Covertside Spring 2013

FEEDING PUPPIES RIGHT • HISTORIC HOUNDS • HOUND SHOW DIRECTORY

THE MAGAZINE OF MOUNTED FOXHUNTING

SPRING 2013 • $5.00

MIDDLEBURG PHOTO

Page 32

FEEDING PUPPIES FOR OPTIMAL DEVELOPMENT

SPRING 2013 FULL CRY

12 18 24 32

DEPARTMENTS

HOFFA AND HORSES

Maryland foxhunter Charles Shaffer has tangled with a few our generation’s most notorious individuals.

BY GLENYE CAIN OAKFORD

NO FOX, NO WORRIES

Myopia’s Brian Kiely borrows police dog training techniques for this drag pack.

BY SUSAN HOFFMAN

HISTORIC HOUNDS

Five extraordinary stories from the annals of hound history.

BY GLENYE CAIN OAKFORD

2

FROM THE PRESIDENT

4

FROM THE PUBLISHER

48

LAST RUN OF THE DAY

THE MEET 6 10

MFHA NEWS

GOING HOME 36

ABOUT HOUNDS Summer Chores

BY CHRISTOPHER OAKFORD

38

PRACTICAL FOXHUNTER From Stiff to Supple

BY NANCY AMBROSIANO

40

HISTORY The Prince’s Visit

BY POLLY WINSOR

LEGISLATION New Faces, New Rules

BY MARCIA BRODY

44

BOOK SHELF Fae Meets Horse Country

BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

47

FEEDING PUPPIES JUST RIGHT

Covertside presents some expert tips on feeding puppies for optimum development.

BY SUSAN HOFFMAN

BREAKFAST AT COVERTSIDE Hunter’s Broth a la Champchevrier

BY MARC PATOILE

ON OUR COVER: Amelia Allen shows off Piedmont’s Alamo at the Virginia Hound Show. Amelia

is the daughter of Piedmont Huntsman Spencer Allen and wife Rachel, a Piedmont whipper-In.

PHOTO BY MIDDLEBURG PHOTO VOLUME 4, NUMBER 1 SPRING 2013 | 1

From the president

Busy Times

MASTERS OF FOXHOUNDS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA

by Ed Kelly, MFH

G

2 | Covertside

OFFICERS

Bill Atherton

reetings from the frozen north.

We are about to have our annual meeting in New York and the forecast is for single-digit weather — not particularly attractive for foxhunting but as we are all optimists, we will be out with hounds in a few days. This issue is devoted to hounds: their breeding, support, and training.

You may hunt English, American, Crossbred or Penn-Marydel, but we all must agree regardless of the breed, we are so fortunate to be the custodians of such marvelous animals.

Not only are they competent in the chase, but they are also loveable.

Speaking of our young enthusiasts, we at the MFHA Board feel that there is a need to acknowledge youngsters who have shown an interest in and participate in our sport. The US Pony Club has a fabulous foxhunting pin for those that hunt and pass their written materials, but there are many young foxhunters who belong to other groups, such as 4H, or may just be on their own. So the board has decided to create “The Fairly Hunted” award recognizing these youngsters.

This award will be given each year to any young person who hunts five times and is so acknowledged by a Master. No examination, and no requisite skills — just having had the experience of participating in a hunt is enough to qualify. We will present them with a certificate, a unique foxhunting pin, a oneyear free subscription to Covertside Magazine, and at the end of the year, an honor roll of all of the children who have qualified will be posted in eCovertside.net. This award is evolving and we hope it will stimulate interest in our sport.

The issue of hunting licenses has been discussed and as it is a state-by-state issue, we strongly encourage everyone who can qualify to obtain a hunting license. In some states there is an involved process of courses,

www.mfha.com

focused on the use of firearms. Many states simply require you to register as this effort will support your Departments of Natural Resources or Fish and Game. We want them to know that we support the effort they give our sport.

From recent correspondence you are aware we have created a Political Action Committee to raise funds for federal and state legislators who support mounted foxhunting. You will hear more from us as we increase the effort to ensure that our PAC will have the funds to support our legislative officials. Equally important are our requests that you get to know your state elected representatives in both houses. We at MFHA need their names and addresses so that we can make sure that they get a free copy of Covertside and also can be kept abreast of issues as they affect our sport.

It is critically important and we can succeed in this effort only if we can count on you to keep us informed. Remember the article in the last issue of Covertside, “Take a Legislator to Lunch”? Do it!

Winter will soon come to an end and we have the spring and summer ahead of us. I wish you a wonderful wrap-up of the hunting season, great success in the forthcoming hound shows, and please make the effort to contact your state legislators.

Cordially,

Ed Kelly, MFH MFHA President

Edward Kelly, MFH • President Dr. John R. van Nagell, MFH • First Vice-President Patrick A. Leahy, MFH • Second Vice-President Rene Latiolais, MFH • Secretary-Treasurer Lt. Col. Dennis J. Foster, ex-MFH • Executive Director

MFHA FOUNDATION Edward Kelly, MFH • Chairman PO Box 363, Millwood, VA 22646 (540) 955-5680

HUNT STAFF BENEFIT FOUNDATION Nancy Stahl, MFH • Chairman PO Box 363, Millwood, VA 22646 (540) 955-5680

COVERTSIDE EDITORIAL BOARD Emily Esterson • Editor-in-Chief Dennis J. Foster • ex-MFH Edward Kelly • MFH Dr. John R. van Nagell• MFH

DIRECTORS Canada • Laurel Byrne, MFH Carolinas • Linda Knox McLean, MFH Central • Joseph C. Kent, MFH Great Plains • Thomas Ghrist Jr., MFH Maryland-Delaware • Sheila Brown, MFH Midsouth • Dinwiddie Lampton III, MFH Midwest •Keith Gray, MFH New England • Leanne Woodward, MFH New York-New Jersey • Marion Thorne, MFH Northern Virginia-West Virginia • A.A. Zimmerman, MFH Pacific • Paul McEnroe, MFH Pennsylvania • Russell B. Jones, Jr., MFH Rocky Mountain • Paul T. Delaney, MFH Southern • Sally Rasmussen Virginia • Bob Ferrer, MFH Western • John P. Dorrier Jr., MFH At Large • Mrs. C. Martin Wood, III, MFH At Large • Mason H. Lampton, MFH At Large • Dr. G. Marvin Beeman, MFH COVERTSIDE (ISSN 1547-4216) is published quarterly (February, June, August and November) by the Masters of Foxhounds Association 675 Lime Marl Lane, Berryville, VA 22611. Periodical Postage Paid at Winchester, VA 22601 and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MFHA, PO Box 363, Millwood, VA 22646. COVERTSIDE READERS: Direct all correspondence to the same address. Tel: (540)955-5680. Website: www.mfha.com

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FROM THE PUBLISHER SPRING 2013 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/PUBLISHER EMILY ESTERSON publisher@covertside.net

Our World

505-553-2671

P

production@covertside.net

EDITORIAL JOANN DELANEY

eople often ask me where I get ideas for the magazine. The fact is, there’s no simple answer. If you read through these pages, you’ll see a small taste of my adventures in the world of foxhunting; you’ll meet some of the same people I have; you’ll discover a few of the things I think about.

A couple of years ago, I went out with the Middletown-New Market Valley Hounds in Maryland. I rode up front in first field, and at some point during the morning, a beautifully turned-out gentleman on a tall rangy Thoroughbred rode up beside me.

I noticed this older gentleman (who was nearly as long and rangy as his horse) in his beautiful cubbing attire. During checks, he chatted with me and I noted his sly sense of humor. Later over breakfast (the gentleman had departed) the Masters clued me in about Charlie Shaffer (see the profile, page 12). I thought at that moment that Charlie would make a great profile for the magazine. An idea was born: Profile fascinating members of the field, starting with Charlie.

Speaking of Thoroughbreds, one item we’re super excited about is The MFHA Year of the Foxhunting Thoroughbred! In 2013, we’ll be offering four awards for registered, second career Thoroughbreds. Most immediately though, is our upcoming essay contest. The deadline is April 15, so start writing. The contest has an adult category and a junior category: the word limit is 500, and the piece must be about how a registered, off the track Thoroughbred has excelled in the hunt field. We’ll publish the winners in the summer issue of Covertside.

ART DIRECTOR GLENNA STOCKS

As foxhunters, we sometimes forget that there are amazingly different ways of working hounds — huntsmen develop their own style based on a list of variables as long as the dictionary: The type of country, the location, the hounds themselves, the field, the season, the weather patterns, you name it.

In this issue of Covertside, we discover the unique methods of the venerable Myopia Hunt Club and its huntsman, Brian Kiely.

Also, since this is our special hound-focused issue, we’ve got wonderful stories about rascally hounds of history, and an insider’s glance at the nutrition of those cutie pups.

