fox hunting foxhunting
The Hare that Must Be Fox
A third condensed installment from We Go Foxhunting Abroad: A First Venture with the Irish Banks and English Downs, Charles D. Lanier’s 1924 account of a father-daughter sporting trip to Ireland and England.
Irish hare
We decided that our new sensation would be a trial of Irish harehunting, so to Watergrass Hill we flivvered, to the meet of Mr. Robert Hall’s private pack of harriers. The Master was a slender, wiry, grey-haired man of seventy years, aquiline of countenance, with a singularly winning eye and smile under his velvet cap. He and his whipper-in were, of course, in green, and a dozen or so of the field of thirty or forty also wore the correct harrier colors.
Mr. Hall had the pride of an Irishman and a sportsman in his fifteen couple of huge Kerry “beagles,” and I think it would have been a hard blow to him if luck had been denied us that day. But it turned out to be a red letter day; I think we enjoyed having it so even more for the intense satisfaction it gave our enthusiastic host than for the sport intrinsically, which was of the very best and a revelation to us, who had not before followed a strong South Irish hare.
“Right to Hunt” on Mississippi Ballot
Voters in Mississippi will have the opportunity on November 4 to make hunting and fishing a constitutional right in that state. Hunters and lawmakers there have become increasingly concerned as animal rights advocates across the country seek to further limit sportsmen’s choices. Seventeen states in the U.S. have already made hunting and fishing a constitutional right, subject to existing laws and regulations. Although animal rights groups deny their intention to curtail hunting and fishing, their assurances are incredulous in the light of clear and unequivocal statements made to the contrary by the leadership and spokespersons of those organizations. Click to see quotations—both for and against—as expressed by various organizations on the subject. Posted October 19, 2014
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Photographer Douglas Lees Awarded S. Bryce Wing Trophy
Janet Hitchen photoTwo-time Eclipse Award-winning photographer Douglas Lees was this year’s recipient of the S. Bryce Wing Trophy, awarded by the Maryland Hunt Cup Association to honor individuals who have made exceptional contributions to Maryland timber racing. Lees is a regular contributor to Foxhunting Life, and we congratulate him for his latest achievement.
With one foot in racing and one foot in foxhunting, Lees is a double threat. Each spring, during the point-to-point season, Lees sends us his brilliant racing photographs to enliven our coverage of the hunt races, and we publish his foxhunting images regularly. In fact, the cover photo of huntsman Spencer Allen and the Piedmont foxhounds for our just-published 2015 Foxhunting Life calendar was taken by Lees.
Smithwick Saddles Four Winners at Old Dominion
Fogcutter gives Woods Winants his first of three winning rides and trainer Eva Smithwick her first of four wins on the card in the Amateur/Novice Rider Hurdle Race. / Douglas Lees photoEva Smithwick-trained horses won four of the eight races on the card at the Old Dominion Hunt Point-to-Point held on Saturday, April 6, 2013 at Ben Venue Farm. Woods Winants drove home three of her winners: Fogcutter in the Amateur/Novice Rider Hurdle, Coturnix in the Maiden Hurdle, and Rutledge Classic in the Foxhunter Timber Race.
Smithwick’s other win came with Dr. Alex, owned and ridden by Teddy Zimmerman, in the Amateur Highweight Timber Race. This was the second win for Zimmerman and Dr. Alex in this year’s series, their previous victory coming at the Piedmont Point-to-Point.
Drag Hunting in South Africa
The Rand Hunt in South Africa has its origins in the Germiston Hunt Club established in 1886—the year of the discovery of the Rand Gold Fields. In 1914 the hunt was moved to Johannesburg and renamed the Rand Hunt. Today, though most members are wealthy white South Africans, the hunt field is integrated. Typically attracting about fifty riders, up to one hundred may be in the field for special meets such as Boxing Day. The hunt has followed the drag from the start, but since there are few foxes in South Africa, jackal urine is used for the scent instead. Click for more photos by Antony Kaminju in BBC Focus on Africa magazine. Posted December 17, 2012 Laying the Drag in South Africa / Antony Kaminju photo
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First Running of the Thornton HIll Fort Valley Hounds Point-to-Point Races
Brett Jackson, MFH leads the Junior Field Master's Chase. Erin Swope keeps in touch.
The Thornton Hill Fort Valley Hounds (VA) is the result of a recent merger between the Thornton Hill Hounds (previously unregistered) and the Fort Valley Hunt (registered with the MFHA in 1992). The hunt’s point-to-point races were run for the first time on Saturday, March 3, 2012 at the beautiful Thornton Hill Racecourse near Sperryville, Virginia in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Masters are Jim Kincheloe, Brett Jackson, and the father and son team of Larry and Jeff Lehew.
At the end of the day, Jeff Murphy was top jockey, bringing home two winners—Orebanks in the Open Hurdle Race and Dealer Beware in the Novice Timber.
A Boxing Day Meet with the Carrollton Hounds
Accompanying Joe Bills’s story are Karen Kandra Wenzel’s photographs, including a sequence of one of the foxes viewed away.
“I love to shoot there whenever possible,” says Karen. “Carrollton has gorgeous territory—all rolling farmland and not a housing development in sight!”
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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Who Is This?
This gentleman’s portrait along with the question of his identity was posted on our Facebook page to provide an entertaining and informative way of featuring iconic figures in American foxhunting. We had some respectable guesses, but no one came up with the correct answer!
Meet A. Henry Higginson, MFH!
Rockbridge Lawyer and Lead: A One-Two Punch at Carolinas
Huntsman David Conner and Rockbridge Lawyer 2008. Jan Sorrells photo
Rockbridge Lawyer 2008 and his littermate Lead scored a one-two punch at the Carolinas Foxhound Performance Trials on March 26 and 27 in Hoffman, North Carolina. Competing against hounds from twelve other hunts, the Rockbridge pair finished first and second respectively after two days of hunting. We talked to Conner about his handsome and talented hound.
Trial organizer Fred Berry, MFH of the Sedgefield Hunt, has been actively involved in foxhound performance trials for years—first judging, then organizing. As a result of Berry’s considerable experience, he has introduced some interesting new wrinkles into the management of his trials to improve both the hunting and the experience for the field.
