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Hunting Convictions Reversed; Critical Evidence Withheld?
Huntsman Paul Larby and the foxhounds of the Grove and Rufford, UK / James Barclay photoThree happy foxhunters in Britain just had their convictions quashed after having been found guilty and fined last year in court.
Two men and a woman affiliated with the Grove and Rufford Foxhounds in Nottinghamshire were charged and prosecuted in a British Magistrates Court for illegally hunting a fox. Huntsman Paul Larby, terrier man Peter White, and whipper-in Jane Wright were convicted and fined £1,128; £853; and £448 respectively. But did the police and Crown Prosecutor withhold evidence that would have exonerated the three?
Dowling Returns: Will Carry the Horn at Cheshire
Ivan Dowling photo by Jim GrahamThe Masters and Directors of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) have announced the return of Ivan Dowling as professional huntsman for the well-respected pack.
Dowling returned to hunt the Cheshire hounds on a temporary basis in February, upon the departure of huntsman Barry Magner, then in his second season. A search committee was established to review other potential applicants but decided instead to propose reviving the hunt’s previous long term relationship with Dowling. The retired huntsman enthusiastically agreed, according to the recent announcement from the hunt.
Bear Creek to Hold Saint Patrick’s Day Puppy Show
Chris Ryan, MFH, Scarteen Hunt (IR) will judge the St. Patrick's day Puppy Show at the Bear Creek Hounds (GA). / Catherine Power photo
On Saturday, March 17, 2018, the Bear Creek Hounds will host a Puppy Show at Bear Creek Farm in Moreland, Georgia. The Saint Patrick’s Day theme will be legitimized by the presence of Judge Chris Ryan, MFH of the Scarteen Hunt, Knocklong, Ireland. Also judging the puppies will be Marion Thorne, MFH and huntsman, Genesee Valley Hunt (NY).
The puppy show is open to all, and will commence at 1:30 pm following a brunch and hat contest at noon ($20.00 per person). A St. Patrick’s Day party follows at the Bear Creek Pavilion with awards, dinner, live music, and dancing ($60.00 per person). Spectators are welcome. A block of motel rooms convenient to Bear Creek Farm has been reserved.
The Bear Creek Puppy Show is part of the MFHA Hark Forward initiative this season. Participants will be asked to contribute to the renovation of the new MFHA National Headquarters in Middleburg, Virginia.
Moore County Hounds Work Hard, Play Hard
Lincoln Sadler, 20 years whipping-in, now huntsman of the Moore County Hounds (NC) Mary Kate Murphy, staff writer for the The Pilot in Pinehurst, North Carolina, interviewed Lincoln Sadler, huntsman of the Moore County Hounds (NC), and wrote the best newspaper article about foxhunting that I have seen in many years. And on so many levels. Murphy and Sadler explain the primal importance of hounds to the sport of foxhunting; the training process and bond between huntsman and hound; how Sadler selects his pack for a day’s hunting depending on the country; how he comes to know his hunting country so well; Sadler’s eschewing of double-speak about hunting in North America (i.e., the truth for a change by a hunt official in a newspaper!); how hound shows help mitigate a huntsman’s “kennel-blindness”; and the foxhound’s life from whelping to puppy training to being entered to retirement. Murphy’s is an article of foxhunting substance and the writer’s art, the likes of which I have never seen published by a hometown newspaper. (I have to wonder if Murphy, besides being an excellent writer, is also an experienced foxhunter!) Examples: Author’s Lead:Whether emerging stately from the mist for a Thanksgiving blessing or crashing headlong through the pines on a weekday hunt, an assembly of horses, riders and hounds makes for a spectacle that’s lost on its most important characters. The hounds of Moore County Hounds are too busy following their noses. The huntsman knows his country:He makes his choice on any given day based on whether the hunt will cover the Walthour-Moss Foundation’s 5,000 acres or the 64,000-acre Sandhills Game Lands. A Moore County native and lifelong foxhunter, Sadler knows both fixtures well. He took an early retirement from working on the Game Lands as a state wildlife biologist before taking over as huntsman last year. How a candid Sadler selects his hounds for a day’s hunting:“If I know I’m going somewhere I need a wide-ranging hound or hounds that draw differently, I can select different hounds and accomplish that,” he