Field Master Val O’Connell: A Rum One to Follow

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People

By Dickie Power

Meet Val O'Connell, Field Master, Scarteen Black and Tans. / Catherine Power photo

Val O’Connell's is possibly one of the best known faces in organised Irish racing through his role in the Turf Club (now the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board). Val serves as chief inspector of courses and clerk of the course for half a dozen southern meetings. Perhaps what is less well known is that Val is one the keenest hunting men in these islands.

He has been Field Master of the famed Scarteen Hounds in Co Limerick for almost twenty seasons. I am among those who have attempted to follow him across the country on his grey, and know what a formidable horseman he is. As Field Master, Val is following in the footsteps of the legendary PP Hogan who held the role for many years when Thady Ryan carried the horn. Longtime Scarteen whipper-in Tommy O’Dwyer became young Val’s mentor. “Give the hounds a chance, and never jump into a field until hounds have left it,” was Tommy’s advice, and Val follows it to the letter in his role as Field Master.

Belle Meade Master Charlie Lewis Steps Down after 21 Years

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People

By Norman Fine

Charlie Lewis whipped-in at Belle Meade for fifty years. /  Bella Vita Photogaphie 

Charlie Lewis announced his retirement as Master at the Annual Meeting of the Belle Meade Hunt (GA) after twenty-one years of service. Charlie has whipped-in to Belle Meade huntsmen for fifty years―to Master and huntsman Epp Wilson and before that to Epp’s late father, James, the hunt’s founder, Master, and first huntsman.

Over the years, Charlie has mentored several Belle Meade youngsters in the art of whipping-in, crossing the country, and growing into responsible adults. He served on the Belle Meade Hunt Committee as well.

“Charlie has been the go-to guy for fifty years,” said Epp Wilson. “He will tackle any problem for the Hunt. Whatever the problem or challenge, anyone in the Hunt could go to him and get wise counsel and advice. From landowner challenges, to friction between certain members, to building new hunt barns after fires.

Keyboard Bullying Harms Your Hunt and Your Sport

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Guest Commentary

By Rachel Wilkoski

Happy time for our author is sitting on a good horse and following a topnotch pack of hounds. She worries that incivility, personal attacks, and coarseness on the part of foxhunters on social media is harming our sport and our clubs.

As a twenty-two-year-old, I have grown up in the age of extreme technological and social media growth. Everyone has it; everyone uses it. I’ve also grown up in the hunting field and follow hounds three days a week. I travel to hunt and do my best to experience all types of hunting, all over.

My happy place is on a good horse, behind a great pack of hounds. The hunt field is the place where you can leave all other thoughts behind for a few hours and turn your focus to staying topside and keeping up with hounds. The hunt field is a place to be at peace, away from our own and the world’s struggles, whether big or small. But recently...

The Great Hound Match: Day 4

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Bonus Articles

By Martha Wolfe

Harry Worcester Smith in hunting attire, circa 1910, from the Harry Worcester Smith Archive (MC0041), National Sporting Library & MuseumThis week's Bonus article, free to all (no subscription necessary), is an excerpt from Chapter 10 of "The Great Hound Match" by Martha Wolfe―a historical account (with liberties taken) of that famous quarrel between Masters A. Henry Higginson and Harry Worcester Smith over the merits and hunting ability of the English foxhound compared to the American foxhound. The author views the match as “a metaphorical battle in America’s coming of age―her psychic independence from Britain’s lingering shroud at the turn of the twentieth century.”

Saturday, November 4, 1905, Grafton Hunt’s Second Day

“Hounds never ran so fast since the world began.”
−Allen Potts quoting Dr. Charles McEachran, judge for The Match, Richmond Times-Dispatch. Saturday, November 5, 1905

You and Ham trot on ahead with the hounds,” Smith told Mal Richardson. “We’ll not be far behind.”

The Fox’s Prophecy

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Literature

By D.W. Nash

Painting by Anthony BarhamThe Fox’s Prophecy was written in 1871 by D. W. Nash and presented to the then Master of the Ledbury Hounds. Foxes have forever been suspected of harboring deep thoughts, and this poem certainly reflects those ancient superstitions. Through Nash’s fox we read predictions of a future that might well be recognizable to many readers in these times.

However, Foxhunting Life remains apolitical, as always, and, if you read carefully, you will find that for every stone cast by this poem at anyone who might take offense, be assured that there is a stanza here casting a stone as well at the opposite end of the spectrum. The fox, also apolitical, seems to believe that all humans have something to answer for.

For swiftly o’er the level shore
The waves of progress ride;
The ancient landmarks one by one
Shall sink beneath the tide.

Robert A. Kinsley, MFH

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Remembrance

Douglas Lees photoRobert Allen Kinsley, MFH of the Elkridge-Harford Hunt (MD), passed away peacefully at his Pennsylvania home on Wednesday morning, June 10, 2020. He was surrounded by his wife Anne (Whalen) Kinsley and his family.

Bob loved his time in the hunting field and on the wooded trails of his farms—riding, fishing, and hunting. He will be remembered for his unfailing love for animals. He created an amazingly successful business, was a hunting member of the Elkridge-Harford Hunt for thirty years, served as Joint-Master for sixteen years, and he ran steeplechase horses.

A Hound Show for All, Covid Notwithstanding

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Hounds

By Norman Fine

Here’s a first in the centuries-old history of hound shows—an International Virtual Hound Show!

Hound associations around the world have signed on so their member hunts may enter hounds in classes for staghounds, foxhounds, deer hounds, beagles, basset hounds, and mink hounds, and let the champions be crowned. Fourteen hunting associations are supporting the event, including the Masters associations in North America, England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and France. Entry Forms are ready upon which to record entries in thirty-six divisions in nine separate catalogs.

How to Photograph Foxhounds

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Hounds

The conformation of Toronto and North York's Blue Ridge Wentworth 2015, Grand Champion Foxhound at the 2017 Canadian Foxhound Show, is clearly seen in this well-posed photograph. / Denya Massey photo

Foxhounds to be entered in a virtual hound show should be photographed so their conformation is clearly visible to the judges in the photos. Anything less will reduce or negate the judge's ability to accurately assess the qualities of your hound. Masters and huntsmen entering hounds in a virtual hound show might want to remind their photographers of the responsibility of their mission. A classical portrait of the hound is Job-1.

While the photographer will be photographing the hound from five angles for virtual judging, the side views profiles convey the most information about structure and conformation and are discussed in detail here. That discussion will be somewhat applicable to the other three views as appropriate. What follows are six-steps to achieve the profile images the judges will need to see.