In the meantime, we want to hear from you. Send us a note about an interesting member of your hunt; an idea for our “Practical Foxhunter” column; an essay about your favorite sporting artist; or a recipe from a hunt breakfast. You can reach me at publisher@covertside.net. I look forward to hearing from you!

Kick on!

ASSISTANT EDITOR KATY CARTER katy@covertside.net

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AMY ENGLE NANCY AMBROSIANO GLENYE CAIN OAKFORD CHRISTOPHER OAKFORD

ADVERTISING AND MARKETING EASTERN SEABOARD CHERYL MICROUTSICOS sales@covertside.net 434-664-7057 NATIONAL ACCOUNTS KATHY DRESS kdress@ptd.net Covertside is the official publication of the Masters of Foxhounds Association Published by E-Squared Editorial Services LLC

Emily Esterson Editor-in-Chief/Publisher

2329 Lakeview Rd. SW Albuquerque, NM 87105 Telephone: 505-553-2671 Fax: 505-873-0091 Web Address: www.ecovertside.net www.mfha.com

4 | COVERTSIDE

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MFHA NEWS Jack van Nagell (l) presents the Conservation Award to Hillary K. Logan and Michael Ledyard. of the Brandywine Conservancy.

will represent Northern Virginia, replacing Linda Armbrust; and Keith Gray of Mill Creek Hunt will represent the Midwest, replacing Dr. Mark Smith.

The Hunting Habitat Conservation award was presented to George A. “Frolic” Weymouth and the Brandywine Conservancy in Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire hunt country. An article on George A. “Frolic” Weymouth and his land conservation efforts appeared in the fall issue of Covertside.

New Hunt, New Programs, New Board Members

Foundation to Help Fund Leishmaniasis Study

THERE WAS MUCH NEW BUSI-

Hunted” award. The award is

Foxhounds in Pennsylvania went

OF ALL THE DISEASES FOX-

NESS at the MFHA Board of

being established to acknowl-

from registered to recognized

HOUNDS CAN CONTRACT,

Directors meeting. Among the is-

edge children who foxhunt, but

and Hidden Ridge Hounds of NY

leishmaniasis may be one of the

sues discussed and passed was a

who do not necessarily belong

was dropped from membership.

most mysterious. Thought to be

plan to require professional staff

to a pony club. This award will

The following individuals were

to become Professional Subscrib-

be given each year to any young

elected to membership: Christine

bites, the Leishmania parasite

ing Members— a new category

person who hunts five times and

Bates-Jones, MFH, Lowcountry

causes the condition known

only for professionals. The asso-

is so acknowledged by a Master.

Hunt (C); John Carlisle, MFH,

as visceral leishmaniasis. The

ciation’s newly acquired status as

There is no examination and no

Wayne-DuPage Hunt (MW);

disease manifests in a long list

a Professional Sporting Organiza-

skills — they just have to hunt five

Lawrence Dale, MFH, Loudoun

of potential signs, so it is often

tion (see Summer 2012 issue of

times. The Board will present the

Hunt (N.VA); Brian Ferrell, MFH,

mis-diagnosed. Those include

Covertside) makes it necessary

youngsters with a special pin, a

Blue Ridge Hunt (N.VA); David

skin lesions, progressive weight

that anyone applying for a work

certificate, a one-year free sub-

Feureisen, MFH, Golden’s Bridge

loss, decreased appetite and an

visa or green card be a subscrib-

scription to Covertside, and at the

Hounds (NY/NJ); Brian Grant,

intolerance of exercise. Other

ing member of the association.

end of the year, an honor roll of

MFH, Tejon Hounds (PC); Sanna

common indicators of visceral

It is also useful for qualifying for

all of the children who have quali-

Neilson Hendricks, MFH, Mr.

leishmaniasis include bloody

grants from the Hunt Staff Ben-

fied will be posted in ecovertside.

Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds

noses, depression, enlarged

efit Foundation and for entry into

net and in the magazine.

(PA); Donald Johnsey, MFH, Lou-

lymph nodes, ocular changes, ex-

transmitted by female sand fly

the Professional Development

The MFHA Board of Directors

doun Hunt (N.VA); Peter Leach,

cessive thirst and urine produc-

Program. Participation is man-

voted to accept the registration

MFH, Ottawa Valley Hunt (CA);

tion, diarrhea, vomiting, sneez-

datory and member hunts are

request of a new hunt in Califor-

David H. Moyes, Esq., MFH, Loud-

ing, coughing, and lameness.

encouraged to pay their staff’s

nia. Tejon Hounds will be located

oun West Hunt (N.VA); Scott Neil,

Ultimately, leishmaniasis is a

yearly dues — $35.

on nearly 270,000 acres on the

MFH, Tejon Hounds (PC).

chronic wasting disease that can

In an effort to introduce more

historic Tejon Ranch — the larg-

Two new district directors

remain undetected in animals for

children to hunting, MFHA has

est contiguous expanse of pri-

were elected: A.A. “Tad” Zimmer-

months or years before clinical

voted to create “The Fairly

vate land in California. River Hills

man of the Piedmont Fox Hounds

disease is detected.

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mfha news While sand flies exist in many

is one of the foremost research

states in the United States and

facilities in the United States

are found to transmit the skin

on this disease. She is currently

form of the disease to people

working on both a vaccine to

and animals, there have been no Leishmania-infected sand flies

MFHA to Offer TB Awards

kind and the only breed that has that second wind when other breeds give out. The Thoroughbred

The Masters of Foxhounds

contribution to foxhunting goes

prevent leishmaniasis and treat-

Association (MFHA) is proud

beyond just ex-race horses. Their

ment options for canines testing

to announce that 2013 is The Year

influence on other breeds makes

trapped in areas around any

positive for the parasite. “There

of the Foxhunting Thoroughbred.

them the most important horse in

kennels where leishmaniasis has

are a handful of vaccines either in

The MFHA is offering $750 in cash

foxhunting. While ex-race horses

been detected. It is now believed

field trials in Europe or Brazil that

and prizes to a hunt member and

are the overwhelming favorite

that the primary means of trans-

appear to be helpful in prevent-

a hunt club which use registered

for many hunts and staff, MFHA

mission is from infected dams

ing disease in these endemic ar-

Thoroughbreds and that are excel-

members give second careers to

to their offspring through their

eas. We want to initiate specific

ling in second careers as either

a variety of unwanted horses from

placentas, according to informa-

studies to look at the efficacy

field or a staff horses.

other breeds and disciplines.”

tion from Iowa State University’s

of these vaccines in prevent-

College of Veterinary Medicine,

ing leishmaniasis in foxhounds,

of excellent Thoroughbreds in

awards (details and applications

as well as due to blood-to-blood

starting with cellular responses,”

hunts across America,” says Ed

available at MFHA.com and eco-

contact through biting, wounds,

Petersen says. At its November

Kelly, president of the board of

vertside.net):

and possibly sexually between

2012 meeting, the MFHA Founda-

MFHA. “We’re pleased to honor

1) Staff Horse of the Year

infected males and females.

tion voted to fund the effort to

these exceptional athletes, many

(deadline 10/1): Nominated by a

find a vaccine and treatment by

of whom have found productive

registered and recognized hunt’s

Dr. Christine Petersen, associate

funding the study through the

second careers through MFHA

MFH, the Staff Horse of the Year

professor in the Department of

Morris Animal Foundation on

registered hunts.”

exhibits the best qualities of the

Veterinary Pathology at Iowa

behalf of Dr. Petersen’s work. At

State University, on leishmaniasis

press time, the Morris Animal

notes that some of his best hunting

fearless, fast and rideable. The

in midwestern foxhound kennels.

Foundation was reviewing the

horses have been Thoroughbreds

staff hunt horse is truly a special

The Petersen Laboratory at ISU

funding proposal.

off the track. “They are one of a

animal that everyone in the club

MFHA has been working with

“There are a great number

Executive Director Dennis Foster

The MFHA will be offering four

TB and the hunt horse: game, bold,

kenya horseback & wildlife photographic safaris

by gordie church

[un-forgettable:- adj exceptional, extraordinary; too strong in effect to be forgotten]

www.safarisunlimited.com 8 | Covertside

admires for its qualities. Must be

Union Club for a recap of MFHA

a registered Thoroughbred, with

business and an informative speech

proof of registration as provided

by Lt. Col. Sir Barney White-Spun-

at www.tjctip.com. Award: $250

ner, KCB, CBE, Executive Chairman

to the hunt club and engraved or

of the Countryside Alliance in the

embroidered prize (cooler, halter,

UK. White-Spunner is a decorated

etc) (provided by T.I.P.). Also an

officer who was Deputy Director

engraved perpetual trophy. Winner

of Defence Policy at NATO and in

announced at the MFHA Annual

2001 took charge of an operation

Meeting, January 2014.

to disarm Albanian insurgents in

2) Field Member Horse of

Macedonia. He was given com-

the Year (deadline 10/1): Field

mand of the Kabul Multinational

master-nominated, this horse

Brigade in 2002 and then became

exhibits the best qualities of the

Chief of Joint Force Operations for

TB and field horse. A fine jumper,

the national contingent in the Mid-

polite in the field, well mannered

dle East in 2003. By 2005 he was

at the trailer. Must be a registered

Chief of Staff at Land Command

Thoroughbred, with proof of reg-

and in 2007 he was appointed

istration as provided at www.tjctip.

