Schooling Moses, the Mulish Field Hunter
Moses discovered it was futile to resist.
Fresh Start Farm, both a name and sometimes a working philosophy, is a farm I rent where I maintain my horses as well as boarders. My boarding is limited to retired or laid up horses since I do not want the liability associated with riders on the property. Or the owners, to be perfectly honest. Riding around the farm myself is enough of a liability.
The problem with boarding retired horses is that eventually you lose them to the infirmities of old age. This is what happened to my friend Jan’s big imported Rhinelander gelding Christmas Eve of 2015. JW had been with us for seven years or so before he passed away. The following spring, Jan mentioned that with JW gone she would like to get a rescue. A mule.
William Gleeson: 1925–2017
Willie Gleeson was Helen’s first and only boyfriend.
Willie Gleeson, from Knocklong, County Limerick, Ireland, died on November 5, 2017. He was ninety-two.
Willie was known to just about every foxhunting visitor worldwide who ever hunted with the world-famous Scarteen Black and Tans. He hired out well-schooled, athletic field hunters that carried visitors safely over the imposing and sometimes treacherous banks and ditches of the Scarteen hunting country. Many of those visitors had never before faced such obstacles, but Willie’s horses knew what to do!
The Christmas Holidays
Foxhunting juniors with Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds / Jim Graham photo
The children are home for the holidays now,
A gay little crowd and a sporting one too,
They go where the grown-ups go, careless of how
Their ponies get over, so long as they do.
Arrived at the meet they are wild to begin,
And can’t understand all the waste of good time
Spent drinking brown sherry or horrid sloe-gin,
And deem it a most unforgivable crime.
How Close Should the Field Be to the Huntsman?
Hugh Robards and hounds
A reader writes, “We were discussing the proper distance a field of foxhunters should keep between itself and the huntsman. Is there a rule of thumb that can be applied generally? We thought one simple rule might be to keep the same pace and a reasonably constant distance…. so the huntsman would always know roughly where his field is. But would love to hear what the experts say.”
Here is a question for which there can be no simple rule appropriate for all hunting situations. There are too many factors that modify the “appropriate” distance, even during the course of a single hunt.
We asked huntsman Hugh Robards, just retired after a fifty-five-year professional career in England, Ireland, and America, for his opinion. For twenty-seven seasons, Hugh hunted hounds for Lord Daresbury, MFH, at the County Limerick, showing world-class sport to members and foxhunting visitors from all over the world. Even before becoming a huntsman, Hugh whipped-in to some of the most illustrious British huntsmen of the twentieth century, including Captain Ronnie Wallace at the Heythrop and Brian Gupwell, later to become huntsman for the Duke of Beaufort. Hugh writes:
New Huntsman Debuts at the Galway Blazers
Anthony Costello is the new huntsman at the Galway Blazers. / Noel Mullins photo
The Galway Blazers (IR) is a knick name for the County Galway Hunt, the formal name certainly possessing less flair. (Flare?) One account suggests the Blazers acquired their soubriquet when, during a hunt ball in Birr, County Offaly (following a joint meet with the Ormond Foxhounds), the hotel burned down. Alternatively, the term, blazers, might refer to duelling or blazing as the practice was known. Some of the Blazers’ followers had a reputation for duelling!
When I was growing up hunting with the Blazers, Thursdays were the days to bring out young horses and ponies new to hunting. Often we came home on a different pony or horse than we started with as we had our fair share of falls! For that reason, I would not normally have thought of going to a Thursday meet this season, but I am really glad I did.
The Perfect Hat
Lionel Edwards illustrationThe Bowler and the Wide-Awake,
The Topper and the Straw,
The Homburg and the Helmet
May be hats without a flaw;
The Bonnet of the Highlanders,
The Busby of the Greys
Are hats we shall remember
To the end of all our days;
The Jockey-cap of sunlit silk,
The Bishop’s Shovel-black
Can honor a cathedral town
Or grace a racing track.
But the neatest, sweetest headgear
Be it e’er so crushed or crude
Is the Hat upon the Skyline
When a forward fox is viewed.
