Members of the Carbon River Pony Club (Northwest Region) receive the St. Hubert medallion during the 2007 Blessing of the Hounds ceremony at the Woodbrook Hunt Club in Tacoma, Washington.  From left to right with horse in hand:  Aliina Keers with Chester,  Margaret Keers with Paris,  Hillary Kuehn with Ammen;  Linda Hagerman with Kerits

The Lakeville Pony Club, puppy walking with the Millbrook Hunt and Millbrook Pony Club

A little history first: Not everyone knows that the United States Pony Clubs were started by foxhunters who were concerned that young people were not learning effective riding nor the proper care of horses. Most of the first Pony Clubs were affiliated with organized foxhunts. Lakeville Pony Club was one of the few that was begun without a hunt affiliation.

Millbrook Pony Club has a close relationship with the Millbrook Hunt. This year Millbrook PC invited Lakeville PC to join them in "puppy walking" -- a traditional spring activity whereby the new puppies are civilized, and as the photos below indicate, the older hounds are reminded of their responsibilities after a winter off.

The real highlight of puppy walking season is the Adjacent Hunts Puppy Show, with LPCers showing Millbrook's hounds at this traditional event at Old Chatham Hunt Club.

Click here to see photos of Lakeville and Millbrook Pony Club members "puppy walking" at the Millbrook Hunt's kennels, as well as some pictures from the Show.

Thanks to Geoff Brown for submitting this information!
 

        Fall is nearly upon us again, and I thought that I would tell you a little holiday story about the "Blessing of the Hounds." A lot of people have asked me how the celebration began and just who was this St. Hubert fellow anyway?  In the late autumn -- around the time of our opening day's hunt, we have a hunt called "Blessing of the Hounds." It comes with all the fanfare of scarlet coats, tailed coats (shadbellies), top hats, well turned out horses, and a priest that conducts a church service from a platform outdoors in the middle of the gathering of foxhunters and the hounds. Most members can't explain the why or where this tradition came from, but the story begins in the middle ages with the tale of St. Hubert.
        Hubert of Liege (656-727) pursued a life of color, with a passion for horses, hounds, and the pleasure of the chase. I think the chase was supposed to be after the stag, but some accounts say he also used the chase as a reason to enjoy strong drink and the company of women we would say had "less than stellar reputations." One year, Hubert hosted a grand hunt in the woodlands of France near Ardennes, completely ignoring the fact that it was to be held on the morning of Good Friday.
        Lost with the music of the hounds and a breathless gallop through the woods, he was in pursuit of a stag. As he continued over a rise in the forest, he was stunned by the vision that appeared to him: the hunted stag in statuesque glory. The Cross of our Lord appeared in blinding radiation suspended from on top of his antlers!!! No baying hounds, no squawking birds, only complete silence from all creatures mute in the presence of God.
        Hubert of Liege threw himself to the ground with penance and humility. The stag came toward him and spoke in a thunderous voice. He told Hubert to give up his life of sin and drunkenness and devote himself to praise and the honor of God.
        As you can imagine, this was the changing event for Hubert, who continued from that day forward to serve God and went on to found a monastery. Within the monastery life, he also bred and raised a type of hunting hound. The line is believed to be the foundation of many of our current hunting hounds.

       Hubert was later proclaimed by the Church as the Patron Saint of Hunters. The relationship of St. Hubert's Opening Meet and "The Blessing of the Hounds" comes from the European Catholic tradition honoring Saints. At our hunt, St. Hubert's Festival is November 3rd and the blessing is usually performed by our local clergy. It includes a medal with St. Hubert's image on it, given to the riders of that hunt, with protection and favor to a grand hunting season. "Protection and favors for your year to come and Bless you and your families and furry noses with carrots."

As a side note, a St. Hubert's medal was given to the members of the Pony Clubs who placed in the 2007 Live Oaks Hounds Foxhunting Challenge at the MFHA Centennial in May.
 

Similarities and Differences Foxhunting Virginia East and Washington West

By Linda M. Hagerman and Kristin Noggle

The misty air is filled with smells of autumn, leather, and the sweet musky scent of warm horseflesh. Suddenly, the serenity is shattered by the shrill of a hunting horn, the crack of a whip, the pounding of many hooves and the cry of the hounds as the hunt is cantering off toward the forest.
 

I've shared some fascinating facts with Kristin Noggle, the Chair of Foxhunting at USPC, when we both had time at our last national convention in Oregon. She talked about her hunting experiences, the terrain in Virginia, the type and look of their hounds, and even the type of jumps. I thought it might be fun to hear from both sides of the United States about our
hunts.

The West Coast.

Courtesy of Tim Poulsen, Poulsen Photo.

