People

Huntsman Larry Pitts with the foxhounds of the Potomac Hunt (MD) / Karen Kandra Wenzel photo

Professional huntsman Larry Pitts was recognized at the recent MFHA Staff Seminar held in Lexington, Kentucky, April 12 to 13, 2014. After a dinner for the two hundred attendees, Larry was presented with the annual Ian Milne Award for his exceptional contributions to the sport of foxhunting.

While the sport of foxhunting may, as many say, revolve around the foxhound, I suggest that the heart and soul of our sport is the professional huntsman. Professionals like Larry preserve the superlative foxhound bloodlines for breeding, and they maintain the standards for the care and training of hounds in kennel and the handling of hounds in the field. All hunts—whether high-octane or small farmer’s pack—and all huntsmen—whether professional or amateur—benefit from their breeding acumen and their examples of practice.

Here is a real-life example of how the professional huntsman exerts his or her influence upon our sport in kennels far beyond his own. Epp Wilson, MFH and huntsman of the Belle Meade Hunt (GA), reached back to his teen years and his first meeting with Larry Pitts in this vignette.

George L. Ohrstrom III / Matthew Klein photoEver since 1888, the Blue Ridge Hunt has pursued foxes through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia—a verdant, rolling grassland dotted with small woodlands, perhaps fifteen miles across, nestled between the Blue Ridge Mountains to the east and the Allegheny Mountains to the west.

The Shenandoah River flows northeasterly along the eastern edge of the valley, passes under the western slopes of the Blue Ridge, and empties into the Potomac River at Harper’s Ferry, W.Va.—a confluence described three centuries ago by Thomas Jefferson as “one of the most stupendous scenes in nature.”

Home to a mostly rural population, the Shenandoah Valley has long been a destination of unsurpassed beauty to vacationers and sightseers. The northern part of the Valley that is home to the Blue Ridge Hunt also finds itself to be an object of lust to developers from Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia to the east and the nearby city of Winchester to the west. While many landowners find it hard to resist the potential financial windfall from development, others believe that to relinquish such natural beauty to untrammeled development would be a crime against nature.

Along with its sister landscape just to the east of the Blue Ridge—Virginia’s Piedmont—a passionate calling for preservation has rallied many of its citizens to battle. Few, however, have responded like George Ohrstrom III. The scope and creativity of Ohrstrom’s efforts locally, nationally, and internationally earned him the MFHA’s Conservation Award for 2014.

Heather Player carried the horn and Norfolk huntsman John Elliott whipped-in to her at the All New England Hunt hosted by Myopia in 2010. / Mary Marks photo

Myopia Hunt whipper-in Heather Player will move inland from Boston’s North Shore to become huntsman for the nearby Norfolk Hunt next season. Founded in the late 1800s, both hunts are among North America’s most venerable hunting institutions, and both have been hunting the drag since that time.

Heather grew up hunting with Myopia under the tutelage of well-known North Shore trainers Patrick and Barbara Keough.

“When I was around seven years old I started riding with Patrick and Barbara at the Myopia Hunt Club Stables,” said Heather. “Patrick started me hunting at eleven, and from
then on that’s all I wanted to do. I would do the local horse shows but never enjoyed it as much as hunting. I earned my Junior Colors at fourteen. My first paying job was at the Myopia Hunt Club at sixteen, riding and hunting horses.

Nancy Dillon has taught children to ride and hunt for nearly half a century. / Liz Callar photo

Nancy Dillon is a living, legendary treasure of the Piedmont Fox Hounds in Virginia. She is the longest subscribing member of the hunt, having started hunting at age eight in 1943. For nearly a half century she has taught and led more children into the hunting field than anyone can count. Her truck and trailer pulling into the meet have been likened to the car at the circus where the clowns just keep coming out.

On Friday, November 8, 2013, the hunt threw a party at Buchanan Hall in Upperville to screen a specially-produced documentary—Lessons in the Piedmont—in tribute to Nancy. Throughout this beautifully-produced and heart-warming film, children (some grown, others still growing), Masters, hunt members, and citizens of the community expressed their love for this woman and their heart-felt appreciation for what she has done to instill a love of the sport, respect for the land, and personal values to generations of children.

Susan Oakes establishes new side saddle record for jumping triple bar at six feet, four-and-a-half inches from ground level. / Noel Mullins photo

Susan Oakes—Joint-Master of the Grallagh Harriers and the organizer of last year’s international ladies’ side saddle hunt with the Meath Foxhounds—set two side saddle high jump world records at the Irish National Sports Center on October 24, 2013.

