A Storybook Pack
Each hound in this pack is a top-ten qualifier from one of nine qualifying foxhound performance trials held across North America this season.
Trial Huntsman Epp Wilson and his guide, huntsman Graham Buston, in the Blue Ridge country / Joanne Maisano photo
This Blog is to celebrate an exclusive pack of foxhounds that will hunt the fox at the J. Robert Gordon Field Trial Grounds in Hoffman, North Carolina, from March 25−27, 2022. The hound that earns the top score in this trial will be named the 2022 National Champion Performance Trial Foxhound.
Each hound in this unique pack earned its place by qualifying in one or more two-day performance trials held over this season from coast to coast. To qualify for this, the National Championship Performance Trial, each hound here compiled a score during its qualifying trial that placed it among the top-ten scoring hounds in that trial.
Why should that matter to hunt officers, Masters, huntsmen, hound breeders, and field members?
Set the Hook: Nurture New Field Members
This blog is a companion piece to Epp Wilson’s article, “Our Hounds Were on Fire.” Masters and huntsmen should educate their field members. Epp communicates to his members via periodic email blasts.
Oil painting, “Catch,” by Larry Wheeler was inspired by a scene at the Deep Run Hunt (VA) with huntsman John Harrison and hounds.
There’s a whole new generation of enthusiastic foxhunters in hunting fields across North America today. And I’m betting that most of them are in the hunt-to-ride category. At least at first. I know I was.
If they are inquisitive, however, they will soon discover there is even more to this sport than the excitement of riding a horse, keeping with hounds, jumping obstacles, and arriving at the finish with their equine partner safe and breathless. Not that that, in itself, isn’t enough! But really, the more they learn along the way, the better it gets.
The Remarkable Life of Major Charles Kindersley, MFH
Book Review by Norman Fine
Major Charles Kindersley with hounds and son, Richard, whipping-in. Painting by Jean Bowman. This book is available in the U.S. for $30.00 (USD) and in Canada for $40.00 (Canadian). Shipping is included in the price. Please e-mail your order directly to the author and include your phone number. She will call you for your credit card information.
The Life and Memory of Charles Montague Kindersley by Lynne Kindersley Dole is a story of ingenuity and adventure that takes us well beyond Major Kindersley’s distinguished Mastership of which many readers are already familiar.
He was born in 1900 and lived through most of the twentieth century―until 1993. This story deserved to be written because he lived such a remarkable life. Likewise, it well-deserves to be read because it is authentically written by his daughter and is a riveting read.
What is a July Foxhound?
See how Norman Fine answered the question, “what is a July foxhound”? Originally posted in 2022.
The Houn’ Ditch Inn
A July foxhound used for field trials. Note the narrow white blaze, curved stern, and shorter ears than many strains of American foxhound, all characteristic of the July. This fox dog is prized for his hunting ability, not his conformation.
Bob Mitchell, retired editor, and publisher of the Cassville Democrat in Cassville, Missouri, has left his mark. He is a 2017 inductee to both the Missouri Press Association Hall of Fame and Missouri Southern State University’s Regional Media Hall of Fame. Though retired, Mitchel still keeps his hand in the game with stories about the good ol’ days. His piece in the December 15, 2021 issue caught my eye about the Houn’ Ditch Inn and the man who built and owned it, Gentry German―“famous for his Fox hunting dogs, of the July breed.”
James Barclay, MFH (1959−2021)
James Barclay, MFH, hunting the Fitzwilliam hounds, 1993
We are deeply saddened to report the passing of Maurice James Barclay, ex-MFH, at age sixty-two. His death is attributed to heart failure.
After serving as Master of five British foxhound packs, his response to Britain’s Hunting Act of 2004 was to devote himself to educating and persuading everyone he could reach―whether pro-hunting or anti-hunting, adult or child, wealthy countryman or underprivileged child of the city―of foxhunting’s intrinsic value to England’s story-book countryside. To James, nothing was more important than saving the countryside.
Mildred Riddell, ex-MFH, Old Dominion Hounds (1924−2021)
Douglas Lees photo
Mildred Gulick Riddell, MFH of the Old Dominion Hounds (VA) from 1982 to 1992, died on December 4, 2021, at the age of 97. Born in 1924 at the Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington D.C., she lived most of her life at Redwood in Casanova, Virginia, the farm bought for her mother as a wedding gift by her grandfather, James Strother of Carrington in Delaplane.
Holiday Gift Guide for the Hunting Enthusiast on Your List
Foxhunting Life wishes all our subscribers a happy Christmas season and our sincere appreciation for your many kind comments about our publication.
Now let us help you with your Christmas shopping! Take a moment for a good look at our advertisers’ tasteful products and services:
Drag Hunting Banned on Welsh Natural Resources Land
Ogof Ffynnon Ddu National Nature Reserve, a huge expanse of moorland in the Brecon Beacons National Park.
According to the BBC, Natural Resources Wales has decided not to renew its agreement with the British MFHA which had previously allowed drag hunting on its lands. The decision is said to be strongly influenced by the recent conviction of an influential foxhunter in England who instructed hunts how to use the appearance of draghunting as a cover for contravening the Hunting Act of 2004.
Cleveland Bay Hunting Action at Farnley
Video by James Tonery
Farnley Farm in White Post, Virginia, and the Blue Ridge Hunt hosted seventeen Cleveland Bays and Cleveland Bay crosses for their annual reunion hunt. Representatives of the breed―all plain bays!―arrived from all points of the compass on November 13, 2021, and enjoyed a spectacular day of hunting.
Farnley is an entirely appropriate fixture for this annual reunion of Cleveland Bay horses and meeting of the Blue Ridge hounds. In the 1930s, Farnley was home to the late Alexander Mackay-Smith and where he bred the first Cleveland Bays to be foaled in America.