As Masters of Foxhounds Association chairman Lord Mancroft prepares to step down after seven years, H&H speaks to both outgoing and incoming chairs, for their thoughts on hunting present and future
THE next chairman of the Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA) hopes to harness enthusiasm and accelerate improvements to “ensure the young generation can hand on to the next”.
Andrew Osborne, former master and huntsman of the Cottesmore, the Bedale and the Sinnington, will become MFHA chairman on 1 May 2021. He takes over from Lord Mancroft, who will have served two three-year terms, plus an additional year.
Tessa Waugh muses over topical options for naming hound puppies during the pandemic, while the constant need to feed the brood sends her daydreaming about her granny’s scones and brandy snaps
Summer is pretty much here again and with it three litters of puppies at the kennels. While we sat around the table eating our lunch, the subject of names came up. Usually hound names tend towards the traditional – two-syllable names like Rambler, Gambler, Landlord and Bluebell are evergreens reappearing intermittently through the centuries – but occasionally someone goes rogue and opts for the topical.
In 2019, unsurprisingly, there were several puppies across Britain who were given the dubious name of Brexit. There were also some Peppas (like the cartoon pig), a Poldark, an Asbo and more perplexingly, a Gluten. Will the 2020 entry feature a glut of Rainbows, I wonder, some more Borises, a Furlough?
H&H’s hunting columnist enthuses about new team members, and the benefit that social media can bring...
Daniel Cherriman and hounds at the Pytchley hunt kennels
It feels as though summer is coming to an end, rather than just beginning, such has been the length of good weather we’ve been enjoying. I’m sure the sunshine has done much to alleviate some of the gloom that might have descended upon the nation during the lockdown and we can be grateful for that, particularly all of us who live or work outside in the countryside.
May is often a transitional month in the life of hunt kennels. Staff who were moving or retiring will have done so on the first of the month and new staff have arrived. We have enjoyed great continuity of staff here at Brixworth over the years, with only two whippers-in and two countrymen spanning the past 11 years or so, and this is the first time we have had two changes in the same year.
With the cancellation of all major hound shows this year owing to the global Covid-19 pandemic, a “virtual hound show” has been launched to provide fans of hunting and hounds all over the world with some entertainment – and possibly education.
The International Virtual Hound Show will run online from 17 July-21 August. Entries are invited from registered packs in the UK, Ireland, France, North America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
A panel of judges will assess the hounds through photographs and video footage, and the public are also invited to make their choices by voting online. Participating packs may enter a pledge lot in the online silent auction, the proceeds of which will go either to the hunt or to its nominated charity.
Organiser Richard Walton said: “At a time when so many families and communities are affected by Covid-19, the International Virtual Hound Show (IVHS) provides the global hunting community with a five-week opportunity to escape to the wonderful world of hunting with hounds.
“This is an opportunity to entertain, inspire and share learning about hounds from around the globe, and do some fundraising for hunts and their charities. The IVHS appeals to a diverse global family of hound enthusiasts.
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“Each pack will showcase the best of their hounds to an international audience and help build upon the existing ‘hunting with hounds ’ community around the world.”
There are around 30 different “rings”, providing opportunities for various types of American and French hounds, beagles, bassets, minkhounds and staghounds, as well as the categories with which a British hound show enthusiast is familiar – modern English, old English, fell, hill and Welsh. The harrier classes cater for studbook, West Country, New Zealand and Irish harriers, both mounted and foot.
For more information, visit the website or email honsec@virtualhoundshow.com
We continue to publish Horse & Hound magazine weekly during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as keeping horseandhound.co.uk up to date with all the breaking news, features and more. Click here for info about magazine subscriptions (six issues for £6) and access to our premium H&H Plus content online.
Tessa Waugh finds herself quite giddy with the excitement of leaving the premises for a Sunday drive – even if it is just to deliver a bale of hay to friends the other side of town
Sundays have become a bit samey recently. As I stood peeling potatoes in my customary place between the sink and the oven, on yet another Sunday morning, I felt a bit fed up.
I think I must have voiced these feelings to Adam. Or perhaps it was the face like thunder and aggressive body language that did the trick. Anyway, when the next weekend rolled around, he was ready with a suggestion.
“I need to deliver a bale of hay to Franki and Steve,” he said, referring to friends who live nearby. “Perhaps we could all go? Bit of an airing for the wife?”
