Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Bridle 2015 sports her winning ribbons for Overall High Scoring Foxhound and for leading the hunt to first place among the competing packs at Millbrook. / Maryann Cully photo
I want to tell you about a foxhound in my pack, the Rose Tree-Blue Mountain Hunt (PA). She has proven herself to me for years and just finished the Millbrook Performance Trial as the overall high-scoring foxhound.
Selecting hounds to take to Millbrook, I was not at all sure I would bring her. Now, in her seventh season and having whelped two litters of puppies, I had reservations.
But Bridle made my decision easy on a hunting day about two weeks before the trial. On that day, seventeen couple of bi*ches got away well on a red fox and pushed it hard for over an hour, providing many views of this good running fox.
Just past the hour mark, I was trotting down a gravel road, and the fox popped out no more than a hundred yards ahead of me. It ran toward me for twenty-five yards, turned, and completed its crossing into the covert on the other side.
I pulled up and sat about fifty yards from the line. Soon after, Bridle popped out first, carrying the line as nicely as can be, making the turn on the road, then turning into the covert going away―still leading the pack. The other hounds were not far behind, but as often happens, they made a small check on the road and were then drawn to the line by Bridle’s voice carrying the line out of sight through the thicket.
I have seen that same thing happen countless times over the years with Bridle and realized at that moment that she deserved to go to Millbrook. I couldn’t be happier with that decision and I am proud that she was recognized as Champion Foxhound.
Trial huntsman Tony Leahy, MFH, draws along the edge of the cornfield at the Millbrook hound trials. Bridle, #77, works closely behind.
The second day of hunting at the Millbrook Performance Trial was spectacular this year. We were chasing a sandy-colored coyote that would run for a bit in the corn and then to the woods and back to the corn again, never leaving a few hundred-acre area on a hilltop in Millbrook’s beautiful country. The judges and the field had countless views making the day so much fun for everyone. The chase was incredibly intense, with seventeen-and-a-half couple of the best hounds from the seven hunts participating.
At one hours in, I was riding alongside the hard-pressing pack that was racing through the corn not far from the edge. I moved slightly ahead, anticipating a crossing at a wide path through the corn. Sure enough, the coyote crossed the path, and I could hear the pack closing in. I saw the number 77 hound, Bridle, pop out of the corn first at the crossing, no more than fifteen seconds behind. She held up for a few seconds as if to wait for the pack and then hustled along on the line back out of sight, continuing her job very effortlessly and business-like.
Bridle stood out at an early age. Late one summer morning during her first season, several puppies were trying to run some off-game. Bridle was out that day but was not one of the culprits misbehaving. She was, however, nearby when the miscreants were reprimanded. During the commotion, Bridle promptly left the area, took her own line back to the trailer, hopped in, and laid down. She knew better and wanted no part of it.
That same season her ability to chase a red fox, our predominant quarry in Pennsylvania, became apparent. She was a natural leader, not necessarily running away from the pack. But she has a knack for leading the show and leading in the most effortless way.
Having had the pleasure of hunting Bridle for the last six seasons, I think I can describe her ways reasonably accurately. She is silent on a cold trail, yet she is an ace at trailing up and jumping a fox. She will often be in sight of me while I am drawing, but the minute I see her leave, I know the chase will soon be on. She will not participate in a slow-moving, dwelling-type hunt. She also will not help hounds trying a heel line. Any time young hounds try any off-game line, she is instantly at my side.
We have Bridle’s full brother in the kennel. He is similar to his sister and has been a strong hound for years in our dog hound pack.
It has been my pleasure and privilege to hunt this superb foxhound, and I must give all the credit for Bridle to her breeder, Richard Roberts, huntsman at the time for the Deep Run Hunt (VA). It is her breeding that provided her with her talent. Richard gave the pair to me as puppies. Bridle’s dam was Deep Run Beatrix, whom I think I can say possessed the same gifts and passed them on to Bridle. I am forever grateful for the generosity of the Masters of Deep Run and to Richard.
Bridle will continue through the season, after which she will retire to a well-deserved home. She will be greatly missed from the pack.
Posted September 17, 2021