Huntsman Codie Hayes and hounds in the Golden’s Bridge country. / Barbara Smith photo
After two brutally hot days of foxhound performance trials at Millbrook, the weather finally broke. The next stop on our Hark Forward Friendship Tour was a day’s foxhunting with the Golden’s Bridge Hounds (NY), about twenty miles southeast of Millbrook as the crow flies. Thankfully, the temperature had dropped by fifteen degrees. Hounds met at 7:30 am, scenting had definitely improved, and so had the game activity.
Trying something new, I took my digital recorder to record the important snippets of the action and my impressions of the day. This is the same recorder we use to score the hounds in the hound trials. Since it’s hard to remember everything that happens during a foxhunt, I wanted to make the all the action and impressions of the day come alive. Here goes:
As we approach the meet, the countryside opens up into larger farms with long strips of corn separated by grass strips and alfalfa hay fields. Masters and members greet us warmly, happy we’re here. Handshakes, back slaps, hugs, and kisses are the order of the hour. We have many friends at Golden’s Bridge. I had hunted with them when they hosted the fall meeting of the MFHA board of directors four years ago, and that was a fine day. Golden’s Bridge had also come to our Foxhound Performance Trials at Belle Meade three years ago with hounds, and did very well. These New York hounds worked well in our thick Georgia woods.
Senior Master Gene Colley welcomes everyone and introduces us as his Hark Forward guests. I thank him warmly and lead everyone in raising a flask to Ben Hardaway. “Today is his ninety-eighth birthday,” I say. Master Colley compliments Hardaway as well and points out that the Midland pack had some Golden’s Bridge blood. This is true. Hardaway’s magic recipe for years includes about one-eighth Penn-Marydel for extra voice.
David Feureisen, MFH and his handsome son, Adam are out. Adam is a fine whipper-in. Yolanda Knowlton, MFH is her usual cheerful self. Harry Everts comes over with a big smile and hearty welcome. He is whipping-in today.
It is always great to see huntsman Codie Hayes. I love her enthusiasm and gung ho spirit. It is obvious how passionately she loves her hounds and her horses.
Master Dave honors me with an invitation to ride with Codie. I tell her, “Please treat me like a kid. I want to be helpful. Please let me open a gate or hold your horse or anything else I can do to help.”
We get along just fine, of course. We draw for only about ten minutes when a coyote is viewed about two hundred yards ahead, and she “Harks Forward.” She does it with just the right amount of speed, enthusiasm, and reserve. This is harder to do than most people realize. When I hark my hounds to a view, if I am too excited and noisy they may overrun and/or hit the heel line, or even hit some other line that we are not sure of. For me, it takes a certain horn call and holler to get them to me quickly. But I can overdo it and mess up the process if I am not careful. Codie hits just the right balance for her hounds. Not too fast. Not too slow. Not too excited. Not too dull. In my book, she gets it just right!
In less than a minute she gets the hounds to the line, gives a little whoop, then leaves them alone. Hounds pick up the line in seconds, and we are off and running. In and out of the woods. In and out of the corn fields. It’s great. Codie keeps the perfect pace. Fast when hounds are fast. Slow when they’re slow. She’s very patient with her hounds. She lets them work out the checks while she stands there. That is my favorite style, and it instills a good work ethic to the pack.
Huntsman and whips are quiet and patient. Codie only speaks when necessary to let the hounds know where she is.
She doesn’t try to exaggerate any run by going twice as far as hounds ran. She sits still while hounds settle to a line. Then stays put right behind the pack. The standing still drill is hard for many huntsmen to do—especially hard for many younger and eager huntsmen.
(l-r) Visiting Master Epp Wilson in the huntsman’s pocket. / Barbara Smith photo
At one point we’re trotting toward Davar’s Crossing. Hounds are screaming on our right. Codie stops suddenly and points to the left, about ten o’clock. There, trotting nonchalantly along, is a reddish brown coyote. Trotting south. Codie doesn’t think it’s the hunted coyote, and it turns out that she’s right. The hunted coyote continues to run east. Again, Codie is quiet and lets the day unfold. The hound music is incredibly loud! Those Penn-Marydels can really sing! Absolutely thrilling. Viewing the quarry is always fun.
