My Holiday with Hounds
Kennel huntsman Nick Hopkins exercises the North Cotswold foxhounds through the village of Broadway. / Denya Massey Clarke photo
On holiday one spring day in 2008 my husband (non-horsey) and I were walking down High Street in Broadway, enjoying the charms of one of the most attractive towns in the Cotswolds. Suddenly I heard hounds.
I determined to find the source, while my husband is thinking, “Really? We’re on vacation, and she finds hounds? Out of the blue? Really?” I saw a lane called Kennel Lane, and there, one block off High Street, were the kennels of the North Cotswold Foxhounds!
I was enchanted by the hounds living right in town. It made them so accessible, yet they weren’t. The North Cotswold foxhounds are a beautifully bred, highly respected pack. I imagined seeing them out of their kennels on a hunting day, yet, since we travel regularly to the Cotswolds in May, that wouldn’t happen.
While planning our third trip to Broadway, I couldn’t resist. I knew that the Joint-Master of the North Cotswold, Mr. Nigel Peel*, was a contributor to Foxhunting Life—in fact a member of FHL’s Panel of Experts. I asked editor Norman Fine if it would be impolite to ask to see the kennels. He kindly offered to introduce me by email to Mr. Peel, who bred this beautiful pack, hunts them himself, and whose reputation as a breeder and judge of foxhounds is universally renowned.
Fast forward: the phone rings in our Cotswold ‘cottage.’ It’s Nick Hopkins, kennel huntsman for the North Cotswold Foxhounds, calling on Mr. Peel’s behalf to invite me to walk out with the hounds on the twentieth of May at 7:45 a.m. Of course, I say. Thank you. Oh, mentions Nick, we’ll have a bike for you. A what? A bike. Oh, ok…. We hang up.
Senate Signals Horse Slaughter Ban Likely to Continue
In late May, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of next year’s Agriculture Appropriations bill (S.2389) which provides funding for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the 2015 fiscal year. The bill once again contains an amendment that in effect will continue the ban on the humane slaughter of horses in the U.S. […]
Sure, And the Going Was Soft!
As the owner of a multi-media production studio, Steve Toepp knows what he wants to convey in his foxhunting videos but he finds it to be a challenging task. “Filming while mounted is the most difficult type of videography I have ever encountered,” Toepp says. “I am trying to develop riding techniques that keep […]
Liam Neeson Steps Aboard; Help Share His Opinion
City dweller Liam Neeson, who also happens to be a respected actor, has stepped up to defend the iconic horse-drawn carriages in New York City by narrating a lightly-funded but well-made YouTube video titled “Save New York Horse Carriages.” What, you might ask, has that to do with foxhunters who mostly choose to live far from the bustling city, in the quiet countryside, where horses are part of the everyday scene?
As editor of Foxhunting Life, I try to be ever watchful that my personal feelings don’t overly influence the content of this website, the mission of which is to inform and entertain our readers about foxhunting. At times, though, at least in my mind, the borders blur between foxhunting and certain issues of the day.
The New York City carriage horse controversy is one such issue. Just this year, FHL has published four news stories on the subject,* and early this month I devoted my Blog to a related commentary.**
While our statistics inform us that these articles have been read by numerous people, only one reader—a lady in Ireland who is completely mystified by the mind-set of those opposing the carriages—has yet troubled to write a Comment after any of them. The silence notwithstanding, I cannot conclude that the NYC carriage horse issue doesn’t relate to us, our passion for horses and hounds, the natural world, and the foxhunting life.
The Penn-Marydel Is Grand Champion at Virginia and Bryn Mawr
Joan Jones presents the Grand Championship Trophy for Golden’s Bridge Phoenix to huntsman Ciaran Murphy. / Liz Callar photoFor the second time* in history, a Penn-Marydel foxhound was judged Grand Champion of the Virginia Foxhound Show. The William W. Brainard, Jr. Perpetual Cup was presented to Golden’s Bridge Phoenix 2012 at Morven Park in Leesburg on Sunday, May 25, 2014. Golden’s Bridge huntsman Ciaran Murphy showed the Champion.
