Bull Run- Rappahannock Performance Trial Oct. 20-21, 2017, part of "Hark Forward"

Bull Run- Rappahannock Performance Trial- October 20-21, 2017

                                                            By Barbara Smith

The kick-off Competitors cocktail party started with a toast to the late great Benjamin Hardaway III. It had been announced that he had passed earlier in the day and Epp Wilson, MFH Belle Meade Hunt, was moved to tears as he recalled their long friendship and the great gifts Mr. Hardaway had given to foxhunting in North America. Without a doubt Mr. Hardaway’s legacy is felt in almost every foxhunt in America. There will be many stories told about this grand gentleman and I am sure that this night he was enjoying the many toasts that were made to his memory.

Charles Montgomery talking about scoring to the judges

 

The Bull Run- Rappahannock Performance Trial also coincided with a meeting of the MFHA Regional Directors so it was a pleasure to have the likes of Dr. Marvin Beeman, MFH of Arapahoe Hunt, Terry Paine, MFH of Santa Fe Hunt, John McFadden, MFH of Delabrooke Hunt, to mention a few of hardworking and dedicated Masters that joined the party and the Trial the next day. The 7 hunts that had brought 5 hounds each to make up the 17 ½ couple Performance Trial pack were: Bull Run Hunt, Farmington Hunt, Rappahannock Hunt, Thornton Hills Hounds, Tennessee Valley Hounds, Deep Run Hunt and Blue Ridge Hunt.

Friday morning dawned chilly, there was some dew and we were hopeful for a good scenting day. Hounds were put together quickly and as soon as Epp Wilson, MFH, the guest huntsman, was satisfied that they were comfortable, hounds and riders were off over a coop at the top of the Feedlot parking area.  We moved off into Quiet Shade, which is a favorite fox haunt, but today a large, good-looking coyote was viewed immediately by Boo Montgomery, professional whip and judge today. She will tell you that Ben Hardaway had a hand in it from above, as we had a good run down towards River Road, before he slipped away. I mention the coyote as Hardaway’s spirit animal helping us, as I also viewed a large coyote pacing the hunted fox later in the morning. He was a big, fast one running parallel to the dark red hunted fox. I watched as both ran across a big cattle field before disappearing into the pines off Feedlot Drive. The hounds never left the fox line but that coyote was watching! Later we switched onto another coyote somewhere in the pines and hounds flew back towards the mountain and the meet.

 

We ran one fox and three coyote this day and judges were able to get many Full Cry scores, as well as Hunting and Trailing ones. By 10 o’clock in the morning, it was close to 80 degrees and thirsty hounds were drinking from the automatic waterers with the help of their huntsman, and almost all the riders were equally thirsty.  

 

 Some of us were also out of horse! It was a good first day.  Friday night all were invited to the Serenko home in Culpeper, Virginia for a delicious Italian buffet. Ribbons for the day were handed out and we welcomed Penny Denegre, MFH of Middleburg Hunt to join the fun and present ribbons to the top three hunts for the first day.

Rappahannock Hunt hosted the next day’s Trial at Jim and Debbie Massie’s home, Meadow Grove, in Amissville, Virginia. This lovely farm is just of Rt. 729 (Richmond Road) between Little Battle Mountain and Big Battle Mountain.

 

Charles Montgomery, Bull Run’s huntsman, said at end of day that the hounds had run a rough figure -8 up, down and around these two landmark Civil war-era hills.

 Battle Mountain in Amissville was actually the site of the largest single Civil War military engagement in Rappahannock County. On July 24^th, 1863, the Union Army was pursuing General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, as they marched south following their defeat at Gettysburg earlier in the month. Union General George O. Custer (yes, that Custer) attacked Confederate General Longstreet and Gen. A. P. Hill as they marched down Richmond Road. Custer had placed artillery on the shoulder of Battle Mountain and shelled Hill’s men. However, Confederate Gen. Benning returned and flanked Custer with 2000 infantrymen from Georgia and Alabama. Custer’s rear guard fought for two hours, allowing Custer to escape by cutting a road through the woods on the mountain back to Amissville. It was here at Battle Mountain that the Union Army‘s pursuit was stopped. It is interesting to note we were hunting in some of the very woods that Custer retreated through after his ill-fated attack on Confederate forces. General Custer was quoted as saying later it was the “closest call he ever had”, but I think history proved he had another that did not end so well.

