Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound

Completing the recent round-robin of “Huntsmen on the Move,” Martyn Blackmore will be the new huntsman at the Loudoun Hunt (VA) come the month of May, the traditional month for hunt staff to move to their new posts. Blackmore is the departing huntsman at the Loudoun West Hunt, just across town. With this announcement, a circle is completed as three huntsmen trade places among three hunts.

Huntsman Andy Bozdan moves from the Tennessee Valley Hunt (TN) to fill the vacancy at Loudoun West. Huntsman Ryan Johnsey leaves the Loudoun Hunt to fill the vacancy at Tennessee Valley. And Blackmore, departing from Loudoun West, fills the vacancy at Loudoun.

"Sue and I look forward to meeting Andy and Erin Bozdan," said Martyn, "and will offer them any help they may need."

To most members of the field, the huntsman is a heroic figure on horseback who gives us great pleasure in our moments of recreation. For the huntsman, however, those glorious moments are but brief episodes ina career for which their are very few opportunities available in the entire world! What brings these men and women to commit their working lives to such a career? Foxhunting Life will be starting a new series of articles focusing on huntsmen and their own stories of how they came to their profession. It promises to be a fascinating glimpse of lives most of us know nothing about. Watch for it!

Posted April 24, 2013

Douglas Lees photoMary South Hutchison, a powerful presence in the world of Virginia foxhunting, died suddenly on Thursday, April 4, 2013. Mary South—as she was known to visitors and members of the Orange County Hounds, exhibitors at the Virginia Foxhound Show, and members of the Virginia Foxhound Club—served the Orange County Hounds as Honorary Secretary for about twenty years and the Virginia Foxhound Club as Treasurer for about the same period of time.

“I don’t know what we’ll do without her,” Orange County MFH John Coles said. “Hers was a life dedicated to the sport. She was a traditionalist, and kept things in line for us.”

Coles’s Joint-Master Malcolm Matheson agreed. “She was the eyes and ears of the Masters in the field,” he said. “She didn’t mind stating her opinions, good or bad!”

He paused, then chuckled remembering. “And she was fearless,” he said. “One time hounds struck on the other side of a five-foot stone wall. She was one of only four field members to jump that wall. Even Melvin went around! We four had the hounds all to ourselves until the others caught up.”

Hunting with the late Jimmy Young, MFH, Orange County in 1996 / Douglas Lees photo

Mary South Hutchison lived in Middleburg and worked as a real estate agent. She had been battling cancer, but she was out and active right to the end, even closing on a property just three days before her death. The suddenness has shocked her community.

Joan Jones recently stepped down as president of the Virginia Foxhound Club, the organization that puts on the Virginia Foxhound Show. She and Mary South as treasurer have been the faces of the hound show for a good twenty years or so. With the show approaching in May, Joan finds herself trying to get a handle on all the financial matters, including the vendor spaces, that Mary South has for so long managed. Joan echoed Master Coles’s words to the letter.

“I don’t know how we’ll get along without her,” she said.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Middleburg.

Posted April 7, 2013

Float tubing on the Shenandoah River with photographer Douglas Lees

The Aiken Hounds, founded in 1914, are making plans for their centennial celebration next year.

In the late nineteenth century, the South Carolina town was becoming a favorite wintering place for wealthy families from the northeast. Thomas Hitchcock, Sr. and William C. Whitney established the Aiken Winter Colony there and were joined by Astors, Bostwicks, Harrimans, Vanderbilts, other notable families, many of whom had equestrian interests in racing, polo, and hunting.  

To this day the Aiken Hounds continue to hunt the drag through the Hitchcock Woods, the largest privately-owned urban forest in the nation. Situated at the very edge of the old village, the Hitchcock Woods Foundation maintains the tract, now encompassing more than two thousand acres, for the enjoyment of all.

Foxhunting as an institution is ingrained in the fabric of the community to this day, and the Aiken Hounds has played a central role in the city’s history and culture for the last hundred years. The hunt’s annual Opening Meet, Blessing of the Hounds, and Stirrup Cup in the Hitchcock Woods at Memorial Gate was selected by the Huffington Post as one of the country’s Ten Terrific Thanksgiving Traditions.

A book commemorating the hunt’s one-hundredth anniversary is planned for release in 2016 to coincide with the one-hundredth anniversary of the Aiken Horse Show in the Woods. Photographs and stories are currently being collected.

Posted March 26, 2013

Virginia state game regulators recommended new regulations for the operation of foxhound training preserves. The proposed new regulations satisfied pen owners and disappointed animal rights activists. After a period of public comment, a final vote will be held by the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries in June.

The recommendations apply to nearly forty preserves in Virginia, and if passed would require improvements such as rounded fence corners, improved escape routes and structures, and acclimation periods for new foxes. The moratorium sought by animal rights groups was considered but not included in the recommendations. However the board did call for the elimination of cash prizes in foxhound competitions.

Davy Hackett, president of the Virginia Foxhound Training Preserve Owners Association, said the recommendations were a “common sense effort” to improve the operation of preserves, according to an Associated Press story by Steve Szkotak.

Posted March 22, 2013