Opening Meet at Scarteen: A Centuries-Old Tradition
Moving off to Opening Meet in the village are Chris Ryan, MFH (at left) and huntsman Raymond O’Halloran, leading staff, hounds, and a select few. Joanna Turvey (center) wears the colors of the South Notts Foxhounds (UK). / Catherine Power photo
Recorded Scarteen history only goes back to the early seventeen hundreds, so we don’t know exactly how long the opening meet has been held in Knocklong, Ireland. But through those centuries that have been recorded, the venue has remained an unbroken tradition.
Part and parcel of that tradition is to have hounds and followers (both foot and mounted) blessed for the coming season. This ecclesiastical duty falls to the local padre who came to the kennels with bell, book and candle to invoke Divine support. No doubt our young huntsman welcomed this as any huntsman would. However, a huntsman in his first season particularly needs a bit luck and a tail wind to see him through.
Moore County Hound Trials: Report From the Field
“He’s hunted twice; let’s take him to the Field Trial.” Author Lori Brunnen in the foreground, riding Sunny. Saved from the abattoir, he took to the hunting field like a veteran. Karen Miller accompanies Lori. / Amy Gesell photo
Since last year I have been trying to hunt with George Harne’s private Maryland pack, the Last Chance Hounds. This season I finally managed one day out with them and had a great morning, despite having Frankie’s bridle slip off, falling flat rectifying it, and finally being dragged a ways on my stomach. At least I did not let go. It was kindly described at breakfast as being “seventy-five percent elegant.” This is a small, close-knit group, and I felt lucky to have been able to join them.
Shortly after this outing I learned that friend Karen Miller was accompanying them to the Moore County Hound Performance Trial, an MFHA Hark Forward event in North Carolina the second weekend in October. We agreed to drive down together. The six hounds entered were traveling with huntsman Lisa Reid and whipper-in Marie LaBaw. Master George Harne was driving down with his friend, Roy Good, leaving at 1:30 Friday morning because George said he would be “too excited to sleep” anyway. Lisa and Marie were leaving at 4:30 Friday morning. Despite the fact that the first trial event was not until 4:00 pm Friday, Karen and I simultaneously agreed we were leaving at “10 o’clock Thursday morning.” No getting up in the dark unless absolutely necessary. This is an annual trip for the group but the first Performance Trial for Karen and me. We were stoked.
Penn-Marydels: A Hound For All Reasons
(l-r) Sally Teelin, author Lisa Peterson, and huntsman John Ference with the Penn-Marydel foxhounds of the Fairfield County Hunt, circa 1978 / Freudy photo
November brings forth fall, foliage, and foxhunting. The first weekend of the month is the beginning of the formal season for many hunts with its blessing of hounds, hunt breakfasts, and equestrian fashion pageantry that splashes the color of autumnal leaves with scarlet, black, and brown flashes as horses, hounds, and exuberant riders gallop along.
Foxhunting Life published a lovely article by Epp Wilson last month about the Golden’s Bridge Hounds (NY), its pack of Penn-Marydel foxhounds, and its young huntsman Codie Hayes. I had the pleasure of hunting with Golden’s Bridge as a guest a few times in the last decade and thoroughly enjoyed watching the hounds work. I also recall as a teenager hunting with the Fairfield County Hounds in Newtown, Connecticut with their pack that included Penn-Marydels.
According to a Chronicle of the Horse magazine article in 2005, “The consensus among huntsmen with exclusively Penn-Marydel foxhound packs is that they’re unbeatable for their nose, voice, and ease of hunting.” Not only that, but because they are so agreeable to hunt, as one huntsman said, “They sort of hunt themselves and don’t require a lot of additional work.”
Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds Welcomes the Hark Forward Tour
Huntsman Barry Magner collects hounds. / Barbara Smith photo
The fourth Friendship Meet on the Hark Forward Tour of scheduled hunts and performance trials was at Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Unionville, Pennsylvania. During the month of September we traveled a distance of three thousand miles and visited nine hunts.
The Cheshire is revered as one of the best foxhunting establishments in North America, renowned for big fences, protected countryside, and a distinguished history. When you hunt here, everyone asks, “Did you jump the line fences?” Yes, we jumped one of the line fences first! Everyone spreads out and picks a panel of three-rail fencing and off you go, foxhunting with Cheshire!