The hunted coyote starts coming back to us at the river. Hounds are hot on his trail. Wonderful cry. Nearing Davar’s Crossing on Ten Mile River. This river is small enough and shallow enough to cross in many places. It has a firm rocky bottom, and the water is clean, clear and cold.
At Davar’s Crossing now. More great hound music.
On the west side of the river, galloping northward toward where we last heard the pack, looking up the hill to our west, and there is the coyote—rather blonde—running southward exactly parallel to us with the pack about one hundred feet behind. Some of the front hounds are sight chasing. The whole field gets a long view of the coyote and the pack. Hold hard. Reverse quickly.
Codie is flying back south so fast that she is leaving me in the dust. That’s fine. I am going as fast as I want to go on my Thoroughbred-Trakehner cross. Some folks say that Penn-Marydels are slower than some other types of hounds. There is nothing slow about this pack. Some people may call them slow when they are working a line. I would call it deliberate and thorough. And once they get going, they go as fast as I want to go on any horse. When the wind of the gallop makes my eyes water, that’s fast enough.
Hounds are in the cornfield. This is the big cornfield with grass strips on Hidden Hurst Farm.
MFH David Feureisen is leading the field. He does a perfect job as Field Master. He knows the country intimately. He keeps the field close enough to see nearly all the action. And he keeps them far enough back not to interfere with the hounds. This is hard at checks where hounds might have overrun the line and need to work backwards for a bit. He is cheerful and enthusiastic and fun. His horses are good jumpers and good across country. And they hold back the proper distance—even on a run.
Hounds are working beautifully. Wind about twenty mph. Scent seems to be good in spite of the wind. Hold hard! Listen. Hounds may be doubling back.
Yep. Hounds are doubling back in the corn to the south. Turning west. Now running west into the woods out of the Hidden Hurst cornfield. Good cry. Very good cry. Codie’s Thoroughbred is flying again.
Codie Hayes is the professional huntsman. She is a gifted huntsman, and she comes by it honestly. Her grandfather is the legendary Jody Murtagh, long-time Master and huntsman of the Rose Tree Foxhunting Club. I compliment her on how quiet and soft and easy she is with the hounds. She says, “That’s what my grandfather taught me. Let the hounds hunt the fox as much as they can. Leave them alone until they absolutely need your help. If you routinely tell them what to do, then they will always look to you to keep doing that. Hounds need to be left alone to learn how to do their job better, and to develop their confidence and their skills.” Codie is very quiet. She makes only enough noise to let hounds know where she is. When hounds check, she just waits for them to work it out—sometimes for several minutes—before she gives them any direction. I love her style.
Hounds are at the edge of the woods again. Codie’s horse is like a heat-seeking missile. He is as fast as a missile but he’s tuned to the cry of hounds, not the heat. Like a missile that locks onto the target and follows it, this horse locks onto the cry of hounds and follows their every twist and turn. Tears in my eyes again from the speed of the galloping. Hound cry. Good cry. A brief check. Coming out of the corn going west into the woods again. Dust flying. Dirt flying. Mud flying. Codie flying. Hounds further west now, in the edge of the wheat field. Wind blowing really hard now. Gusts over twenty mph.
Codie is thinking this is probably one of the same coyotes we lost earlier. That means this is a continuation of the second run. Not that it matters. It is just interesting. More running. Then a long check. Then a loss. Time to share flasks….
We draw on into the next covert and find quickly. Third coyote now. Good cry again. Going back down the same hollow, just south of Davar’s Crossing.
Hounds crossing the trail from left to right just in front of us, headed west toward the river again. Hound music. Lots of wonderful Penn-Marydel hound music!
Just viewed a blonde coyote going west up the hill back into the Hidden Hurst corn field. We think it is the hunted coyote. Hounds are about a minute behind him. Yes, it is the hunted coyote.
Hounds are still running north around the end of the corn field. Now west along the paved road. Now south making a counter clockwise circle back toward the Ten Mile River.
Hounds are in great voice all in one spot in a huge hedgerow between the wheat field and the cornfield. I ask Codie if she thinks they put him to ground. She thinks not. And she’s right. As usual.
