John Pickering and the End of an Era
John Pickering, one of Irish foxhunting’s witty raconteurs and colorful characters, passed away recently in his adopted town of Tuam, County Galway, Ireland. In his career he hunted the East Down Foxhounds, the Golden Vale Foxhounds, the Oriel Harriers, and was whipper-in and huntsman to the legendary Master of the Bermingham and North Galway Foxhounds, the late Lady Molly Cusack-Smith.
I first met him when he was hunting the Oriel Harriers in the 1980s. At a meet north of Dundalk, in County Louth, hounds put a fox away from Bell’s Covert, but he only ran a couple of hundred yards before going to ground in an earth in the middle of a field. To make matters worse his best hound Heckler was down in the earth with only his stern in view. Pickering sat casually back in the saddle and remarked, “I think I will have to take that hound to a shrink.”
“Why”, I asked, to which Pickering replied, “Because he thinks he’s a bloody terrier!”
FBI Probes Actions of Connecticut MFH
According to an Associated Press report, on July 11, the FBI raided the Bridgewater, Connecticut Town Hall for, among other records, documents relating to a trust fund established in the 1920s to benefit the town’s needy. Until recently the fund has been controlled by the town’s First Selectmen of nearly thirty years, William Stuart, MFH […]
Arturo Bandini and the Pasadena Hunt
Arturo Bandini“Mr. Arturo Bandini, of the Pasadena Hunt, owns the finest pack in the vicinity…. The meet is generally upon Orange Grove Avenue, or some spot contiguous to the Arroyo. And before the dew is off the grass, and while the scent is fresh, the musical notes of Mr. Bandini’s horn may be heard, followed by the fitful baying of the hounds; and then horsemen and women come from all directions—parties from the Raymond and other hotels, and from Los Angeles and San Gabriel, swelling the hunt….”
So writes Charles Frederick Holder, in his 1889 book, All About Pasadena and its Vicinity; It’s Climate, Missions, Trails and Canyons, Fruits, Flowers and Game. Holder tells us that the sport holding the most fascination to visitors is hunting the wild-cat with hounds—the cats in this area sometimes weighing in at fifty pounds. One can’t help but wonder if Mr. Bandini and his hounds were even known to those east-coast founding fathers that were pioneering our own sport of organized mounted foxhunting in the late 1800s.
Riot
Douglas Lees photoCubhunting season has arrived, and hunt staffs across North America are taking to the field tasked with imposing new rules upon young hounds just discovering new freedoms! Edric C. Roberts addresses the conflict in this timely and light-hearted poem from his collection, Hunters’ Moon (Richard R. Smith Inc., New York, 1930, 70 pp, illustrated).
Riot
Somehow, I honestly never knew why,
Rarity, Chorister, Landlord and I
Found ourselves happily hunting alone,
Running like smoke on a line of our own;
Riot
Cubhunting season has arrived, and hunt staffs across North America are taking to the field tasked with imposing new rules upon young hounds just discovering new freedoms! Edric C. Roberts addresses the conflict in this timely and light-hearted poem from his collection, Hunters’ Moon (Richard R. Smith Inc., New York, 1930, 70 pp, illustrated).
Douglas Lees photo
Riot
Somehow, I honestly never knew why,
Rarity, Chorister, Landlord and I
Found ourselves happily hunting alone,
Running like smoke on a line of our own;
Hale-Bopp and the Foxhounds
The inhabitants of the Lake District, home to the venerable foxhunting foot packs of Cumbria, have always been superstitious, their lives governed by beliefs and ritual to prevent bad luck. There were many beliefs, but the one I remember best is that in Wasdale a mother did not wash a baby’s arms until it was six months old. This, it was believed, would stop the child growing up to be a thief. As time passed, superstition of events and the cause of happenings became less, or did it?
On July 23, 1995, Alan Hale in New Mexico and Thomas Bopp in Arizona discovered, independently, an unusually bright comet outside of Jupiter’s orbit.
Now the approach of this comet in 1997, which became easily visible to the naked eye in the night sky, did not register on the radar of Pete who only saw stars after closing time, and would never dream of looking to the heavens anyway on his way home from the pub up the streetlight-less road. As the comet neared the sun it became brighter still in the night sky, and the talk in the billiard room was of nothing else. Even hunting took second place.
Hound Hunting Bill Passes California Assembly
A bill that will ban the hunting of bear and bobcat with hounds (SB1221) was passed by the California State Assembly on August 22, 2012. Because it was amended in the Assembly, it must be passed again by the State Senate, after which it will go to the Governor for signature. SB1221 passed the Senate […]
Foxhunter Becomes World-Class Carriage Driving Expert
Ed Young—newly appointed to the five-member FEI (international) Driving Technical Committee—was plucked from the Genesee Valley hunting field in the mid-1970s by Bill Remley, founder of the Walnut Hill Carriage Driving Competition in New York State. Remley recognized Young’s math, organizational, and leadership skills and asked him to help out with the scoring in an […]
We’ve Been Noticed!
Foxhunting Life editor Norman Fine is profiled in the August 2012 issue of Middleburg Life. Well known equestrian writer Steve Price serves up more than you ever wanted to know about Norm. The print version is available at many Middleburg, Virginia locations; click to access the electronic “flip-page” version. Open the “Latest Issue” and see […]
Irish National Hound Show
Galway Blazers shown by (l-r) whipper-in Jason O’Donnell and huntsman Tom Dempsey / Noel Mullins photos
The magnificent grounds of the Cosby Estate in Stradbally, County Laois again hosted the annual Irish National Hound Show. Three rings featured foxhounds, harriers and beagles.
Hound shows are important events to meet and catch up on hunting in different parts of the country. For masters and hunt staff it is an opportunity to see what packs have on show, and maybe to pick out a suitable stallion hound for future breeding plans. However, at hound shows, hounds can be judged only on conformation and movement. Only in the hunting field can the other essential qualities for any working hound be assessed, like stamina, scenting ability, fox sense, and drive, as hounds are only as fast or as steady as their noses.