Horse & Hound

Foreground (l-r): Michael Brown, huntsman and Oliver Brown, MFH, Rappahannock Hunt with host Epp Wilson, MFH, Belle Meade Hunt /  Karen Raiford photo

This article—about foxhunters on the road and the joys of visiting—is being published in several installments: 1. A Huntsman’s Perspective, 2. One Master’s Perspective, 3. Another Master’s Perspective, and 4. A Member’s Perspective. Here is our second installment.

I first met the Ambassador of Foxhunting, Ben Hardaway, MFH, of the Midland Foxhounds (GA) in 1973. It was Ben’s first trip to Virginia, and I was in awe of this traveling foxhunting circus. His members were so excited as were his hounds to show their adaptation to a different territory. Many more times did he come to hunt with us, and I also had the pleasure of being invited to hunt with him in his country. But I envied being able to take your own hounds to strange territories. So after hunting in Midland several times and becoming enthused, my son Michael and I made our first trek south with hounds in 1999.

The authorPicture this: four hunts—Bridlespur Hunt (MO), Full Cry Hounds (AL), Grand Canyon Hounds (AZ),and Mill Creek Hunt (IL)—bringing their best three couple of hounds to the field; thirty-five enthusiastic mounted riders; and sweeping vistas of open hunting country loaded with coyotes. This made for an action-packed five days of foxhunting activities consisting of a three-day Foxhound Performance Trial, foot hunting with the bassets, and a joint meet of foxhounds. It all took place at the  Flint Hills Invitational Performance Trial, held on March 7-9, 2012, generously hosted by the Moingona Hunt staff and members. The Flint Hills area of Kansas is an immense rolling prairie of tallgrass and recognized as one of America’s unique treasures.

On the Road: A Huntsman’s Perspective

Visitors from the Rappahannock Hunt at Memorial Gate in the Hitchcock Woods for a meet with the Aiken Hounds / Karen Raiford photo

This article—about foxhunters on the road and the joys of visiting—is being published in four installments: 1. A Huntsman’s Perspective, 2. One Master’s Perspective, 3. Another Master’s Perspective, and 4. A Member’s Perspective. Here is the first installment.

On January 20, 2012, members of the Rappahannock Hunt left the familiar hills and mountains of Virginia for the mostly flat, somewhat sandy hunting territory along the border between South Carolina and Georgia. Some of us have been making this pilgrimage for more than fifteen years now.

Canyon de Chelly

The Navajo mounted on his paint pony looked wistfully at the hand and footholds cut a thousand years ago. They snaked precipitously up the steep rock face perhaps some 2,500 feet to the canyon rim and 500 feet vertically. I followed his gaze and added less than solemnly, “Wow, scares me just to look at that! Have you ever climbed that in your life?”

He indicated that he had—many times. Now having been born at night, but not last night, I had both heard and read that the Navajo will sometimes spin tall tales about their special places, provided the recipient is sufficiently gullible.

Huntsman Declan Feeney  /  Noel Mullins photoSaint Patrick arrived at Strangford Lough in 432 AD from Wales. He quickly converted the local chieftain Dichu, who gave him a barn in which to hold his services. On the site known as the cradle of Irish Christianity on the Hill of Saul (meaning Patrick’s Barn, or in Gaelic, Sabhall Phadraic), there remains today a church and round tower where services are still conducted each Sunday. Saint Patrick died on March 17 in 461 AD, and his remains are interred in nearby Downpatrick Cathedral.

The East Down kennels are in County Down, on the outskirts of the village of Seaforde, southeast of Belfast in Northern Ireland. Hounds were originally kennelled there by the Forde family from 1768 to 1837 and were known as Mr. Forde’s Hounds. They later became known as the Lecale Hounds, and subsequently the East Down Foxhounds. The hunt members wear the St. Patrick’s blue collar.