Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound

Liz Callar photoCongratulations to Tommy Lee Jones, the first recipient of the Ian Milne Huntsman’s Award, presented by the Masters of Foxhounds Association on Saturday, April 21, 2012 at the Biennial Staff Seminar dinner. Jones has hunted the foxhounds of the Casanova Hunt (VA) with distinction since 1970.

The award is named for the late Ian Milne, popular huntsman for the Fairfax Hunt (VA), to recognize and honor those professional huntsmen who have made outstanding contributions to the sport of foxhunting.

Posted April 25, 2012

Emily Digney and Mr. Goodbar, Farmington Hunt, were Champion, 13 and Over.With more than two hundred entries, organizers Douglas Wise, MFH Old Dominion Hounds (VA), and Iona Pillion, Blue Ridge Hunt (VA), were thrilled to observe that the 2011 Junior North American Field Hunter Championship drew the biggest fields to date in the nine years of this unique trial. The program listed twenty-one finalists in Hilltoppers, twenty-two in First Field 12 & Under, and twenty-one in First Field 13 & Over. On November 6, 2011, trailers from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia gathered in the heart of the Warrenton Hunt country for what is turning into a huge event that bodes well for the future of foxhunting.

There are strip horses, upon whose pristine limbs no blemish may appear lest the judge be offended. Then there are the field hunters who carry their lumps and bumps like badges of honor.

There are show dogs, most of whom exhibit beautiful form but little function. Then there are the working hounds who slog through the bogs and rip their ears crashing through the briers.

The Casanova Hunt (VA) had their Opening Meet on Saturday, October 22. The pack started out clean and beautifully groomed for the photo ops during the Blessing, but after huntsman Tommy Lee Jones put them into covert they got down to business. We thought Douglas Lees’s portrait of this Casanova hound displayed the indomitable spirit and courage of that canine warrior—the Working Foxhound.

Gathering of First Flight juniors before their mock hunt moved off.
Lauren Giannini photo

For their first seven years, the Junior North American Field Hunter Championships took place in Virginia, mostly at Old Whitewood, part of Orange County's country in The Plains. However, after Alex Matz won the First Flight (12-and-Under) championship in 2009, the notion of staging the next finals in Mr. Stewart's Cheshire country came to fruition. Blue Ridge Hunt's David Pawlak partnered with the indubitable Paris to ace the individual test in the First Flight and claim their second consecutive 13-18 championship. Makayla Benjamin (Loudoun West) and Butterfly Painting went home with the reserve tri-color.

Gathering of First Flight juniors before their mock hunt moved off.
Lauren Giannini photo

For their first seven years, the Junior North American Field Hunter Championships took place in Virginia, mostly at Old Whitewood, part of Orange County's country in The Plains. However, after Alex Matz won the First Flight (12-and-Under) championship in 2009, the notion of staging the next finals in Mr. Stewart's Cheshire country came to fruition. Blue Ridge Hunt's David Pawlak partnered with the indubitable Paris to ace the individual test in the First Flight and claim their second consecutive 13-18 championship. Makayla Benjamin (Loudoun West) and Butterfly Painting went home with the reserve tri-color.