General Officer Commanding 3rd

com. Award of $250 to member

(UK) Mechanised Division. White-

plus a cooler. Winner announced at

Spunner was appointed command-

MFHA Annual Meeting Jan. 2014.

er of the field army in Iraq in 2009.

3) Adult Essay Contest Win-

He retired from the British Army in

ner (entries open 1/15/13, close

2011 and was appointed to his posi-

on 4/15/13): The best true-story

tion with the Countryside Alliance

essay about a TB excelling in a

shortly thereafter.

second career in the hunt field.

White-Spunner’s address

Award $250. Winner announced

focused on how the Countryside

in Summer Covertside Literature

Alliance has used its multi-faceted

issue, 2013.

mission to build coalitions and

4) Best Junior Essay Con-

protect and promote rural life.

test (entries open 1/15/13, close

White-Spunner regularly works

on 4/15/13): Open to entrants

with Parliament, as well as builds

under 18. Award prize not yet

coalitions with hunting and conser-

determined. Winner announced

vation groups to battle the hunting

in Summer Covertside Literature

ban in the UK, among its other mis-

issue, 2013

sions. He stressed that the Countryside Alliance is non-politically

Winners of the essay contests will

aligned—it has members from all

be published in Covertside, The

British parties—and is focused on

Magazine of Mounted Foxhunting,

issues related to hunting, shooting,

while the two Hunt Horse of the

and rural life.

Year winners will be announced

White-Spunner talked about

and awarded at the Masters of

the change that RSPCA in Britain

Foxhounds Association Annual

has undergone — the former ani-

Meeting in New York City in 2014.

mal welfare organization spends

Applications are available online

thousands of pounds investigat-

at MFHA.com or contact Sandy@

ing and prosecuting foxhunts.

covertside.net

Their emphasis has changed

MFHA Annual Meeting Report

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from welfare to politics with funds given for the welfare of animals paying for their investigations and prosecutions. They are receiving major criticism across

Despite the bitter cold,

Britain for losing sight of their

members gathered in New York’s

chairitable beginnings.

spring 2013 | 9

CO-Coverside-HP_HAMPTON.indd 2

22/01/2013 16:53

Legislation

New Faces, New Rules

W

By Marcia Brody

ashington is welcoming more than 95 new representatives and senators to the 113th Congress as this issue of Covertside goes to press. Notable among the new additions are Ted Yoho (RFla.), a large animal veterinarian, reindeer farmer Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), and former Arabian horse trainer Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio). The count of senators who call themselves “farmers and ranchers” rose to three in the Senate, and totals 12 in the House. Democrats gained seats in both chambers, though control of the House of Representatives still rests in GOP hands.

Dealing with the country’s ailing fiscal status will remain the overarching issue dominating the 113th Congress. Immigration issues and gun control are also poised at the top of the political agenda. Various animal rights initiatives will also likely work their way onto the national forefront, and foxhunters will need to join with their comrades from agriculture and the horse

10 | Covertside

industry, sportsmen and sportswomen, dog breeders and the veterinary medical community to monitor and influence initiatives that may have an impact on our sport.

On the regulatory front, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has instituted an Animal Disease Traceability Program to improve its ability to trace livestock, including horses, in the event of a disease outbreak. These rules would affect anyone transporting their horses across state lines for recreational or competition purposes.

Effective March 11, 2013, all horses moving interstate must be identified and accompanied by an Interstate Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (ICVI).

According to the USDA, the new system is built on methods of identification and movement documentation that are already employed in the horse industry — written descriptions, digital photographs, brands, tattoos, electronic identification methods, and interstate certificates of veterinary inspection. The person or entity respon-

sible for moving the horse interstate must ensure that it has an ICVI or other document required by the new rule. Most horse owners moving their horses interstate for breeding, racing, showing, recreation, etc. should already be in basic compliance with the provisions contained in the new rule; however, states will have some discretion as far as which types of identification may be acceptable. For example, the identification charts on the Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) test report certificates may or may not be acceptable, depending upon determination by individual states. The USDA estimates that implementation of the rule may cost the equine industry somewhere between $8.8 and $16.5 million annually, given the current number of EIA tests per year. There will be a transition period to ease implementation of this rule.

On the state and local level, the foxhunting community must continue to monitor and oppose anti-hunting efforts, and remain vigilant to the smallest last-minute details.

The 2012 experience in California, where legislation to stop the hunting of mountain lions with hounds, was amended to include provisions for the licensing and regulation of all hunting hounds must not be repeated.

Expansion of definitions of “commercial breeder” in state and local statutes remains a key entry point for animal rights interests.

It is not necessary to ban foxhunting if the costs of maintaining kennels and hounds can be regulated through the ceiling. On the positive side, foxhunters can become more prominent in feel-good issues associated with the preservation of farmland and open space for sport and recreation, as well as unwanted horses, particularly formerly raced Thoroughbreds, Now, more than ever, it remains important to connect with politicians and get involved on the state and local levels. For example, the American Veterinary Medical Association reports that 15 veterinarians were re-elected to their state legislatures last November, bringing the current total serving in office to 19 across the country. Many of these veterinarians should be natural allies for the foxhunting community’s interests. Friendly politicians should be identified, befriended and tracked through their careers.

Marcia Brody is Covertside’s political correspondant. She lives in Frederick, Maryland.

Hoffa and

Maryland foxhunter Charlie Shaffer has Known some of the nation’s most illustrious scoundrels.

Horses

By Marcia Brody | Photographs Lindsey Warren

12 | Covertside

Charlies Shaffer, attorney to the 20th century’s most well-known scamps, hunts Slim, a Thoroughbred, with several Maryland hunts.

T

he senior ranks of foxhunting are populated by some truly indomitable spirits, perhaps none more engaging than Charles Norman Shaffer. Eighty years young, he still presents as elegant a figure as he cut in Richard Avedon’s 1976 portrait, contained in the Avedon portfolio “The Family” — 69 members of the power elite, commissioned by Rolling Stone magazine to chronicle the 1976 bicentennial presidential election.

Shaffer, an attorney based in Maryland, calls his representation of John Dean during the Watergate prosecutions the most important episode of his lengthy legal career: “Dean’s situation was of national importance. The Watergate era was the biggest legal episode in the 20th century. Nothing could I ever compare in legal consequence to that.” He continues, “We were so long on the odds, before the taping system surfaced, which then confirmed John Dean’s truthfulness. … I was lucky to get out of that alive ... and so was Dean.”

There has always been a bit of a theatrical component to Shaffer’s persona, evident in a 1994 documentary on Watergate produced by the BBC. In the segment that describes how Shaffer approached prosecutor Seymour Glanzer to negotiate a deal for John Dean, the narrator intones, “To get immunity, they would have to excite the prosecutors with the evidence Dean could offer. When the time came to approach them, some showmanship was called for.”

Shaffer relates in the piece, “I said (to Dean), ‘Well I’m going to call up this fellow Glanzer.’ It was about one o’clock in the morning, and it shocked Dean. It shocked Glanzer a little bit more because when I called him I told him I was coming over for a cup of coffee, put the coffee on.” spring 2013 | 13

Glanzer’s reaction chronicles the iconic Shaffer. He tells the interviewer, “Lo and behold he showed up at the door, and he was in this bizarre outfit, with his jodphurs on and a quirt in his hand. He saw that I was looking at him sort of incredulously, and he said, ‘I’m an equestrian, I ride.’ ...” Of course what the tape didn’t say was that Shaffer and Glanzer had been colleagues at the Justice Department earlier in their careers, so that Shaffer’s unconventional approach may not have been a total shock to the prosecutor. Nonetheless, it provided great theater for the documentary.

Even today, Shaffer’s sense of humor persists, as is evident in his ongoing advertisement in the electronic newsletter of the New MarketMiddletown Valley Hounds: “Lawyer - Cheap Will do My Best.”

Lifelong Horseman Charles Norman Shaffer grew up on Long Island in a riding family. He owned a pony as a child, and later learned to ride with Conrad Fischer at the Kenilworth Riding Club in Rye, N.Y. Charlie recounts Fischer telling him that once he learned to ride on the flat to Fischer’s satisfaction, then Fischer would permit him to jump. He was never permitted to jump under Fischer’s tutelage.

He was an indifferent student as an undergraduate, but topped the standings in his law school class each year. He had worked for his father through law school, and his father fired him on the day he received his law degree. Shaffer got a job at a large New York law firm, but reports that he was “intimidated by the Harvard guys.” From there, he switched gears and worked with his cousin, who was a public defender in Brooklyn. During 1959-1961 he served as an assistant U.S. attorney in New York, and that was eventually his springboard to Washington.

