MFHA President Tony Leahy and the Massbach Hounds kick off this season’s Foxhound Performance Trial tour.MFHA President Tony Leahy and the Fox River Valley/Massbach Hounds hosted the kick-off Performance Trial on the Hark Forward Tour in their western Illinois hunting country on September 16 and 17, 2017.
By the time it was over, everyone took home a renewed appreciation for the hard work and knowhow it takes to make and maintain a good hunting pack of foxhounds. Certainly the fact that littermates brought up by different hunts and trained by different staffs, rose like cream to the top of the scoring is convincing proof that breeding matters! Next stop on the tour is Millbrook, New York.
Welcoming festivities began on Friday night with a Mexican fiesta under the stars at John Novak’s and Marie Henrich’s farm. Seven hunts entered five hounds each: Bridlespur (MO), Elkridge-Harford (MD), Fox River Valley, Hillsboro (TN), Midland (GA), Mill Creek (IL), and Shawnee (IL). A mariachi band played as the margaritas flowed freely, and the Mexican buffet was enjoyed by all participants and guests.
The hunting country is expansive and rolling, on large farms seriously growing corn and soybeans. On Saturday, two contiguous properties were hunted for three hours. The pack of seventeen-and-a-half couple from the six competing hunts was blended together in the morning. Trial huntsman was Ashley Hubbard, now in his first season as huntsman at Green Spring valley (MD). Having previously been Tony Leahy’s kennel huntsman at Massbach/Fox River Valley, this trial huntsman knew the country!
Meeting at John Novak’s farm, staff and hounds moved from one cornfield to another, skirting the occasional soybean field as hounds worked on coyote lines. It was hot and dry, but still green. The next farm was Bryan and Christy Cressey’s 5,000-acre property which boasts 120 miles of mowed paths!
Hounds found three coyotes Saturday and, despite the heat, they hunted as hard after three hours as they did in first covert. Liz McKnight of Elkridge-Harford tally-hoed the first coyote and hounds harked to Fox River Valley’s Daffodil and Bracket, Hillsboro’s Bridget and Mill Creek’s Dallas. Judges were right there scoring the lead hounds.
Three of these hounds ultimately finished among the top five individual scores overall. Bracket, Dallas and Bridget were numbers 2, 3, and 4 of the top five hounds. Hillsboro’s Dagwood took the top honor and Midland’s Caper finished fifth. These hounds hunted hard from start to finish and were rewarded by the judges for their endurance and overall hunting ability. This is why we have Performance Trials. Hounds can be judged objectively in specific categories in different hunting situations, and the best hunting hounds are consistently scored by multiple judges.
Epp Wilson, MFH, Belle Meade Hunt, is Performance Trial Chairman for the Hark Forward tour. / Lauren Giannini photoEvening festivities were held under an enormous white tent erected on an old airfield at Bill and Ellen Hunt’s farm. Everyone packed away a delicious prime rib dinner, during which Epp Wilson, Jean Derrick, and MFHA Executive Director David Twiggs spoke to the crowd. Judge Boo Montgomery then assisted Epp with the awards.
During each hunt, judges hounds are scored on the fly in five categories: Hunting, Trailing, Full Cry, Marking, and Endurance. The top ten scorers in each category are awarded ribbons at the end of each day’s hunting. After the final day’s hunting, the individual category scores for each day are then combined to produce individual overall rankings of hounds and hunts, and Champion ribbons are awarded.
The Sunday morning meet was Bill Hunt’s farm. Once again it was warm and dry, making scenting difficult. A coyote was viewed early and hounds were off. The runs were short but hounds exhibited diligent work. The judge’s scoring made it clear that the same hard working hounds of the day before were again there for every run. Tony kept the pack and fields out for an additional hour to ensure that every effort was made for the judges to score the hound work.
The interruption of one run by a house cat brought to mind the famous Ben Hardaway story. One day his hounds unfortunately accounted for an old woman’s cat and, hat in hand, he approached the porch saying, “ We are terribly sorry, ma’am, but here is a token for your trouble.” He hands her a fifty-dollar bill. She replied, “It’s no trouble sir. I can have another here for you next week.” Luckily this day, hounds returned to the line and all was fine. Riders had many opportunities to watch hounds. There were lots of coops to jump and riders had big dusty smiles when they finally came back to the trailers. John Novak had returned with food and drink as we waited for Tony and hounds to return.
Hillsboro huntsman Johnny Gray brought the Performance Trial Champion foxhound, Hillsboro Dagwood, and Hillsboro was the winning hunt. In this photo, Gray shows the 2015 Virginia Hound Show Grand Champion foxhound, Hillsboro Siskin. / Lauren Giannini photo
Sunday night the festivities moved to Sunny Beaulieu’s home for a dinner of chicken cacciatore. Epp Wilson again thanked all the hosts for their wonderful hospitality as the final ribbons were handed out. Hillsboro’s Dagwood was high-point scorer overall, and Champion, with Fox River Valley Bracket a mere two-and-a-half points behind for Reserve honors. Tony Leahy graciously tipped his hat to Hillsboro huntsman John Gray, acknowledging Dagwood’s success. Midland Foxhounds took third place. After thanking all the hunts for coming, Tony had high praise for his fellow huntsmen and was generous in his compliments for the work of specific visiting hounds. He related the lineage of two top hounds, Hillsboro’s Bridget (fourth overall) and Fox River Valley’s Bracket (second overall), remembering a hound named Swimmer whelped by Johnny Gray’s father, from whom those two high-scoring littermates descended.
Bracket was the Huntsman’s Choice for top hound overall. “[She] was very accurate up front speaking,” said Hubbard. “She kept everything going. When hounds checked she’d be the one to hit off and keep it going.” Of special note is the extraordinary fact that Hillsboro Hounds whelped six of the top ten overall foxhounds.
The Performance Trial Champion foxhound was Hillsboro Dagwood. Reserve Champion was Fox River Valley Bracket. Final overall hunt placings, winner first, were Hillsboro, Fox River Valley/Massbach (by just half a percentage point!), Midland, Mill Creek, Bridlespur, Elkridge-Harford, and Shawnee. Click for complete final results.
Posted September 25, 2017