Millbrook’s new huntsman, Erin McKenney, parades hounds to the Stirrup Cup before moving off from Wethersfield. / Carol Pedesen photo
The Millbrook Hunt (NY) held its 113th Opening Meet at Wethersfield, the former home of Mr. Chauncey Stillman, on Saturday, October 3, 2020. Mr. Stillman first hunted with Millbrook in 1937 as a guest. Soon after, he assembled the land and began construction of this elegant property. He continued to hunt with the Millbrook as a member.
A bagpiper played as stirrup cups were offered. Gladys Bucove was recognized for her forty-eighth Opening Meet with Millbrook and Richard Verrilli, ex-MFH, for his fifty-third Opening Meet!
Huntsman Erin McKenney benched thirteen-and-a-half couple of hounds before the main house at 0730. This is Erin’s first season carrying the horn and her first Opening Meet as a huntsman. She had professionally whipped-in to former Millbrook huntsman Donald Philhower, now retired.
This lovely photograph by Carol Pedersen partially illustrates why foxhunters are smitten by their sport. As a waning moon sinks slowly in the west, and a rising sun casts its long early morning shadows from the east, three lucky foxhunters astride three well-groomed horses hack serenely southward toward their Opening Meeting of foxhounds. (Our author is on the gray.).
It was a wonderful fall day, rated three-stars by the Solar Lunar Hunting Calendar. Farnham Collins, ex-MFH, counted the field at ninety-one! Hounds moved off promptly at 0800 and first drew the covert at the bottom of the hill in front of the main house. Finding it blank, Erin moved on with the pack to the pond and continued on through Wethersfield’s twelve-hundred acres.
Around 0900 my flight was along the corn near the power lines when Larry Stockl and Diana King viewed a large coyote heading south. Larry was quickly on the radio, but hounds had found another coyote and heading North. The day continued with wonderful sport. Hounds headed towards Link Farm and on to Coole Park. Hounds were “zooming” as an ex-MFH expressed it, and those in first flight described it as a very fast paced hunt. The hunt concluded at 1100.
“The hounds worked incredibly hard in not such great conditions, and rewarded us with a brilliant day,” said huntsman McKenney. Summing it up, Parker Gentry, MFH, said, “Our new huntsman, Erin McKenney, has moved into her position with ease and confidence. Erin and our professional whipper-in, Alex Price, are proving to be a wonderful team. We are excited about our sport this season and also grateful for the incredibly beautiful countryside in which we hunt.”
(l-r) Laura Sloane, trainer, and Richard Verrilli, ex-MFH. Verrilli, 87, has been hunting for 76 years.
Dick Verrilli was eleven years old when he started hunting with the Westchester Greenwich Hunt. He has also hunted with the Oaks, Meadowbrook and Smithtown on Long Island, and Goldens Bridge. In 1967 he joined the Millbrook Hunt and became Joint-Master with Farnham Collins in 1995. For the past thirty years during the winter months he has hunted with the Moore County Hounds (NC). He has also hunted with the Amwell Valley Hounds (NJ), Piedmont Fox Hounds (VA), Midland Fox Hounds (GA), Rombout Hunt (NY) and Old Chatham Hunt (NY). At age eighty-seven, Verrilli has been hunting for seventy-six years!
Laura Sloan, Dick’s stable manager, hunted most recently with the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA) before joining Dick and Donna Verrilli at Millbrook. She rides with him at every meet, and the pair have always been at just the right place at just the right time in every hunt I have been on.
The Millbrook Hunt thanks The Wethersfield Foundation as well as Chris Ferreri and Kevin Malloy. As always, our thanks to Erin McKenney, huntsman, the Millbrook hounds, and everyone who works so hard for the Millbrook Hunt.
Posted October 12, 2020
Chauncey Stillman of Wethersfield: horseman, yachtsman, art collector, conservationist. Stillman sits aboard Goneaway, his favorite hunter, in this 1939 photo.