Charles Montgomery was Awarded the 2023 Ian Milne Award

Details: People; By Boo Shepard Montgomery

CMontgomery Mells Masters Mells Fox Hounds Joint Masters at the 2023 Virginia Hound Show on the lawn of Morven Park. Pictured (L-R) Bill Haggard, Charles Montgomery, Theresa Menefee, and Gerald Robeson. Not pictured: Stasia Bachrach. Photo by Boo Montgomery.

Periodically, the Ian Milne Award is presented by the Master of Foxhounds Association to active huntsmen who are of sound character and who have made lasting contributions to the sport of foxhunting. Recipients of the award have learned their craft through long service in the field and in the kennels, and who uphold a high standard within the sport.

Huntsmen on the Move in 2022

Details: People; By Norman Fine

It’s that time of the off-season to check up on huntsmen who are moving or retiring and those hunts acquiring or seeking huntsmen. Here’s what we know.

guy.neil.betsy parker Guy Allman at Blue Ridge with then whipper-in Neil Amatt and hounds / Betsy Burke Parker photo

Live Oak Hounds (FL)
British-born Guy Allman has returned to the States from England to hunt the well-bred pack of Modern English and Crossbred foxhounds at Live Oak in north Florida. Allman has been in hunt service for thirty-seven seasons, all but three years of that time in England.

The Kriz Horseshoeing Dynasty: A Tribute

Details: People; By Paul Kraus

Joe Kriz and son ready for a day with the Middlebury Hunt (CT), circa 1962

Joe Kriz, known by family and friends as "UJ" (Uncle Joe), and his son Joe Kriz, known as "Little Joe," appear in the photo above in hunting attire for a day with the Middlebury Hunt (CT), circa early- to mid-1960s. In the background is the family farm in Bethany, Connecticut, owned by UJ and his brother Johnny.

UJ and Jonny were seventh-generation farriers in a family that immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia. The brothers lived side-by-side on the farm for most of their adult lives, including their final years. Because of their hospitality and generosity, their farm was the local hub for horsey folks in the area. Sundays and many holidays were Open House with food and drink and good cheer in abundance.

First-Year Huntsman; A Lifetime in Training

Details: People; By Norman Fine

berry and carty.how to pass the horn How to pass the horn: Fred Berry, MFH, Sedgefield, after 35 years as huntsman passes the horn to whipper-in Randall Wiseman Carty.

When the hunting season starts this fall, the Sedgefield Hunt (NC) will field a new huntsman. After thirty-five years carrying the horn, Fred Berry, MFH, has passed it on to a first-year professional huntsman, Randall Wiseman Carty. First-year notwithstanding, Ms. Carty will hardly be new to hounds or hunting.

PP Hogan (1922-2005)

Details: People; By Dickie Power

In Ireland, the early 1950s through the 1960s was an era of amateur Master/huntsmen―young men of some means―who took on a pack of hounds more as an avocation than a job," writes our correspondent, Dickie Power. He was fortunate to have hunted with many of them, such as Thady Ryan in Scarteen, Evan Williams in Tipperary, Lord Daresbury in Limerick, Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson in Duhallow, Victor McCalmont in Kilkenny, Elsie Morgan in West Waterford, and PP Hogan in Avondhu. This centenary year of Hogan’s birth is an appropriate time to remember him―a legend of Irish foxhunting and point-to-point racing.

pp hogan and Thady Ryan.Frank Meade (L-R) PP Hogan with his friend Thady Ryan, Master and huntsman, Scarteeen Black and Tans (1956)

PP (Pat) Hogan was born in Ireland into a family of horse dealers, farmers, and huntsmen, with an odd Bishop thrown in. His great uncle was the sporting bishop of Limerick, who always encouraged his clergy to ride to hounds.

The Hogans were a well-to-do farming family, with farms dotted around east Limerick, then as now an area steeped in everything to do with the horse. PP rode almost before he could walk. He rode his first race at the age of twelve. In those days before health and safety reigned supreme, it was only a matter of months before he made the first of countless visits to the winner’s enclosure.

