Horse & Hound
Evelyn “Jeep” Cochran, MBH, Retires
Jeep Cochran and her Calf Pasture Bassets
As dedicated, passionate—some might even say fanatical—members of the global sporting community of those who hunt with hounds, we all feel the loss of our treasured activities as the COVID pandemic rages across our countries. During this time of suffering it seems insensitive to mourn the departure of a single individual from our sporting scene, but in this case a large group of people has lost the opportunity to celebrate the career, times, and exemplary hunting life of the retiring Master of the Calf Pasture Bassets, Evelyn "Jeep" Cochran.
What? Is she dead? Emphatically not! But the pandemic has robbed all her friends of the chance to celebrate her life, her hounds, her triumphs too numerous to tally...at hound shows, at field trials, and over the course of a sporting life lived over an impressive span of years.
A First-Year Huntsman, Her Hounds, Her Sport
After the close of last season, professional whipper-in Erin McKenney was tapped to take over the horn at the Millbrook Hunt (NY). What’s it like to be a first-year huntsman following in the boot prints of a retiring, respected, experienced huntsman and long-time hound breeder like Donald Philhower? Butterflies, sure, but what goes through the mind of a huntsman responsible for giving sport every hunting day? Erin gives us a taste.
Lindsay Baldwin photo
November 5, 2020, 9-1/2 couple
It was a warm, bluebird sort of day with a dry wind which didn’t bode too well for scenting conditions. I took a smaller pack since it is a tight fixture.
I went with idea of taking older, slower hounds, with some younger ones for an educational day. I’m not convinced when young hounds are flying on a coyote that they’re learning a ton, except to keep up. The seasoned hounds may not be so quick under this day’s conditions, and the younger ones should have a chance to really get their noses down and learn.
Ken Adams, ex-MFH (1930–2020)
Masters Ken and Arle Adams, Palm Beach Hounds in the 1980s
Wellington, Florida pioneer and a founder of the Palm Beach Hounds, Kenneth Adams, died after a prolonged illness on Wednesday, November 11, 2020. He was ninety.
Ken served with his late wife, Arle, as the first Masters of the Palm Beach Hounds from its inception in 1980 to 1990. He was huntsman for most of that period.
A retired U.S. Air Force Major, Ken sold his chain of True Value Hardware stores in upstate New York to settle with Arle in Palm Beach County, Florida. The couple made their home in the Little Ranches neighborhood in 1978, where they kept horses and foxhounds. Ken started the first foxhunt in Wellington with the help of fellow Wellington pioneer A.W. “Bink” Glisson in the then-undeveloped area that came to be known as Bink’s Forest.
Reflections on Reynard
The last frame of the day! Photographed in Yellowstone National Park by Mike Roberts with Canon EOS 5D Mark IV camera fitted with Canon 600mm lens. Tripod Head: Wimberly WH-200 (with quick release plate). Tripod: Gitzo Mountaineer (carbon fiber).
Click image for a larger view.
As a naturalist I’ve never considered anthropomorphism an appropriate concept. Yet, even in my mind, the red fox has long worn the mask of a humanistic villain. English literature and folklore is littered with fox personifications, as is Native American culture. With eyes that can stare into the depths of one’s soul, and those downright sneaky behavioral traits, Vulpes vulpes remains one of my favorite, but most difficult subjects to photograph in the wilds of America. So lay another seasoned chunk of oak on the andirons, pour a steaming cup of tea, pull up a chair, and allow me to share this paramount photography adventure.
International Champion Show Jumper, Shane Breen, Loves His Hunting
Shane Breen wins at the Christmas Masters CSI 5-Star at London International Horse Show.
We hadn’t seen Shane Breen since the end of last hunting season, and what a change since then. There is rejoicing in Scarteen country with the news that Shane has joined the hunt Mastership. During our many chats (mostly on Zoom) leading up this article, I asked him which gave him the most satisfaction, a top class win in showjumping or a really cracking day’s hunting. Without hesitation the answer came in favour of the latter. However, with a little prompting from wife Chloe he agreed that perhaps winning the Grand Prix in Dublin (with a purse of €330,000) might just shade it.
Rebuilding the Mells Fox Hounds
Mells Opening Meet 2020 / Drone photography by Michael Gomez
The history of the Mells Fox Hounds (TN) goes back to a universally known nursery rhyme—“Little Jack Horner.”
Really. Stay with me. This innocent-sounding rhyming couplet is believed to be based upon a sixteenth-century real estate swindle at the highest levels of church and government in jolly old England.*
When “Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie, he stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum.” Jack’s plum was metaphor for a far dearer prize.
Working My Way Home
Teagan, celebrating her fourth birthday on her first hunt. Mom has the lead line, but our author took over on foot and learned a lot of hunting wisdom from her youthful charge. / Lori Brunnen photo.
This is a foxhunting forum and I do realize that is what readers come to read about. Still I would like to share one personal thing. My husband of forty-two years died on June 10th, 2018 just four months after being diagnosed with an inoperable malignant brain tumor. His name was Rick. Four months of disbelief, struggle, suffering, and finally grief. Moving to a new place last September with the horses following in December left me missing the first half of the 2019 season as well as the last half of 2018.
Larry LeHew, ex-MFH (1937–2020)
Douglas Lees photo
Larry Leon LeHew, ex-MFH of the Rappahannock Hunt (VA) and later the Thornton Hill Hounds (VA), passed away at his home, Bel Air, in Front Royal, Virginia, on Friday, October 23, 2020. He was eighty-three.
Born February 14, 1937 in Front Royal, Larry was a direct descendant of Peter LeHew, accredited with the founding of LeHewtown, which later became Front Royal. The LeHew family at one time owned much of the land which includes modern Front Royal.
The Vixen’s Meet: A Fund Raiser for Our Times
Orange County Hounds Field Master John Coles, MFH, leads a field of 60 visiting foxhunting ladies on the Vixen's Meet . / Joanne Maisano photo
When the COVID pandemic and executive orders from the Governor of Virginia forced cancellation of Orange County Hounds’ primary annual fund raising event—the barn party held at Board President Jaqueline Mars’ legendary home—OCH Board leaders Jane Bishop and Emily Hannum put their heads together and scheduled instead a Vixen’s Meet. Given the strong showing October 15, 2020 at Stonehedge in The Plains, Virginia, the ladies like it.
Ladies from a dozen hunts turned out in support of Orange County: Belle Meade Hunt (GA), Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA), Cloudline Hounds (TX), and De La Brooke Foxhounds (MD). From Virginia were ladies of the Blue Ridge Hunt, Casanova Hunt, Loudoun Fairfax Hunt, Middleburg Hunt, Piedmont Fox Hounds, Rappahannock Hunt, and Snickersville Hounds.
The Gray Goose and the Foxhunt
In June of 1982, Kim Walnes, a mother of two young children, stunned the eventing world by winning the Rolex Kentucky Advanced Three-Day Event on a gray gelding she had bought in Ireland and trained herself. The young mother, who hadn’t started eventing until the age of twenty-eight, was suddenly National Champion. Three months later, at the World Three-Day Championships in Luhmühlen, Germany, Kim and The Gray Goose earned the individual and U.S. team bronze medals.
In 1983 I made my dream of competing in the Three-Day Event at Badminton a reality by writing letters for donations, holding bake sales, and soliciting sponsorships. We arrived in England several weeks early to get used to the different climate and footing; England in April was very different from Connecticut in that month!