One day while working in the U.S. attorney’s office, a call came in, and Charlie was told it was Robert Kennedy on the line. Thinking it a practical joke, Shaffer roared into the phone, “and I am Napoleon!” Minutes too late, his chagrined boss rushed into the office to tell him he had indeed just hung up on Robert Kennedy.

A humbled Shaffer called back, was invited to Washington for an interview, and subsequently asked to join Kennedy’s “Get Hoffa Squad.”

Hoffa Hunt leads to New Sport The hunt to prosecute James Hoffa — notorious labor leader — led Shaffer to Tennessee, which also started his foxhunting career. In 14 | Covertside

Even at 80 years young, Charlie hunts and takes a weekly lesson. Impeccable turnout is his trademark.

Tennessee, Shaffer met John Sloan (Joint Master of the Hillsboro Hounds with Vernon Sharp) for lunch. He must have made a favorable impression, because although Sloan “was against the Kennedys ... he liked me well enough to offer a room in his house to use whenever I needed.” Shaffer also hid his foxhunting out of the public eye, because it wouldn’t have played well back in Washington.

At first Shaffer borrowed a horse called Good Enough from Henry Hooker (later MFH of Hillsboro), but eventually tired of imposing on his friend. His family had remained in Potomac, Maryland, so on a weekend home he purchased a Man o’ War descendant called Halsand from another character, Charlie Carrico, for the not inconsiderable sum (at that time) of $2500. Shaffer recalls that he bought Halsand based on looks alone and in spite of a bad reputation. To this day you will always find Shaffer astride a very good-looking Thoroughbred. He reminisces, “I hunted that horse four years, always in the first flight. Every time I got on he’d throw me off ... for the first six months.

Then we made an accommodation.”

Shaffer remembers riding six to ten miles to dinner on the horse some nights after hunting, “over to Vernon Sharp’s, down the William-

son Pike and back. ...” He found those days hunting in Tennessee among the best he ever experienced, primarily because the territory was incomparable.

Following Hoffa’s conviction, Shaffer returned to Washington and the Department of Justice. Shaffer recounts that Kennedy had enough confidence in him that he sent Shaffer to the Warren Commission to explore any connections between Hoffa, the Teamsters, and the assassination of his brother, President Kennedy.

On the riding front, once Shaffer returned north he gravitated back to Carrico’s Bradley Farm in Potomac. The farm had also been home to the Potomac Hunt in the early 1930s. Hunting with Carrico consisted of throwing open the kennel doors, and away went the hounds. Riders included Carrico’s boarders and friends — including notables such as neighbor Dr. Richard Moran (Potomac member and later one of the founders of the New Market Hounds), hardware store entrepreneur John Hechinger, and occasionally the wife of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.

On the Potomac Shaffer’s friendship with Carrico led to an introduction to Val Wilson, one of the Masters

of the Potomac Hunt, who eventually became Shaffer’s closest friend. “I don’t know anyone other than my father who was closer to me than Valentine Wilson.” Shaffer hunted with Wilson at Potomac, and served as an honorary whipper-in for several seasons. But, as often happens, Wilson got caught up in club politics and left Potomac, followed by Shaffer. They went to hunt with Irving Abb’s unrecognized Big Meadow Hounds. According to Shaffer, “Abb had a real pack of discharges from other clubs in the area. We would hunt Sundays on what is now the Howard County side of the Patuxent River, and would only cross the river while following a live fox.” The last half of the comment was accompanied by a telltale twinkle in Shaffer’s eye. ... Shaffer spent five years hunting with Big Meadow.

Nonetheless, today Shaffer considers Potomac his home hunt. He points to Potomac as the bearer of the standard of turnout that should be expected in the hunt field. “Except for the Potomac Hunt, there has been a general relaxation of standards ... cleanliness, appearance, turnout, clean tack ... in order to attract and keep members.”

Shaffer also hunted for a number of years with the Goshen Hounds, and boards his

spring 2013 | 15

current horse with Goshen huntsman Robert Taylor, MFH. A longtime friend and instructor to Shaffer, Taylor reflects that “without a doubt, within my barn situation and indeed in the hunt preparation and in the hunt field, Charles displays the highest of presentations.

He is immaculately turned out, and will come to the barn to ride and have his hacking jacket, his collar, his tie, and his horse immaculately presented. He is fastidious about that. ... He will often have his horse braided for the normal weekend meets.”

Taylor marvels at the level to which Shaffer rides, especially given his age. “He takes instruction well. He realizes that even at the age of 80, he needs some pointers to keep him young. He is able to be a class above in that he takes his riding seriously. ... The man is at the top of his game.”

Shaffer says his best day of hunting was with the Goshen Hounds four years ago. On that day, hounds “started near Etchison, ran diagonally past the kennels and ultimately wound up in Howard County. Only two people stayed with the hounds, me on my Thoroughbred Slim and Robert [Taylor] on his big gray horse. About 25 minutes later some stragglers covertside page came along.half That was truly a significant day.”

16 | Covertside

Shaffer takes great pride in his big bay gelding, though he is quick to offer him for sale — “a million dollars, and I come with him,” he says. He obtained Slim through Taylor, and takes great pride in the challenge the horse has presented over the years. Muses Charlie, “Sometimes it seems my personality gets into the horses and they become uncontrollable!”

Shaffer recounts that in his first lesson, Slim wouldn’t go forward, no matter what he did.

Nonetheless, he decided to take Slim to Snickersville for a trial by fire the next day. The first coop settled the nerves, and 19 coops later the sale was sealed. “Best horse I ever had.”

Shaffer remained very active in his legal career following Watergate, contributing his legal knowledge to the defense of ordinary folk as well as high profile individuals. He guided former Senator George Smathers through a series of congressional inquiries related to Watergate, and also defended prominent mobsters in a case involving alleged skimming of profits from the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas.

Shaffer also defended ordinary people caught in amusing circumstance. In 1979, Dr. Sherman Thomas was alleged to have killed a goose on the 17th hole at Potomac’s Congressional Country Club. Observed by members on

the 18th tee, Thomas was brought before the club’s governors for a hearing, represented by Shaffer. He was later prosecuted in court for a violation of the Migratory Bird Act. According to Shaffer’s version, when time came for Dr. Thomas’ hearing before the club, he instructed his client to bring $10,000 cash with him. The client complied. The legal strategy: to highlight the ludicrousness of the charges. Shaffer plunked the cash on the table, offering the prize to the first member of the hearing panel who could successfully bag a goose with one of his golf clubs. Thomas ultimately received a six-month suspension for ungentlemanly conduct, but retained his membership.

Today, Shaffer maintains an active legal practice. That ad in the New Market newsletter, “Lawyer - Cheap Will do My Best,” keeps him busy with the shenanigans of errant foxhunters, as well as his regular legal practice. Tuesday nights, he holds court at Taylormade Stables, following his weekly riding lesson. And of course you can still find him several days a week with his foxhunting partner Slim, following the American hounds of the Potomac Hunt or the Goshen Hounds, or the Crossbreds of the New Market–Middletown Valley.

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Brian Kiely found inspiration in service and military dog training, and now incorporates a ball reward into his training and hunting program at Myopia.

18 | Covertside

NO

FOX O NO WORRIES

Under the leadership of huntsman Brian Kiely, Myopia Hunt has led the way in innovating new drag hunting techniques STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY KATE ERICKSON

T

HE MYOPIA HUNT CLUB on Massachusetts’ North Shore has long been celebrated as one of the United States’ most historic and venerable foxhunts. In the past year and a half, however, this New England drag hunt has also become one of the country’s most innovative, thanks to the ground-breaking training techniques used by huntsman Brian Kiely.

Kiely, originally a native of County Waterford, Ireland, took up the post as huntsman at Myopia after previous positions in locations as diverse as Los Altos (Calif.) and Ireland. Despite so many years of hunting experience, however, he did not come to Myopia as an expert in drag hunting.

“I had never drag hunted until I got the job last March,” recounts Kiely on an off-season tour of the hunt’s South Hamilton, Mass., headquarters. “I applied for the job, got it, and thought I should learn something about it!”

Despite the differing geographical require-

ments of drag and live hunting — drag hunting being the practical necessity in some of our nation’s more built up and heavily populated areas such as the metropolitan Boston area — Kiely insisted from the outset that the Myopia hounds function as realistically close to a live hunting pack as possible.

“I don’t do it any differently than the way you’d train to hunt foxes,” he explains.

“Whether it’s foxes, rabbits, drag, or whatever, they have to do it right. My goal here was to make it as realistic as possible, so if you come out and see the hounds hunting, unless you are truly an expert foxhunter, you shouldn’t be able to see the difference [between live and drag hunting].”

Kiely’s broad range of experience helps to drive home the importance of a consistent overall philosophy, despite the change from live to simulated quarry at Myopia.

