OVER THE MOON

by Patricia and Donald Brennan).

These days, The Outlaw - pulled by four

brown and white Paint horses - is

owned by Phyllis Mills Wyeth and

driven by James O'Rourke. Phyllis's

husband, artist Jamie Wyeth, joined

her for a whirlwind weekend of

events (A tiny image of a swine has

been painted on the door of her

yellow-and-black coach as a subtle

reminder of Jamie's famous "Portrait of a Pig"). Phyllis' sister Mimi Abel-Smith and brother

Jimmy Mills joined her on The Outlaw for a stunning drive from the

Upperville Horse Show grounds to Llangollen for a luncheon party

with a record number of horses, coaches and carriages from

around the country. Phyllis' parents, the late Alice and James Mills,

once owned the 381-acres of Hickory Tree Farm in Middleburg,

which was sold last spring for over $9 million to Mary Lea and

Jim Treptow. Coaching participants included Gloria Austin,

Bruce Duchossois of Aiken, South Carolina, Johnson & Johnson

heir Tucker Johnson of Hobe Sound, Florida and Don Rosato

of Chester Springs, Pennsylvania. Gloria has 150 carriages - one

of the largest collections in the country - at her farm near

Ocala, Florida. Held for the benefit of the National Sporting Library in Middleburg and co-chaired by

coaching enthusiasts Jacqueline Ohrstrom and George A. "Frolic" Weymouth,

the weekend included a reception at the library, a dinner party hosted by Jacqueline Mars and

several cocktail parties and cross country drives in elegant carriages. The guards on the rear of

these coaches blew three-foot-long brass horns to provide joyful fanfare for the journey and

to alert others on the road. Used today in the same universal key, these long, low pitched calls

include Change Horses, Near Side, Slacken Pace, Pull Up and Steady. Inside a glittering and

glowing tent, the ball - and the highlight of the weekend - took place. Set up within the legendary

horse-shoe-shaped barn (the very same stable where Liz Tippet once kept a black bear in a stall

... when he wasn't chained to a tree), it was complemented by the nearby grandeur of a

13,000-square-foot formal Georgian-inspired columned manor house, built in 1830.

Manuel Johnson , chairman of the library, and his wife Mary and charming sister Mary

Holman Johnson danced the night away with Charley Matheson and Julie Martin, Gail and

Malcolm Matheson, Alex and Walter Woodson, Rein and Mike du Pont, Barbara and Victor

duPont, Lee and Michael McGettigan, Nina Auchincloss Straight, Betsee Parker and

Marlou and John Gregory. Peter Duchin and

his orchestra kept guests on the floor all night.

The traditions of the grand hunt balls -

frequented by the likes of Doris Duke, Elsa

Maxwell, Eddie Arcaro and Prince Aly Khan -

continue today. Just ask Patti and Phil Thomas,

Annie Cleland (who designed the centerpieces

created from 2,000 roses), Douglas Hytla and

Richard Arentz, Mary and Peter Winants and

Karen and Hector Alcalde.

ALONG THE ROAD

Sometimes, one has to travel away from home

in order to see one's neighbors. Two groups from

Middleburg found themselves at Cafe Milano in

Georgetown. The Hunt Country Society of Gardeners (of which the men are the

members and the wives are also included): Michael and Jenette Petite, Frank and Ruth Ripley,

Bob and Linda Newtown, Bill and Nancy Dunlap, Hank and Betty Long were in town

after visiting the garden of Jim van Sweden. And who do they run into but neighbors

Jacqueline Mars and Janet Whitehouse, attending a goodbye luncheon in honor

of Lady Manning.