Huntsman Spencer Allen shows Grand Champion Foxhound of Show, Live Oak Able 2016. Mr. and Mrs. Michael Ledyard present trophy to Masters Daphne Wood and C. Martin Wood III. / Wendy Butler photo
Mr. C. Martin Wood III, MFH, Live Oak Hounds (FL) has been line breeding his pack as he was taught by his late mentors, Captain Ronnie Wallace, MFH, and before that, Ben Hardaway, MFH. He absorbed the wisdom of both superb breeders, and, of course, brought some of his own wisdom to the kennels as well.
We often hear the familiar and simplistic saw, ‘breed the best to the best, and hope for the best.’ That may work for some when first starting a pack, but there is another vital step that follows. Which of those ‘best’ are passing on their good traits, and which aren’t? The long-running male and female breeding lines in the successful packs are those lines started by superior hounds, the progeny of which continue to pass on their excellent genes generation after generation. Not all the ‘best’ hounds—or even racehorses—do.
Grand Champion Foxhound Live Oak Able 2016 (Live Oak Assault 2013 ex Live Oak Fable 2010) / Wendy Butler photo
At the Southern Hound Show held Saturday, April 6, 2019—the first hound show every season in North America—Live Oak Able 2016 was judged Grand Champion. Let’s have a look at Able’s remarkable pedigree, four generations of which is all Live Oak breeding except for a Duke of Beaufort breeding in the fourth generation of the tail female line.
Also keep in mind that nine of the last twelve Grand Champions of Show at the Virginia Foxhound Show won their championships first at the highly competitive Southern Hound Show.
Able’s tail male line goes back to his sire, Live Oak Assault 2013, grandsire, Live Oak Hannibal 2009, and his great-grandsire, Live Oak Hasty 2006.
Able’s sire, Assault, was Reserve Champion to Hillsboro Walnut at this show last year. And Hillsboro Walnut went on to become Grand Champion at Virginia last year. In a turn of the table, Walnut’s littermate, Hillsboro Waggle 2017 is this year’s Reserve Grand Champion to Live Oak Able.
Able’s grandsire, Hannibal, was Grand Champion at the Southern Hound Show in 2012.
Able’s tail female line goes back to his dam, Live Oak Fable 2010 and his granddam, Live Oak Famous 2006, bred at the Duke of Beaufort kennels.
Fable was Grand Champion at Virginia in 2011. Fable’s sire, Live Oak Architect 2004, goes back in tail-male to Live Oak Drummer, Marty’s all-time favorite dog hound. But Fable’s dam, Live Oak Famous—Able’s granddam—came to Live Oak while still a puppy via a dispersal draft!
Famous was out of Duke of Beaufort Footloose 2003, who had been given in whelp to Moore County MFH Dick Webb around the time that huntsman Jody Murtagh was introducing his Penn-Marydel hounds to the Moore County country. Shortly after Footloose whelped her litter, the puppies, all English, were drafted.
“She’s very good in her work,” said Marty back in 2011, “and it’s the work that matters in the end. Her litter brother went to Arapahoe and killed a coyote in his first hunt. Marvin [Beeman, MFH and huntsman] likes him so much, he bred him in his first year. That’s unusual, but Marvin was taking no chances!”
So, what’s the takeaway here? Able’s pedigree is a continuum of excellence in virtually every generation, top and bottom, from lines that have proven to Marty Wood to pass on their excellent traits. Lines like Able’s are what top breeders strive for and maintain assiduously in their kennels.
Hillsboro Waggle 2017 is Reserve Grand Champion. / Wendy Butler photo
Eight packs from eight states entered hounds in this year’s show—Fox River Valley (IL), Goodwin Hounds (NC), Hillsboro Hounds (TN), Iroquois Hounds (KY), Live Oak Hounds (FL), Lowcountry Hunt (SC), Midland Fox Hounds (GA), and Mooreland Hunt (AL).
Judges were Captain Ian Farquhar, MFH, Duke of Beaufort, widely recognized as one of the most experienced and qualified judges in the world; co-judge Cameron Sadler, MFH, Moore County Hounds; and apprentice judge Walter Kansteiner, ex-MFH, Piedmont Fox Hounds (VA).
The Southern Hound Show has been held annually for the past thirteen years at Marty and Daphne Wood’s Live Oak Plantation in Monticello, Florida. Click for complete results.
Posted April 17, 2019