said. “I do give myself a little grief by taking more hounds than I should, because I have to put up with a little more fooling around from the young entry … on the days when you can’t seem to find a varmint anywhere, they can be a little bit wearisome. But what a gracious noise, what a beautiful music they make when everybody opens on the right thing and you’re off.” The hunting bond between huntsman and hound:“When we are riding home, I always look right at my left heel for Hoplight, look at my back right for Ensign and so on and so forth,” Sadler said. “They seem to have a place in the pack that they like.” A huntsman’s self evaluation:“I was lucky enough to inherit a good pack of hounds when I became huntsman. By my estimation, I really have nowhere to go but down with these hounds.” A succinct evaluation of his Penn-Marydels:“If the scenting conditions are where they can’t fly on the scent, then they may be described as slow … but on those days when the scenting conditions are not good, other packs wouldn’t be able to hunt a line at all.” Telling the truth. No syrup-speak, no fanciful fibs:Hunts in the United States and Canada are all about the thrill of the chase. Most days end with the fox going to ground when it tires of being pursued and living to be hunted another day. I would very much like to offer more from this substantive and gracefully-expressed article, but I don’t want to commit plagiarism! Click on the link for the complete text and photos. I recommend it as an excellent read about the Moore County Hounds (I wish I had written it!), and also as a model newspaper article about foxhunting. Ted Fitzgerald’s photographs are first-rate as well. Posted January 16, 2018
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Thirteen States Sue Massachusetts; Claim Animal Rights Law Unconstitutional
Animal rights activists sponsored a ballot initiative in Massachusetts requiring farm animals to have space to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs, and turn around freely. Activists call “extreme confinement” and “lifelong immobilization” torture. Referred to as the “egg law,” the 2016 Massachusetts referendum won in a four-to-one landslide. Thirteen states have sued Massachusetts, however, claiming the referendum is unconstitutional on grounds that it unlawfully “dictate[s] how other states choose to regulate business operations and manufacturing processes within their own borders,” according to Attorney General Curtis Hill, of Indiana, one of the thirteen states. At issue is a charge by the plaintiffs of “economic protectionism and extraterritorial regulation that violates the Commerce Clause” of the U.S. Constitution. The suit says residents of different states will be made to “submit to Massachusetts’ laws” and forced to follow edicts not approved in those states. According to the Constitution, only the federal government may regulate interstate commerce. The purpose of the Commerce Clause was to prevent states from engaging in economic wars against each other while the federal government remains helpless to intervene. A challenge against a similar law in California has so far failed. This is a case worth watching says MassLive.com “for reasons of business practice, humane treatment of animals, and the interpretation of interstate commerce in a democratic republic.” Posted December 15, 2017
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Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds Dominates Hunt Night at Penn National
The Kimberton Hunt (PA) had the honor of parading foxhounds on Hunt Night. / Al Cook photo
Foxhunters from Mr. Stewart's Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) dominated Hunt Night at the Pennsylvania Horse Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on October 16, 2017. Cheshire riders won three classes and received ribbons in all five events on Monday night to claim the overall hunt championship title over the thirteen competing foxhunts. This was the eighth hunt championship won by Cheshire since the inception of Hunt Night. Riders from the Bull Run Hunt (VA) and the Green Spring Valley Hounds (MD) were also class winners.
One surprising contributor to Cheshire's Championship team was Olympic veteran Boyd Martin who competed in and won the Gentlemen's Hunter Under Saddle class with Right On Que, owned by Tanya Emslie of Unionville, Pennsylvania. Martin had just placed third in the Fair Hill International Three-Day Event CCI*** this past weekend and decided to drive up at the suggestion of one of his fellow Cheshire members.
