Warrenton Kicks Off Virginia Point-to-Point Season
Warrenton Hunt opened the Virginia Point-to-Point Season on the first hospitable Saturday in the month of March this year. It was a spring-like day everywhere except at the Airlie Racecourse, where it snowed!
It was St. Patrick’s Day, and a good day for the Irish at that, with trainer Jimmy Day winning one Hurdle and two Flat races and two Irish horses winning the Open Timber and the Foxhunter Timber Races.
Henry Goodwin Vaughan, A Founding Father
The Norfolk Hunt (MA) can boast of well-known men of American history throughout its earliest rosters—Louis Brandeis, Justice of the U.S, Supreme Court and Leverett Saltonstall, a three-term Governor of Massachusetts and three-term U.S. Senator—but none of its members so dominated the reputation and future of the hunt as did Henry G. Vaughan. He appeared as a member’s guest in 1900 and three years later was elected MFH, a position he held to acclaim for the next thirty years. He was a complete New England gentleman and one of the founding fathers of organized mounted foxhunting in America.
His was hardly the case of a man arriving at a backwater village and uplifting the native savages. Vaughan arrived in Boston from a small town in Maine by way of Harvard University into the midst of the Boston Ames, Cabots, Forbes, Peabodys, Perkinses, and Saltonstalls to be not only embraced, but feted, revered, and almost deified.
How the Experts Judge a Class of Foxhounds
Hillsboro Godfrey 2016 was last year’s Grand Champion at the Southern Hound Show, hosted by the Live Oak Hounds (FL) / Leslie Shepherd photo
With the foxhunting season closing, and a new season of hound and puppy shows approaching, I always determine to improve my eye for a hound by judging from ringside just for fun. I would encourage any foxhunter to try it. The exercise not only makes the day more interesting, but educational as well. Especially when you can collar a friendly judge after the class and ask him why he didn’t like the hound you adored, or why he picked a hound you thought was ordinary.
It can be intimidating when you watch a procession of foxhounds enter and leave the ring and wonder how in the world the judge can sort them all out. For example, how does he compare a hound he is looking at to one he saw ten minutes ago? I have asked, and it seems there are almost as many methods as there are judges.
Knuckling Under to Political Correctness in Britain
Tesco, a multi-national British retailer of merchandise, has knuckled under to a small cadre of animal rights activists and removed a child’s party costume from their lineup of party wares. The item, feared to “encourage children to become animal abusers,” is a scarlet foxhunting tailcoat that sells for £10.41.
Do activists in Britain speak out against Frankenstein or Dracular costumes, as well? Or is it better to be a monster than a foxhunter? What about a military costumes? Will that “encourage children to become” warmongers? It’s all so silly.
Dowling Returns: Will Carry the Horn at Cheshire
Ivan Dowling photo by Jim GrahamThe Masters and Directors of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) have announced the return of Ivan Dowling as professional huntsman for the well-respected pack.
Dowling returned to hunt the Cheshire hounds on a temporary basis in February, upon the departure of huntsman Barry Magner, then in his second season. A search committee was established to review other potential applicants but decided instead to propose reviving the hunt’s previous long term relationship with Dowling. The retired huntsman enthusiastically agreed, according to the recent announcement from the hunt.
Legacy of William Almy
Nina McKee and daughter Lily McKee at the Warrenton Hunt Junior Meet in December, 2017. Lily is the great-great-granddaughter of William Almy. / Douglas Lees photo
Ninety-nine years ago, William Almy, twenty-two, was Master of the Quansett Hounds in South Westport, Massachusetts. Almy and his hounds hunted the fox from Quansett Farm, in the possession of the Almy family since 1700. The farm was situated on the northern shore of Buzzards Bay where the bay meets Rhode Island Sound. At the time of his death in 1979, he’d been a member of the Masters of Foxhounds Association for nearly fifty-six years.