Pat Coyle: Forty-Two Seasons, Huntsman, Ward Union Staghounds

Details: People; By Dickie Power

ward union.huntsman portrait Pat Coyle, huntsman, Ward Union Staghounds (IR) / Catherine Power photo

Pat Coyle, born and reared in Two Mile House, Co Kildare, has been huntsman of the Ward Union Staghounds since 1980. It was as natural for young Pat to follow a hunting career as it was for a bank manager’s son to join the bank. Pat’s maternal uncle, Eamonn Dunphy, was the much-revered huntsman of the Ward Union, but age and falls had taken their toll. By the late 1970s, he was nearing the end of his tether. So when the job of yardman in the kennels fell vacant, seventeen-year-old Pat Coyle applied and was hired. By that point, he was no longer red raw.

Lord Daresbury, MFH, Co Limerick Foxhounds

Details: People; By Dickie Power

"In Ireland, the early 1950s through the 1960s was an era of amateur Master/huntsmen―young men of some means―who took on a pack of hounds more as an avocation than a job," writes our correspondent, Dickie Power. He was fortunate to have hunted with many of them, such as Thady Ryan in Scarteen, Evan Williams in Tipperary, Lord Daresbury in Limerick, Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson in Duhallow, Victor McCalmont in Kilkenny, Elsie Morgan in West Waterford, and PP Hogan in Avondhu. This is our second installment in Dickie’s series about these remarkable men and women.

lord daresbury3 Edward 'Toby' Greenall, Lord Daresbury, MFH of the County Limerick foxhounds from 1947 to 1977 / Photo courtesy of Hugh Robards

I started my hunting career with the Co Limerick foxhounds and the late Lord Daresbury, MFH and huntsman. In the eyes of a small boy, he appeared a forbidding figure, tall and straight in his pink coat, elegantly turned out, and always beautifully mounted. It was an era of long hunts where hounds didn’t go home until they had accounted for their fox, regardless of the hour.

With the war over and the committee needing to restaff the hunt, they had wisely settled on Edward Greenall, 2^nd Baron Daresbury. He had been Master of the Belvoir Hunt in Leicestershire for thirteen seasons (1934 to 1947). While Edward was his christened name, he was known to one and all as Toby, probably because it is a brand of ale from their family brewery, Greenall’s, which was the source of almost unlimited finance. Lord Daresbury came to Limerick and took up residence in Clonshire, then as now the property of the Co. Limerick Hunt.

Thady Ryan: Three Centuries of Tradition at Scarteen

Details: People; By Dickie Power

Thaddeus 'Thady' Ryan of Scarteen was Master of the family pack of Kerry Beagles from 1946 to 2005, the year of his passing. Records show this unique breed of hounds has been in the Ryan family at Scarteen for ten consecutive generations stretching back more than three centuries. The pack hunted hare in the earlier years, then the stag, and finally, in 1927, the fox.

thady ryan.crop Thady Ryan, MFH, and Tommy O'Dwyer with the Scarteen Hounds at Knocktoran Bog, 1982. / From the painting by Peter Curling

The period from the early 1950s through the 1960s was an era of amateur Master/huntsmen where young men of some means would take on a pack of hounds more as an avocation than a job. I was fortunate to have hunted with many of them such as Thady Ryan in Scarteen, Evan Williams in Tipperary, Lord Daresbury in Limerick, Capt. Harry Freeman-Jackson in Duhallow, Victor McCalmont in Kilkenny, Elsie Morgan in West Waterford, and PP Hogan in Avondhu.

Over the next couple of months, I hope to bring short hunting biographies of these remarkable sportsmen, recalling a time of long days in the field and even longer hunts when the leading horsemen of those times flocked to Ireland to experience the magic and challenge of hunting in the south of Ireland.

