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At Fedamore in Co Limerick where Dorothea Conyers lived circa 1885, an extraordinary fox dwelt in the extensive gorse covert there. Mr. Nugent Humble, Master of the Co Limerick foxhounds, called it The Old Customer.
He was a very long, dark fox, and I really believe he liked being hunted. Day after day, he took hounds on the same lines―he had two―and seemed to beat them when he liked.
Two meets in the unique Ballymacad hunting county come on the heels of a surprise event―the sudden unavailability of hunt insurance in Ireland. Without insurance, many hunt clubs will cease to function―indeed, many have already suspended hunting temporarily. And the native Irish breeds―the Iris Draught Horse and the Irish Sport Horse―may well become extinct. The economic and cultural losses to the Ballymacad countryside and to the wider Irish countryside would be devastating. –Ed.
Huntsman Kevin Donahoe with the Ballymacad foxhounds riding a pure Irish Draught Horse from Donahoe's Sport Horses. / Noel Mullins photo
The Irish hunting fraternity has been stunned ever since the leading UK hunt insurance provider withdrew from Ireland last year. As insurance renewal dates came up in mid-season, many hunts were forced to suspend hunting. Only a small number of hunts were able to continue.
This article was first published in 2013. With an archive of thousands of articles available on our website, we hope you will agree that at least a few are worth republishing!
Booli Selmayr, professional whipper-in, Millbrook Hunt (NY): “A good day whipping-in is not having to be told, but instead, allowing natural instinct to guide me: listening to the horn and hounds, reading the terrain, and quickly distinguishing whether fox or coyote.” / Kirsten Edlund-Tunkel photoTo the uninitiated, the term whipper-in might conjure images of a callous fellow laying his whip across the backs of hounds for every infraction. In fact, the whip is used primarily for its loud crack as an attention-getter. The explosive noise breaks the concentration of hounds from whatever they are doing that the whipper-in wants to stop.
Book Review by Norman Fine
Major Charles Kindersley with hounds and son, Richard, whipping-in. Painting by Jean Bowman. This book is available in the U.S. for $30.00 (USD) and in Canada for $40.00 (Canadian). Shipping is included in the price. Please e-mail your order directly to the author and include your phone number. She will call you for your credit card information.
The Life and Memory of Charles Montague Kindersley by Lynne Kindersley Dole is a story of ingenuity and adventure that takes us well beyond Major Kindersley's distinguished Mastership of which many readers are already familiar.
He was born in 1900 and lived through most of the twentieth century―until 1993. This story deserved to be written because he lived such a remarkable life. Likewise, it well-deserves to be read because it is authentically written by his daughter and is a riveting read.
An example of Maryland hounds, commonly called Irish hounds earlier in the last century, were bred at Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds (MD) and entered in 1997. Green Spring Valley Outlaw and Howard County Freckles are descendants of Mountain and Muse, the pair of Irish hounds imported to Maryland in 1814. This strain of Maryland hound occasionally produces a litter with an uncanny resemblance to Mountain and Muse as sketched from life by their owner. Note the short ears, snipey noses, and white pattern on faces. The blood of Mountain and Muse runs in virtually every popular type of American and Crossbred foxhound hunting today. Including the July. / Barry Reightler photo
Before answering the question in our title, let’s start with a few confusing definitions. A puppy resulting from a mating between a male and female both listed in the registry of a particular breed of canine is a purebred of that breed. However, the same puppy might also be a crossbred of individual types or strains within the breed. Or the pup might be a carefully-bred example of one specific type or strain within the breed. Notwithstanding the possible permutations, this same puppy remains a purebred (so-called) of the breed.
A July foxhound used for field trials. Note the narrow white blaze, curved stern, and shorter ears than many strains of American foxhound, all characteristic of the July. This fox dog is prized for his hunting ability, not his conformation.
Bob Mitchell, retired editor, and publisher of the Cassville Democrat in Cassville, Missouri, has left his mark. He is a 2017 inductee to both the Missouri Press Association Hall of Fame and Missouri Southern State University’s Regional Media Hall of Fame. Though retired, Mitchel still keeps his hand in the game with stories about the good ol’ days. His piece in the December 15, 2021 issue caught my eye about the Houn’ Ditch Inn and the man who built and owned it, Gentry German―“famous for his Fox hunting dogs, of the July breed.”
James Barclay, MFH, hunting the Fitzwilliam hounds, 1993
We are deeply saddened to report the passing of Maurice James Barclay, ex-MFH, at age sixty-two. His death is attributed to heart failure.
After serving as Master of five British foxhound packs, his response to Britain’s Hunting Act of 2004 was to devote himself to educating and persuading everyone he could reach―whether pro-hunting or anti-hunting, adult or child, wealthy countryman or underprivileged child of the city―of foxhunting’s intrinsic value to England’s story-book countryside. To James, nothing was more important than saving the countryside.
The author takes competing hounds, mostly strangers to each other, to the first draw on foot. / Joanne Maisano photo
There is something magical about Rosie. Two of my all-time favorite people and one of my all-time favorite hounds are named Rosie.
Being asked to carry the horn for the Bull Run/Blue Ridge Foxhound Performance Trial this fall in Virginia was a thrilling honor. Spencer Allen, huntsman for the Long Run Woodford Hounds (KY) had originally been invited to serve as trial huntsman but had to withdraw when his knee was injured. His horse fell while hunting.
Field Hunter Champion Gabrina Von Schweez ridden by Lindsey Williamson. / Middleburg Photo
I watched for glimpses of red and gold in the forests along the highway as I headed North on Saturday, October 2, 2021. But, no, not a glimpse of any color but green. Virginia wasn’t far enough north of Georgia, where my horses and I foxhunt with Belle Meade Hunt, or South Carolina, where I live and work. Fall and cooler temperatures had yet to arrive in Virginia. It’s still hot.
My F250 and four-horse trailer were fully loaded, hauling three horses to Middleburg, where I would stay through the end of the coming week. Four days of foxhunting with four different hunts were in my plans as a judge in the Theodora A. Randolph Field Hunter Championships: hunting in the field every day with the competitors and then riding in the finals on Saturday, October 9, at Glenwood Park. The final tests and awards in the morning would lead up to the Virginia Fall Races in the afternoon.
Douglas Lees photo
Mildred Gulick Riddell, MFH of the Old Dominion Hounds (VA) from 1982 to 1992, died on December 4, 2021, at the age of 97. Born in 1924 at the Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington D.C., she lived most of her life at Redwood in Casanova, Virginia, the farm bought for her mother as a wedding gift by her grandfather, James Strother of Carrington in Delaplane.
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