In his time, Almy was recognized as the leading amateur huntsman in North America. He hunted English, American, and Crossbred hounds through his career as Master and huntsman of Quansett and Groton Hunts in Massachusetts, and Culpeper and Warrenton Hunts in Virginia. Almy was constantly in demand as a judge at horse shows and hound shows.
Memoirs of a Foxhunting Photographer
Book Review by Norman Fine
Memoirs of a Foxhunting Photographer by Catherine Power, hardbound, large format (8-1/2 x 11 inches), color, 202 pages, 55.00 euros shipped outside Ireland, order direct from the photographer or on the website.Inside this colorful book, Memoirs of a Foxhunting Photographer, is a collection of the best of Catherine Power’s foxhunting photographs. Accompanying the images are historical and descriptive pieces written by her husband and fellow hunting correspondent, Dickie Power. This large format volume showcases the mad-keen Irish hunting people, the hounds, the Irish hunters, the fox, and the glorious Irish landscape that makes foxhunting in Ireland so adventurous.
Having hung up her boots after forty-seven seasons hunting with the Scarteen, County Limerick, and the “Gallant” Tipps, Catherine Power decided to follow her other passion for photography. Many of the photos have been previously published The Irish Field, Foxhunting Life, Horse and Hound, The Field, Hounds Magazine, and other sporting journals. Her work takes center stage in The Irish Field where she is hunting correspondent, a role she shares with Dickie. The pair makes a complete package for any sporting publisher: exciting images and compelling text.
Bear Creek to Hold Saint Patrick’s Day Puppy Show
Chris Ryan, MFH, Scarteen Hunt (IR) will judge the St. Patrick’s day Puppy Show at the Bear Creek Hounds (GA). / Catherine Power photo
On Saturday, March 17, 2018, the Bear Creek Hounds will host a Puppy Show at Bear Creek Farm in Moreland, Georgia. The Saint Patrick’s Day theme will be legitimized by the presence of Judge Chris Ryan, MFH of the Scarteen Hunt, Knocklong, Ireland. Also judging the puppies will be Marion Thorne, MFH and huntsman, Genesee Valley Hunt (NY).
The puppy show is open to all, and will commence at 1:30 pm following a brunch and hat contest at noon ($20.00 per person). A St. Patrick’s Day party follows at the Bear Creek Pavilion with awards, dinner, live music, and dancing ($60.00 per person). Spectators are welcome. A block of motel rooms convenient to Bear Creek Farm has been reserved.
The Bear Creek Puppy Show is part of the MFHA Hark Forward initiative this season. Participants will be asked to contribute to the renovation of the new MFHA National Headquarters in Middleburg, Virginia.
Conscious Riding
Book Review by Lori Brunnen
Conscious Riding: A Horseman’s Diary, Paul Striberry, Orange Publishing, Southern Pines, NC, 2016, soft cover $15.95, Kindle $9.95Even at the moment he came into the world, Paul Striberry found the ways of people mysterious. He was denied the usual exit route and made his appearance via Caesarean section, the anesthesia associated with which he suspects may have induced his short attention span and low frustration tolerance.
“Alice (mum) goes back to work, and leaves me in the care of Migraine Minerva, a nightmare nanny with a curious aversion to children. She feeds me when I’m not hungry and puts me to bed when I’m wide awake.”
“The horses are my round-the-clock companions. I watch them grazing in the sunshine and galloping through my dreams. They nip my boredom in the bud and fend off Minerva’s vexations. I’m happy with my four-legged friends on the wallpaper.”
Moore County Hounds Work Hard, Play Hard
Lincoln Sadler, 20 years whipping-in, now huntsman of the Moore County Hounds (NC) Mary Kate Murphy, staff writer for the The Pilot in Pinehurst, North Carolina, interviewed Lincoln Sadler, huntsman of the Moore County Hounds (NC), and wrote the best newspaper article about foxhunting that I have seen in many years. And on so many […]