Ben Hardaway: 1919–2017
Ben Hardaway, founder and MFH for sixty-seven years of the Midland Foxhounds (GA), died this morning at age ninety-eight. Ben was arguably the most widely-known foxhunter and the most influential foxhound breeder in all of North American foxhunting history. He had a passion for hunting all manner of wild game from his childhood days until his last. We publish this brief news bulletin just before FHL WEEK “goes to press.” We’ll follow with more about this extraordinary man and his contributions to the sport of foxhunting in a later issue. Our thoughts and sympathy are with the Hardaway family. Posted October 19, 2017
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Two Virginia Farms Quarantined for EHV-1
Horses in Virginia have tested positive for Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) at two farms in two counties within a two-week period in August. The most recent cases are at a private pleasure horse farm in King William County. Of the four horses showing clinical signs, two tested positive and both were euthanized. Ten days earlier, horses were tested positive at a farm in Culpeper County. Both farms are under quarantine, and all exposed horse are being monitored twice daily for fever and other clinical signs. The two infection sites are unrelated, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. No horses have been on or off either farm for a year. Dr. Charles Broaddus, State Veterinarian with VDACS, says there is no cause for alarm concerning the general horse population in Virginia. “Equine Herpes Virus-1 is a virus that is present in the environment and found in most horses all over the world,” Broaddus said. “Horses are typically exposed to the virus at a young age with no serious side effects. A large percentage of horses carry the virus with no clinical signs for the remainder of their lives. Horses can spontaneously shed it in their nasal secretions. Rarely this causes exposed horses to develop the neurologic form of the disease.” Click for more information from VDACS on EHV-1. Horse owners may also contact VDACS’ Office of Veterinary Services at 804-786-2483. Posted August 26, 2017
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Jed Forest Members Found Guilty in Scotland
Two members of the Jed Forest Foxhounds have been found guilty of breaching Scotland’s Protection of Wild Mammals Act. The conviction was the first under the act since its passage in 2002. Johnny Riley and his father John Clive Richardson, MFH were fined £400 and £250 respectively for deliberately hunting a fox with dogs near Jedburgh last year. Riley and Richardson had both entered not guilty pleas, and plan to appeal the decision. The prosecution relied on video evidence taken from nearly a half mile away. The images purport to show a terrier man digging out a fox, after which Richardson and Riley pursued it on horseback in contravention of Scotland’s Protection of Wild Mammals Act of 2002. Defense lawyer David McKie told the court the men had worked within the terms of the legislation by using hounds to flush out a fox from cover to waiting guns. Scotland’s League Against Cruel Sports Director Robbie Marshall said the guilty verdict confirms that Scottish hunts are breaking the law, and the League looks forward to helping to strengthen the law. The Countryside Alliance was disappointed by the conviction, and claimed the men had been subjected to “trial by television.” Click to read the entire article published by the BBC. Posted July 21, 2017
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Arapahoe Hunt Pony Club Wins Foxhunting Challenge
Zina Balash photo The United States Pony Clubs, Inc. has recognized the Arapahoe Pony Club as winners of the eleventh annual Live Oak Hounds USPC Foxhunting Challenge. The Live Oak Challenge encourages Pony Club members who do not hunt regularly to try the sport. Through the support of Mr. and Mrs. C. Martin Wood III, Joint-Masters of the Live Oak Hounds (FL), the Pony Clubs that regularly bring the most less-experienced members out hunting receive distributions of the annual $10,000 Challenge award. Seventy-one Pony Club members competed this year, accounting for more than 690 days in hunting fields across the country. Nine hunt clubs welcomed the participating Pony Club members into their fields: Arapahoe Hunt (CO), Bear Creek Hounds (GA), Bull Run Hunt (VA), Elkridge-Harford Hunt (MD), Old Dominion Hounds (VA), Rolling Rock Hunt (PA), Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt (PA), Sewickley Hunt (PA), and Spring Valley Hounds (NJ). The 2017 Challenge winners are: The top seven 2017 Challenge winners are:1st Place: The Arapahoe Hunt Pony Club (Rocky Mountain Region)2nd Place: Old Dominion Hounds Pony Club (Virginia Region)3rd Place: Elkridge-Harford Pony Club (Maryland Region)4th Place: Woodbine Pony Club (South Region)5th Place: Rolling Rock Hunt Pony Club (Tri-State Region)6th Place: Spring Valley Hounds Pony Club (New Jersey Region)7th Place: Blue Mountain Pony Club (Maryland Region) Mr. and Mrs. Wood are both past presidents of the MFHA. Mr. Wood was inducted into the Huntsmen’s Room in ceremonies this year at the at the Museum of Hounds and Hunting in Leesburg, Virginia. Posted June 30, 2017
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