Horse & Hound
Happy 95th, Michael Dempsey!
Michael Dempsey, Master and huntsman of the Galway Blazers parading 22-1/2 couple of hounds at the Dublin Horse Show, 1983 / Noel Mullins photo
Former Master and huntsman of the Galway Blazers for forty seasons, Michael Dempsey celebrated his ninety-fifth birthday last week. And there are still some who remember him hunting Lady Molly Cusack-Smith’s Bermingham and North Galway Hounds even before that!
In fact, your FHL editor was in the field near Bermingham House one hunting day that would have cancelled any prognostication of this man ever achieving ninety-five years topside.
Hot Weather Hunting Is Hard on Hounds
Joanne Maisano photo
We’ve had hot weather hunting reports from many quarters across the Mid-Atlantic and southward. The West Coast as well. Hot weather hunting can be devastating to hounds because... bless them... they will try to keep up with the pack even when overheated and failing. Some hounds will be more susceptible to heat exhaustion than others, and the result can be fatal if neglected.
Oakleigh B. Thorne (1932–2020)
Oakleigh B. Thorne, sportsman, philanthropist, and businessman, known for his quick wit and irreverent personality, died on October 7, 2020 at his home in Millbrook, New York. He was 88 years old.
“Oakleigh came from the family that, more than any other, was instrumental in establishing the Millbrook Hunt as we know it today,” said Farnham F. Collins, ex-MFH.
Cheshire Huntsman Is a Good Neighbor
Huntsman Ivan Dowling is an asset to his community. Public goodwill, we believe, is the key to the future of foxhunting.
Cheshire huntsman Ivan Dowling, hounds, and field on their way to the next draw / Jim Graham photo
Foxhunting Life has argued in past articles that the future of foxhunting depends simply on telling the truth about our sport and being good neighbors in our communities. Take Irish-born Ivan Dowling for example.
Millbrook Celebrates its 113th Opening Meet
Millbrook's new huntsman, Erin McKenney, parades hounds to the Stirrup Cup before moving off from Wethersfield. / Carol Pedesen photo
The Millbrook Hunt (NY) held its 113th Opening Meet at Wethersfield, the former home of Mr. Chauncey Stillman, on Saturday, October 3, 2020. Mr. Stillman first hunted with Millbrook in 1937 as a guest. Soon after, he assembled the land and began construction of this elegant property. He continued to hunt with the Millbrook as a member.
The Huntsman’s Horse
Chris Ryan staying with his Scarteen Black and Tans / Catherine Power photo
It is generally recognised that only a very special horse will suffice for a huntsman of a premier pack. Many of these horses acquire fame in their own right and often become even better known than their riders. No horse should ever be considered too good or too valuable for a huntsman on a big day. Capt Harry Freeman-Jackson regularly hunted the Duhallow hounds off St. Finbarr, which he rode when representing Ireland in the Rome Olympics. Many of the greats are a one-of and often unridable unless they are up front.
Foxhunting and the Point-to-Point
Cheltenham, the Home of Jump Racing in Britain
What came first, the chicken or the egg is a conundrum that is unlikely ever to be solved. The same question concerning foxhunting and point-to-point racing, on the other hand, is quite simple to answer. We have to go back as far as the fifteenth century and maybe even earlier to discover the origins of foxhunting. In its beginnings, it's likely the same hounds were used for hunting both hares and stags.
It was in the eighteenth century that foxhunting as we know it started to take shape, and for this we can thank Hugo Meynell, the father of modern foxhunting, and his period of Mastership at the Quorn. It wasn't long before the sport became a favourite pastime of the well-to-do crowd.
A Bluebird Day for Racing at Blue Ridge
Maiden Hurdle, Div 1: (l-r) Noble Weed (Sean McDermott up), 3rd; All Out Of Aces (Graham Watters up), 1st / Douglas Lees photo
Saturday, September 19, 2020 was a bluebird day indeed for horses, horsemen, and spectators to be racing, riding, and cheering at Blue Ridge Hunt’s postponed spring point-to-point. Except the latter—the spectators— were sadly absent.
The ground was hard, but the ancient thatch of grass on the Woodley racecourse provides a thick natural cushion for horses. Nine races were run: hurdles, flat, then timber. Of the nine races, trainer Neil Morris entries won three—Maiden Hurdle, Open Hurdle, and Novice Rider Flat.
Virginia, Yes; Montana, Not So Much
Purely American hunting after the fleet coyote over the Big Sky Hounds country / Gretchen Pelham photo.
It is not something you expect to see in Montana. You’ll do a double take and rub your eyes the first time you round the bend in ranch country and catch a glimpse of a pack of foxhounds followed by a bunch of people horseback, some wearing scarlet coats and hunt caps, some Carharts and cowboy hats. You’ll want to stop and watch as some sail over a haphazard jump put across a barbed wire fence in the middle of a cow pasture. You will probably hear the huntsman’s horn and the hounds screaming. And if you look way, way ahead, you might catch a glimpse of a very nonplussed coyote. Not a fox.
This is foxhunting, Montana-style. Even though there usually isn’t a fox involved, and without a rifle it’s not really considered hunting out here, but for those of us who ride to the Big Sky Hounds, it is a helluva lot of fun.
Hunting with Daniel O’Connell, The Liberator
Portrait of Daniel O’Connell and one of his Kerry Beagles / Noel Mullins photo
Researching the history of one’s sport can be very rewarding, as little did I know during my history classes in school that the Irish politician Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847), known as The Liberator, was a hunting man. Maybe I would have paid more attention had I known!
I explored Daniel O’Connell’s hunting life further when I was given a seventy-year-old unfinished manuscript on the Kerry Beagle written by the great Irish writer, poet, broadcaster, and hunting correspondent, Stanislaus Lynch (1907–1983). I since edited Lynch’s manuscript and published his book in 2017 titled, In Search of the Kerry Beagle.