“Everywhere I’ve been — hunting coyotes in California, foxes in Ireland, and drag here, I’ve trained the same general way

each time.” However, though the end goal of a well-trained and responsive pack has remained unchanged at every hunt, the specific nature of drag hunting presented Kiely with several unusual challenges — and ultimately, innovative solutions.

QUARRY FROM KENNEL TOYS

The most glaring difference between live and drag hunting is, of course, the existence of live quarry. This reality presents the drag huntsman with an interesting problem to overcome: How does one signal to the hounds that the hunt has come to an end for the day?

Often, the solution has been merely to end the drag, perhaps sometimes with some dog food at the end of the line or the drag lure hung in a tree or buried in an earth. This approach, however, didn’t truly simulate the feedback and reward system present in live hunting, where packs do sometimes account for the quarry they are pursuing. To make the drag hunt as realistic as possible, Kiely realized SPRING 2013 | 19

that he would need to incorporate a different kind of reward system to indicate to his pack that the day’s hunting was over.

Enter the tennis ball. After reading books on training service dogs for military and police work, Kiely was struck by the use of toys such as balls as positive feedback. “The dogs that they use for police work — labs and cocker spaniels — their reward for when they find drugs, or bodies, or whatever they’re looking for, is their toy,” explains Kiely. “When they’re puppies they play with a certain toy, and that becomes their reward later on. So that’s what I do with the hounds.”

Kiely makes a daily routine out of playing with the ball, bringing it with him on every walk and hunt. “When I take the hounds for a walk, I throw a tennis ball for them, and their buzz is off the ball,” Kiely says. “They’re walking along quiet and calm, and then when I produce the ball, they go ballistic. I realized that this could be a good thing, and so it’s their reward.”

The end result: at the end of each hunt’s last line, Kiely hides a tennis ball for the pack to discover. Sometimes this bouncing yellow ‘quarry’ lurks under a clump of rocks, or in the stump of a tree, or even buried under ground, but it is always there to provide a positive reward for the pack at the end of the day’s work. Once the pack has discovered the ‘quarry,’ Kiely picks up the ball and throws it for the hounds.

“What Brian has done is make a reward out of play,” says Dennis Foster, executive director of the Master of Foxhounds Association of America, underscoring the innovative techniques that Kiely has brought to the sport of drag hunting. “When they come to the end of the hunt, he starts throwing the ball, and the whole pack runs after it, and they’re very happy. It’s a unique approach, and it’s working very well.”

A New Lure

Brian Kiely carries his tennis ball everywhere, and uses it as the reward for the hounds at the end of the hunt.

20 | Covertside

In order to get Myopia’s 15 couple of American foxhounds to that hidden ball, however, there is first the issue of the lure. The lure is the central feature of the drag hunt; it replaces the live quarry and so allows the drag hunt to plan a navigated route through congested and otherwise geographically difficult hunting territory. Getting the artificial lure to replicate the behavior of true quarry is a difficult task. Kiely has approached the problem with several novel solutions.

“When I came here, they had a bottle of stuff for the lure that was a mix that they had used for years and years,” Kiely recalls.

“I lay the line, but the hounds didn’t speak on it. They just ran. So I changed it and talked to some people, but none of the things I tried were working. So eventually I made my own mix.”

The problem with the lure is that it must be close enough to the smell of live quarry to entice the hounds, but also unique enough that the hounds will not be confused and drop the line in favor of true quarry. Eventually Kiely found a mix that worked: a secret blend involving traditional lure elements, plus the addition of glycerin to bind it together — a trick he learned from friends interested in deer hunting who use glycerin mixed with scent as bait.

“A lot of people use vegetable oil, but if you mix your vegetable oil and leave it, it’s going to separate,” Kiely explains. “With glycerin, I can shake it and mix it up, and it will stay.” It is also common practice to change the formulation based on the weather conditions of the day, but Kiely found that, once he had found a mixture that worked, he did not need to change it.

Less is More

Even more important than the composition of the lure, however, is the manner in which it is laid down. This is the moment where the ‘fox’ — the person charged with laying the drag on the morning of the hunt — can make a big difference in the realism of the hunting experience. “The ‘fox’ is a very, very important part of the job,” Kiely confirmed.

“I go out with the guy who’s going to do it the day before and show him where to go and how to lay it, and it makes a big difference in the success of the hunt.”

In order to simulate a live hunt more closely, Kiely has made sure to design routes that try to mimic the route that live quarry would take: darting in and out of wooded areas, weaving and backtracking across open country before heading back into the woods again, and eventually winding from farm to farm in the spirit of a traditional live hunt. In Myopia’s somewhat constricted hunting territory, it is especially important to lay a complex and realistic line.

“You don’t want the hounds guessing,” Kiely says. “With small country like this, the hounds will try to start to guess.”

Dogs of War:

Gaining Inspiration From An Unexpected Source A dog-eared paperback sits on Brian Kiely’s kitchen table. It is “Dogs of War: The Courage, Love and Loyalty of Military Working Dogs” by Lisa Rogak. Though he happened on the book by chance, Kiely credits the book as an inspiration for his training philosophy with the Myopia pack.

“I was reading it just on my own; it had nothing to do with this job. It’s a very interesting read,” Kiely says. Intrigued by the system of toy and food rewards described in the book as positive feedback in training military dogs, he began investigating canine service training further.

In a stroke of good fortune, the South Hamilton chief of police, Russell Stevens, had come from a career in training service dogs for the Connecticut State Police.

Kiely spoke to Stevens several times and found many parallels between hound training and canine military training.

Kiely observes, “They want to pick a dog that’s best suited to a particular job, and we’re the same: we want a bold hound that wants to do its job.”

spring 2013 | 21

Kiely brings a somewhat unique strategy to the challenge of the laying the drag, honed from years of observing live quarry at his previous positions. “If you watch a fox going across a field, it sort of bounces as it canters across — t doesn’t leave a direct line.” To simulate the light and sporadic line left by live quarry, Kiely eschewed the common spray bottle approach for laying drag in favor of something new: the humble tea towel.

“What we do is take a towel with some of the lure, put a string on it, and tie it to the back of a four-wheeler going quick across the ground.” The end result is that the towel bumps and bounces along the ground, leaving a lighter and more sporadic trail than is commonly used in drag hunts.

“Less is more with drag hunting,” Kiely says. He also reuses the same towel from the previous hunt to start the first line of the next hunt, so that the line is not too strong at the outset. “It was kind of a mistake that I made in the beginning that I’d lay a fresh line and they’d go blazing off,” recalls Kiely. “Now I just lay the weakest thing, the last line from the day before, and it works much better.”

Even down to the smallest details, Kiely has put a priority on producing a drag hunt that

simulates live hunting as closely as possible.

For example, he does not lay the beginning of the first line at the hunt’s exact starting location, as is often the case with drag hunts. “In a lot of drag hunts, you open the door of the truck and they’re off immediately,” Kiely says.

Instead, he favors the slower build up that is more common to traditional live hunts.

“We meet up somewhere, sometimes at the kennels,” Kiely explains, “and we hack out somewhere down the road. Eventually we draw for a fox, and it will take them a while to find something and go. We let them go free and pick up the line themselves.”

The end result is a largely calm, amicable, and well-trained pack that comes as close to

Kate Erickson is a graduate of Stanford University currently based near Boston, Mass.

She is a freelance writer and photographer, as well as an avid equestrian.

Remembering Don Little KIELY’S REVITALIZED NEW PROGRAM comes in the wake of the one of the hunt club’s greatest tragedies: the loss of longtime Master Don Little in February, who succumbed to injuries suffered in a show jumping accident in Wellington, Fla. Little was actively involved in the leadership of Myopia for over 23 years, serving first as a Joint Master from 1989-2001 and then as Master from 2001 until the time of his passing. He was 77.

Little was famous throughout his time at Myopia for his undying love of sport and enthusiasm for spreading the joy of foxhunting to everyone he met.Though Little and Kiely were never able to meet in person, it is clear that Little’s vitality and love for the sport live on in Kiely’s dedication to innovation and excellence

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simulating a live hunting experience as any drag hunt today. “Brian is a unique young man who is giving people a lot of ideas on how to make drag hunting more realistic and successful,” comments Foster. “He’s a huntsman who has brought the sport of drag hunting up several levels and closer to simulate a live hunt.

Drag hunting and live hunting are different sports with the same goal, the joy and exhileration of galloping across country after a pack of hounds in full cry.”

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Historic Hounds

24 | COVERTSIDE

PEELING BACK THE PAGES OF HISTORY REVEALS HOUNDS WITH EXTRAORDINARY STORIES.

BY GLENYE CAIN OAKFORD ILLUSTRATIONS BY WHITNEY MARTIN

F

OR MANY WHO follow them, “the hounds” are first and foremost a pack: a group unified seamlessly for a single purpose, like an army on the march.

