting. “It only took a month for me to realise I was happiest in the country,” she said. She moved to Hendersonville, NC and worked at Falling Creek Farms, capped some with the Greenville County Hounds and excelled at Three Day Eventing.

In 2009 she met Cindy Boyle who hunted with the Tryon Hounds. Cindy hired Claire to be her “Girl Friday” which entailed working Cindy’s horses throughout the week and hunt with Cindy as a team. She joined the Tryon Hounds as a professional and truly enjoyed the camaraderie she found there. She spent many seasons with Cindy. Jenny Taylor asked Claire if she would entertain working for her since Cindy was spending winters in Florida. Claire presented the idea to Cindy who gave her and Jenny her blessings. Claire continues to work with Cindy and Jenny  simultaneously over the years with hope for many more to come.

Claire moved into the Guest House at Jenny and Alan Taylor’s Thanksgiving Farm. While Jenny and Claire were both from England they had never met. Over the course of enjoying her new Girl Friday friend they decided they must have crossed paths before. Being a generation apart Claire discovered she knew Jenny’s sister’s boyfriend. Then discovered that she had hunted with Jenny’s stepfather and had even attended a Hunt Breakfast at the house Jenny grew up in. “What great fun to find a friend to trade memories and gossip about growing up hunting in England,” she beamed. She eventually got burned out on eventing. While she took up driving, she truly enjoyed riding with the Tryon Hounds.

Once, while exercising one of Jenny’s horses on the trails she came upon three bobcats sitting by the river. “What beautiful creatures they were.” Another time when the Tryon Hounds were hunting at Tyger Ranch a deer ran through the legs of Jenny’s mare, Minnie. Minnie behaved and simply stood there. There were viewings of coyotes and one beautiful red fox that she saw almost daily near Thanksgiving Farm. Claire admits she feels most peaceful hunting in the beautiful foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. “Who doesn’t enjoy the adrenaline rush on a crisp wintery morning, galloping with the hounds singing and with all the lovely members who had become such fun friends?”

Mrs. Alan Taylor (Jenny) - A.K.A. Lady Chelsea

Yes, there was royalty in our midst. Jenny grew up in England, started riding at the age of two, and began hunting at the age of six. Her mother, Naomi Rae DeFerranti, was Master of the Cheshire Hunt from1970-1975, and also at that time, Jenny was made Lady Patroness of the hunt. “I felt I had a good start with having had both grandparents and parent hunt,” said Jenny. After going to Winkfield Culinary College in Ascot, Windsor, Jenny moved to London but always went back home to hunt on the weekends. “I loved those times as my parents would always have a guest to hunt with,” Jenny said. “It usually ended up being a royal guest.”

In London, Jenny fell into her perfect job. “I would be cooking for the Director of the horse racing board at the Jockey Club in Portman Square. “One of the reasons loved working there was they were not too concerned about keeping costs down as I had to cheat a bit after having a hangover some mornings,” giggled Jenny. After a few months working at the Jockey Club she was asked out by Lord Chelsea and six months later they were married. “It was a whirlwind at first; racing, charity parties, shooting parties,” explained Jenny. “But Charles, being ten years my senior, proved to be difficult.” Her marriage fell apart and Jenny’s glamorous life came to a contentious end. At that time Jenny had bought a small cottage which turned out to be located opposite Highgrove in Gloucestershire. She was also hunting with the V.W.H. which stands for the Vale of the White Horse. Soon she moved over to hunt with the Beaufort Hunt and there she became settled and enjoyed being single and still having a life in London.

After some years passed, a girlfriend introduced Jenny to Alan Taylor, an industrialist from Lancashire. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to get married again,” Jenny admitted. “But I realized that Alan and I seem to rub along well.” She and Alan were married two years later.The newlyweds went to Alan’s summer house in Portugal to discuss where they wanted to live. Alan had tired of the weather, the traffic and the politics in England. Jenny wasn’t keen on leaving England but Alan wanted to be able to play golf year round. Jenny insisted they needed to go somewhere where she could hunt, have a farm and a covered arena.

They decided to look across the pond to hunting country in the states. They looked in Aiken and Charleston but they proved too muggy for them both and discovered that the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains offered everything they both wanted. They rented a car in Tryon from Ken Feagin who told them all about the Tryon Hounds. He introduced them to Dean McKinney. Dean showed them one of Tryon Hounds’ favorite fixtures in Caroland farms. Jenny adored the old Iron Bridge and the spectacular horse farms all around. They weren’t having any success however in finding a home in the area. Realtor Madelyn Wallace took them around and showed them two pieces of land in Caroland Farms that were not on the market but felt the owner might be willing to sell to someone with the right vision that would fit with the elegant horse farms in the area.

As luck would have it the owners agreed to sell them forty acres. Alan and Jenny set about building a proper English estate which is now known as Thanksgiving Farm. The Tryon Hounds Blessing of the Hounds has become tradition to be by the Taylors. They host many parties and events at their iconic estate with its stunning sunset views punctuated by the vista of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Jenny loves that her farm has a jump field at the bottom of the barn in addition to a covered arena as in England she had always kept their horses at a Livery.

Although she and Alan loved the members of The Tryon Hounds, Jenny didn’t really understand how America hunted. Although the hunts here still had a Stirrup Cup of port in the field like at England, we would have a lawn meet or meet at a pub and there would always have a Whiskey Mac made up of whiskey and ginger wine. “It would warm the cockles of your heart while we hunted for 5-6 hours," Jenny explained.

She also felt they had more rules hunting here. On her first hunt, Jenny decided to ride her Irish Sport horse in Second Flight. Jenny overtook the Field Master, Roberta McKinney. Roberta had to explain to Jenny that if you overtook the Field Master you had to buy her a bottle of champagne. Jenny felt rules were made for breaking so she kept a good supply of champagne on hand.

She came to love hunting in the foothills, the mild weather, the lovely scenery of creeks, hills, woods, even waterfalls. She soon became fully involved and became a member of the Tryon Hounds Board of Directors and has served as Chairman of the Social Committee for several years. They have both met so many wonderful friends both in the hunt field and on the beautiful golf courses dotting the area.