Free Hound Feed: A Win-Win-Win

Details

Hounds

By Norman Fine

Whey: the watery part of milk that is separated from the coagulable part (curd) in the process of making cheese. Whey is rich in lactose, minerals, and vitamins and contains lactalbumin (proteins) and traces of fat. –Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Foxhounds dig in to the palatable and nutritious mixture of kibble and whey. Note the healthy coats. / Graham Buston photo 

The whey comes free. All huntsman Graham Buston has to do is drive a few miles from the Blue Ridge Hunt kennels to the cheesemaker’s farm in the village of White Post, Virginia and open the spigot on the fifty-gallon tank he placed there. He goes to collect the whey about once a week and has cut his feed bill in half.

Irish National Hound Show at Stradbally Hall

Details

Hounds

By Dickie Power

 Leo Powell presents The Irish Field Perpetual Trophy for Best Unentered Bi*ch, ‘Old English,’ Co. Limerick Truckle (Racket ’18 ex Tassel ’18). Receiving the trophy is Belinda Johnson with huntsman Fergus Stokes and David Beecher, whipper-in for the Co. Limerick Foxhounds. Stradbally Hall stands in the background. / Catherine Power photo

For twenty-one years, the Irish National Hound Show has been hosted at Stradbally Hall in County Laois, the Cosby Family seat since the 1500s. Stradbally's long history is as tragically brutal as the history of Ireland herself. Today, however, it is home to a young Cosby family and internationally known as the site of the annual Electric Picnic, a prized arts and music festival; the National Steam Rally; and the Irish Scout Jamboree, attracting scouts from Ireland, Canada, the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

What Foxhunters Can Learn from Eventers

Details

Norm Fine's Blog

“There’s something about horses that makes smart people stupid.”  -James Wofford

Our main story in this edition tells in part how foxhunting played a role in helping a teenager become one of the leading young endurance riders in the country. Conversely, we have seen how other equestrian disciplines can help foxhunters get more enjoyment out of hunting by becoming better riders. What follows is extracted from an article we published ten years ago in which Olympian and Coach James Wofford addressed “What Foxhunters Can Learn from Eventers.”

James Wofford on Carawich,1978 / Gamecock photo

For most of us field members, one of the greatest single factors influencing the joy we experience during a day’s hunting is closely associated with our riding ability. The more competently we are able to cross the country on our horse, the closer we come to a totally fulfilling experience.

Foxhunting Junior Will Represent U.S. in Endurance World Championship

Details

Juniors

By Norman Fine

Charlene "Charly" Dugan and Southern Justice (Roo) in a CEI Young Rider 2* at Broxton Bridge in South Carolina, a qualifier for the World Championship squad.  /   Becky Kirchner Pearman photo

Charlene “Charly” Dugan is a busy teenager. Let’s start with horses. The sixteen-year-old is a foxhunter and endurance rider. She and her mom, Sally Jellison, own and train field hunters and endurance horses at their farms in Pennsylvania and Florida. They hunt primarily with the Rose Tree Blue Mountain Hunt (PA) and the Live Oak Hounds (FL).

In the world of endurance riding, Charly is one of three young riders chosen by the U.S. Endurance Team to represent this country in the 2021 FEI Endurance World Championship for young riders and juniors. The seventy-five-mile competition is scheduled to be held this year on September 9 in Ermelo, the Netherlands, and will host top young riders from around the globe.

Performance Trial Hounds to Vie for National Championship

Details

Hounds

Mission Valley 2018 Performance Trials: Fort Leavenworth Tracker 2010 (#71) was overall High Point foxhound after two days of hunting.  /  Allison Howell photo

The schedule of Foxhound Performance Trials for the 2021/2022 foxhunting season has been released by Trial Chairman Fred Berry, MFH, Sedgefield Hounds (NC). Nine qualifying trials will be run across the country, and the tenth and final trial will crown a Grand Champion and the top ten performance hounds in North America.

"'Pretty is as pretty does' really applies to foxhounds," says Fred. The Brits invented mounted foxhunting and hound show, but they shouldn’t have stopped there.

Lassie, Come Home

Details

Hounds

By Deirdre Hanna

Halo: two years getting home  /  Illustration by Rosemary Coates

From The Hound Intelligence Series, published by Hounds Magazine (UK), edited by Deirdre Hanna, illustrated by Rosemary Coates. Click to purchase the 333-page collection.

Red Rock Halo by Lynn Lloyd, MFH
Years ago, in the mid-1980s, the Red Rock Hounds (NV) hunted an area in Northern California called Spencerville. The drive from Reno takes about four hours and crosses a mountain pass exceeding fourteen thousand feet at the summit. Here in Reno, we are about 5,500 feet above sea level, so the climb is substantial, and the range is vast. It is the same Sierra-Nevada range and the same pass (now Interstate 80) where the doomed Donner Party met their fate over the winter of 1846/1847 when they became snowbound migrating westward.

Lynn Carlisle Breathed Life into her Animal Portraits

Details

Art

By Lynn Carlisle

Lynn Carlisle was a gifted sporting artist and, though gone, shouldn’t be forgotten. I certainly won’t forget her. Besides my admiration for her artistic talent, I heard coyotes singing for the first time from her back steps in Lexington, Kentucky. (Coyotes hadn’t yet colonized Virginia.) This piece from the Foxhunting Life archives, written by Lynn about her art, was published in January 2012. She was then living in Aiken, SC. Five months later, she was shot dead. Her children maintain a website in her memory and make available prints and stationery bearing reproductions of her animal portraits. -Ed.

For me, drawing animals is an innate gift. My family always had horses, dogs, cats, and all the creatures that we five children could easily collect. At three, my favorite toys were easel and chalk. Recognizing my passion, my parents allowed me to start art lessons at the age of five. By age nine, I was attending all-day class every Saturday at the Art Institute of Chicago, with live models and the entire museum in which to work. It was a young artist’s heaven.

True to the Line, A Hunting Life

Details

Literature

By Adrian Dangar

Book Review by Dulany Noble

True to the Line, A Hunting Life, Adrian Dangar, Quiller, UK, 2017, Hardbound, $31.50, available at Horse Country Saddlery

I looked forward to reading this book by Adrian Dangar because I love stories about foxhunting, and, to be clear, this book is about foxhunting and about hunting all sorts of quarries, not just foxes. It is not about fox chasing. If you are reading this, I am sure you know that foxhunting in England was not strictly for the sport. It was to kill foxes that harm the livestock of the landowners and farmers in the country and to control the prolific fox population.