“Even fox-hunters settled down in hunting quarters to all the rigor of the game will notice fifty things about horses, bits and bridles, boots and breeches, habits and pretty faces, for one thing they will notice about the hounds,” as Thomas Lister, the fourth Baron Ribblesdale and Master of the Queen’s Buckhounds, wrote in 1897.

But dig a little deeper, and you’ll find that even the most level and monolithic pack is composed of a surprising array of individual canine personalities. There are battle-tested heroes, wise counselors, loyal companions, and charming rogues who have inspired Masters and huntsmen to astonishing feats — and sometimes to scandalous ones — in order to acquire a special hound, keep up with a hard-running pack, or prove a hound’s exceptional merits.

SPRING 2013 | 25

Every hound has a story, too, however small.

Some are glorious, like the brief, shining moment that 19thcentury huntsman Frank Goodall noted in his staghunting journal for Nov. 12, 1872: “I shall never forget poor old Garland cutting the herd of deer asunder in Moor Park and carrying the line across the park all by herself; it was, indeed, most beautiful.”

Others, alas, are less noble, but still entertaining, like the exploits of George Washington’s Vulcan, a French-bred foxhound who famously stole an entire ham out of the Mt. Vernon kitchen.

According to Washington’s butler, Frank Lee, a fight ensued between hound and kitchen staff, but Vulcan came out the best and galloped off with the ham.

Luckily for Vulcan, Washington apparently found this enormously funny; Mrs. Washington, we understand, did not.

We’ve taken to the library and the archives to turn up three couple of hounds from the golden age of hunting who prove this point: scratch the surface of nearly any hound’s name in any pedigree, and you’re bound to find some evidence of a real character or fascinating back story underneath.

Furrier:

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George Osbaldeston (17861866), better known as Squire Osbaldeston, was lucky enough to have one of foxhunting’s greats, Furrier, when he hunted the Quorn. But perhaps the most interesting part of Furrier’s story is how Osbaldeston came by this regally bred animal, a product of the famed Hugo Meynell’s breeding program.

Osbaldeston regularly received drafts of hounds from the Duke of Rutland’s large pack at Belvoir, and Furrier, as it happened, was not a perfect fit for his native pack. His legs were “as crooked as a crab’s claw,” as author William Scarth Dixon memorably put it, adding, “Even if he had

been straight he would most likely have been drafted for his color, for he was bred at Belvoir, and even in those days a black and white hound was shown no favor there. There cannot be a worse color for a foxhound than this, and when his other failing is taken into consideration the wonder is not that he was drafted at Belvoir, but that he was entered at Quorn.”

Here, in Osbaldeston’s own words, was how he got Furrier, one of the most prominent stallion hounds in hunting history: “Looking over the lot in the presence of the kennel feeder, whose name was Jervis, before the Duke arrived, the man pointed out to me a very fine hound indeed. He was black and white. Jervis said: ‘That is the best-bred hound in the kennels, but I don’t think his Grace will keep him.’ I asked, ‘Why not?’ and Jervis said, ‘Because his legs are not quite straight.’ I expressed the hope that the Duke would draft the hound, for I saw what a magnificent animal he was; quite perfect in every respect except his legs. Jervis told me that all his sort were generally straight, and he thought this one must have been kept tied up at quarters, which system is the destruction of a great many young hounds every year. I asked how Stormer, as I think he was then called, was bred, and was told that his blood was direct from Mr. Meynell’s best sort. While the Duke was drafting the young hounds, I was very anxious, fearing he might keep this one; but luckily he did not, and I got him.”

Furrier went on to stardom with Osbaldeston and ensured his place as a stallion hound when, at the head of the pack during a blistering run that had beaten most of his fellow hounds, Furrier leaped over a high gate to carry on hunting. He apparently did not pass on his crooked legs, as Osbaldeston had gambled, but that flaw remained something of

an issue, even for the Squire. In his book “The Quorn Hunt and its Masters,” William C. A. Blew says that “when any critic came to the kennels and tried to obtain an end-on view of Furrier, the Squire would interpose and say in his shrill voice, ‘Not that way; look at him so,’ and Furrier would be turned broadside on, so that his shortcoming should not be seen.”

BLUE CAP AND MERKIN: BUILT FOR SPEED

Sometimes, it seems, hunting was not enough to satisfy the sporting desires of English Masters and huntsmen. In the autumn of 1762 or 1763 (the year remains unclear), two English Masters — the Cheshire’s John Smith-Barry and the Quorn’s Hugo Meynell — agreed to race their hounds at Newmarket, better known as England’s horse racing headquarters. A drag line was laid on turf from Newmarket Town End up to the starting point on the Beacon Course, for a four-mile race.

Though the odds were reported to be 7-4 in Meynell’s favor, the winner was Cheshire’s blackpied Blue Cap, who ran the race in eight minutes, or two minutes per mile. The pace was so hot, according to various later accounts, that only 12 of an original field of 60 horses that followed the race were able to complete it with the hounds. Cheshire’s other hound, Blue Cap’s daughter Wanton, finished second, with Meynell’s pair bringing up the rear. In two months of pre-race training, the winning pair, it has been recorded, were fed “oatmeal and milk and sheep’s trotters.”

“Blue Cap, who died in 1772, was a black-pied hound of 25 inches, and was so fast that he had to have a weight placed ’round his neck to prevent him outpacing the rest of the pack,” wrote George T. Burrows in “Gentleman Charles: A History of Foxhunting.”

Blue Cap’s victory was greatly celebrated. A monument to him

THE ABDUCTION OF TROJAN

Unlike Tennessee Lead (see next page), a Welsh hound named Trojan wasn’t stolen permanently, but rather borrowed without permission. This strange tale is recounted by English MFH Knightley William Horlock, who included it in his 1865 book “Practical Lessons on Hunting and Sporting.”

Trojan’s fame as a stone-cold hunter had spread from his native Wales to the ears of an unnamed English Master who was determined to see what all the fuss was about. The Master spent a few days hunting as a guest with Trojan’s pack, came home convinced that the hype was true, and “not only coveted his neighbor’s goods, but resolved to avail himself of Trojan’s services,” as Horlock wrote.

“But the Saxon, thinking it infra dig to enter any young hounds on his list as got by Mr. W’s Trojan, effected his purpose in another way.”

In short, he sent his whipper-in, one stealthy man named Jack, to kidnap the hound while Mr. W and his huntsman were drinking.

“Jack, the whipper-in, having ascertained the ins and outs of Mr. W’s kennel, dressed as a Welsh drover, taking advantage of the master being mystified as well as his man, one misty evening, whispered through the keyhole of the kennel door to Trojan that a young lady outside wished to see him on very particular business.

The gallant old dog stepped out at once, without waiting for a second invitation; and as the language of love is easily understood, whether in Welsh or English, Trojan was inveigled by the Saxon beauty to leave his kith and kin among the mountaineers, and accompany her back to her English home.

“On Trojan being reported missing the next morning, inquiries were set on foot, and search made for the old gentleman in every direction for many days, and even weeks, without avail. And, as Trojan was considered prime minister by his master, advertisements were at last put in the local papers, with a full description of his personalities, offering a reward for his apprehension. By this time, Trojan having served the purpose for which he had been abducted, Jack was instructed by his master to inform Mr. W that a stray hound answering Trojan’s description had found his way to their kennels some weeks previously, and might be had if he proved to be the missing animal. A trusty messenger was dispatched immediately for the truant, and Trojan returned to his rightful owner, not, however, before he had become the father of a large family, which, to mystify their descent, was represented under a different parentage.”

SPRING 2013 | 27

stands at the Cheshire kennels in Sandiway, Northwich, Cheshire.

Nearby one can find the Blue Cap Inn, which also honors this local hero. Founded in 1716 as the Sandiway Head Inn, it was renamed after the hound race.

The Cheshire-Quorn hound race isn’t the only time hounds have taken over from Thoroughbreds at Newmarket. In the 1790s, Colonel Thomas Thornton reportedly offered to put up 10,000 guineas to match his bitch Merkin against “any hound of her year on a drag or train scent five miles over Newmarket, giving 220 yards start” to her opposition, according to Lord Ribblesdale’s “Stag-Hunting Recollections.” No match ever took place, but in a private time trial Merkin was clocked over four miles in either seven and a half minutes or, even more incredibly, seven minutes and half a second, depending on which book or sporting magazine you happen to

be reading. Thornton later sold her for four hogsheads of claret.

RUMMAGER:

A ROYAL RETIREE

Before we retire our pen, a final, sweet note about another member of the Royal Buckhounds, as recounted in 1897 by Lawdon Briggs Lee in “The Staghound.”

The subject is Rummager, who earned a peaceful retirement after the following incident: “Some years ago, Frank Goodall, the then-huntsman, met with a severe accident in the hunting field, and when assistance was to be rendered as he lay insensible on the ground, Rummager was by his master’s side, and for a long time would allow no one to approach him. On the story being related to Her Majesty, it was ordered that poor old Rummager should become a pensioner, have extra quarters and comfort bestowed on him, and so live out his natural life.”