Terrain West- We have a clubhouse on the edge of Fort Lewis reservation which most of the time is our permanent "fixture". We are allowed access to this closed site with permission of the military. The approximate land total is 40,000 acres. We hunt drag most of the time.   That is where we lay a scent over different runs for our hounds to follow.   To hunt live through black berries that sometimes reach twenty feet tall is not a good option. We have a variety of trails through wooded areas of tall fir and oaks, large open meadows, swamps, many miles of dirt roads, scotch broom plants to keep you on your toes and make you watch your footing, and even an occasional bunker, tank, or helicopter to skirt around.   Woodbrook Hunt Club was established in 1926 and many of our runs were named after fondly departed members. The first time I rode with the hunt was in the fifties, even though I'm only thirty something. I participated with
Valley Green pony club and it was the first glimpse to what I would hold dear the rest of my life.

Terrain East- Here in northern Virginia, we have several hunts within a 50 mile radius. The Mid-Atlantic region we are in is called the Piedmont area, being the transition from the Atlantic Ocean in the east and the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west. As you drive west from Washington DC, the terrain goes from fairly flat to rolling to steeper hills. If you drive south from Middleburg, VA, which is about 40 miles west of DC, toward Thornton Hill Hounds in Rappahonnock County, the terrain gets sharply steeper, with more wooded areas. Our mountains are older than the West Coast mountains and much smaller, but they are beautiful and covered with trees. I was asked by a Pony Club member from California once why our mountains are called the Blue Ridge. When the leaves are green, especially in the summer, the humidity in the air blurs the colors and the ridge that I see from my barn is blue.

Every hunt here has a different personality, just like each Pony Club. I am a professional member of the Orange County Hunt, whose kennels are in The Plains, VA, just off route 66.  Orange County was founded by foxhunters from Orange County, New York, who decided in the late 1800s that Westchester County, NY was getting overcrowded and they needed to take their hounds and horses to more open land. So they put their horses and the pack of hounds on a train and headed for The Plains, VA.  The train still goes through, but there is no depot. The oldest hunt in America, Piedmont Foxhounds, founded in 1840, is just to the north and west of OCH.  The territory to the northeast of us is Middleburg Hunt and to the south is Warrenton Hunt. The Chronicle of the Horse Hunt Roster issue in late September lists each hunt and defines their territory by area. Orange County hunts a large, completely protected section of farmland bordered by four roads.  It is about 16 by 12 miles.

The mostly open grassy land and beautiful wooded trails we hunt are incredible and the huntsman and his staff work all summer to keep the jumps safe, clear trails and build new ones where needed. Many farms have employees who clear trails and repair gates. Most of the farms have cattle, some have horses, and the fencing is mostly 3 board oak or stone walls. The farms range from 10 acres to over a thousand acres in size, often with streams and ponds, multiple tenant houses, and very few roads here go in a straight line. I think one of the best parts about hunting is learning the lay of the land from horseback, I never get lost anymore and there is so much more to see than from a car.

Hounds from the West Coast.

Courtesy of Tim Poulsen, Poulsen Photo.

Hounds West- I've read about the lineage of our hounds and talked to Jean Brooks, our current M.F.H. She said that our pack is crossbreds with 50% of the background from Orange County and a spattering of the English line of hounds. I asked her about our vibrant red and white patterns on most of our hounds and she told me that it is much easier to locate them in our darker forest areas and brush. We have mostly red and whites, a couple of tri-colors, and a few browns. As soon as the kennel door is open, their noses are always searching the ground and their sterns are pointing to God.  They are also a very fast pack with longer legs than the old English line and have no trouble on an average hunt that covers approximately twenty miles and lasts about four hours. I keep retired hounds in my back yard and Buster gave me a dirty look when I measured him at 35 inches tall. We have our own private hunts two or three times a week. A little slower and a lot shorter with a couple of horses, but the old hounds don't seem to notice.   The drive is still there. The hounds are tenacious in the hunting field and their cry always puts a smile on my face and a tingle up my spine.
 
Hounds East- There are 4 basic types of hounds used for foxhunting in North America-English, American, Crossbred (English and American) and PennMarydel. Orange County hounds are red ring-necked American foxhounds (chestnut with a white ring around their necks, usually white legs and chests). They are lean, mean hunting machines.  Compared to English hounds, sometimes they look like mosquitoes, especially the females. Our hounds have done very well at hound shows and they are fantastic foxhunters as well. In general, the huntsman will take 14-16 couple of hounds out each hunt (we hunt Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays). When I hunt I check to see how many hounds are out, whether they are all male (dog pack), all female (bitch pack) or a mixed pack. The bitches are very fast, the dogs are getting faster, and the mixed pack tends to be pretty steady. Dog hounds sometimes keep their noses down better, go slower and don't overrun the line of scent or miss a turn that a fox made. But I have watched a female hound work a scent line right across a stream, speaking the whole time, it was amazing. I have been lucky enough to whip in a few times, and it gave me a great appreciation for hound work and the hard work our staff does 3 times a week from September thru March! 
 

