Ullswater foxhounds
Like Falling Off a Log
Andy Bozdan hunting the Camargo foxhounds on foot over wet country.
The author, as we reported in our last issue, is the new huntsman at the Camargo Hunt (OH). During his career, Andy Bozdan has served as huntsman in England, Australia, and the U.S. Recently, he’s been whipping-in at the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA). Foxhunting Life asked Andy what it’s like to carry the horn again and be The Man in Front!
So, after a couple of seasons whipping-in to Graham Buston at Blue Ridge Hunt, I took up the horn again at the Carmargo Hunt in Kentucky and Ohio. I can remember one or two of my friends jokingly asking if I’d remember how to blow the horn, or get on the right side of the horse, etc. But it is, for sure, very different when you take on a pack and suddenly ... your it!
Everything becomes your responsibility, and very quickly you have to make decisions on the care of the hounds, how best to hunt the country, and plan ahead with a breeding program. To be honest I’ve been so busy since I arrived here that I have barely had time to stop and think!
A Level Pack or a Team of Specialists?
The sheer beauty of a level pack of foxhounds is indisputable. There is a uniformity of appearance and traits, and such a pack tends to run well together. But isn't there another option?
Why not a pack consisting of foxhounds of various types, welcoming the unique attributes of each hound type? Breeders know that no single type offers all the best attributes we want in a pack; hence the English-American Crossbred. But within those two categories there are still more individual types with more concentrated attributes that could allow each type to contribute at the appropriate stage of any hunt just when needed.
Fell Hounds Shine at Bull Run-Rappahannock Hound Trial
In the Bull Run country east of the Blue Ridge Mountains with trial huntsman Epp Wilson (left), judges, and pack. / Gretchen Pelham photo
It was a top-three sweep, not only for English fell bloodlines, but for one Cumbrian hunt in particular. When the recent Bull Run-Rappahannock Foxhound Performance Trials concluded in Virginia over the weekend of October 19–21, 2017, the three top-scoring hounds were either sired by or whelped out of fell hounds from the Ullswater Foxhounds (UK). And three different Ullswater hounds at that.
Another hound finishing in the top ten was also whelped out of an Ullswater hound. At the center of this story is professional huntsman John Harrison, currently in his first season hunting the foxhounds of the Deep Run Hunt.
Ron Black: A Foxhunting Purist
Author/historian Ron Black, a fourth-generation foot hunter who strove to preserve the foxhunting history of his beloved Cumbria.I never met Ron Black in person, but I knew him so well. We’d been carrying on an email friendship for years. Ron died of cancer on September 5, 2017.
Over the years our correspondence covered all sorts of subjects—foxhunting, politics, world affairs. (He was for Hillary, all the way.) He scoffed at us mounted foxhunters for our preoccupation with horses and fancy clothing, and he would start most notes with, “How are things in the Colonies?” His sense of history was a huge part of who he was. And it was to preserve the history of foxhunting in his beloved Cumbria, after the despised Hunting Act became law, that possessed him to start a website and begin collecting that history.
That’s how John Harrison became friends with Ron Black. Harrison is currently hunting the Deep Run Hunt (VA) foxhounds, but twenty years ago Harrison was huntsman for one of the storied foot packs in the Lake District, the Ullswater Foxhounds. Ron was writing a book about the Ullswater. It was the hunt of Harrison’s boyhood, and he had returned to England from Toronto and North York (ON) to take up the horn there. It is a hard and dangerous place: climbing borrans (stone piles), crags (cliffs), and crossing the scree beds (fallen stone from the crags). It’s country that would ruin a horse the first time out. Harrison hunted the Ullswater hounds on foot there for eighteen seasons before returning to North America three years ago.
Huntsmen On the Move: 2017
As we approach the 2017/2018 season, Foxhunting Life makes its annual report on the recent moves of eight huntsmen across the North American hunting countries.
Retiring huntsman Hugh Robards, wife and first whipper-in Julie, and the foxhounds of the Middleburg Hunt / Chris Cancelli photo
Round I:
Hugh Robards’ decision to hang up his hunting horn after fifty-five seasons in hunt service got Round One underway. Fully half of those seasons, and certainly the most visible, Robards spent in Ireland’s challenging ditch-and-bank country as huntsman for the County Limerick Foxhounds. There, he provided world-class sport for Master Lord Daresbury (whom he succeeded as huntsman), the hard riding members, and a constant stream of hunting visitors from around the globe.
For the last three seasons, Robards has carried the horn for the Middleburg Hunt (VA). As difficult as his personal retirement decision must have been, the Middleburg Masters and members paid Robards such a stirring tribute at their Hunt Ball that he had to have felt the sincere respect and affection in which he was held, notwithstanding his short tenure there. The members made certain that the ball revolved about him with mounted photographs of his career, the showing of a specially produced video, and speeches—sincere and well-earned, to recognize an illustrious career.
T&NY Littermates Dominate Grand Champion Class at Canadian
Canadian Grand Champion of Show is Toronto and North York Cleopatra 2012 / Mary Raphael photo
Two Toronto and North York littermates have dominated the Grand Champion and Reserve awards at the Canadian Foxhound Show for two years running. The only difference this year was that the dog hound graciously swapped places with his litter sister. On June 6, 2015, in a reversal of fortune, Toronto and North York Cleopatra 2012, last year’s Reserve Grand Champion, was crowned Grand Champion of Show, while her litter brother Clarence, last year’s Grand Champion, settled for Reserve.
The show judges were Major Tim Easby, Director, Masters of Foxhounds Association (UK) and ex-MFH and huntsman of the Middleton and West Yore Foxhounds and Lt. Col. Robert Ferrer, USMC-Retired and MFH, Caroline Hunt (VA).
