foxhunt
Interactive Puppy Show: A Superb Idea
Rank these three hounds—green, pink, and yellow—to match the judges’ card, and you’re a winner! In the ring during the Spectators’ Class at the Wicklow Foxhounds (IRE) Puppy Show are (l-r) Judges Mark Ollard and Noel Mullins, whipper in Peter Kavanagh and Master and huntsman Philip Lazenby.
Here’s a superb idea for puppy shows guaranteed to increase spectator interest in and knowledge of foxhounds, and have fun at the same time...and it’s so easy to do!
Noel Mullins, a regular contributor to Foxhunting Life, recently judged the Wicklow Foxhounds (IRE) puppy show along with Scarteen huntsman Mark Ollard. After the pair had finished judging the puppy classes and chosen their Champion and Reserve foxhounds, a final class was held as a judging competition for the spectators.
Ewbank Clothiers Gutted by Fire
The fire that consumed Ewbank Clothiers in Berryville, Virginia on Thursday, August 13, 2015 couldn’t have come at a worse time for proprietor Karen Ewbank. Her custom tailoring shop was full of hunt coats and other foxhunting attire either being repaired or built in preparation for the upcoming hunting season.
"I woke up at three in the morning that night, counting red coats," she recalls.
In addition to the loss of clothing and fabrics, perhaps even more serious is the loss of her meticulously cut pattern drafts—now ashes—used to trace shapes onto fabrics. The patterns will have to be re-plotted on brown Kraft paper from client measurements and re-cut—a process that takes about five hours for each client’s hunt coat. As of the date of this article, Karen doesn’t yet know whether her client measurement charts survived. They’re in steel filing cabinets in the front of the shop, and she has hopes that they were spared.
“I’m kicking on,” Karen told me today, the first workday of a new week. “I’m moving everything to my house and will work from here until the shop is rebuilt. That could take months, even though the structure is still sound.”
Loose Foxhounds: Leave ’em or Secure ’em?
"Lost Hound" by Jane Gaston: illustration from the book of the same name by Robert AshcomWhat should we do when we see foxhounds in our yard or loose in the country? Our options are (1) try to capture and secure them in a kennel or horse stall and call the huntsman, (2) put them in our vehicle and drive them to the kennel, (3) call the huntsman or the kennelman, tell them what we saw, and leave it in his/her hands, or (4) do nothing.
It’s a conundrum because each of the above answers can be correct, depending on the circumstances. Has the pack been hunting from a meet in the vicinity? How far away are the kennels? Are there busy highways between hounds and kennels? Between hounds and the meet? Are hounds moving with a purpose or just nosing around? Is a hound injured?
When a Fox Barks
Evie Good queried Foxhunting Life about her recent experience with a local fox.
“Can someone explain why a fox would bark repeatedly at me?” she asked. “We heard it barking last night close to the house. We found it barking at the dog this morning. When it saw me it ran to the nearby pasture, but stopped and barked some more. Finally, the fox turned and ran out of sight.
We asked two members of our Panel of Experts—Marty Wood, MFH and huntsman Hugh Robards, ex-MFH—for their opinion on this fox’s behavior.
Fanciful Fibs and Other Sins
Photo by Karen MyerSome Foxhunting Life readers have already seen this opinion piece, published more than a year ago. While it attracted a number of comments for which I’m grateful, the message hasn’t, and of course never will reach everyone. So after having seen a new batch of newspaper articles from around the country, containing cringe-worthy quotes by foxhunters attending Opening Meets this season, I’m obliged to re-publish my argument. If it reaches another pair of eyes or ears and changes the mind attached, it will be worthwhile!
As Pogo once famously said, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” I think of that bit of comic strip philosophy whenever I hear foxhunters attempt to con the public or distance themselves from the truth about our sport.
The Second Whip
Illustration by Gilbert HollidayOver he goes, with a crash and a rattle,
Hound couples clinking, ’gainst saddle and thigh;
Over he goes, and the light of the battle
Gleams like a spark in his eager young eye.
Twigs of the hawthorn fly backward together,
Meeting again with an ominous swish;
Over he goes, landing light as a feather,
One with his horse and quick as you’d wish.
Kinds and condition of fences don’t matter,
Straight as a ramrod he rides at them all;
Over he goes with a bang and a clatter,
Knocking loose stones off the top of the wall.
Captain Ronnie Wallace, MFH: A Huntsman Like No Other
Captain Ronnie Wallace with hounds while Master of the Heythrop / Oil portrait by Michael Lyne
Captain Ronnie Wallace, MFH was the undisputed dean of British foxhunting and a frequent and popular visitor to the U.S. He was a genius in the art of venery and in his uncanny breeding sense. He was arguably the English breeder most influential in the development of today’s modern English foxhound.
