IN the early 1920s, Fairfield, Connecticut would have offered a much more bucolic air than today, with farms edging on the Post Road and woods and fields stretching to the north. It appeared a natural countryside for foxhunting, a pursuit for gentlemen encapsulated in the famous description “image of war, without the guilt.” A local pack was formed in 1924 and became a recognized hunt in 1926, as the Fairfield County Hounds, with their chosen hunt colors of scarlet, blue and gold. The present Hunt Club was its headquarters.

After the end of the Second World War the suburbs began spreading their tentacles throughout the Fairfield hunt country and pushed the foxhunting meets further north. By the 1970s the hunt - which had cast hounds off the Post Road in the 1920s – had three hunt countries that straddled Route 80, around Danbury. Within twenty years development had reached even that sanctuary and the hunt moved further north to Bridgewater, buying its own hunt club quarters and moving all foxhunting operations there.

The club was also a big factor in polo since its American inception and was affiliated with the US Polo Association in 1926. The donation, in perpetuity, of the polo field by the Rudkin family ensured an attractive venue and the club won many championships over the years. They hosted teams from Argentina, Canada, The Dominican Republic, Great Britain, Iran, New Zealand and Pakistan. Those glory days are past and the club resigned from the USPA in 2014, but the tradition lives on with the annual Gold's Dragoons Polo Cup championship game in the late summer, fought by members of Gold's Dragoons which had supplied so many foxhunters and polo players over the years.

Today the Fairfield County Hunt Club operates as a beautiful suburban country club and equestrian center. More information on the Hunt Club can be found on their web site, huntclubonline.com. The members and management of the club have kindly given permission for the annual nominating dinner of Gold’s Dragoons to be held in their dining room for the past 46 years as well as our polo dinner and annual game and we trust that we shall be invited back for many years to come.