Horse & Hound

Hunt Breakfast Recipe Contest

Norman Fine November 2, 2010 Our Hunting World

Matthew Klein photo Cool weather and foxhunting make for big appetites, so FHL is holding a Hunt Breakfast Recipe Contest. If you point to the Social drop-down menu above and click on Hunt Breakfast Recipes, you will see that our recipes are organized into seven categories: Appetizers, Breads, Desserts & Sweets, Flask Concoctions, Main Dishes, Side Dishes & Accompaniments, and Soups & Salads. Here are the contest rules: You are invited to submit a favorite recipe in any category. You may submit as many recipes as you like. Recipes will be judged by prominent chefs on aptness, gustatorial satisfaction, and ease of preparation. All recipes received through December 31, 2010 will qualify for the contest. The winner—one for each of the seven categories—will be announced, interviewed for additional useful tips on putting on hunt breakfasts, and will receive a gift of FHL‘s DVD, Calls on the Horn, featuring John Tabachka. Winners will be announced after the new year. To enter, click on Submit One Now here or on the Hunt Breakfast recipe page and upload, type, or paste your favorite hunt breakfast recipes into the appropriate spaces. Images may be uploaded as well. You don’t have to be a subscriber to enter. The idea is to provide the best resource possible for the satisfaction of tired, happy, and hungry foxhunters. Let’s see what you got!November 2, 2010... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here

Hunt Breakfast Recipe Contest

Norman Fine November 2, 2010 Entertainment

Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds: An Oasis in Suburbia

Norman Fine October 25, 2010 Hunt Reports

1056561074_cheshire_foxhounds_-_21

If you want to see stunning hunting country, I commend you to FHL’s latest Photo Gallery slide show. We feature Elisabeth Harpham’s lovely photos of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Unionville, Pennsylvania.

The Cheshire hunting country is an oasis between the developed suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. This is hunting country for any foxhunter to drool over. But you have to know that country like that just doesn’t happen by a stroke of luck. It’s the product of years of commitment by strong-willed individuals determined to protect what they have.

Steve Farrin Wins North American Horn Blowing Championship

Norman Fine October 20, 2010 People

Steve Farrin displays championship ribbon presented by MFHs Sheila Jackson Brown and J.W.Y. Martin, Jr. (right).

-Al Cook photo

Amwell Valley huntsman Steve Farrin blew a flawless set of horn calls to best two-time winner John Tabachka and claim the 2010 North American Horn Blowing Championship. Contestants were asked to blow Moving Off, Gone Away, Gone to Ground, and Going Home. The judges proclaimed a tie after the first round, and Farrin and Tabachka were called back to blow one more call of their own choosing. Tabachka blew Going Home, demonstrating amazing control of the stretched out and slowly modulated volume, but Farrin won the night with his Gone Away.

The Traveling Foxhunter

Norman Fine October 20, 2010 Travel

Sport is in full swing across North America now, and foxhunters are on the move—visiting friends in other hunts, seeking new experiences, attending hunt weeks in distant hunting countries, and responding to long-standing invitations. Long ago, I learned the hard way that a travel checklist is a must. So here are my personal checklists—one for me and one for my horse—that I print out fresh before every trip. Using them won’t guarantee an incident-free trip, as I once discovered after leaving all my tack behind in the stable driveway. But barring such stupidity on your part, they will go a long way in assuring that you have what you need when you get there! Go to the Resources drop-down menu, and click on Checklist under the Travel category. Print the lists for yourself and check off as you pack. Let us know what’s missing, so we can add it for the next traveling foxhunter.... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here

Joy_and_Caroline_Bellingham_and_huntsman_Noel_McKeever

The County Louth Foxhounds at Dunany Estate

Noel Mullins October 3, 2010 Hunt Reports

Joy and Caroline Bellingham with huntsman Noel McKeever and hounds

Following the County Louth Foxhounds famous black, tan, and white Old English pack is a double pleasure when combined with one of its most popular autumn hunting meets, the Dunany Estate on the northeast coast of Ireland.

Despite the inconvenience of some of the issues presented by reaching the grand age of ninety-two, Joy Bellingham together with her daughter Caroline were out to view hounds draw the woods around their extensive estate. Both were enthusiastic followers of the Louth, Meath, and Kildare foxhounds when they hunted.

Cheltenham Week — On the Inside

Norman Fine October 3, 2010 Travel

Steeplechasing is hugely popular in England, and the Cheltenham Festival equates to our Triple Crown, Breeder’s Cup, and Gold Cup all rolled into one. So when I spoke with George Wagner, who runs Horse Racing Trips Worldwide in Ontario and takes groups to the great races of the world, I latched onto Cheltenham as the trip for foxhunters.

"Sixty thousand racing fans come for championship week at Cheltenham, half of whom are Irish!" says Wagner.

Now if that isn’t a recipe for a good time, I don’t know what is.

Erik’s First Fox

Nina Schug September 21, 2010 Hunt Reports

Erik Olsen Photo

Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled all through the night. With the dawn a quiet reverence prevailed. Horses and riders filed silently through a North Carolina pine forest. An occasional "Hound, please" was heard.

It was August and the beginning of Tot Goodwin’s and Green Creek Hounds’ summer hunt week. Scent was quickly diminishing with the rising heat and humidity.

Photo Essay: Old Dominion Hounds

Karen L. Myers September 20, 2010 Hunt Reports

(September 11, 2010)

The photo essay is posted at KLM Images.

Shadow as second subject

Creative use of shadows

Always be alert for unexpected bonuses. I did not deliberately frame this shot to capture the shadow, too; I just tried to place myself in such a way that the subject was well lit. But when I looked at the results afterward, I was pleased to see two subjects striding along the horse trailer, not just one.

Picking hounds out of the pack

A study of hounds heads

There’s a lot of action in a pack of hounds, but many complications as well.

No matter how small the group, at least one (usually right in the center of the frame) is doing something you don’t want to record for posterity. Even when they are all well-behaved, they may be arranged unhelpfully, with heads buried, shadows cast on each other, and so forth.

Melvin at Ninety

Norman Fine September 2, 2010 People

Melvin Poe celebrating his ninetieth birthday
Douglas Lees photo

Hounds were screaming, and the huntsman was cooking. A cattle guard loomed ahead—a coop to the left and a gate to the right. The huntsman veered left.

"Melvin," someone yelled, "the gate’s on the right!"

"Melvin just kept kicking on, right over the coop," recalled Joe Conner, shaking his head and grinning in wonder.

Conner, who has whipped-in to Melvin for years at Bath County (VA), didn’t resurrect that story out of a distant past. It had happened only weeks before Melvin Poe’s ninetieth birthday celebration.

A month or so earlier, I had recognized the same notes of awe and wonder as I stood chatting with Brian Smith, my farrier, about Melvin’s upcoming ninetieth birthday.