Horse & Hound
Entries are Well-Filled at Old Dominion Point-to-Point
Maiden Hurdle, Division 1: Last fence (l-r) He'll Do (Parker Hendriks up), 2nd; You're No Better (Archie Macauley up), 1st. / Douglas Lees photo
With the 2020 events calendar at sixes and sevens for sporting events worldwide, Old Dominion Hounds’ annual Point-to-Point Races at Ben Venue came off on September 12th in the fall of the year rather than in the spring. The good news that some point-to-points are coming off at all is testament to the fact that we are trying to learn how to co-exist with a new reality. Not ideally, to be sure, but we are testing boundaries and, hopefully, learning what works and not what doesn’t.
The fact that most of the ten races on the day’s card were well-filled with entries demonstrates a heartfelt desire for a return to normalcy, but the many horses pulled up during the course of so many of the jump races also demonstrates the training difficulties encountered this year.
Andrews Bridge Opens Fall Season at the Slabpile
The foxhunter's favorite view: between the ears / Rachel Wilkoski photo
Thursday morning, September third, just past 7:00 am, the sun was rising over high corn fields, alfalfa and late season tobacco fields, much of it soon to be harvested by teams of Belgian mules in Christiana, Pennsylvania. Off of Highland Road, arriving Andrews Bridge Foxhounds members were pulling their rigs onto the edge of a tobacco field. The farm ground was greasy from the prior night of rain and it was the slightest bit humid.
Entering Young Hounds
What follows is an excerpt from the author’s excellent book, Letters to a Young Huntsman.
Foxhounds of the Orange County Hounds (VA) / Douglas Lees photo
We would start roading (mounted hound exercise) around the middle of July. I really wanted the youngsters off couples by this time as a couple wrapped around a horse’s leg can be an ugly thing. Once puppies are used to going out with the horses, then it’s time to start introducing them to things like sheep, deer, cattle, etc.
This should be done as low key as possible; the worst thing you can do is make a big deal of it. If you have staff swinging whips and speaking loudly to the hounds, it’s only going to jazz them up. If you stay relaxed and cool, the hounds will pick up on that and remain cool themselves. Theses are things that they will see every day out hunting and everyone has to act accordingly.
Casting Hounds at a Loss
Norman Fine examines what happens when hounds find a loss on the line.
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Four of Fifty-Five American Dog Breeds Hunt the Fox
American Foxhound
Dogs, wolf-like canids believed to be related to an extinct species of wolf, are known to have been with us for 15,000 to 35,000 years. Humans from Siberia who crossed the Bering Strait when still a land bridge more than 10,000 years ago are believed to have had dogs in their company. Those dogs perhaps even made the human migration possible by pulling sleds. These are thought to be the common primogenitors to all American dog breeds.
Another huge influence on American breeds, and substantially more recent, were those pets and working dogs brought to America by early explorers and colonists. Many of these immigrant dogs most likely bred with native American dogs, creating still more new types to be ultimately bred for special purposes and domesticated further.
In the Path of a Wildfire
The wildfire tops the final ridge before descending into the valley toward the Red Rock Hounds kennels, stables, and homes, from where this photo was shot. / Joy Smith photo
“A huge scare. That’s for sure,” said Angela Murray, MFH and huntsman, Red Rock Hounds (NV).
After many hot and blistering weeks the sagebrush had turned to dry tinder for miles around, just waiting for a spark. On August 2, 2020 the wait was over. A car blew a tire on the north-south freeway 395 about ten miles west of the ranch that is home to the Red Rock Hounds. The spinning rim of the wheel hit the pavement and sparks flew. The sagebrush caught fire, spread, and with windy conditions for encouragement headed east from the freeway and over the first mountain range.
The Fox that Collects Shoes
We’ve all heard of certain ladies who collect more shoes than they could possibly wear, but foxes? In a Berlin suburb in Germany recently, according to the BBC and Deutsche Welle, footwear was disappearing from homeowners’ yards—sometimes a single shoe, sometimes the pair. Residents were on alert to determine the culprit. It was a fox, caught on camera with a pair of blue flip flops in its mouth, stealing quietly across the cobblestones. Christian Meyer, the photographer, discovered the stash of more than 100 shoes: slippers, sandals, running shoes…. But Meyer’s missing shoes were not among them. Which goes to prove that even animals won’t keep all their eggs in one basket. Posted August 10, 2020 The story was brought to us by our Minneapolis correspondent, Karin Winegar.
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AI: A Boost to Foxhound Breeders
Julian Barnfield, MFH and huntsman, "at the end of a cracking Autumn hunting morning...the hounds had been amazing."Julian Barnfield, former huntsman of the Cotswold, Heythrop, and North Shropshire Foxhounds (UK), has retired from the field but plans to use his breeding experience to assist foxhound breeders worldwide. Barnfield has associated with a leading European equine reproduction company to form Elite Kennel Fertility. Barnfield is a director of Elite, as is Tullis Matson, whose multi-award winning Stallion AI Services Ltd is one of the leading equine reproduction services in Europe.
Barnfield and Matson were Joint-Masters at the North Shropshire. American foxhound breeders—whether hunting a Crossbred pack or simply seeking an outcross to revitalize close bloodlines, should benefit from the services, facilities, and knowhow of the new company.
A New Huntsman for Aiken
Performance Trial huntsman Chad Wilkes in North Carolina / Lucy Kelsey photo
The Aiken Hounds (SC) needed a huntsman, and Chad Wilkes was available. Sounds simple enough, but it really wasn’t. The story is in the hows and whys of it: the perfect timing, the perfect match, and how it all meshes so perfectly.
In 1914 many of the most adventurous men and women of American sporting legend organized the Aiken Drag—wealthy northerners Louise Eustis Hitchcock, MFH and huntsman; her husband Thomas Hitchcock, known today as the father of steeplechase racing in America; son Tommy Hitchcock Jr., who ranks with his father as one of the greatest American polo players of all time; plus the Belmonts, Vanderbilts, and Whitneys.
Which Is the Real John Peel Horn?
John Peel's hunting horn for auction
Mitchell’s, a Cockermouth auction house near Carlisle in Cumbria will hold its Country Sporting Sale from July 22 to July 24, 2020. Cumbria, of course, is where John Peel (1776-1854) hunted hounds. Peel, subject of the well known hunting song, “D’ye ken John Peel?” remains, arguably, the world’s most famous huntsman.
One highlight of the sale includes a hunting horn believed to have belonged to John Peel. The horn is described in the catalog as:
