Waterford Foxhounds
An American Foxhunter Meets the Irish Banks
The author on Gus: muddied but unbowed / John Flavin photoDid you ever hear the expression “cheating death?” This question was posed to me by Bob Goodman, my newfound friend and fellow foxhunter, as we both emerged from one of those double drain jumps common to the south of Ireland. The question carried added meaning coming from Bob, a former Air Force fighter pilot with 336 combat missions in Vietnam.
I arrived in Ireland on January 18, 2019 and made my way from the airport straight to Flavin’s stable near Tramore in County Waterford to practice jumping banks and ditches before the next morning’s hunt. On a good horse who knew his business, I found these obstacles to be easy enough, and I was assured that actual hunt conditions would be no more challenging than these practice jumps. Although confident, I had a sense that actual conditions might in fact be different…
Waterford Opening Meet at Historic Curraghmore
St. Hubert's stag and the crucifix atop the medieval tower at CurraghmoreOpening meets are always special, but when it is at Curraghmore for the Waterford Foxhounds, and a lawn meet to boot, it goes beyond special. Indeed, the hunt was originally known as the Curraghmore Hounds. The estate is steeped in all things of the horse. Even as we drove in the long avenue (it must be more than a mile), race horses were being unboxed and tacked up on the gallops and schooling grounds which are widely used by trainers in that part of the country.
Curraghmore is the historic home of the Ninth Marquis of Waterford. His ancestors through his maternal line, the de la Poers (Power), came to Ireland from Wales with Strongbow and the Normans around 1170—about a century after the Norman invasion of England and about 320 years before Columbus ‘discovered’ the New World.
Brian Kiely Is New Huntsman at Potomac
Brian Kiely and the Myopia foxhounds / Ashley Hill photo
Brian Kiely knows he will have big boots to fill when Larry Pitts, huntsman for the Potomac Hunt (MD), retires after thirty-five seasons there. Brian spent a weekend recently with the Potomac Masters, had a chance to hunt with Larry, and accepted the position of huntsman starting next season.
“The way Larry conducted himself, the way the hounds related to him, was poetry,” said Brian. “It was a fabulous experience just to watch him.”
“I remember seeing Larry some years ago at the Virginia Foxhound Show,” Brian continued. “Hounds from hunts all over were arriving at the kennels...nervous...running off...and there was Larry, calmly walking his pack through all the confusion, without a care.”
The Galway Blazers Puppies Enter Glorious Tradition
MFHs Michael Dempsey and Vincent Shields
The Galway Blazers Puppy Show drew a large attendance at the Kennels in Craughwell, County Galway, Ireland.
Michael Dempsey, internationally known Joint-Master and former huntsman of the Galway Blazers for the last 32 seasons, has maintained some Old English bloodlines in his pack. He likes a light hound that can bank the Galway walls and leave the stones in place. Vincent Shields was attending his first puppy show as a newly appointed Blazers Joint-Master, while retaining his current Mastership of both the East Galway Foxhounds and the Roscommon Harriers.
One is ever mindful of the great tradition of hound breeding at the Blazers’ kennels, particularly when thinking of previous huntsmen like Captain Brian Fanshawe, Paddy Pickersgill, and above all American-born Isaac Bell who hunted the pack from 1903 to 1908, and who made such a lasting contribution to what is now known as the modern English foxhound.