It’s been thirteen years since Captain Wallace died in an automobile accident at age eighty-two, yet whenever hunting conversation turns to amazing feats of hound work performed by a superb huntsman, I’m reminded of an astonishing story that illustrates Wallace’s supremacy.
Scottish National Party Delays Attempt to Relax Hunting Ban
In a reversal of expectations, the Scottish National Party (SNP) has threatened to oppose the pro-hunting effort to relax a key provision of the Hunting Act in England. The SNP move appears to doom chances of passage. As Foxhunting Life reported last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron, a former foxhunter, decided not to test the Hunting Act with a free vote in Parliament for a total reversal—an effort that would consume much Parliamentary time with questionable chance of success—but to attempt a statutory change instead. Cameron’s proposal would relax a key provision of the Act and consume only ninety minutes of Parliamentary time before a vote. Pro-hunting factions believed they had a chance of success, having been assured by SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon that the party would refrain from voting since it was an English issue. However, pressure from the party’s anti-hunting constituents in Scotland persuaded SNP MPs to announce their readiness to participate in the vote and defeat the bill. The SNP reversal is somewhat surprising in that the statutory change sought by Cameron would, if passed, bring the foxhunting laws in England more in line with those in Scotland. In the wake of the SNP turnabout, Cameron will delay this week’s planned introduction of his proposal to amend the Hunting Act. The ramifications of pursuing his original course now transcend the relatively unimportant (to most) subject of foxhunting and enter the more explosive realm of Scottish independence. If Cameron goes ahead with the vote, and if SNP MPs vote with the Labour Party as threatened, a new precedent of SNP votes on purely English matters will be set, and renewed pressure could arise on fragile Scottish-English unity. Read more details in The Guardian article by Rowena Mason and Libby Brooks and the more recent AP report. Posted July 14, 2015Updated July 15, 2015
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Cleveland Bay Day in Maryland to Hack, School, Visit
Cleveland Bays and their owners will have a day together to trail ride, school over fences cross country or in a large sand ring, or on the flat in a dressage arena, or just hang out and chat with other Cleveland bay enthusiasts. The event will be held Sunday, July 19, 2015 at Woodstock Equestrian Park, Route 28, Poolesville, Maryland, starting at 9:00 am with lunch at about noon. Arrive when you can, and stay as long as you like. The event is free, but you are asked to bring a dish and your own beverage for the potluck lunch. There is a water complex, some small ditches, and a selection of varied cross-country jumps with the majority at beginner novice or novice level. If you plan to school cross country, please bring a protective vest. The wooded trails are even suitable for carriages. Non-Cleveland Bay horses and friends are welcome as well. Woodstock Equestrian Park is just slightly beyond the intersection of Route 28 and Route 109, heading toward Dickerson. Ample trailer parking is available. For more information or to RSVP, contact Marcia Brody ([email protected]). Posted July 13, 2015
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Dedicated to Janet Hitchen
Orange County foxounds at the old kennels / Janet Hitchen photo Each year I look forward to the task of choosing the cover photo for our Foxhunting Life calendar. This year that task was taken in a more serious vein than usual. Having lost Janet Hitchen, one of the country’s foremost sporting photographers and a good friend, I arranged with her assistant Joanne Maisano to reproduce one of Janet’s iconic foxhunting photographs for our cover—one that represents her particular talent in composing a visually dramatic image, replete with contrasting textures, and which tells a story about our sport. The four Orange County foxhounds in their old kennels—so clearly American—appear in a variety of postures, moods, and expressions from regal to relaxed. Their silky coats contrast with the rough floor boards, the distressed door, and the white-washed walls, worn and soiled from years of toenails and mud. And, as expected in Janet’s photographs, the composition, balance, focus, and color are flawless. With this photo gracing our cover, we dedicate our Foxhunting Life 2016 Calendar to Janet Hitchen. And as with all our covers, the image appears both on the cover and inside the calendar, enlarged to fill the entire page to the edges. Also, as before, photos of the hound show grand champions that you’ve been reading about in FHL throughout the hound show season are still to be found inside the back cover. We’ve been publishing our appointments calendar since 1998, and our annual collection of foxhunting images continues to represent the finest examples of the sporting photographer’s art. Foxhunting Life 2016 Calendars will be ready to ship on September 1. They’ll help you keep track of your busy schedule while they brighten up your tack room and kitchen. And they make great gifts for your party hosts and for landowners in your hunting country. Be sure to login before ordering to receive your automatic subscriber’s discount. *Click to place your order.* Posted //??//... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here
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