hound show
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.
New Market-Middletown Valley Widget Is Bryn Mawr Grand Champion
New Market-Middletown Valley huntsman Ally Storer shows Widget before judge Daphne Wood, MFH / Christine Cancelli photo
New Market-Middletown Valley Widget 2014 was judged Grand Champion of Show at the Bryn Mawr Hound Show held this year at the Radnor Hunt in Malvern, Pennsylvania on May 30, 2015.
Huntsman Alasdair Storer is banking on the beautiful tri-colored Crossbred foxhound and her sister Welcome to be the foundations of important female bloodlines for this Maryland pack to build upon. As Storer’s father—an experienced breeder of hounds in England—commented, “You couldn’t ask for a better pedigree.”
Starting with Widget and Welcome, Storer plans to breed one to an Elkridge-Harford Crossbred and the other to a Millbrook Penn-Marydel. This, he hopes, will give him two strong lines of disparate gene pools to keep his breeding options open.
Lab Techs in the Show Ring?
| Jerry Miller, MFH |  C. Martin Wood, III, MFH |
Diane Farrington, a non-foxhunter, has asked an interesting question that we think would stump most foxhunters. She writes, “I have been seeing lots of photos online from recent hound shows. What is the reason or significance of showing the hounds in white lab coats?”
We asked Messrs. Jerry Miller, MFH of the Iroquois Hounds (KY), and C. Martin Wood, III, MFH of the Live Oak Hounds (FL)---members of Foxhunting Life's Panel of Experts---for an explanation. Both men agree that the underlying purpose is simply to protect and keep the show staff’s clothing clean, but going back to the origins of the style leads us to an appreciation of practical solutions!
Puppy Show Exclusive!
With privacy now a quaint relic of the recent past, we paparazzi can tune into intimate conversation wherever we wish. Recently our hidden camera and super-sensitive parabolic microphone caught Toronto and North York huntsman Antony Gaylard and his favorite hound Barter in an unguarded moment. Couldn’t you have given the judge just one little smile? But Boss, I’ve given you my heart! Denya Massey Clarke photos Posted July 20, 2012
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Morven Park: Hound Show In; Steeplechase Out
Morven Park and its lovely grounds in Leesburg, Virginia are familiar to many foxhunters. The former estate of the late Governor Westmoreland Davis has been home for many years to the Virginia Foxhound Show, meets of the Loudoun West Hunt, and the Morven Park Steeplechases. The mansion has recently been refurbished—a major project taking several years to complete—and Morven Park’s Board of Trustees are now grappling with formulating a vision for the future of the 1200-acre estate. A number of strategies have been identified with the goal of making it more accessible and relevant to a broader public. The expanded mission is expected to require significant fund raising to implement needed improvements, and decisions are being made as to which facilities and activities will survive and which will be discontinued. One casualty of the plan, according to Margaret Morton’s article in Leesburg Today, will be the Morven Park Steeplechase Races. The other equestrian facilities, however, will be improved for dressage, carriage driving, trail riding, eventing, show jumping, and therapeutic riding. “The annual Memorial Day weekend Virginia Foxhound Club show, the largest hound show in the world, will not be affected,” according to the article. Posted December 27, 2011
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Rockview Harriers Show Includes Both Scent and Sight Hounds
Lurchers in flapper race chasing the lureThe annual Rockview Harriers Working Terrier, Hound and Lurcher Show in County Kilkenny, Ireland enjoyed a large turnout with working dog enthusiasts traveling from all over the country. The show drew representatives from England and Wales as well.
Myopia Godfrey Is Grand Champion Foxhound in New England
Myopia Godfrey 2008 (Toronto & North York Godfrey 2001 ex Myopia Devon 2004) / photo by Curve27 StudioMyopia Godfrey 2008, a lovely moving white, modern English dog hound, was judged Grand Champion Foxhound at the New England Hunts Foxhound Show on Sunday, May 8. Godfrey is full of Exmoor and Heythrop bloodlines going back to the halcyon days of the brilliant English hound breeder Captain Ronnie Wallace, who served as MFH at both hunts.
The First Saturday in May
New Market-Middletown Valley Unity was Champion American Foxhound / Karen Kandra Wenzel photoFor most of the horse world, the first Saturday in May means the Kentucky Derby, but in Maryland and much of the Mid-Atlantic it has come to mean hunt races at the Howard County-Iron Bridge Hunt on Saturday and the Maryland Foxhound Club puppy show on Sunday. This year the dates fell on May 7 and 8.
Brazos Valley Meadow Takes Top Honors at Central States Hound Show
Brazos Valley Meadow, shown by Sandy Dixon, MFH and huntsman, is Grand Champion. Standing (l-r): Dr. Robert Smith, ex-MFH, Ringmaster; Bobby Dixon; John (Jake) Carle, ex-MFH, Judge; Terry Olsen, MFHIt was Mom’s day out on Mother’s Day weekend for Brazos Valley Meadow 2006. She was judged Best Hound of Show at the Central States Hound Show on May 7, 2011. Among the other division champions over which she prevailed was her son, Brazos Valley Mystic 2010, who just a month earlier had been judged Grand Champion at the Southwest Hound Show.
Brazos Valley Mystic Is Grand Champion at Southwest Hound Show
(l-r) Dennis Foster, judge; Sandy Dixon, MFH; Nancy Jones, presenting trophy / Bryan Hall photoThe Master’s Cup for the grand championship of the Southwest Hound Show was awarded to Brazos Valley Mystic 2010. Mystic is a Brazos Valley-bred American dog hound with strong Potomac bloodlines on the dam’s side. Mystic’s maternal grandfather was the knockout-handsome Potomac Jefferson, Grand Champion of the Virginia Foxhound Show in 2007.
“Mystic was a bit exuberant when he entered,” said Sandy Dixon, MFH and huntsman at the Brazos Valley Hunt (TX). “He had a tendency to run too fast without taking the time to search for scent. However, by the end of his first season [2011], he had learned what a coyote was and how to slow down until he had the line before turning on the speed.