The horses from down south are shivering, but the lockdown veg patch is flourishing, says Tessa Waugh, pondering if she should have been more honest with a friend seeking their first hound puppy
I wonder what will stick in our minds when we look back on this year? It would be nice to think that we had used the time productively: taught a hunter to do a dressage test, established a vegetable garden, got seriously fit rather than simply “ate cake”, did more tidying and rediscovered my natural hair colour after 30 years of highlighting.
Jim is on holiday, so the dressage hasn’t happened, but I have made a start with the veg; two courgette plants and a couple of squash have survived my ham-fisted repotting technique and erratic watering. If they produce actual vegetables I will be amazed.
H&H’s hunting editor Catherine Austen says a final goodbye to her trusty hunting partner of more than a decade...
Molly Austen, whose expressive outlook adorns this page, went to heaven earlier this month.
It’s strange, knowing she isn’t here any more. She wanders through my thoughts, and I can still feel the velvet of her nose and see the softness of her eyes when I fed her a bagful of carrots and apples for the last time early that morning. If I breathe in, I can still catch the familiar smell of her.
I never thought I would miss coronation chicken. But, having recently judged my first virtual puppy show for the Crawley and Horsham, there was no drinking and no delicious lunch, sadly. Although, on the plus side there were no speeches; I am running very short of material.
It was a completely surreal experience to judge a young entry on one’s phone, and when it was over I went back to the gardening. But well done to huntsman Bill Bishop and his team for staging it.
Those who tuned in will, I am sure, have loved seeing Bill and his team along with some very happy puppies, especially Naughty the champion bitch.
Britain’s more traditional weather returns along with the first steps towards a new normality, but nothing can dampen Tessa Waugh’s spirits as she becomes rather too involved in her kids’ riding lessons
It made a nice change to be trundling down the road at the weekend with Mary and Alec in the pick-up beside me and a trailer containing two ponies. Going out en masse is such a rarity these days that there was a celebratory feel in the car despite the rain bashing at the windscreen and the wind whistling in the trees. Lockdown seems to have that effect – it turns the most ordinary things into an event.
While channelling her inner Enid Blyton farmer’s wife persona, Tessa Waugh takes a break from fruit-cake baking to ride out her holidaying horse and discovers his old habits die hard
As alarm calls go you can’t beat it: 500 or so sheep blaring for their lambs, gates clanking, quad bikes revving, men whistling, dogs barking. Who said the country is a peaceful place? Central London is more tranquil than a farm on shearing days. Once the shearers arrive, the tempo increases – more clanking, clippers whirring, fleeces are removed and collected, packed into bags as 100 decibels of Dua Lipa’s Physical rings out across the valley.
On shearing days, I try to embody one of those farmers’ wives from the Enid Blyton books, popping up at opportune moments to furnish the main protagonists with fruit cake and lashings of ginger beer.
Are you counting down the days to autumn hunting? Dying for your horse’s holiday to come to an end? Sounds like you’re missing the hunting season…
1. You’ve made a calendar of the days left until autumn hunting starts and you eagerly cross them off each morning.
2. You’ve already asked your huntsman (three times) when hound exercise on horses starts, and are really disappointed when he looks horrified and tells you not until the end of this month. But they have started on bikes, and you’re there, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 6am. You’ll have thighs of steel by the time the season starts.
3. Your hunting kit is clean, polished, mended — and ready to go. Similarly your horse’s tack.
4. You’ve booked days off work for all the major hound shows and are mentally planning your picnic for the Festival of Hunting at Peterborough — even if all of these now aren’t happening until 2021 due to coronavirus, you’re still looking forward to them.
5. Your horse won’t come anywhere near you in the field — he thinks you have an unnecessarily keen look in your eye and he wants a holiday, thank you very much. Past years have taught him it won’t be long; in a couple of week’s time he will be plonking round the roads, and by the beginning of September he’ll be nearly fit enough to go round Burghley, let alone cope with a morning’s autumn hunting.
H&H’s hunting columnist on pandemic pressures, and horse and hound wellbeing
Best dressed Winner Robert McCarthy
The devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have been felt far and wide across all job roles and walks of life. Just as a lot of hunt staff were looking forward to winding down after a busy and long winter, finishing off a wet and at times unpredictable season, the lockdown was announced. My thoughts are with the many staghound and minkhound packs whose seasons have been more or less completely wiped out.
Like many other small businesses, hunts across the country have had to furlough or make more permanent changes to staffing numbers. While sad, this has unfortunately made sense and has been the right thing to do. However, it has put further pressure on remaining staff to fill in the gaps.
Tessa Waugh baulks at the going rate for 14.2hhs just as her children seem so happy on the ponies they are rapidly growing out of – and an exciting trip to Middlesbrough provides inspiration
Tessa Waugh May with Children.