Fences from the West Coast.

Courtesy of Tim Poulsen, Poulsen Photo.

Fences West- Our club holds work parties to upgrade our fences. We always have a few new surprises after windstorms pass through the northwest.   We have fenced panels, natural rails, brush, logs, ditches, and water.   Let's not forget the water in Washington State. The event horses that come from our hunting field never have trouble with the water jumps. The built fences are positioned to discourage refusals and paths lie around most obstacles to accommodate those wishing not to jump the whole course.

Fences East- The jumps are built along the coverts so it is convenient to follow a running fox. Gates are installed so that hilltoppers can follow efficiently.  Trails are wide; jumps are 7-board coops (3'3"), some split rail verticals, some stone walls with telephone poles on top, all in fence-lines either between properties or bordering crop or livestock fields. Some farms build nice log schooling jumps, very inviting for green foxhunters!   There is no unnecessary jumping ( y'know, larking. Usually, there is no reason to jump something unsafe, either. Occasionally the staff will have to jump a 3 board fence or a gate.  Some jumps have a pole or skinny tree, stripped of bark hung across the top, called a "rider". This is removed for jumping, but replaced so that cows do not jump over on non-hunting days. There are some really athletic cows, and bulls, who have been known to go cooping to neighboring farms. Good fences, and jumps, make good neighbors!
 
 "All time is lost when not spent hunting." Favorite quote of M. John Jorrocks, or was it Larry Byers?

We are truly blessed, Linda M. Hagerman and Kristin Noggle

FOXHUNTING STORIES 

BY HAGERMAN OUT WEST

Just a small introduction is in order for those of you I have never had the opportunity to meet.

I have been in pony club and hunted with Woodbrook Hunt Club since the fifties and I have a lot of entertaining stories from my past to share. I was the person sitting at the foxhunting table at the national convention along with Kristin Noggle, our USPC Foxhunting Chairman. I'm also the Chief Horse Management judge that has horn blowing and whip cracking contests in the barns.

Have any of you ever had the experience of trying to dislodge a wedged in round rock from your horses hoof without a hoof pick? How about a very cheeky thoroughbred on a cold morning with the rest of the field moving off in front of him? The last straw in the equation is that it has to be a hind foot.

Our hunt club has the wonderful privilege of being allowed to ride on the 40,000 acres of the Fort Lewis Reservation. The large fir trees with trails connect the open grass fields and many gravel sand roads that tanks travel during maneuvers. I grew up hearing "ware tank" and "ware bunkers"

as part of my hunting jargon. We are considered a drag hunt but the hounds do love their coyotes .They manage to cross the applied scent at least once during a hunt and work as a tag team to entice our pack.

As we first ride out from our clubhouse, our horses are not very level.

to say the least. After we get to the railroad crossing, they settle down and a nice order is established. One morning about half way to the railroad crossing, my horse, Karats, picked up a large, round rock in his hind foot.

The item that I was missing was my hoof pick. After jumping up and down on this foot about three times, I finally stopped him. The rock was completely wedged, with no crawl space. With his ears pricked and his muscles quivering he stood like a good field masters horse should. Sticks were broken and still no movement. The second most important thing that I do ride with is spurs. They can be used for many things including a prod to remove an immoveable object. After a bit of pounding, the rock hit the ground and a vaulting mount, on the horse that had used all of his patience, was done. I think that horses can do more than 550 meters a minute in a hand gallop when in the hunting field.

If you don't have a sandwich case to carry a hoof pick, maybe a folding one in your pocket would be a good thing. I have gone to wearing a belt that the buckle is a folding hoof pick and I can snap it off if I feel the need.

If you would like to ask questions about foxhunting on both east or west coast, please send it to Erin Woodall at USPC and she can pass it on to:  BUGLE ANN LANDERS COLUMN

Tally Ho to you all, Linda M. Hagerman

FOXHUNTING BASICS

Here is an overview of the year in foxhunting. It will vary with geographic area and each hunt, of course, but will help DCs and members unfamiliar with hunting to converse with hunt enthusiasts.

Whelping season:

This varies by hunt, but normally starts before the end of March, so that puppies born that year will be weaned before cubbing season and ready to hunt the following year. The number of hounds bred each year varies by what each hunt needs to produce the type of talent they are looking for. It may seem that 50 couple (100) hounds is a lot for one hunt, but, just as you would not hunt the same horse 3 times per week, you wouldn't hunt the same hound that often, so a hunt needs enough hounds to have a fresh pack each day.

