Allen Forney Is Seventy; Maryland Foxhunters Throw a Party!
Jeanne & Allen Forney / Karen Kandra Wenzel photoHow often do we get the opportunity to celebrate the seventieth birthday of a foxhunting legend while he (or she) is still an active and constant contributor to the sport? A large group of friends—Masters, huntsmen, and foxhunters— representing most of the foxhunting clubs in central Maryland did exactly that on Sunday, April 10 at the Potomac Hunt in Barnesville, Maryland.
Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds: An Oasis in Suburbia
If you want to see stunning hunting country, I commend you to FHL’s latest Photo Gallery slide show. We feature Elisabeth Harpham’s lovely photos of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Unionville, Pennsylvania.
The Cheshire hunting country is an oasis between the developed suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. This is hunting country for any foxhunter to drool over. But you have to know that country like that just doesn’t happen by a stroke of luck. It’s the product of years of commitment by strong-willed individuals determined to protect what they have.
Steve Farrin Wins North American Horn Blowing Championship
Amwell Valley huntsman Steve Farrin blew a flawless set of horn calls to best two-time winner John Tabachka and claim the 2010 North American Horn Blowing Championship. Contestants were asked to blow Moving Off, Gone Away, Gone to Ground, and Going Home. The judges proclaimed a tie after the first round, and Farrin and Tabachka were called back to blow one more call of their own choosing. Tabachka blew Going Home, demonstrating amazing control of the stretched out and slowly modulated volume, but Farrin won the night with his Gone Away.
Thoughts on Outriding
I was an outrider at the Blue Ridge Fall Races on Saturday. Besides the fact that I love sitting on a horse and that outriding is a great way to see the races, it’s also a habit. I’ve been doing it on the Woodley racecourse in Berryville, Virginia for twenty-five years. The sun was shining in a brilliant blue sky, my horse looked handsome, the hospitality tent was filled with delicious food, and all was right with the world. Until it wasn’t.
Melvin at Ninety
Douglas Lees photo
Hounds were screaming, and the huntsman was cooking. A cattle guard loomed ahead—a coop to the left and a gate to the right. The huntsman veered left.
“Melvin,” someone yelled, “the gate’s on the right!”
“Melvin just kept kicking on, right over the coop,” recalled Joe Conner, shaking his head and grinning in wonder.
Conner, who has whipped-in to Melvin for years at Bath County (VA), didn’t resurrect that story out of a distant past. It had happened only weeks before Melvin Poe’s ninetieth birthday celebration.
A month or so earlier, I had recognized the same notes of awe and wonder as I stood chatting with Brian Smith, my farrier, about Melvin’s upcoming ninetieth birthday.
Puppies of Two Species
Courtesy of Full Cry: A Hound Blog
WHAT a beautiful day Saturday was! It started with a crashing thunderstorm that prevented me from riding over to catch our trailer ride to the day’s hound walk, so we houndbloggers went out with the hounds on foot for what turned out to be a Very Special Morning.
Iroquois huntsman Lilla Mason brought the hounds, including one-year-old Driver and many of the BA litter, to Boone Valley Farm instead of to the usual meeting point on the farm across from The Corners. The change of location was exciting to the hounds. The older hounds, Paper among them now, associate Boone Valley with nearby Pauline’s Ridge, one of the richest coyote coverts in the hunt country and understandably a place that holds great interest for experienced hunting hounds.
To the puppies, the field trip was especially exciting. New sights, sounds, and, most importantly, scents! New country to explore!
Video Link
The Part-Time Whipper-In
Karen L. Myers photo
The Question
“I have read Lt. Col. Foster’s book Whipper-In which states the basic premise that whips must know the names of each hound to truly be of assistance,” writes Kathy Rubin. “What contribution can I make as an honorary whip when I cannot devote the time to know each hound? Where should I set my sights so I can be of help to my huntsman despite the fact that I cannot be with hounds on a daily basis? I believe many of the smaller hunts in the country face the same problem. Can you give me some guidance and recommend additional reading?”
Knowing that Messrs. Scott, Robards, and Peel—world authorities on the subjects of foxhounds and the hunting of hounds in the field—are geared to thinking at the most sophisticated levels of hound management, I had to wonder, as I posed Kathy’s question to them, if they could truly identify with her less than ideal aspirations. They did. But at the same time, they didn’t let her completely off the hook.
Ring Happy
What a response we had from our recent free hunting horn ring-tone offer! We thought it would be a fun way of celebrating the start of the new foxhunting season, and we were right. Here’s what some of you had to say: Send me ‘doubling.’ I am enjoying your website immensely! Ilove the ring-tones! I […]
The Foxhound’s Back: Curved or Straight?
“I have a question about foxhound conformation,” writes Kelly Bryant who has hunted with the Mill Creek Hunt in Illinois. “I have noticed that in the hound show galleries, some winners have a level back and some have a curved back. How does the back relate to the performance of the hound, and what difference does a level or curved back make? Which is preferred?”
These are excellent questions, and, as we have noted before, there are no right and wrong answers—only opinions and cautions. A wheel back is desirable to many breeders and judges of modern foxhounds, but a roach back is—most will agree—a weakness.
Why the Extra Half-Couple in the Pack?
C. Martin Wood, MFH / Karen L. Myers photoWhy do most huntsmen make up their packs for a day’s hunting with an odd number of couples, e.g., twelve-and-a-half couples rather than just twelve couples. Is there any practical reason? asked Kathy Rubin.
Three members of FHL‘s distinguished Panel of Experts offer not only their opinions, but expand their answers with sound hunting advice.