Leading the Field
The late Erskine Bedford, Piedmont’s consummate Field Master for twenty seasons through the late twentieth century, explains how to lead and educate the field.
Erskine Bedford, MFH and Field Master, Piedmont Fox Hounds, 1979-1998
The Field Master’s job has five simple rules: first, have a great pack of hounds; second, have a great huntsman; third, have a great horse; fourth―getting serious now―know your country; and fifth, make it fun.
Close Encounters with My Vulpine Friends
James Barclay was born to foxhunting. He, his sister, two brothers, mother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all served as Masters of Foxhounds—a family way of life that began in 1896. James served as Master of five hunts from 1983 to 2012: the Essex and Suffolk, Fitzwilliam, Cottesmore, South Wold, and Grove and Rufford. Click for a fuller introduction to James Barclay in Norm Fine’s Blog.
With over two hundred years involvement with various packs and types of hounds under our belt, you will understand it was and always will be the number one rule in the Barclay family to have the greatest respect for our quarry species, be it the fox, deer, or hare. The pleasure they give us is immense, and this comes from not only close observation on a hunting day but during the summer months when they are all, in their own distinctive ways, equally fascinating.
It is the fox, however, that has taken up a very large part of my life, and hardly a day passes when he doesn’t enter my mind in one way or another. And more than likely he will be discussed at some point, especially when he is being blamed for eating someone’s prime poultry! Whenever foxes are talked about, however, it is generally with a large degree of affection, except of course on the day a heinous crime has been committed in his role as the ruthless killer!
My pleasure in writing this has come from looking back and remembering moments when my vulpine friends have behaved in ways that remain etched on my mind. In the past, I have recollected their somewhat strange habits after the death of a particularly well-loved character. This enters another realm, although there are places where both realms meet and it is then when it really does become all the more fascinating!
UK Foxhunter Convicted; National Trust Members Vote “No” to Trail Hunting
Nancy Kleck photo
A total of 76,816 votes were cast by members of Britain’s National Trust in a referendum on whether or not to ban trail hunting (also known as drag or scent hunting) on National Trust lands. The vote was 38,184 to ban and 18,047 to allow, a bitter defeat for British foxhunters.
Although the vote is non-binding, the board of trustees is expected to consider the outcome after their imminent annual meeting. The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) had been actively driving the vote to ban with demonstrations against trail hunting. LACS is obviously pleased with the outcome.
Foxhunter Sweeps National Thoroughbred Makeover Competition
Laura Sloan, a well-known foxhunter and trainer of field hunters, won the Field Hunter Division of the 2021 National Thoroughbred Makeover competition on Donna Verrilli’s off-the-track-Thoroughbred (OTTB), Forthegreatergood. But the story doesn’t end there.
On the final evening of competition, October 17, 2021, in the arena, Sloan and Forthegreatergood won a final recognition at the Kentucky Horse Park: Overall 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion of all competing horses in all ten divisions. This was the first overall championship for a horse from the Field Hunter division.
Bull Run/Blue Ridge Foxhound Performance Trial
Middleburg Brings a Lovable Veteran; Blue Ridge Shows Depth
Trial Huntsman Epp Wilson, MFH, Belle Meade, leading hounds, is ready to mount up and move off for the second day of the Bull Run/Blue Ridge Performance Trials. Directly behind is his guide through the country, Blue Ridge huntsman Graham Buston. Judge Grosvenor Merle-Smith, ex-MFH, is on foot. The faces visible behind Grosvenor are (l-r) Lindsay LeHew, her father, Jeff LeHew, MFH, Blue Ridge, Anne McIntosh, MFH, Blue Ridge, and whipper-in Ross Salter. / Joanne Maisano photo
The fourth Foxhound Performance Trial of the 2021/2022 season was hosted jointly by the Bull Run Hunt and the Blue Ridge Hunt in Virginia. Hounds hunted on Saturday, October 23, 2021, in the Bull Run hunting country of open farmland, fields, and woods, followed by dinner and first-day awards. On Sunday, October 24, hounds hunted in the Blue Ridge country by the western banks of the Shenandoah River through open flood plains, over scarcely negotiable cliffs above the river, through woods, and across open farmland.
Hounds from eight hunts competed: Blue Ridge Hunt, Bull Run Hunt, Deep Run Hunt (VA), Farmington Hunt (VA), Marlborough Hunt (MD), Middleburg Hunt (VA), Rappahannock Hunt (VA), and Thornton Hill Hounds (VA).
The Bridges of Belle Meade
No, this is not a professional bridge-building crew on a typical workday. They’re Belle Meade foxhunters and family members, and they build, repair, and replace bridges in the Belle Meade hunting country on evenings and weekends.
