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Thaddeus 'Thady' Ryan of Scarteen was Master of the family pack of Kerry Beagles from 1946 to 2005, the year of his passing. Records show this unique breed of hounds has been in the Ryan family at Scarteen for ten consecutive generations stretching back more than three centuries. The pack hunted hare in the earlier years, then the stag, and finally, in 1927, the fox.

Thady Ryan, MFH, and Tommy O'Dwyer with the Scarteen Hounds at Knocktoran Bog, 1982.  /   From the painting by Peter Curling

The period from the early 1950s through the 1960s was an era of amateur Master/huntsmen where young men of some means would take on a pack of hounds more as an avocation than a job. I 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.

Over the next couple of months, I hope to bring short hunting biographies of these remarkable sportsmen, recalling a time of long days in the field and even longer hunts when the leading horsemen of those times flocked to Ireland to experience the magic and challenge of hunting in the south of Ireland.

Book Review by Norman Fine

Major Charles Kindersley with hounds and son, Richard, whipping-in. Painting by Jean Bowman. This book is available in the U.S. for $30.00 (USD) and in Canada for $40.00 (Canadian). Shipping is included in the price. Please e-mail your order directly to the author and include your phone number. She will call you for your credit card information.

The Life and Memory of Charles Montague Kindersley by Lynne Kindersley Dole is a story of ingenuity and adventure that takes us well beyond Major Kindersley's distinguished Mastership of which many readers are already familiar.

He was born in 1900 and lived through most of the twentieth century―until 1993. This story deserved to be written because he lived such a remarkable life. Likewise, it well-deserves to be read because it is authentically written by his daughter and is a riveting read.

The late Erskine Bedford, Piedmont's consummate Field Master for twenty seasons through the late twentieth century, explains how to lead and educate the field.

Erskine Bedford, MFH and Field Master, Piedmont Fox Hounds, 1979-1998

The Field Master’s job has five simple rules: first, have a great pack of hounds; second, have a great huntsman; third, have a great horse; fourth―getting serious now―know your country; and fifth, make it fun.

Willie Leahy, while Field Master of the Galway Blazers  /   Noel Mullins photo

Ireland and the horse world lost one of their best-known horsemen, Willie Leahy. He provided outstanding field hunters for visitors to Galway, served as Field Master of the Galway Blazers, was the first to offer pony trekking tours to Ireland, and developed the Connemara Trail. Willie was an uncle to Tony Leahy, MFH, past president of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America.

His home was Aille Cross in Loughrea, County Galway. In the nearly seventy years I have known Willie, he remained true to the Traditional Irish Horse, Connemara Pony, and the countryside where he was most content. He started from modest means on a small family farm with one horse, leaving school early, but his boundless imagination and vision saw Willie develop one of the largest equestrian enterprises in Ireland, with farms in Loughrea and Connemara.

The Irish possess a mystical, possibly genetic relationship with the horse. The late Frank Burke is a splendid example of the horseman all horse-lovers aspire to be.

Frank Burke with Siscero, winner of the 2016 Dublin Horse Show Puissance at 7-feet, 3-inches and ridden by Shane Breen  /   Noel Mullins photo

A constant outpouring of messages of sympathy flew at the sad news of the passing of Frank Burke―West of Ireland horseman and lifetime follower of the Galway Blazers Foxhounds. The messages expressed what so many were thinking: a great warrior, kind and caring, inspiring, a joy to meet, smiling and good-humoured, hospitable, strong, a passion for life, steely determination, brave, tough and positive. Some said they admired his deep faith, a gentleman who suffered in silence from a dreadful illness over the last twenty years, yet remained pleasant and uncomplaining.

Frank knew he was not fighting his battle alone. He has his family in his corner and particularly his beloved wife Bernie, a trained nurse who was his ‘rock,’ sharing both his good days and bad days. And he had sons and daughters, all living as a close family unit. His son David said that his father gave a whole new meaning to the word, tough, recalling when the Hospice Nurse called to the house to attend to Frank only to be told he was out on the farm painting a gate!

Kate French, a horsewoman from a hunting family, wins the Olympic Gold Medal in the modern pentathlon for Britain.

The battle for gold in Tokyo’s modern pentathlon event involved yet another Olympian drama. Annika Schleu of Germany, comfortably in the lead going into the last day of the finals, experienced a meltdown in the equestrian test, catapulting Britain’s Kate French to the Gold Medal by the end of the afternoon.

Kate French, thirty years old, is at home on a horse. “I come from a riding background mainly; I’ve been riding since I was very little,” she said in an interview. French had horses from an early age and grew up in Pony Club. Her mother is Master of a mounted pack of hard-running bloodhounds, and her father is a Master of Beagles. She is the grand-niece of Derek French, ex-Master of the Eglinton and Caledon Hounds in Ontario (and an author and contributor to FHL).

Mark Beecher riding Professor Maxwell, winners of the 2013 Maryland Hunt Cup   /  Noel Mullins photo

It’s always fascinating to talk with somebody successful in one equestrian discipline, challenges himself in another, changes continents, and proves immensely successful again. Now Mark Beecher has decided to step back from competitive riding and take up training.

I talked with Mark at his present home in Maryland in the USA. He is from a hunting and showjumping background. I was aware of some of his successes in the States, having seen him race riding, but I didn’t realise the enormity of what he has achieved in just eight years as a jockey in the USA. Surely, hunting and show jumping have contributed to that success.

A Horse&Hound Legend of the Sport, Charlie Swan was Champion Jockey for 9 consecutive years until his retirement.

The bond between son Charlie and father Donald shone like a beacon when I had the opportunity to speak to them both during the lock-down. Charlie begins their story.

“Dad adored his riding, whether it was hunting or riding as an amateur. And I guess he passed that on to me. He loved the training and always had a few horses for me to ride. My great-grandfather on my mother’s side was champion flat Jockey in England and rode a Derby winner. I would have often looked to Dad for advice, and I gained a lot of experience with him.”

Sean Cully (center) hunts his hounds at a joint meet in Geneseo, New York, hosted by Marion Thorne, MFH and huntsman of the Genesee Valley Hounds (at left). /   Noel Mullins photo

The first time I met Sean Cully he was Master and huntsman of the Blue Mountain Hounds (PA), and he was hunting an up-to-weight Irish Draught hunter. Blue Mountain, established by Cully in 1999 as a private foot pack, had been recently Registered by the MFHA.

On the occasion of our meeting, Cully was visiting Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Pennsylvania, celebrating their centennial year in 2013. Between then and now, this former Master and huntsman of a small foot pack has stabilized the foxhunting countries of two additional hunts in Pennsylvania under his Mastership and added winter fixtures near Aiken, South Carolina.

Jeep Cochran and her Calf Pasture Bassets

As dedicated, passionate—some might even say fanatical—members of the global sporting community of those who hunt with hounds, we all feel the loss of our treasured activities as the COVID pandemic rages across our countries. During this time of suffering it seems insensitive to mourn the departure of a single individual from our sporting scene, but in this case a large group of people has lost the opportunity to celebrate the career, times, and exemplary hunting life of the retiring Master of the Calf Pasture Bassets, Evelyn "Jeep" Cochran.

What? Is she dead? Emphatically not! But the pandemic has robbed all her friends of the chance to celebrate her life, her hounds, her triumphs too numerous to tally...at hound shows, at field trials, and over the course of a sporting life lived over an impressive span of years.