Grand Champion of Show Blue Ridge Rambler 2018 with (l-r) Graham Buston, huntsman; L. Stockton Illoway, MB, President, Bryn Mawr Hound Show Association; Judge Dr. G. Marvin Beeman, MFH; and Sheri Buston, whipper-in / Karen Kandra photo
Dr. G. Marvin Beeman, MFH, judging the Grand Champion of Show class at Bryn Mawr, awarded the trophy and ribbon to Blue Ridge Rambler 2018. Dr. Beeman is the senior Master and former huntsman of the Arapahoe Hunt (CO) and a past president of the MFHA. The Bryn Mawr Hound Show was held in Malvern, PA, on Saturday, June 1, 2019.
Green Spring Valley Sapphire 2018, judged Grand Champion at Virginia the previous week, was Reserve Grand Champion.
Rambler (Green Spring Valley Fanshaw 2014 ex Heythrop Rattle 2011) is a modern English dog hound bred by Blue Ridge huntsman Graham Buston. Irish-born, Buston grew up in the County Limerick hunting country, whipped-in, then carried the horn for both the Co. Waterford and the Co. Limerick Foxhounds. He moved to the U.S. in 2013 with his Canadian-born wife, Sheri, who whips-in to him.
Blue Ridge Rambler 2018 (Green Spring Valley Fanshaw 2014 ex Heythrop Rattle 2011) / Karen Kandra photo
Both the Waterford and the Limerick breed and hunt the Old English type of hound. That’s what Buston is most familiar with, and he loves the hard drive that those bloodlines bring to the pack. However, he loves the special attributes that other foxhound types bring to a pack as well. He has added English fell hounds to the Blue Ridge pack for their genes of independence when hunting in large wooded coverts and Penn-Marydel crosses for their low scenting genes. Indeed, he likes all hound types that bring their special traits to a pack, so long as they hunt for him and never quit before he does.
Some might argue that the Blue Ridge pack is composed of types that are too disparate, but Buston is taking a long view in bringing working genes into the pack from whatever hound types they come with, then working to level the pack with appropriate crosses in the years to come.
“The pack is hunting together,” Buston says. “Those that can’t are drafted.”
Rambler’s sire and dam are well-bred from good modern English lines, top and bottom. His dam, Heythrop Rattle 2011, was brought to Blue Ridge from England by former MFH Linda Armbrust during her Mastership.
“Charles [Frampton, MFH, Heythrop Foxhounds] had three sisters in a litter to draft,” said Armbrust. “The litter was by Heythrop Stormer of the famous ST-line. Rattle stood out because of her coloring, and I picked her. One went to Nigel [Peel, MFH, North Cotswold], and the other went to George and Jeannie [Thomas, MFHs, Why Worry Hounds (SC)].”
Rattle’s bloodlines go back to the breeding acumen of Captain Ronnie Wallace when he was Master at the Heythrop and considered the most influential breeder of hounds in England in his time.
“Rattle is a good-hunting bi*ch, but she slows down after a couple of hours,” explained Buston. “I wanted to breed her, so I looked around for a sire that could correct that and found him at Green Spring Valley.
“I hunted there a few years ago and watched a dog, Fanshaw, hunt with great drive. Three years ago when [then huntsman] Sam [Clifton] brought him to Blue Ridge for a Joint Meet, I was able to watch him again.”
Buston brought Rattle to Green Spring Valley Fanshaw 2014 and whelped a good litter of five pups, from which he kept three. Fanshaw’s bloodlines are Toronto and North York breeding back to John Harrison’s first stint as huntsman in Toronto. In 1995, Harrison received a draft from the Berkeley (UK). One was Ballad 1987, who arrived in whelp to Berkeley Freshman 1984. Freshman was by Captain Ronnie Wallace’s Exmoor Freestone 1981. “Freestone is the key,” Harrison said. Thus, Rambler is progeny of Ronnie Wallace breeding on both the top and bottom of his pedigree. Harrison, now huntsman at the Deep Run Hunt (VA), had several champions and grand champions at that time from this line that produced Rambler’s sire.
Rambler, as an unentered hound last year, was Champion English Dog Hound at Virginia, and Reserve English Foxhound Champion to Hillsboro Walnut who went on to be judged Grand Champion of Show in 2018. This year at Virginia, in the English Entered Bi*ch class, Rambler’s sister, Rainbow, was placed second to Hillsboro Modest, who went on to be Champion English Foxhound.
Rambler and his two littermates entered well to the pack last season, and Buston was quickly convinced he made a good cross. “All three hunted with great drive,” he said, “and by the end of the season, all three could work well on their own and hunted together with the pack.” Rambler is a young hound with a bright future in the Blue Ridge pack during the foxhunting season and on the flags in summer.
Other judges at Bryn Mawr were Oliver Brown, MFH, Rappahannock Hunt (VA); Fred Getty, MFH, Middlebrook Hounds (VA); Liz McKnight, ex-MFH, Elkridge-Harford Hunt (MD); Donald Philhower, huntsman, Millbrook Hunt (NY); and Cameron Sadler, MFH, Moore County Hounds (NC).
Click for complete results of all classes.
Posted June 7, 2019
Periodically, we feel it necessary to explain Foxhunting Life’s partial spelling of the word, “bi*ch,” in our articles, rather than properly spelling out the word. Early on, we found to our dismay, that when we used the entire word, our emails would be blocked by some computer fire walls and never seen by subscribers. Our distribution software strongly advises us to avoid using such words. Thus, with apologies, we play the silly game. –Ed.