Loudoun West huntsman Martyn Blackmore blows his fox to ground.Aiken Hounds huntsman Katherine Gunter and I had been planning this trip for months. South Carolina summers are tough, and no sooner had we returned to Aiken after the 2011 Virginia Foxhound Show and found ourselves enveloped in ninety-plus temperatures that we began to think about September and a possible hunting vacation.
Everything came together well. We don’t begin our own cubhunting until October, which left September free and clear for adventure. Where shall we go? We had a wonderful invitation from friends in Millbrook, NY, so we decided to make the big push north, out of the heat first, and work our way back south.
We had four sound and experienced horses between us that would be up to the task. Katherine had her main huntsman’s mount, Augustus (Gus)—born to play polo and indeed won a most valuable polo pony award at a foxhunters’ polo tournament in the spring—but a reliable and agile foxhunter by trade. Her second was a New Zealand-bred former chaser nicknamed Kiwi, who had some age on him but was a solid citizen, tough and ready to go. I had my two geldings from the two Tonys: Dromineer (Drum) purchased in 2010 from Karen Gray that hunted hounds for Tony Leahy, and the second, renamed Keswick, purchased last summer from Keswick huntsman Tony Gammell. All were seasoned, all bay, all Thoroughbred geldings.
We gave the horses June and much of July off and brought them back into work in 100-plus degrees. Not easy on any of us, and you can never be sure how fit they are in those conditions until they are tested. Uphill and downhill trots, later up and down hill canters and gallops interspersed with visits to Belle Meade for their summer hound exercise as well as our own. To prepare for the tougher footing in the north we shod them with pads in front and studs behind.
We decided to take two two-horse rigs, which gave us independence at our destinations. With a twenty-five year difference in ages, Katherine and I, although very good friends, live different lifestyles! She had many friends to see along the way, and so did I!
We left Aiken on Labor Day bound for Chestertown, MD, to overnight with Jim and Joey Peace (now Aiken MFH) who winter in Aiken. Already we were conscious of the cooler temperatures. We had chosen to travel on the heels of both Hurricane Irene, which had hit New York City the weekend before, and Tropical Depression Lee, which preceded us by one day on I-95!
Leaving on Tuesday for Millbrook, we learned a few lessons about driving in bad weather. Very heavy rain and flooding were the name of the game on Tuesday, lots of trucks near New York City and poor visibility to boot. Katherine had GPS as part of her cell phone, so she was the lead dog. I was the caboose. Easy you say? Not! I lost her, and we both missed an exit (287) which would have taken us west through New Jersey and around New York City. We both ended up on the George Washington Bridge headed for Manhattan. Katherine was on the low side, the car side, and I was on the high, trucks-only side! She ended up in Harlem while I spent forty-five minutes surrounded by semis queuing up for the bridge crossing. I was terrified. And so worried about the horses. What if one panicked? We finally reconnected on 87 North and the New York State Thruway to Millbrook.
Our hosts in Millbrook, Shepard and Jane Ellenberg, pulled out all the stops for us. We had planned to hunt on Wednesday with Millbrook but the meet was canceled due to the rain. Nonetheless, the Ellenbergs hosted a lavish hunt breakfast that day as well as a dinner in our honor later in the week. It was fun to reconnect with many of the Millbrook folks who winter in Aiken and to see so many other friends: the Stahls, Hathaways, Ikes, and Lelee Brandt, a good friend from Foxcroft years ago.
We finally had our day with Millbrook. Understandably, huntsman Donald Philhower was careful about where we went—it was so wet and deep—but we had an active day nonetheless. Our Saturday with Golden’s Bridge was canceled due to the soggy conditions, but thanks to the Ellenbergs, we had the use of some terrific gallops on their property which helped our horses accustomed to sandy footing adjust to the heavy, slick, grassy conditions of New York. We were able to ride each horse each day, one way or the other. Our horses loved living out on lush grass in two huge paddocks with run-in sheds.
Next stop was Maryland, but not before we acquired a couple of Penn-Marydel puppies from Donald Philhower, by Zipper, that we named Zulu and Zebra. We were on safari after all.
We had an uneventful trip to Glyndon, Maryland and Snow Hill, Duck and Glennie Martin’s home overlooking the Maryland Hunt Cup course. What a privilege to stay with them in their beautiful home! Our horses loved the spacious open barn near the course and the large turnouts. The puppies had a stall to themselves and enjoyed daily walkouts. We arrived on Sunday and hunted with Elkridge-Harford (dog pack) on Monday, Green Spring Valley on Tuesday, and Elkridge-Harford (bitch pack) on Wednesday.