Admittedly, they could be pros. After all, there are fifteen hunt-built bridges in the country. Each bridge has a name―they’re landmarks, after all―and staff members know the location of each and how to get there from wherever they happen to be.
Millbrook’s Opening Meet: All the World’s a Stage
By Erin McKenney, huntsman, and Marion de Vogel, videographer
A Marion de Vogel equestrian sport film. Click to play.
In this, the 114th year of the Millbrook Hunt (NY), a special project is underway. Marion de Vogel, who regularly rides in first flight, is filming a video featuring our hunt from the beginning of roading through the formal season. Last month, we shared a segment with Foxhunting Life readers that captured the first-of-the-season MFHA-sponsored foxhound performance trials. Now we present our Opening Meet, which took place on October 2, 2021.
As seen in the video, Opening Meet really starts the day before. Grooms groom. Braiders braid. Tack is cleaned. Boots are shined. The breakfast committee puts up a tent. Donald Philhower and I evaluate the hounds for soundness, and I put together my final list for the day. Parts of our country can be thick with bushy undergrowth, tight for hounds to push through, so it’s important to always be on the lookout for any minor cuts or injuries that require treatment and rest.
Blue Ridge Opening Meet Returns to Historic Carter Hall
1987 Blue Ridge Opening Meet at Carter Hall. Master and Staff: (l-r) Robert J. Pillion, honorary whipper-in, Mrs. George P. Greenhalgh, Jr, MFH, Christopher P. Howells, huntsman, and Clifford J. Hunt, honorary whipper-in. Fieldmembers: Mrs. Roy Batterton, Field Master, Mrs. Hobart Bauhan, Dr. Alfred Berz, Mrs, Jean-Claude Buffeault, Miss Leslie Bowery, Mrs. Robert Chandler, Cynthia Coates, Peter Cook, Georgia Crawford, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Donaghy, Mimi Donovan, Mrs. A.R. and Molly Dunning, Gray Farland, Mr. and Mrs. Norman Fine, Caj Haakenssen, Katie Henke, Mrs Clifford Hunt, Herbert Jonkers, Ann-Estelle Jung, Peter Levendis, Dr. and Mrs. Matthew Mackay-Smith, Philip T. McIntyre, Mr. and Mrs. Leander McMillen, Mrs. Walter Nalls, Sara Ohlidal, Allyn Patterson, Mrs. Robert and Sarah Pillion, Dr. and Mrs. Marc Read, Mrs. William Smythe, Mr. and Mrs. John Staelin, Mrs. Harry Stimson, III, Richard Sullivan, and Harold Van der Wilt.
History and tradition are synonymous with the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA). The hunt was established in 1888 and has been an enduring, influential, and visible institution in Clarke Country ever since.
On Saturday, October 30, 2021, the hunt’s Opening Meet will once again, after a hiatus of twenty-six years, take place at Carter Hall. Opening Meets had been held at Carter Hall since the mid-1930s.
AAEA Returns Home for 40-year Retrospective
Larry Wheeler, Meet at Sunrise, Oil, 16 x 20 inches, Collection of the Artist
The National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, Virginia, will present an exhibition of artwork by members of the American Academy of Equine Art―both living and deceased. The NSL&M is a fitting venue for this exhibit, titled 2020 Hindsight: 40 Years of the American Academy of Equine Art. The AAEA shares with the NSL&M a founder and several of the earliest supports of both institutions.
The Museum exhibition will be open to visitors from November 12, 2021, through March 20, 2022. Claudia Pfeiffer, George L. Ohrstom, Jr, Curator of the Museum, curated the exhibit. Though AAEA artists and this exhibit embrace numerous equestrian disciplines―racing, showing, steeplechasing, polo, breeding, stable, and pasture scenes―the images in this article are limited to foxhunting-related subjects.
Andrews Bridge Trials: Full Cry From the Start
Overall high scoring foxhound, Elkridge-Harford Magnum, #37, tunes in to trial huntsman Adam Townsend before moving off. / Karen Kandra photo
Two Crossbred foxhounds from the Elkridge-Harford Hunt (MD) finished one-two in the overall top ten scores after two days of hunting at the Andrews Bridge Foxhound Performance Trials. With that strong finish, Elkridge-Harford was the high scorer of all the competing hunts as well. The trials were hosted by Andrews Bridge in Kirkwood, Pennsylvania, on September 23 and 24, 2021.
The six competing hunts were Andrews Bridge Foxhounds (PA), Elkridge-Harford Hunt (MD), Essex Fox Hounds (NJ), Last Chance Hounds, Red Oak Foxhounds (VA), and Wicomico Hunt (MD). This was the second of nine qualifying trials scheduled around the country this season.