People

Douglas Lees photo

Sporting photographer Jim Meads achieved a personal milestone and undoubtedly established a world record on December 5, 2010 when he photographed the Loudoun West Hunt near Leesburg, Virginia. This was the five hundredth unique hunt that Meads has photographed over the course of a career spanning sixty years.

Meads, who lives in Wales, follows hunts on foot and in vehicles and always seems to appear where the action is, even before the mounted followers arrive. His long legs and astounding endurance has allowed him to capture many of the greatest action shots of foxhunting ever recorded on film. He has photographed hunts in England, Ireland, Canada, and the U.S.

Wateree Hounds dedication plaque on their new kennel expansion. Photo by Clare Buchanan.

The Wateree Hounds in South Carolina dedicated their kennel expansion to celebrate family, friendship, and the fox hunting tradition.

Mells Fox Hounds Joint Masters at the 2023 Virginia Hound Show on the lawn of Morven Park. Pictured (L-R) Bill Haggard, Charles Montgomery, Theresa Menefee, and Gerald Robeson. Not pictured: Stasia Bachrach. Photo by Boo Montgomery.

Periodically, the Ian Milne Award is presented by the Master of Foxhounds Association to active huntsmen who are of sound character and who have made lasting contributions to the sport of foxhunting. Recipients of the award have learned their craft through long service in the field and in the kennels, and who uphold a high standard within the sport.

It’s that time of the off-season to check up on huntsmen who are moving or retiring and those hunts acquiring or seeking huntsmen. Here’s what we know.

Guy Allman at Blue Ridge with then whipper-in Neil Amatt and hounds  /  Betsy Burke Parker photo

Live Oak Hounds (FL)
British-born Guy Allman has returned to the States from England to hunt the well-bred pack of Modern English and Crossbred foxhounds at Live Oak in north Florida. Allman has been in hunt service for thirty-seven seasons, all but three years of that time in England.

Joe Kriz and son ready for a day with the Middlebury Hunt (CT), circa 1962

Joe Kriz, known by family and friends as "UJ" (Uncle Joe), and his son Joe Kriz, known as "Little Joe," appear in the photo above in hunting attire for a day with the Middlebury Hunt (CT), circa early- to mid-1960s. In the background is the family farm in Bethany, Connecticut, owned by UJ and his brother Johnny.

UJ and Jonny were seventh-generation farriers in a family that immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia. The brothers lived side-by-side on the farm for most of their adult lives, including their final years. Because of their hospitality and generosity, their farm was the local hub for horsey folks in the area. Sundays and many holidays were Open House with food and drink and good cheer in abundance.

How to pass the horn: Fred Berry, MFH, Sedgefield, after 35 years as huntsman passes the horn to whipper-in Randall Wiseman Carty.

When the hunting season starts this fall, the Sedgefield Hunt (NC) will field a new huntsman. After thirty-five years carrying the horn, Fred Berry, MFH, has passed it on to a first-year professional huntsman, Randall Wiseman Carty. First-year notwithstanding, Ms. Carty will hardly be new to hounds or hunting.

In Ireland, the early 1950s through the 1960s was an era of amateur Master/huntsmen―young men of some means―who took on a pack of hounds more as an avocation than a job," writes our correspondent, Dickie Power. He was fortunate to have hunted with many of them, such as Thady Ryan in Scarteen, Evan Williams in Tipperary, Lord Daresbury in Limerick, Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson in Duhallow, Victor McCalmont in Kilkenny, Elsie Morgan in West Waterford, and PP Hogan in Avondhu. This centenary year of Hogan’s birth is an appropriate time to remember him―a legend of Irish foxhunting and point-to-point racing.

 (L-R)  PP Hogan with his friend Thady Ryan, Master and huntsman, Scarteeen Black and Tans (1956)

PP (Pat) Hogan was born in Ireland into a family of horse dealers, farmers, and huntsmen, with an odd Bishop thrown in. His great uncle was the sporting bishop of Limerick, who always encouraged his clergy to ride to hounds.

The Hogans were a well-to-do farming family, with farms dotted around east Limerick, then as now an area steeped in everything to do with the horse. PP rode almost before he could walk. He rode his first race at the age of twelve. In those days before health and safety reigned supreme, it was only a matter of months before he made the first of countless visits to the winner’s enclosure.