With Elkridge-Harford, Katherine rode up with huntsman Geoff Hyde, and I rode behind Bob Kinsley both days. We had two lovely days with them—lots of game and lots of jumps! We were sorry to have missed Liz McKnight as she was basseting in Montana at the time.
Our day with Green Spring Valley was splendid. Joey Peace drove up for the day to hunt with us. Hounds struck almost immediately from the meet at the kennel, and Sam Clifton’s mostly Crossbred pack put a big red fox to ground, pushed him out, and ran him again, all in forty hard-riding minutes. Soon after, hounds found another fox and ran him too! As the hunt was right behind the Martins’ home, Glennie was able to capture on her cell phone the hunted fox scooting out of a corn field, Duck and Katherine lifting their caps to him, and the hounds bursting out seventeen seconds later! All captured on video!
I was relieved, I have to confess, that no four- or five-board fences presented themselves that day! It was wonderful to hunt behind Sheila Brown; she is great fun. And former huntsman Andrew Barclay was out as well. “Now that’s how we do things in Maryland!” he touted. A great sporting day!
Interspersed into the Maryland trip, I had the chance to see my Knox cousins, nieces, and nephews who live in Monkton, and Katherine accompanied the Martins to Birchmere to hear their son, Bill Martin and his Blue Grass band. We also had a nice evening at the Oregon Grille with Duck and Glennie the night before we left.
We returned to the Peace’s home in Chestertown for a brief intermission after three days in a row of hunting, a chance to collapse in a heap, rest the horses, do some laundry, eat some Maryland crabs, and reload to go to Virginia.
We made the short trip to Middleburg on Thursday, September 15, and stayed at Banbury Cross, Nelson and Wendi Gunnell’s beautiful home, barn and polo facility east of Middleburg. Once there, horses and humans were again spoiled by the living arrangements! Nelson and Wendi are wonderful hosts and fit so much equine activity into each day!
We hunted with Loudoun West on Friday and put two foxes to ground. There are so many foxes in their country, slipping in and out of cornfields all morning. We had a nice day with them, thanks to Donna Rogers, MFH and huntsman Martyn Blackmore!
Saturday took us to Middleburg and an equally nice day behind Penny Denegre, MFH and huntsman Barry Magner. Reynard took us right through the Foxcroft School campus which was nostalgic for me, as I went to school there many years ago!
That afternoon, Katherine and I separated, she to go ahead to the Keswick/Bull Run area to get an extra day of hunting in and a good visit with the Gammells, and I had to fly to Buffalo for twenty-four hours—another good reason for our separate vehicles.
My horses stayed an extra day at Banbury Cross, and I picked them up on my return to Dulles. We were privileged to have been invited to stay with Mike and Betty Long. Mike is a Master of Bull Run and owns much of the land that they hunt over. He and his wife had to go out of town, so Katherine and I had his lovely guest cottage to ourselves and his spacious new barn and turnout for our horses.
We hunted with Farmington on Tuesday. The rain was following us south by now and we had a *very* wet day with them, but we did view our quarry, and then were treated to a lovely luncheon given by Carol Easter and Joy Crompton, two very special lady MFHs. We took Tony Gammell and Greg Schwartz out to dinner that night in Culpeper.
Wednesday took us to Keswick and a very active day there following huntsman Tony Gammell and his cracking pack of American hounds. I had been warned that the Keswick fences were huge, and that report was true. We flew around the countryside, and I had a great time with Jennifer Nesbit, and Katherine had a blast hunting up with Tony! She was even able to talk him into drafting one of his bitches out of Keswick Nectar, named Nipper, to her, so our traveling pack was growing—beginning to feel a bit like the Clampetts!
Our last day was with Bull Run, and what a way to finish the trip! Joey Peace couldn’t resist joining us again for one more hunt. The meet was on the Long’s property not far from their home, so we didn’t have to go far to get to the meet. We ran hard for an hour-and-a-half, finishing on the top of a hill overlooking their massive expanse of country. I thoroughly enjoyed ex-MFH Joe Kincheloe’s company leading the field, and I know that huntsman Greg Schwartz and Katherine had lots of laughs up front. A grand day was had by all.
Cubhunting season anywhere you go is very special, but the privilege of hunting with these outstanding packs at the start of their seasons was wonderful. Fields were small, the company superb, and accommodations first class! I hunted nine times, Katherine ten, all in two-and-a-half weeks. We arrived back in Aiken on Friday, Sept. 23, tired but elated with four fit and happy horses. And yes, it rained most of the way home, too, but we had gotten used to that!
Posted July 7, 2012
Linda Knox McLean is MFH of the Aiken Hounds (SC).
Bull Run huntsman Greg Schwartz and hounds