Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound

Ken Graham has to be the envy of all foxhunting photographers this week with these amazing shots of fox and hounds at a meet of the Potomac Hunt (MD). Click Readmore to see a slide show of the complete sequence.

This fox had two options: leave covert and make for the open or beat the lead hound to the intersection and duck back in. Appearances notwithstanding, the fox had it calibrated just right and made its escape!

With this final installment of The Mardale Hunt, we bring Ron Black’s touching vignettes of the Mardale Hunt to a close. In the course of offering these downloads, a new idea presented itself. But before we get to that, let’s have a final look at Mardale.

The Mardale Hunt

Every hunting culture is unique to its time and place. I was won over by the people of Mardale—hard-working sheep farmers—who lived in a picturesque valley and hunted the fox in the purest way.

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

Genesee Valley hounds going home from their one hundredth hunt of the season after running their fox in and out of a swamp for nearly two hours. (l-r) whipper-in Erica Hutten, Master and huntsman Marion Thorne, and whipper-in and hunt secretary Janice Barrett. / Bill Gamble photoThe Genesee Valley Hunt (NY) celebrated a new record for their hunt on Wednesday, February 8, 2012, when they completed their one hundredth hunt of the season. True, the eastern part of the country has been blessed with an easy winter, but equally true is that their hunting country sits astride the same latitude as Buffalo, New York!

Located in a northern clime, the Genesee Valley Hunt decided long ago to simply ignore the weather. The only generally acceptable causes for cancellation are lightning—you never want to be sitting on a horse shod with steel shoes in a lightning storm—or when the Genesee River freezes over. Of course, the hunt’s geographic location is advantageous in the summer where they are able to start cubhunting in mid-July.

This photograph along with the question of the couple’s identity was posted on our Facebook page to provide an entertaining and informative way of featuring iconic figures in American foxhunting. We furnished a few hints, thinking that this would be a tough puzzle, but our readers made short work of it.

Verity Cameron and Bill Getchell were the first to correctly identify our mystery couple, and since their complete answers were posted pretty much simultaneously on our Facebook page, each will receive a gift from Foxhunting Life. Anne Manfredo Darken filled in more information by naming their pack correctly, so she deserves an honorary mention!

Joint-Master David McCarthy over one of what sporting artist Snaffles called "The Biggest Walls."  /  Noel Mullins photoA meet of the Galway Blazers around the medieval walled town of Athenry, County Galway in the heart of the hunt country is not to be missed. Before traffic congested the town centre, meets were traditionally held at Higgins’ Bar. Masters and huntsmen would be served a stirrup cup by the proprietor Brendan Higgins who, with his sister Mary Josephine (my mother), hunted with the pack.