Oakes jumped six feet, eight inches over a puissance wall, breaking her own record of five feet which she established just this summer at the RDS Dublin Horse Show. Then she established a world record of six feet, four-and-a-half inches for jumping a triple bar from ground level.

A world record of six feet, six inches for the triple bar set in Australia in 1915 still stands unbroken, but that record was established by jumping off a ramp. Foxhunting Life reported on Oakes’s attempt to break that record last year and also reported on the international ladies’ side saddle hunt that Oakes organized at the Meath last year. Fifty ladies from nine countries including the U.S. participated in that elegant affair.

George Thomas, MFH of the Why Worry Hounds (SC) / Charles Sainsbury-Plaice photoWhen George and Jeanie Thomas organized their hunt twenty years ago near Aiken, South Carolina, they expressed their philosophy in naming it. Why Worry Hounds they called it, and now, after twenty years of managing hounds, horses, and country by themselves, they have made some organizational changes to re-establish that philosophy.

With George busier in his day job and Jeanie having conquered some pesky physical issues, the couple has taken steps to ease their burdens by bringing on board two well-known, immensely capable, and passionate foxhunters ready and wanting to shoulder a share of the responsibilities—Randy and Robin Waterman.

Randy, ex-MFH and former huntsman of the Piedmont Fox Hounds (VA), has been named huntsman of the Why Worry Hounds. Robin, who whipped-in to Randy at Piedmont, joins George and Jeanie as Joint-MFH at Why Worry and will whip-in to Randy.

Betsy Burke Parker photo

World-renowned huntsman Melvin Poe celebrated his 93rd birthday Sunday, August 25 by doing what only comes natural to the living legend—going foxhunting. Riding his favorite hunter and surrounded by Peggy, his wife of some fifty years, his four daughters, a bevy of grandchildren, neighbors, and friends, Melvin handled the horn and the reins with the cool confidence of a man one-quarter his age at what had to be a historic hunt.

"I can't believe he's still going strong," said Charlie Matheson, former president of the Orange County Hounds where Melvin served as huntsman some three decades. "He's an amazing man. We're so lucky to have him."

Foxhunting Life editor Norm Fine was interviewed on the Horse Radio Network last Friday, July 26, 2012 by Helena Bee and Sissi Finn for their program "Chasing a Fox in a Little Black Dress." The interview was aired on "Stable Scoop," the network’s flagship program, and may be heard at the network’s website and through Stable Scoop’s other outlets such as The Chronicle of the Horse, iTunes Radio, Horse.com, Equestrian Life, and Chasing a Fox.

Helena and Sissi hunt with the venerable Myopia Hunt in Hamilton, Massachusetts. In addition to their radio programming productions, the pair has teamed up in a new venture which provides style consulting services for the hunting field as well as other equestrian pursuits and all related social activities such as hunt balls, hunt teas, race meets, fund raisers, polo matches, and cocktail parties.

“I have a long history in equestrian retail and a former career in corporate marketing,” says Helena. “With Sissi's style expertise and my business acumen, we figured we could eek out a small living from Chasing a Fox!”

The Troutbeck Valley runs into the fells to the North East out of Windermere, through the seventeenth century village of Troutbeck. The road which runs through the valley rises dramatically toward the Kirkstone Pass and its famous Inn, rebuilt in the 1830s by Sewell the local priest.

As you climb the pass there is a superb view to the right of the head of the valley and the piece of land known as the Tongue (old Norse tunga or table land between two valleys) that joins Hird Ghyll on one side and Hag Ghyll on the other.

At the base of the tongue are the picturesque white farmhouse and outbuildings of Troutbeck Park Farm. In 1923 Beatrix Potter purchased the farm, the deeds containing twenty five separately described parcels of land running to 1875 acres for which she paid £8000. The farm was conveyed to her on 28th August 1923 making her one of the largest landowners in the English Lake District.

Karin Winegar brought her horse and her book for a show-and-tell and book reading.

Foxhunting Life is always mining for a good story.  And so, upon the conclusion of each hunting season we ask (on our FaceBook page), “What do you do in the off-season?” We got a dandy answer (and a story!) from author/journalist/foxhunter Karin Winegar of St. Paul, Minnesota. She’s introducing inner-city youngsters to horses and reading.

Karin, whose reports from Ireland and New Zealand you have seen on FHL, recently held a reading at Folwell School in Minneapolis for her first children’s book, Tina of Grand Avenue (Horsefeed Press). Tina was born too small and had an imperfect leg, but she had an “I can do it!” attitude that made her fearless, so Karin donated her to the St. Paul Mounted Patrol. Tina went through special training, encountering everything from sirens to gunfire. Karin’s book tells the true story of Tina’s adventures and her career with Officer Mark.