According to Boo Montgomery, who was road whipping in the truck this day, three fox and two coyote gave the hounds, judges and all the riders a great time. The pack split at one point and the second field, ably led by Jim Massie, was standing at a great vantage point to listen to both groups on their quarry.

 

Beth Opitz, MFH Thornton Hill Hounds, was the only judge with one part of the split for about a ½ hour and she was able to get excellent scores on Full Cry as the hounds crossed the road before her. After about three hours the hunted coyote was viewed beside the stream at the base of the mountain opposite Meadow Grove. Huntsman Epp Wilson MFH dismounted and searched the stream bed for signs of a kill, but wily coyote had slipped by the hounds and as we were still trying to put all hounds together it was called a day.

The Massie’s had put together a lovely hunt breakfast in the yard and closing remarks were made by David Twiggs, Executive Director of the MFHA. Scoring ran into an internet issue and ribbons were handed out later in the afternoon.  Bull Run Hunt was top overall with Blue Ridge Hunt and Deep Run Hunt a close second and third respectively. Blue Ridge Tartan was the Huntsman’s Choice. It was an excellent day and all thanked Oliver and Michael Brown, MFH’s, for a great hunt.

Bull Run’s Talisman and Nicely were Champion and Reserve Champion Hound respectively. Nicely is a pure Fell hound, and along with Talisman were bred by John Harrison, then of Toronto- North York Hunt and were drafted to Bull Run Hunt. John Harrison is now Huntsman at Deep Run Hunt.  He did an excellent job scoring and handed in a sheet that showed he had been right with hounds all day. I imagine he was as proud of these two hounds he bred, as was Bull Run’s huntsman, Charles Montgomery. Another interesting hound of note was Bull Run’s Damsel, which placed fourth in points overall. She was a draft from Johnnie Gray’s Hillsboro hounds and if you have read the previous Hark Forward report of the first Performance Trial at Tony Leahy’s Massbach Hounds -Fox River Valley Hunt, you will remember that three other littermates: Hillsboro’s Dagwood, Mill Creek’s Dallas and Fox River Valley’s Daffodil, all placed in the Top Ten. Damsel was another of this litter, all from a hound named Warwickshire Daylight bred by Charmaine Greene. It is incredible to see the excellence of a hound breeding come through so many different hunts.

And it is this last point that brings me full circle back to Mr. Ben Hardaway. No one has had more influence on the breeding of hounds in America than this gentleman.  Charles Montgomery brought Bull Run’s Bellemaid to the Performance Trial with the hope that she would excel. She is a descendent of Ben Hardaway’s Midland hounds, Striker and Bliss, and she did them all proud by placing tenth overall.  For a young unentered hound she did a terrific job and I am sure, made the old man proud! This is what huntsmen hope for when they breed hounds. As in racehorse breeding, “ you breed the best to the best and then hope for the best!”  Performance trials give all hunts a chance to see excellence in a hunting hound, and we see the results of certain breedings, such as the Hillsboro litter from Daylight. The fact that a litter has produced champions in four different hunts in different parts of the country is extraordinary and worth noting.  It was certainly Mr. Hardaway’s dream to improve the hunting hound and these performance trials make it possible to continue to share ideas and theories for the benefit of all. The next Performance Trial is at Hillsboro Hounds in Nashville, Tennessee in late November. See you there.

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Friendship stop at Cheshire Hounds

The fourth Friendship Meet on the Hark Forward Tour of scheduled hunts and performance trials was at Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Unionville, Pennsylvania. During the month of September we traveled a distance of three thousand miles and visited nine hunts.

The Cheshire is revered as one of the best foxhunting establishments in North America, renowned for big fences, protected countryside, and a distinguished history. When you hunt here, everyone asks, “Did you jump the line fences?” Yes, we jumped one of the line fences first! Everyone spreads out and picks a panel of three-rail fencing and off you go, foxhunting with Cheshire!

The line fences are well set back off the roads, making the footing safe no matter the direction of approach. This is not a happy accident. Protection and planning of the hunting country has been a continuing ethic within the hunt’s leadership.