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TENNESSEE LEAD: STOLEN OR STRAY

Unfortunately for American foxhound lovers, the exact history of the great hound Tennessee Lead is mysterious — but his arrival in Kentucky does provide one of hunting’s most romantic stories. In 1852, Kentucky foxhunter George Washington Maupin brought home the lean black hound with tan legs and indeterminate breeding that would change the course of American hound breeding. Maupin had bought the small-to-medium-sized, “rat-tailed, tighthaired” hound from one Tom Harris, who obviously knew a good opportunity when he saw one. As related by Bob Lee Maddux in “History of the Walker Hound”: “Tom Harris, a stock drover who took his mules south to market on foot, was returning to Kentucky on one of his many trips when, near the state line in the Cumberland Mountains, he heard hounds running deer. Being interested in such things, he raced to a crossing and caught the first dog that came into the road, tied it, and took it to Madison County (Ky.) where in November, 1852, it came into the possession of George Washington Maupin.”

Harris reputedly told Maupin the hound had had no collar when Harris found him, but, either way, he was a Kentucky hound now. Tennessee Lead’s arrival in the Bluegrass State coincided with another: that of the red fox, whose speed had lately confounded the local hounds used to slower, tree-climbing grays. One snowy day in 1855, Tennessee Lead chased a Kentucky red for much of the day, out-distancing the rest of Maupin’s pack before running the fox to ground by himself — a first for a Kentucky hound and one that caused a stir. The result of Lead’s fame was a lot of breeding opportunity, and the fact that no one knew Lead’s pedigree was of little consequence when compared to his running ability. When Lead met up with an English bitch imported by Madison County banker Jason Walker, Tennessee Lead contributed mightily to the foxhound known now as the Walker hound.

“Maupin and the Walkers would work on this basic mix of six parts native Virginia hound, three parts English foxhound, and one part Tennessee Lead for about a decade,” wrote Thad Sitton in “Gray Ghosts and Red Rangers; American Hilltop Fox Chasing,” “but by 1868 a strain of American foxhound had been developed.”

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Southern Hound Show Live Oak Plantation, Monticello, FL Contact: Kathy Barnett (229) 226-2209 676 Live Oak Lane Monticello, FL 32344

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

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Southwest Hound Show Weatherford, TX Contact: Sandy Dixon (940) 433-8474 Brazos Valley Hunt

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Check the MFHA calendar frequently for other events or for hound show date changes. Post your own events on www.ecovertside.net/calendar

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Carolinas Hound Show Camden, SC Contact: Juli Hearn (803) 292-3704 73 Creek View Court Aiken, SC 29803

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Virginia Hound Show Morven Park, Leesburg, VA Contact: Irene Temple (703) 447-2816 17237 Antioch Road Milford, VA 22514

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Feeding Puppies

Just Right

Puppy nutrition tips for optimum development.

By Susan Hoffman | Photographs Middleburg Photo

I

s there anything more heartwarming than seeing a prized bitch nurse her newborn litter? Each little squirming body brings a smile and the promise of great future sport. You can’t help but speculate about which one might win first place at the next puppy show, or which little nose will have the sharpest scenting ability. Mother’s milk is giving the puppies all the nutrition they need to get a good start on life, but at about six weeks of age, they’re ready to transition to puppy food. And, just as in any other aspect of foxhunting, there are varied

32 | Covertside

opinions about the whys and wherefores of puppy feeding.

Premium Feed, But Not Too Much

Newly weaned puppies should eat multiple times throughout the day to reduce stress on their tiny tummies and developing gastrointestinal systems. The feed should be specially formulated for puppies, highly digestible and contain an optimum balance of nutrients. Dr. Eric Altom, senior nutritionist at The Iams Company/P&G Pet Care, says feeding a premium or super-premium

feed that’s tailor-made for sporting- or working-breed puppies is a good start.

But with all the brands to choose from, how can you narrow down your choices?

Altom says, “Feeds based on predominantly animal-based proteins like chicken, chicken by-product meal, meat, fish meal and egg ensure the proper amino acid profile.

“It’s also most important for large-breed (greater than 50 pounds mature weight) puppies to eat feed that has controlled calcium and phosphorus levels and controlled energy density. This helps control bone growth during early development. We want slow, steady

growth rather than rapid growth spurts,” says Altom. Large-breed dogs that grow too rapidly may develop skeletal problems later in life, including hypertrophic osteodystrophy (HOD), osterochondrosis (OCD) and hip dysplasia. And, while you might think “more is better” for a puppy to grow up big and strong, overfeeding is far worse than underfeeding (more on this later).

Canned, Kibble or Something More?

The choice of whether to feed only puppy chow or to add other tasty tidbits to the diet

varies by hunt. Dr. Richard S. Patton, Joint MFH of Santa Fe, New Mexico’s Caza Ladron Hunt, and an animal nutritionist, weans the hunt’s English and Crossbred puppies onto a high-quality, commercial, dry puppy kibble with milk added for a few days. Table scraps and other odd bits are then added in. “Everyone knows that puppies consider anything and everything in their world as edible, so while orally driven, it is good to expose them to a variety of different foods. If they’re raised on only one food, as adult dogs it is very difficult to introduce them to a different food.”

He considers chicken necks and backs ideal

supplements or treats for growing puppies.

“The taste is very appealing to them and these specific parts of a chicken are devoid of the long bones that can splinter and cause trouble when eaten. If given advanced warning and able to order ahead, some grocers can provide 25- or 50-pound boxes for very low prices,” he says.

Feeding dry food without any additions is the method preferred by Andrews Bridge Foxhounds, Kirkwood, Pa., for their PennMaryDel puppies. Joint MFH Betsy Harris says, “Transitioning the puppies to dry puppy food is easy and natural because the spring 2013 | 33

puppies have been sniffing at mom’s food even before they’re fully weaned. They want to mimic her behavior, eating what she eats, so when they’re ready to eat on their own they already know what a bowl of feed is.”

The kennel is currently feeding Red Flannel brand, with 27 percent protein, 16 percent fat and 3 percent fiber. Harris says there’s always a box of puppy biscuits or other dry dog bone treats at the kennel to augment the puppies’ diet, but the hunt never feeds fresh meat, game or other flesh additives.

Does This Collar Make Me Look Fat?

Everyone thinks a “butterball puppy” looks cute, but being thin is actually far less harmful than being too plump. Developing too much fat and too much muscle mass on an immature frame can lead to health problems that shorten a sporting dog’s athletic career. Patton says, “Do not overfeed for fear of malnutrition. Overfeeding is itself malnutrition. Being a little underweight for a few days or weeks is actually quite innocuous compared to the harm of overfeeding.

I’m not concerned about the lack of flesh if they are growing in frame and stature at the breed-appropriate rate. They will fill out their frame sometime after two years.”

On the flip side, a puppy can be too thin. Altom says, “I do not want to see any spinal process along the back. If a puppy is in poor body condition, the level of nutrition needs to be increased, the quality, amount or both. The next step is to increase energy density.” He says feeding a premium quality puppy food is a wiser choice for improving body condition than feeding an inexpensive brand and trying to make up the difference with multiple supplements.

Harris says she doesn’t like to see ribs on a puppy, or an obese puppy, but in addition to body weight she looks at coat condition as an indicator of proper nutrition. “Puppies should have a shiny, healthy coat and lots of energy. If the puppy has a dull or dry coat, or a skin disorder, and you’ve ruled out parasites, you need to adjust what you’re feeding it.”

So, how can you tell if your puppies are too fat or too thin? Altom says achieving the ideal body condition is where the science of raising puppies is blended with the art.

He explains, “Puppies should carry an ideal 34 | Covertside

body mass index for their age. I like to see to see a nicely balanced puppy with a trim body condition. Some cover over the rib cage is important, but I want to see the last two ribs.” Patton agrees: “The trained eye of an experienced kennel person is a good indicator of whether or not a puppy has ideal body condition.”

What Goes in Must Come Out

One way to tell if you’re feeding your puppies the right food and the right amount of food is to do a quick visual of the waste in the kennels and become stool savvy. Harris says, “We always keep an eye on their stool for signs of overfeeding. Diarrhea is a sign that you could be feeding your puppies too much and need to back off their feed.

Diarrhea could also mean you need to adjust your worming schedule. We worm our bitches twice during pregnancy and the puppies at three, four, six and eight weeks of age.” A regular worming program prescribed by a vet is critical for puppies to properly absorb nutrients and for good puppy health in general. Otherwise, your puppies are sharing their balanced diet and

Puppy Feeding at a Glance • Buy a super-premium or premium brand.

• Select a feed developed especially for large-breed, sporting or working puppies.

• Read the label. Look for controlled levels of calcium, phosphorous and energy density for optimal skeletal development.