Hounds head east again through the Hidden Hurst corn field and on toward the river. Golden’s Bridge is blessed with great staff. One of the best is young Adam Feureisen. Yes, he is the son of MFH David Feureisen, but that is not why he is a whipper-in. He is a whip because he is so talented. Adam tells us, “There was one point on the top of the hill just west of the river where the coyote stopped and took a look at the hounds. He let them get a little closer. Then he would take off again for a bit. Then he stopped again and looked back and waited for the hounds to get a little closer before moving on. He did this several times. It was almost as if he was playing a game.”
Mike Paget is a passionate foxhunter from near Bromont, Quebec, Canada and Southern Pines, North Carolina. He is a great friend and traveling companion. He is also a retired Marine. My kind of guy. Mike described the coyote as, “blonde with a white chest. Beautiful, healthy looking coyote. It was great! He ran right by us!”
Codie did a good job with the hounds all day. She let them think they did everything. She didn’t take any extra steps. She stayed right with the hounds. (I’ve seen huntsmen at other hunts run twice as far as the hounds—perhaps to make the run seem longer.) Codie just stayed with the hounds and it was great! In my opinion, she is one of the best young talents in our sport today. It was really fun for me to hunt behind someone so young. Heck, I have been hunting hounds since before she was born! Yet she could take my pack and do a fine job with them today.
After three-and-a-half hours in the saddle, most of it with hounds running, we made it back to the meet with all on. A long table was covered with a sumptuous hunt feast, not just a breakfast. Salmon, roast beef, chicken salad, several varieties of delicious local apples—enough for us and our horses. If you left that table hungry, it was your own fault.
Our brief Hark Forward presentation about the new emphasis of the MFHA and the need for support as the new headquarters building in Middleburg is prepared was well received. We had lots of good questions. And several plan to participate with us in the upcoming events.
My hat is off to Golden’s Bridge for their hounds, their hunt, their staff, their hospitality, and their great fun!
A note about Davar’s Crossing:
Davar was one of a fine group of people from Golden’s Bridge who visited Belle Meade three seasons ago with hounds. They did very well in our hound performance trial and they stayed on for a few more days of foxhunting in the sunny south. They had lots of ice and snow on the ground in New York, so they were in no hurry to go home.
On the first day of the Hound Trials, Davar and his fine horse went swimming in one of our improved crossings. He learned an important lesson: if the crossing has been improved, then you don’t want to test the creek bottom up or downstream.
He was such a good sport about the whole experience—riding the rest of the hunt and laughing along with the rest of us—that we named the crossing after him. We made a sign that afternoon and presented it to him that evening at the dinner. Fast forward to now. When I asked Master Dave Feureisen the name of the crossing we went through so many times today, he said it did not have a name. He told me to name it whatever I wanted. Davar’s Crossing has such a great ring to it in our country, and it has such a good story behind it, I chose that for Golden’s Bridge.
Davar was out hunting today with his usual big smile and quick wit. I am proud to call him my friend. Twenty plus years ago, during a joint meet we asked Mr. Hardaway, “What’s the best thing about foxhunting?” His answer was quick and sincere. “Friendship. My best friends are foxhunters. I have foxhunting friends from all over the world. That is the greatest thing about this great sport.”
I agree. Foxhunting is truly the greatest fraternity in the world! Hark Forward!
Posted October 4, 2017
Epp Wilson, MFH and huntsman of the Belle Meade Hunt (GA), in his capacity as Chairman of the MFHA’s Hark Forward season of Hound Performance Trials, just completed the first swing of the Friendship Tour—three thousand miles, two performance trials, Massbach (IL) and Millbrook (NY), and five hunt meets—Eglinton and Caledon (ON), Genesee Valley (NY), Golden’s Bridge (NY), Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire (PA), and Bull Run (VA). All that in September! Wilson’s cavalcade included members of his and numerous other North American hunts eager to hit the road with a companionable group, take part in a hunting tour, and absorb all the hospitality they can stand! The second swing of the tour begins with the Moore County Hound Trial on October 12, 2017. Foxhunters are invited. Click for the season’s schedule.