The late Mrs. John B. Hannum, Master of the Cheshire for over fifty years and huntsman for much of that time, advised property owners, even new non-foxhunting landowners, how to fence their land—specifying the fencing materials and the set-back distance off the roads! She persuaded them where to site their houses and any improvements; she purchased countless properties and resold them at cost to sympathetic buyers; and she battled developers by every possible means, including persuasion and bureaucratic delay. Moreover, she recruited the residents of her hunting community to follow her lead. From her unrelenting crusade bloomed the famed Brandywine Conservancy, a national model for open space preservation.

We had put our caravan of twelve horses up at the Brandywine Polo Grounds, watched a chukker of play on the polo field, and then drove to The Yellow House in Kennett Square, PA. This beautiful Civil War era home is on the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup course, and we could see the steeplechase fences from the patio. Supposedly it has some secret passageways dating from the Underground Railroad, though I did not find them. It also has had some very famous parties after the Hunt Cup races we were told.

 The next morning we gathered at the Hannum home near Unionville for the meet. Sanna Neilson, MFH, greeted us warmly, though unfortunately on crutches. She was nursing a torn ACL, but this Maryland Hunt Cup winner and trainer made us feel very welcome, thanking Epp Wilson, MFH, for bringing the Hark Forward tour to Cheshire. Anne Moran, MFH, led the field towards the first cornfield. We had the pleasure of riding beside Mr. Jock Hannum, son of the late esteemed Mrs. Hannum. He gave us a running commentary on the lovely estates and homes that we passed during the morning, as he grew up here and has been fortunate to spend his life hunting with what I would call foxhunting royalty.

Mrs. Hannum loved the Old English (traditionally-bred as opposed to the modern English) foxhounds, which she hunted and showed. Today’s foxhound pack is the product of a breeding experiment that began nearly fifteen years ago by then huntsman John Tullock, an Englishman. He admired the Penn-Marydel for its voice and low scenting ability and crossed the Old English hounds with Penn-Marydels. He left shortly after, and his whipper-in, Irish-born Ivan Dowling, took over as huntsman. Dowling was also familiar with the Old English bloodlines from his earlier days in Ireland and comfortable with the breed. He and the Masters, betting on Tullock’s hound breeding wisdom, decided to gamble and continue the program. Because the two hound types are so disparate, the early litters were less than uniform, but as time went on, they focused on the hounds of both types that threw what they were seeking. Today, there is enthusiastic agreement among the membership in the success of the program.

The deep music contributed by the Penn-Marydels was lovely to hear, as hounds spoke on foxes which were viewed several times coming and going in the corn. The field had a wonderful gallop after a hard running fox, which was viewed running poolside through a neighbor’s backyard. A herd of pastured ponies were trying to join the fun and we all held hard until a most determined big bay was caught before jumping out onto the path below the pool where they put the fox to ground. After several hours we were back at the first cornfields and ready for a drink.

I told my fellow travelers that the stout timber-stacked fences in the country are really no bigger than a large coop, but Mike Paget (who hunts with Montreal, Moore County, and Belle Meade) and I agreed that they just seem more intimidating! So, when you have a good day hunting at Cheshire you always feel proud of your horse and yourself!

After the hunt breakfast, Epp Wilson, MFH, thanked our hosts and with the help of his mobile map of the United States encouraged everyone to try and join in some of the Hark Forward hunting celebration. Our stop at Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds was close to the end of the first leg of the tour. Epp talked about the Performance Trials, Field Hunter Trials, Joint Meets, and Friendship stops, which will continue throughout the season, across North America.

The second grand Hark Forward tour will be a month long trek in the New Year through the Southwest, swinging through New Mexico, California, and Nevada, before heading to a final Performance Trial in the Arapaho Hunt (CO) country with Dr. Marvin Beeman, MFH. This is the stuff of legends and a you-only-live-once trip. Based on the fun we have had on the September tour, this is a chance to experience hunting over widely varying countries, behind different packs, all the while enjoying the hospitality of our host hunts. All are welcome and invited to join in this grand foxhunting adventure. If you can't make the tour, check on the season's schedule and make it a point to join an event near you, whether it be Hound Performance Trial, Friendship Meet, or Field Hunter competition. There are events every month throughout the 2017-2018 season.