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(Continued from Page 1) DeBergh related, chuckling.
Horses were Moffett’s first love, he continued. During the depression years, DeBergh's people were farmers. “We flat out didn’t have the money for riding horses. We were lucky to have work horses.” But Billy’s father, Mr. Frank, then commonwealth’s attorney, had two mounts that DeBergh helped exercise. The friends decided one day to ride to school and “put on a little show for the girls," demonstrating their horsemanship with a charge by the buses while they were being loaded. “Everything was going fine,” DeBergh recalled. The two, riding double and bareback, had the horse going at a brisk gallop along the buses. "Then something scared the horse and it came to a screeching halt and tossed us right on the ground. Even that wouldn't have been so bad if the horse had kept going but it kept stepping on us instead! We didn’t hear any cheers from the girls on the bus but we sure heard a lot of laughter!"
Renowned Rider
Despite that spill and countless others, Billy Moffett, who helped reestablish the Rappahannock Hunt after World War II, was known far and wide as a bold and fearless rider, according to his old friend. DeBergh remembered riding after the hounds as they were going full cry behind a fox and coming to a stone fence topped by rails. Daunted by the height of the obstacle and its uphill approach littered with rocks and brush, the rest of the field went off looking for an easier way across but not Billy Moffett. He took his old gray mare back from the fence a good distance and charged. The horse cleared the jump, catching only the top with her rear legs. “She mashed the top rail down a little—thank goodness! I was hoping she would knock half the fence off,” said DeBergh who had to follow his friend over or never hear the end of it. “I came back later with a tape measure and it was five feet, three inches where I jumped it. I pushed the rail back up like it was when
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