The following weekend, for the first time in foxhound history, the same Penn-Marydel repeated his stunning Virginia victory by being judged Grand Champion of Show at Bryn Mawr.
The Penn-Marydel as a breed is justifiably loved by its admirers for a number of reasons—nose, voice, biddability—none of which includes a reputation as the standard for foxhound beauty. Yet Golden’s Bridge Phoenix prevailed over the usual suspects so often in the Virginia lineup for the final class of the day: Live Oak Hounds (FL), Midland Foxhounds (GA), and Potomac Hunt (MD). At Bryn Mawr, Phoenix topped the other breed champions from the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA), Potomac Hunt, and GreenSpring Valley Hounds (MD).
Richard Normington to Carry the Horn for Radnor
Jim Graham photoThe Radnor Hunt (PA) is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Normington as professional huntsman. Richard brings an impressive level of expertise and horsemanship that bodes well for Radnor’s ability to show good sport for seasons to come.
Before coming to the U.S., Richard was first whipper-in at the Grafton Hunt (Northamptonshire), the Worcestershire, the Crawley and Horsham (Sussex), and the Cheshire Hunt. He is third generation hunt staff, and a crack horseman, with experience in point-to-points and other cross-country competitions.
Where Have All the Horses Gone?
Over the last ten years, every major equine breed registry in the U.S. has seen a dramatic decrease in the number of registered horses. This will be the subject of a National Issues Forum presented by the American Horse Council (AHC) at their annual convention on June 24, 2014. The forum will address the many […]
Wentworth Audrey Is Grand Champion at New England Hound Show
Grand Champion Wentworth Audrey 2013, shown by huntsman Kami Wolk, MFH / Eric Schneider photo Wentworth Audrey 2013 was judged Grand Champion of Show at the New England Hound Show on Sunday, May 4, 2014. The show was held at Echo Ridge Farm in Lee, New Hampshire and was hosted for the first time by the Wentworth Hunt. Audrey is by a Penn-Marydel sire, Red Mountain Van Gogh 2008, out of an American dam, Keswick Nipper 2010.
Audrey’s sire, Van Gogh, has his own history. After a couple of stops in the Carolinas, his intelligence earned him a new home in New England where he could hobnob with all the Ivy Leaguers. More on that later.
Huntsman Charles Montgomery from the Bull Run Hunt (VA) judged the foxhounds. Montgomery knows a good hound when he sees one. As huntsman for the Live Oak Hounds (FL) for many years, he consistently fielded a pack of hounds of which an astounding percentage were hound show Champions and Grand Champions.
Wentworth is a drag pack in southern New Hampshire that changed over from Crossbred hounds to American and Penn-Marydel when the current huntsman Kami Wolk, MFH, took up the horn. Kami explained that Audrey was one of two litter sisters that huntsman David Raley drafted to her from the Moore County Hounds (NC). David, in turn, had received the pair from Katherine Gunter, huntsman at the Aiken Hounds (SC) who bred the litter.
Live Oak Hounds/USPC Challenge Winners Announced
Green Spring Hounds Pony Club members on a cubhunting morning: (l-r) Brenna Miller, Brigitte Frasier (mom, chaperone), Will Frasier, and Shelby Langlois / Pam Stockdale photo
The Green Spring Valley Pony Club in Maryland won the eighth annual Live Oak Hounds USPC Foxhunting Challenge Award for 2014. The Challenge Award is made possible through the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. C. Martin Wood III, Joint-Masters of the Live Oak Hounds in Monticello, Florida and Past Presidents of the MFHA.
The Award is designed to encourage Pony Club members who do not regularly hunt to try the sport and to reward members who hunt on a regular basis to act as mentors to the less-experienced Pony Club members. Ten thousand dollars in awards are distributed each year among the top six Pony Clubs who introduce the greatest number of active Pony Club members to the sport of foxhunting.
A handful of avid foxhunters established the United States Pony Club in 1954, and the sport and the Club continue to share a close bond.
HSUS Sues Circus; Loses Big-Time
After fourteen years of litigation, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and related animal rights groups settled a legal battle that they started against the parent company of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus by agreeing to pay almost sixteen million dollars after a Federal Court determined that their case was “groundless […]