Both Mary and Alec are getting on well with their ponies at the moment, albeit in limited circumstances with no shows or competitions on the cards.
I scrutinise them as they plod off for another ride around the farm, fully aware that it will not be long before they have grown out of Rusty and Sally.
That is one of the annoying things about children and ponies: no sooner have they forged a bond with one, that you need to start looking for another. Alec will need a 14.2hh next year and I worry that bigger ponies seem to cost the same as horses, in some cases more. I spoke to a friend who has recently picked up a tried and tested 13.3hh for her daughter to grow into.
A teenager who survived a horrific riding accident in 2017 has embarked on a summer-long challenge to raise money for three charities close to her heart.
Lottie Rymer, 17, was knocked unconscious and dragged more than 30m when her foot became caught in her stirrup in a fall three years ago.
She needed facial surgery and has had some neurological issues since, but has made a remarkable recovery and is back in the saddle ahead of the autumn trail hunting season.
Lottie, daughter of the Bicester with Whaddon Chase chairman Pete Rymer, is taking on a weekly challenge for eight weeks during the school holidays to raise funds for Mind, Epilepsy Research and Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Air Ambulance.
“After my fall it seemed that it was going to be necessary to use the services of the air ambulance, but we all know how expensive these are to operate and luckily there was a farm track that enabled the road ambulance to take me to hospital instead,” said Lottie.
“It was a real comfort to me and my family to know [the air ambulance] was available should [my condition] have been critical so I want to raise much-needed funds for this local charity to ensure it is there for others who may be less fortunate than me.
“I lost my cousin Caspar to epilepsy four years ago so raising funds for research into the disease is close to the hearts of me and my family, while I also wanted to raise money for Mind due to the impact that Covid-19 is having on people’s mental health during and after the extensive lockdown period.”
Lottie started on Friday (10 July) with a 12-hour danceathon. In week two, she is running a staggered marathon, covering 9km/day for five days.
This will be followed by swimming the equivalent of crossing the English Channel in week three – swimming almost 600 lengths every day for five days.
Bored of lockdown? Indulge in a little fantasy by choosing your fantasy equestrian quarantine house, complete with riding facilities and
Polly Portwin, head of hunting at the Countryside Alliance and former master of the Bicester with Whaddon Chase said: “Lottie has made an incredible recovery from the injuries she sustained on the hunting field and it is the same determination and bravery that she showed during her recovery which will no doubt ensure she manages to complete the challenges in order to raise funds for these three incredibly worthwhile causes.”
The other challenges that Lottie has set herself include five days of community service, the Yorkshire Peak challenge, cycling the distance from London to Brighton over five days, an ultimate triathlon and a long-distance ride, involving overnight camping with her hunter Bart, dubbed “the Bart Challenge”.
We continue to publish Horse & Hound magazine weekly during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as keeping horseandhound.co.uk up to date with all the breaking news, features and more. Click here for info about magazine subscriptions (six issues for £6) and access to our premium H&H Plus content online.
With Dublin Horse Show, which was meant to take place this week (15-19 July) cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, we take a look back through the archives to bring you a memory from the 2018 running of the event that will definitely get your heart racing!
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The traditional Hunt Chase, sponsored by Diageo, brought the curtain down on the 2018 Dublin Horse Show, the Killinick's fight out an exciting finish with the Wexford's.
It’s one of Ireland’s premier equestrian events and the final run of the nail biting Diageo hunt chase competition made for a thrilling end to the 2018 Dublin Horse Show (DHS), which was held in Ballsbridge (8 — 12 August).
Battling it out for the crown were the Killinick Harriers and the Wexfords who ensured it was all to play for in the final of this traditional inter-hunt relay event. However it was the Killinicks who just had the edge, storming their way to victory and taking home the coveted Thady Ryan perpetual challenge trophy.
The two teams chosen to participate in the 2018 hunt chase competition were selected by a draw held on Saturday 28 July. The draw was open to teams who have competed in 10 of the listed hunt chase league events.
The Killnicks took a slight lead from the get go, with their first rider making a few lengths headway down the long side.
DHS rules state the following team members have to ride in this set order:
1st – fourth member (who must be 35-years-old or over)
2nd – official member
3rd – lady rider (preferably riding side-saddle)
4th – heavy weight male (12.5 stone or over in hunting gear, any lead must be in a lead cloth/bag)
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The fence which caused the most problems was number eight, an upright plank which was strategically placed as the second part of a combination. Every rider knocked it down and was therefore required to jump it a second time.
