Belvoir Foxhounds
Advice to a Young Huntsman
Learning to Handle Hounds in the Field
Frank Freeman: 21 years as huntsman to the Pytchley / Painting by George Wright (British)
What follows is an excerpt from The History of Foxhunting by Patrick Chalmers. Therein, the following text is quoted from Lord Chaplin’s introduction to Lord Henry Bentinck’s Foxhounds and Their Handling in the Field.
I was rather late one morning in arriving at a gorse covert in the Belvoir Country...into which the hounds had just been put to draw. I...saw at once it wasn’t the huntsman who was in the covert with the hounds, and I was told it was the first whip, Freeman, who had never hunted them before, the huntsman being disabled by a fall the previous day. So I went into the covert to see if I could help him.
Will Goodall and the Belvoir
Surely, one of the great foxhunting packs of Old English (or traditionally bred) foxhounds—as distinguished from the Modern English foxhound—is the Belvoir (pronounced “Beaver”) in the UK. The kennels are at Belvoir Castle and have always been the property of the Dukes of Rutland. The hunt dates from 1750, and, except for a twenty-seven year period in the 1800s, the Mastership has always been held by the reigning Duke of Rutland. The Belvoir kennels are still considered by many breeders to be their primary source of Old English bloodlines.
Will Goodall served as the Belvoir huntsman from 1842 to 1859. Goodall’s hunting methods greatly impressed Lord Henry Bentinck, one of the leading MFHs of the day. Captain Simon Clarke, MFH of the New Forest foxhounds (UK) tells us that Lord Henry hunted three horses a day, kept copious notes, compared the best of England’s huntsmen, and believed Will Goodall to be the premier huntsman in England.
When in 1864 Lord Henry sold his famous hound pack, he wrote a letter to the purchaser, Mr. Henry Chaplin, describing Will Goodall’s hunting methods. The information in the letter so impressed Mr. Chaplin that, some years after Lord Henry’s death, he had it published under the title, The Late Lord Henry Bentinck on Foxhounds: Goodall’s Practice.
"Goodall’s Practice,” says Captain Clarke, “is the best treatise on hunting hounds ever written.” The revered Master and hound breeder Isaac “Ikey” Bell, the single individual most responsible for the modern English foxhound, is said to have had Goodall’s Practice painted on the ceiling over his bathtub! If you watch while hunting this season, you may see and recognize some of these same practices being used by your own huntsman. Here’s an extract:
The County Limerick Foxhounds at Kilmallock
The well-bred Old English foxhounds of the County Limerick continue to show exciting sport. The Limerick breeding program has been closely associated with that of the Belvoir (UK) since the Mastership of Lord Daresbury beginning in the mid-twentieth century. / Catherine Power photo
Reports on hunting with The Counties, as the County Limerick Foxhounds are locally referred to, have been glowing with stories of one red letter day following hard on the heels of another. So it was with some sense of anticipation we joined last Saturday’s meet at the mart yard in Kilmallock.
There were over sixty mounted, including several U.S. visitors. From the Midland Fox Hounds in Georgia came Mason Lampton, Jr, MFH, with his two sons Whitney and younger brother Henry—great-grandchildren of the famous foxhunter, Ben Hardaway, who at age ninety-eight passed away only recently. Organizers of the American expedition were Richard and Lilith Boucher, steeplechase jockey and trainer from Camden, South Carolina, and their daughter Mell.
Hillsboro Hounds: Home of Grand Champions!
Huntsman John Gray and professional whipper-in Leilani Hrisko show Virginia Grand Champion Hillsboro Siskin '14. Looking on (l-r) are Judge J.W.Y. "Duck" Martin, Virginia Foxhound Club Co-Chairman Mrs. Richard Jones, and huntsman John Holliday, Belvoir Foxhounds (UK). / Lauren Giannini photo
Virginia Foxhound Show, Morven Park, May 24, 2015: Okay, says Hillsboro huntsman John Gray, if you don’t like Graphic, I’ll show you Siskin!
On May 9, 2015 at the Carolinas Hound Show, Hillsboro Graphic ’14 was judge Tony Leahy’s pick for Grand Champion of Show. Two weeks later, at the Virginia Foxhound Show, Leahy, judging in the Crossbred ring, chose un-entered Midland Striker over Graphic for the Crossbred Championship.
It proved but a minor setback for Hillsboro. In the final class of the day in the English ring, Judge Charles Frampton chose Hillsboro Siskin ‘14 as the Champion English Foxhound. So when the very last class of the day rolled around—Grand Champion of Show—English Champion Siskin faced off against Crossbred Champion Midland Striker, who had just beaten Siskin’s kennel mate, Carolinas Grand Champion Graphic, for the breed championship.
The other formidable opponents in the ring were un-entered American Champion, Orange County Kermit and Penn-Marydel Champion, De La Brooke Tullamoore ’11. But Hillsboro was not to be denied. Judge J.W.Y. “Duck” Martin crowned Hillsboro Siskin ’14 Grand Champion of Show. Crossbred Champion Midland Striker was Reserve, and Hillsboro leaves town with two Grand Champion foxhounds in the last two hound shows!.
Blue Ridge Hunt Signs On New Huntsman
Huntsman Robert Howarth has been working his way south. He will carry the horn at the Blue Ridge Hunt in Virginia this year, arriving after a season hunting hounds at the Myopia Hunt in Massachusetts and before that the Hamilton Hunt in Ontario. Howarth will succeed Dennis Downing, now completing his eleventh season at Blue Ridge. British-born Howarth started his professional hunt career as whipper-in at the Belvoir at age sixteen. After two seasons at the Belvoir he moved on, as is the custom of those in hunt service in England, and whipped-in at several other hunts for the next fifteen years. He then went to the Holderness as huntsman and carried the horn there for eleven seasons. After twenty-seven seasons of hunt service in England, Howarth emigrated to Canada to hunt hounds at the Hamilton Hunt and then moved on to Myopia. Howarth, who is steeped in the breeding of the Old English foxhound from his experiences at the Belvoir and the Holderness, will take over a pack of modern English and modern English-American crosses bred for the past eleven years by Blue Ridge Master Linda Armbrust. Blue Ridge is still seeking to hire a professional whipper-in for the 2012-2013 season. Posted January 6, 2012 Helen Laverack photo
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