A Dream Fulfilled
(l-r) Megan, Deb, and Marti
The inspiration for this trip happened quite by accident. While traveling with cousins in the southwestern part of England in May of 2012 , we happened to stop for a Sunday roast at the pub in the tiny hamlet of Highclere Castle, the home of the wonderful television series, Downton Abbey.
We had missed, by a day, a trail ride on the grounds of the castle. My cousin Marti and I have taken many riding trips and are always looking for a new adventure. We began to dream of a trip in England where we would ride in some of the places that we had read about all of our lives in English novels but had never seen. As we visited the Exmoor and the Dartmoor, the haunts of wild ponies and the characters of Daphne du Maurier, we became more excited. We did not, however, have any idea how to accomplish our vision.
Museum of Hounds and Hunting Celebrates the Warrenton Hunt
Lauren Giannini photo
The Museum of Hounds & Hunting NA opened its season with a reception for 200 members and guests Saturday evening, May 26, 2013 at Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia. The Virginia Foxhound Show took place on the grounds the following day.
Visitors viewed new exhibits featuring art and artifacts of the Warrenton Hunt (VA), established in 1887 and celebrating its 125th anniversary. Warrenton’s three current Masters—Kim Nash, Celeste Vella and Rick Laimbeer—graciously sponsored the Member’s Reception.
Chasing the Drag at Misty Morning Hounds
Master and huntsman Alexis Macaulay calls hounds to water at day’s end / Carolyn Carnes photo
At the time that Mac and I started our pack, I had never before drag hunted. The territory I was able to secure, however, was public land, and the regulations stated, “taking of fox is strictly forbidden.” While that has since changed, we have such a steady pack on the drag at this point that I hesitate to send it live. Also, we hunt on several small, privately owned fixtures that are extremely popular with the members because of the interesting terrain and abundance of jumps, and in those fixtures it would be impossible to hunt live because of the size.
In the beginning, since I knew nothing about the sport, I read everything I could get my hands on about drag hunting. I experimented with various scents and scent combinations, but the pack was light on cry, so I sought help. The hounds, which had been drafted from the Middlebury Hunt (CT) when they disbanded, were live hunters, so we had a double challenge—the blind leading the blind.
Mooreland Wary Is Grand Champion Foxhound at Virginia
Virginia Grand Champion Mooreland Wary 2012 shows herself before (l-r) huntsman Rhodri Jones-Evans; judge Jack Van Nagle, MFH; Mooreland MFH Jon Moody; Virginia Foxhound Club President Joan Jones; and Mooreland MFH Liz Saint John. / Lauren Giannini photo
“This is going to be an excellent Grand Championship class,” said Daphne Wood, MFH of the Live Oak Hounds (FL), as we all waited for the class to begin. “The English and Crossbred Champions are both beautiful hounds, and I’m told that the American hound is excellent as well. Jack’s going to have a tough time picking one.”
Daphne was referring to Jack Van Nagle, MFH of the Iroquois Hunt (KY), who was scheduled to judge the class and who would soon be—if he wasn’t already—feeling the pressure!
The Fell Foxes of Dove Crag
Dove Crag in the rugged Lake District of Cumbria, England
A sheep trod wove its way up the steep fell side, gaining height with an ease unmatched by any route a human could devise. Following it and climbing all the time I skirted small outcrops of rock, crossed a stream full of melt-snow water at the best point to do so, and finally arrived on the ridge. Stopping to catch my breath, for although the route to a sheep would have been easy this human was very unfit, I gazed at the view in front of me. My horizon was filled with snow covered peaks under a bright blue sky. Warm sunlight bathed the ridge and gave a small crag to my left a sharpness normally unseen.
The Coniston foxhounds had disappeared to god knows where, and had been gone for some time. I’d watched them climb the fell side I now stood on. It had been a beautiful sight as they climbed, in a line, like as someone put it “a hound trail.” Their music had carried down the valley, growing fainter as they crested the ridge and then as they dropped into the next valley it disappeared altogether, leaving an eerie silence.
VA Hound Show Weekend Features NSL Book Fair, Hunt Country Stable Tour
Visitors in town for the Virginia Foxhound Show will be able to attend the third annual Book Fair at the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, Virginia on Saturday, May 25, 2013 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. A part of the annual Hunt Country Stable Tour, the Book Fair is open to the […]
Hillsboro Denmark Is Grand Champion at Carolinas
Huntsman Johnnie Gray shows Hillsboro Denmark 2012, Grand Champion Foxhound of the Carolinas Hound Show. / Leilani Hrisko photo
Hillsboro Denmark 2012 was judged Grand Champion of the Carolinas Hound Show on Saturday, May 11, 2013. Bred by Nigel Peel at the North Cotswold kennels in England, he was picked up late one night at LaGuardia Airport, along with another three-and-a-half couple of his North Cotswold kennel mates—all unentered hounds—by Hillsboro huntsman Johnnie Gray.
Before you call Mr. Peel and ask if he will send you a comparable draft, you should know that this was an “inside job.” Nigel Peel’s Joint-Master at the North Cotswold, Bradford Hooker, happens to be the son of Hillsboro’s senior Master, Henry Hooker.
Brian Ferrell Is New MFH at Blue Ridge
Brian Ferrell is new MFH at Blue Ridge. / Nancy Kleck photoBrian Ferrell has been appointed MFH at the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA), joining Masters Linda Armbrust and Anne McIntosh in a team of three. Ferrell, who is dead serious in his commitment to the hunt and to the sport, is nevertheless somewhat bemused. “I […]
Huntsman Dennis Downing Moves to Saxonburg
Karen Myers photo Huntsman Dennis Downing has moved from the Montreal Hunt (QC) to take up the horn at the Saxonburg Hunt (PA). That position became available when former Saxonburg huntsman Hugh Robards decided to make a move of his own. Downing has been at Montreal for just one season after having hunted hounds at […]
Covertside: The Complete Set
Karen Myers photoA private party, unrelated to Foxhunting Life, has contacted us to offer for sale a complete set of Covertside publications starting with the very first—a four-page newsletter dated May 1994—up to the Spring, 2013 issue. At four issues a year (just three the first year), that computes to seventy-six issues. We will happily […]