The Wexfords managed to gain some ground in the final pass over when a slight fumble from the Killinicks meant they lost a few seconds, but it was ultimately them who came back to win by a few strides.
Substantial prize money was awarded, with the winning team taking home a healthy pot of €2,230.
It’s a considerable honour to be invited to the hunt kennels to see the hounds, but what are you looking for? What does a well-made hound look like? Frank Houghton Brown explains the basics
People hunt for all sorts of reasons, but even if you hunt to ride or just for the social aspects, there is no escaping the fact that the hounds are at the core of it all.
Invitations to puppy shows are at the behest of the masters, but subscribers are included along with farmers and puppy walkers. If someone shows an interest, they may get asked to a special viewing of the hounds at the kennels. It’s an honour to be invited to either, but what exactly are you looking for when you get there?
The Duke of Beaufort’s hounds get more summer visits than any other pack. During the months of May and June, there are parties of visitors to their Badminton kennels every week, which range from local hunt staff to hunt stalwarts, puppy walkers and car-followers who love the hounds. The Friday afternoon of the Badminton Horse Trials is always kept open to show people around the kennels. The Countryside Foundation runs estate days at Badminton in early June each year and roughly 500 urban and local children get a tour of the kennels during these valuable educational experiences.
While the world continues to change, Tessa Waugh cherishes the little treats nearby that feel secret and magical – though the prospect of a socially distanced puppy show loses some of its lustre
Tessa Waugh May with Children.
When we were in the grip of full lockdown, it was soothing to imagine that when we re-emerged, the world would be just as we left it. Of course this was never going to happen, and as soon as you venture out you see the changes.
Clothes a little tight? 4am alarms? A desperate search for a neckstrap? This can mean only one thing — here’s a few things that might ring true in a month or so...
Credit: Sarah Farnsworth
1. You discover that actually, no, you didn’t remember to clean your tweed coat after you wore it while gate-shutting last season, and frantically scrub the worst of the encrusted mud off while panicking that you are losing precious sleep – you’ve got to be up in four hours…
2. Your alarm clock is set for 4am – and instead of pressing “snooze” repeatedly, you have actually been awake for 10 minutes and leap out of bed when it goes off as though you have been electrocuted.
3. Hunting clothes that fitted perfectly well in March are, shall we say, more than a little snug. You resign yourself to not breathing for several hours, and hope you don’t have to jump – if you do, your shirt will split across the shoulders and the button will pop off your breeches.
4. You remember why you swore you will never take a grey horse autumn hunting again. Despite being swaddled in a rug and hood, he has managed to plaster the contents of his stable – and that’s quite a lot of muck; it’s the first time he has been in at night since April and he knows perfectly well why so is quite over-excited – all over his body, neck and legs.
5. You are seriously upset when you can’t find your neckstrap. Even the most seasoned hunter feels a little jolly when he sees hounds again for the first time, and a neckstrap is effectively the same thing as putting your seatbelt on. You nick someone else’s stirrup leather and hope they aren’t planning to ride before you get back.
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6. Even though you are only planning to go for two hours, you are riding the most sensible horse you have ever owned and hounds are meeting in a place where it is likely that nothing very thrilling will happen, you have serious butterflies and feel ridiculously overexcited as you drive there.
7. As hounds spill out of their lorry and the huntsman calls them together and sets off, you are truly happy. Your grin is reflected on the faces of everyone around you. We’re here again, we’re still going and we are part of the most fantastic community.
What really goes on in hunt kennels? How are hounds exercised and fed? Beanie Sturgis reveals the daily routine for two very different packs of hounds
Is there ever a moment that ignites more passion and excitement in a hunting soul than the sight of a fit, happy pack of hounds bouncing in to a meet? The hopes and expectation for a great, a middling, or indeed any sort of day are why we all polish, clean and scrub tack, horses, kit and children. Then we run around trying to get every one to the meet on time while not treading in every muddy puddle before even getting on a horse.
We all know our own routines and timescales, but how much do we really know about what goes on behind the scenes on a hunting morning in the kennels? Does the calm demeanour and immaculate turnout of hunt staff really indicate what has to happen to make such an impact?
Tessa Waugh’s renovation project is clouded by her reliving the tortured relationships of her youth, but a joyful hack erases the heartbreak of absent workmen
Did you watch Normal People at the beginning of the summer? At the time it was perfect escapism; a love story with two hot young actors, lots of churning emotions and some very naturalistic bedroom scenes. The sort of thing which, as a teenager, you couldn’t bear to watch with your parents. I watched it feeling intensely grateful that those days were well and truly over.