The Remarkable Life of Major Charles Kindersley, MFH

Details: People

Book Review by Norman Fine

kindersley book cover Major Charles Kindersley with hounds and son, Richard, whipping-in. Painting by Jean Bowman. This book is available in the U.S. for $30.00 (USD) and in Canada for $40.00 (Canadian). Shipping is included in the price. Please e-mail your order directly to the author and include your phone number. She will call you for your credit card information.

The Life and Memory of Charles Montague Kindersley by Lynne Kindersley Dole is a story of ingenuity and adventure that takes us well beyond Major Kindersley's distinguished Mastership of which many readers are already familiar.

He was born in 1900 and lived through most of the twentieth century―until 1993. This story deserved to be written because he lived such a remarkable life. Likewise, it well-deserves to be read because it is authentically written by his daughter and is a riveting read.

Leading the Field

Details: People; By Erskine Bedford

The late Erskine Bedford, Piedmont's consummate Field Master for twenty seasons through the late twentieth century, explains how to lead and educate the field.

erskine bedford1 Erskine Bedford, MFH and Field Master, Piedmont Fox Hounds, 1979-1998

The Field Master’s job has five simple rules: first, have a great pack of hounds; second, have a great huntsman; third, have a great horse; fourth―getting serious now―know your country; and fifth, make it fun.

Willie Leahy: Horseman, Entrepreneur, Field Master

Details: People; By Noel Mullins

Willie Leahy field master of the Galway Blazers Willie Leahy, while Field Master of the Galway Blazers / Noel Mullins photo

Ireland and the horse world lost one of their best-known horsemen, Willie Leahy. He provided outstanding field hunters for visitors to Galway, served as Field Master of the Galway Blazers, was the first to offer pony trekking tours to Ireland, and developed the Connemara Trail. Willie was an uncle to Tony Leahy, MFH, past president of the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America.

His home was Aille Cross in Loughrea, County Galway. In the nearly seventy years I have known Willie, he remained true to the Traditional Irish Horse, Connemara Pony, and the countryside where he was most content. He started from modest means on a small family farm with one horse, leaving school early, but his boundless imagination and vision saw Willie develop one of the largest equestrian enterprises in Ireland, with farms in Loughrea and Connemara.

Frank Burke: Man and Horseman

Details: People; By Noel Mullins

The Irish possess a mystical, possibly genetic relationship with the horse. The late Frank Burke is a splendid example of the horseman all horse-lovers aspire to be.

frank burke.crop Frank Burke with Siscero, winner of the 2016 Dublin Horse Show Puissance at 7-feet, 3-inches and ridden by Shane Breen / Noel Mullins photo

A constant outpouring of messages of sympathy flew at the sad news of the passing of Frank Burke―West of Ireland horseman and lifetime follower of the Galway Blazers Foxhounds. The messages expressed what so many were thinking: a great warrior, kind and caring, inspiring, a joy to meet, smiling and good-humoured, hospitable, strong, a passion for life, steely determination, brave, tough and positive. Some said they admired his deep faith, a gentleman who suffered in silence from a dreadful illness over the last twenty years, yet remained pleasant and uncomplaining.

Frank knew he was not fighting his battle alone. He has his family in his corner and particularly his beloved wife Bernie, a trained nurse who was his ‘rock,’ sharing both his good days and bad days. And he had sons and daughters, all living as a close family unit. His son David said that his father gave a whole new meaning to the word, tough, recalling when the Hospice Nurse called to the house to attend to Frank only to be told he was out on the farm painting a gate!

Charles Montgomery was Awarded the 2023 Ian Milne Award

Huntsmen on the Move in 2022

The Kriz Horseshoeing Dynasty: A Tribute

First-Year Huntsman; A Lifetime in Training

PP Hogan (1922-2005)

Pat Coyle: Forty-Two Seasons, Huntsman, Ward Union Staghounds

Lord Daresbury, MFH, Co Limerick Foxhounds

Thady Ryan: Three Centuries of Tradition at Scarteen

The Remarkable Life of Major Charles Kindersley, MFH

Leading the Field

Willie Leahy: Horseman, Entrepreneur, Field Master

Frank Burke: Man and Horseman

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