Hound show season

On the East Coast, there are hound shows from early May until late June. This is the time when some hunts compare their hounds, the result of years of breeding, training, watching and hoping, to other hunts' hounds. There are generally four categories:  American Hounds, English Hounds, Crossbred Hounds (English/American crosses) and Penn-Marydel Hounds. Some shows also have a division for Beagles and/or Bassets. 

At home, hunt staff and/or members will teach hounds to walk on a lead, stand up on a board and bathe the hounds in preparation for the show.

Hounds are shown as individuals, in each breed, in couples, against the same sex, as a pack, as producers of hounds, as "un-entered" (not hunted with the pack yet), or "entered" (has hunted at least a season). The finale of each show is Best Bitch in each breed and Best Dog in each breed, then those are judged against each other, the winner being best in show.  The judges are either huntsmen or MFHs with years of experience looking at conformation, movement and attentiveness/attitude of hounds.

Roading or exercising hounds

This is done in the summer to get hounds fit for hunting, responsive to the huntsman and whips' commands and get the hounds out of the kennels, especially if they don't have a large enclosed run.  Roading refers literally to taking the hounds, sometimes nearly 100, out on a gravel road, with a grass verge or fence on each side for the whips to walk along so they can keep the hounds from wandering, i.e. not hunting. The huntsman and staff walk,  or ride bicycles, with whips in hand, until the hounds are fit enough and well-trained enough that the staff can exercise them on horseback at a walk or trot.

This can be an ideal time for horses and riders new to hunting to ask to ride discreetly behind the pack and staff to familiarize themselves with the hound/staff dynamics and 40 sets of legs, noses and tails, before the regular season when hounds are letting out a deafening scream, streaking across the countryside after a fox or coyote, at which point some horses, even 25 year-old ponies with ringbone, become Rolex contenders, or freeze and flip over.

Cubbing or Autumn hunting

This varies by geographic area. In general, cubbing season starts in August or September, and goes until the end of October. In the southern parts of the U.S., cubbing may start in late September. The reason for this is that when heat and humidity combine, the scent of the fox or coyote rises very quickly, making it difficult for the hounds to smell him. Hunting is early in the morning and for a short time, to avoid stressing the hounds and horses in the heat.  This part of the season is for training young hounds, requiring that every member of the field has control of their horse when confused puppies may be underfoot. Often, the huntsman will try to end each day at a stream, river or pond, for the hounds to cool off.

Ratcatcher attire, tweed jackets and colored stocks, are worn, possibly to blend in with the fall foliage. Polo shirts may even be worn by the staff,.  Meet times are usually early, 7 am, and the hunting may be 2 hours or less. The best way to start the day!

Formal season

In Virginia, the beginning of formal season, Opening Day, is usually the end of October or the beginning of November. This is not the day to bring out your first-time foxhunter, human or equine. Every member of the hunt tries to attend this day, the hunt staff and MFHs try to put on the best day they can, every horse is braided and perfectly turned-out and, in some Virginia, Maryland and PA hunts, at least, there are over 80 horses in the field, widely varying footing conditions, and high expectations!  There is usually a breakfast afterwards, and a festive atmosphere prevails all day.

The formal season continues until late March, except in northern areas, like Illinois, Canada and New York, where Thanksgiving may be the last hunt of the season. The hunting day can last anywhere from 2 hours to 5 hours, depending on scenting conditions, weather, and the distance back to the meet after a long-running fox or coyote.

Black, navy or charcoal wool coats are worn by members of the field, with buff, canary or fawn britches, white or ivory stock ties and black dress boots. The MFHs and staff will usually wear scarlet coats, white britches and brown-top black dress boots.

Contacting a hunt:

The best time of year to contact a hunt to schedule a visit is probably Spring, April or May, when the staff horses, at least, are getting a break, and there are lots of cute puppies for young Pony Club members to see.

If you subscribe to the Chronicle of the Horse, you may view the September Hunt Roster issue online. Each hunt registered with the MFHA has a paragraph with information about their organization. You can get a feel for each hunt by the description of their territory, how many professional or honorary whippers-in they have, how many days they hunted last season, the quarry they hunt (fox, coyote, bobcat, drag), the types of hounds they have, etc.  For example, a hunt in Maine may go out 25 times during a July to October season, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a hunt in Florida may go out 102 times in a season on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

When you have contacted the MFH or Secretary, ask if there is a member who would be willing to be a mentor to a junior or inexperienced foxhunter. If you will be traveling a distance to hunt, and not bringing your own horse, ask if there is a livery stable they would recommend.  This will ensure that the horse, at least, is prepared for hunting.  Lynn Lloyd, the MFH of Red Rock Hounds in Nevada, for example, rents her own string of foxhunters, and lets Pony Club members bring a bag of dog food as their capping fee. 

Also, ask about attire, some hunts allow ratcatcher on weekdays during formal season, and some do not allow colors from another hunt.  

Happy Hunting!