Cleopatra's sire is Blue Ridge Barnfield 2010 by Duke of Beaufort's Bailey 2003. If Bailey sounds familiar, have a look at the article about this year’s Bryn Mawr Grand Champion, New Market-Middleton Valley Widget, crowned just one week earlier. Widget’s sire was Green Spring Valley Bailey by Duke of Beaufort’s Bailey. That makes two Grand Champions in two weeks whose grand sire is Duke of Beaufort’s Bailey!
Huntsman John Harrrison Returns to Toronto and North York
Former Toronto and North York huntsman John Harrison has been hunting the Ullswater Foxhounds in the Cumbrian fells for the past eighteen years.
John Harrison will return next season to the Toronto and North York Hunt (ON) to carry the horn once again—a post he had previously filled from 1991 to 1996. During those years, Harrison bred a number of outstanding hounds and won many championships at the Virginia Foxhound Shows.
Harrison was born and raised in the Cumbrian Lake District of England, where hunting is in the genes and the country is so rough, horses cannot be used. The literature of foxhunting is replete with accounts of grueling days with the famous foot packs of the area, climbing and descending the scree-strewn crags and struggling to snow-filled borrans.
The Mardale Hunt: Chapters 11 and 12
The Mardale Church in happy times Ready for demoloition Here are the final chapters of The Mardale Hunt by Ron Black. Through the courtesy of the author, Foxhunting Life has brought you the entire book in installments, with an invitation to download each installment to your computer. Generations of Ron Black’s family have followed the Ullswater foxhounds at the Mardale Shepherds Meet both before the flood and after. The demolition of the ancient village, the relocation of the villagers, and the construction of a new Dun Bull Hotel and a new church were wrenching changes for inhabitants and hunting visitors alike. Ron’s life underwent its own wrenching change when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. A side effect of his medication produced insomnia, and, with more waking hours to fill, he decided to collect all the history of this famous meet—records of the hunts, the many songs written and sung at the Dun Bull in tribute to huntsman Joe Bowman, and the story of the Manchester Water Project as it affected the lives of this community of sheep farmers. We hope you have enjoyed it. In the course of bringing these downloads to you, we had a happy idea for the future. Please see Norm Fine’s Blog (above) for details! Connect with the author by clicking here. (To access downloads of previous installments, click here.) Posted February 22, 2012... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here
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The Mardale Hunt: Chapter 7
Here is Chapter 7 of The Mardale Hunt by Ron Black. Through the courtesy of the author, Foxhunting Life brings you the entire book in installments every two weeks. You are free to download the book to your computer. We hope you have enjoyed the previous installments. Excerpt from Chapter 7Visitors to Mardale Shepherd’s Meet—and they came from all parts of England, from Kent to Newcastle—are not likely to forget this year’s experience as the weather was of the vilest and stormiest character. Nevertheless this did not deter a large gathering from assembling for this time-honoured institution, and the visitors included many who have attended the gathering for very many years. The Mardale Shepherd’s Meet may be classified in three epochs. There was the ancient period of Mardale, when tradition says its prestige began with the outlaw Hugh Holme who took refuge from a persecuting monarch in a cave, which today bears his name, though the tenant nowadays is generally a fox. The next period may be termed the “Joe Bowman Chapter”, and this is how Mardale has won its popularity. Its giant hills and peculiar mountain solitude have ever had an attraction for lovers of all that is best in nature, but it remained to Joe Bowman and the Ullswater Foxhounds to introduce these charms to the world outside. The writer remembers Mardale Shepherds Meet when, at the height of the proceedings on the Saturday afternoon, the roll would not have exceeded thirty or forty. Nowadays, the motorcars themselves number about a hundred. The next period may be classified as the Manchester Waterworks regime, for the Corporation has secured Mardale’s romantic lake for its supplementary water supply, and the work is to commence next year. When completed it is stated, Mardale Church and the “Dun Bull” will be twenty feet below the surface of the water. Connect with the author by clicking here. (To access downloads of previous installments, click here.) Posted January 26, 2012... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here
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The Mardale Hunt: Chapters 5 and 6
The Mardale Dam under constructionHere are Chapters 5 and 6 of The Mardale Hunt by Ron Black. Through the courtesy of the author, Foxhunting Life is bringing you the entire book in installments every two weeks. You are free to download the book to your computer. We hope you have enjoyed the previous installments. Chapter 5 deals with the construction of the dam that holds back the reservoir which submerged Mardale forever. Chapter 6 returns to the memorable days of Joe Bowman and the Ullswater Foxhounds and the songs that were such a huge part of the after-hunt entertainment at the Dun Bull. Excerpt from Chapter 6After a good days sport, huntsmen, shepherds, visitors, sheep dogs and terriers (hounds were not admitted) all turn towards the Dun Bull for a meal. In the evening, a smoking contest took place. Skelton records, “The main portion of the pack, cast off in the large dining room and every room in the house filled with overflow meetings, or rather concerts” The big room was the focal point, a tray was sent round and money subscribed for the evening’s refreshment. Each individual orders his choice of drink and the chairman pays out of the general pool. Toasts and song follow in quick succession. The chairman selects the singer and everyone is supposed to sing at least one song and there was an element of pride in singing one that had not already been sung that evening. If the song had a good swing or chorus the men got particularly enthusiastic, the shepherds beating the tables with their sticks in time to the tune and the sheep-dogs and terriers howling either in enthusiasm or execration, no man knows which. (To access downloads of previous installments, click here.) Posted January 16, 2012... This content is for subscribers only.Join NowAlready a member? Log in here
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