• Choose feed containing high levels of DHA, antioxidants and FOS prebiotics for additional benefits.

Put your money into the feed, not into supplements.

• Feed many times daily when first weaned; feed fewer times daily as puppies grow.

• Look at and handle puppies frequently to check for ideal body condition and coat health.

• AVOID OVERFEEDING.

Piedmont puppies share mom’s dinner as they get ready to eat something other than mom’s milk.

expensive feed with unwelcome parasites and they may fail to thrive.

While it may not be the most pleasant task, Patton agrees it’s wise to get into the habit of “reading stools” in the puppy pen on a regular basis. He says, “Puppies tend to have messy stools on most diets due mainly to the fact that they are eating so much more per pound of body weight to support their growth. But, be sure the person charged with scooping the poop knows to alert you of any change in stool consistency or incidence of diarrhea.” He says all stool should be similar in firmness, so if feces is more of a puddle than a pile, you should promptly hunt for the originator of said puddle to see which puppy may be feeling poorly.

Altom notes the kennel environment also impacts the amount of feed your puppies need to maintain ideal body condition. As temperature decreases, the need for metabolic energy for maintaining proper body temperature increases.

SWITCHING TO ADULT FEED

Puppies can transition to eating adult dog food when their growth rate has slowed.

There’s a big difference of opinion as to when that occurs — Caza Ladron makes the switch at 18 months of age; Andrews Bridge at nine months. Altom weighs in on this topic with the following advice: “Traditionally, large and giant breed dogs are fed a specially formulated large-breed puppy formula for 18 to 24 months. But, sporting dogs enter their training and conditioning program at a much earlier age, at 10 to 12 months. This increases their energy needs; therefore, sporting puppies may be transitioned to an adult sporting dog diet earlier.

The important thing to remember is to keep them trim as they continue to grow.”

Susan Hoffman hunts with Andrews Bridge Foxhounds in Pa. She is a frequent contributor to Covertside. She is president of Susan Hoffman Associates, a full-service marketing communications company (www.susanhoffmanassociates.com).

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about hounds

Patricia Wilkoski

Puppy walking is one of the many fun ways to participate in your hunt during the off-season.

Beware, though: those little bundles of cute have sharp teeth and endless energy. These are Pickering Hunt puppies.

Summer Chores

Some tips for helping out the hounds off-season

By Christopher Oakford

A

s the end of the season comes into view, it can seem as though all that lies ahead for the avid foxhunter is a bleak several months of enforced abstinence from the sport of kings. But fear not! For hunt staff, the summer months are just as busy as the formal season, and there are plenty of ways in which hunt members can stay in touch with the pack, and, more importantly, be of some use during the off-season. From the daily routine of the hound walk to the summer hound shows, the many and varied tasks at the kennels provide ample opportunities for members to get involved, having first obtained the Master’s permission.

Perhaps the most full-on way foxhunters can be of use to their hunt is through puppy walking, a great tradition in England, though not all hunts or Masters in the United States are happy letting their puppies out of

36 | Covertside

sight. Those who do, however, know it to be a valuable way of socializing and training young hounds and of giving them a carefree childhood before the serious work of hunting begins. But beware, potential puppy walkers!

They may be small (at least when they first arrive) and adorably cute and cuddly, but there are few things on earth more destructive than a foxhound puppy. Nothing is safe.

My wife and I … well, OK, I once agreed to walk one of our local pack’s English hound pups. Through an unfortunate miscommunication, which is still sometimes remarked upon if I do something to incur my wife’s displeasure, we ended up with not one puppy, but three. We lasted 36 hours.

Hanbury, Hardboot, and Hawksbridge: what terror those names still invoke. They came; they saw; for a few seconds they pondered; then all hell let loose. There are those, I’m told, who wonder what it must

have been like to live through the Blitzkrieg.

Not me; not any more. The nightmare that followed had to end. And it did. Abruptly, when my wife came home from work to find me barricaded in the kitchen, wearing my Wellies, perched on a bar stool, and the three small, bundles of joy playfully dismantling the window frame. We were lucky.

At their next home they managed to flood an upstairs bathroom.

Puppy walking is not for the faintof-heart, nor for the worried-about-thefurniture, for that matter. Those looking for a slightly less intense and time-consuming experience — after all, it might have been a long season and there are only three short months in which to recuperate — should consider helping out at one of the hound shows. Volunteers are always needed to hold the occasional hound, organize a few light refreshments, make sure the Pateys and bowler hats are properly brushed, etc. …

What could be more idyllic on a beautiful day in early summer than strolling across the manicured lawns of some fine old house, hobnobbing with hunting friends and acquaintances, and giving out a knowledgeable, but modestly understated, opinion on the conformation and breeding of some canine aristocrats? It all sounds so perfect.

And then there’s the reality. I remember the first hound show I attended because I was literally, and unceremoniously, dragged through a hedge by the hound I was supposed to be handling. I was only supposed to look after it for a minute. What made matters worse was that the hedge was being used to screen off the area where the winners were being photographed with their hounds and trophies. Somewhere, still in existence, is a photograph of a dignified old couple, their champion hound, and a blur of black and white (Dragonfly, the hound) and pink and Navy blue (me, embarrassed and dressed in a blazer). The overwhelming memory of the show is a vastly increased sense of respect for the sheer hard, physical labor the hunt and kennel staff undergo

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get involved in helping to raise money for the hunt? There are myriad ways in which hunts fundraise; most need volunteers to help organize these events, and they are all nearly always enjoyable. For instance, in June every year our local hunt holds a din-

Patricia Wilkoski

each day. By the end of the weekend we were all completely exhausted.

Several rungs down on the intensity scale is the hound walk. Not to be confused with puppy walk, this daily activity is the exercise, and latterly the training, the hounds receive during the closed season in order to keep them fit and happy. Hound walk is a must for all those who ride to hunt rather than hunt to ride. It is the perfect way in which to learn more about the individual hounds and the names and characteristics of next season’s new entry. Such knowledge adds immeasurably to the enjoyment foxhunters derive from watching hounds work during the season. It is also the ideal time to introduce green horses to hounds and to iron out any problems before the season starts. About the only drawback is the time of day at which most hound walks take place. Hunt staff, like housemaids (to quote Nancy Mitford), are notoriously early risers.

Still, this shouldn’t present too much of a problem to people used to getting ready for cubbing in September and October.

Finally, and not directly concerned with helping with the hounds, why not

Once you’ve volunteered for puppy walking, chances are you’ll be hooked, even if they are little monsters.

ner and auction to raise money to pay for its retired hounds. The Hound Welfare Fund event that Iroquois members organize is one of the highlights of the summer and helps not only to raise money, but to keep mem-

bers in touch with one another throughout the months they aren’t hunting.

So, should you try to help with the hounds once the season has ended, or instead, gratefully pull off your boots and head to the beach? I can’t say exactly what the hounds have gained from our various interactions with them (and I’m not sure I’d want to be told), but for us it has been tremendously rewarding. It is wonderful to see Hanbury, Hardboot, and Hawksbridge out hunting, remembering ruefully what monsters they were as puppies. Each year, we volunteer again to help at the hound show, in part because of the great sense of camaraderie it engenders among hunt staff and hunt members. Of course, it is important to ask if help is needed. Not all hunts are the same and the level of members’ involvement differs markedly. So, if you are considering offering your services this summer, first ask the Master what he or she would like done. And if it is puppy walking, feign an injury!

Christopher Oakford lives in Lexington, Kentucky, and is a member of Iroquois Hunt. spring 2013 | 37

Practical Foxhunter

From Stiff to Supple

Covertside offers some expert advice on conditioning new tack.

A

h, the intoxicating smell of new leather in a tack shop. The feel of new reins as you run your hands along them, and the gleam of new buckles, not yet begrimed and bent with time. New tack has an allure to the serious rider.

But wait, there’s a down side to all that newness. ... That leather is likely to be approximately as flexible as a mailing tube, possibly the color of a chestnut mare, and none of those shiny buckles and their keepers and runners actually function smoothly. It’s lovely, but not yet lovable.

38 | Covertside

By Nancy Ambrosiano | Photograph Middleburg Photo

Ask a long-time groom or pony club graduate for their tips on turning new tack into useful, long-lived favorite gear, and a few solid guidelines come to light.

Good Things Come in Threes

“The process of cleaning tack can be broken down into three stages: cleaning, conditioning, and protecting the leather,” says Laurie Chapman-Bosco, a United States Pony Clubs national examiner and Academy of Achievement inductee, and associate professor of equine science at the University

of New Hampshire School of Equine Science.

The three-phase approach addresses the essential issues of healthy tack, ensuring that you’re not wasting your time and money letting the tack’s leather or stitching be destroyed by sweat, salt and weather conditions.

Cleaning, even with a brandnew bridle, will remove the shipping wax, which can otherwise be rubbed in with patient, warm hands, but more often is stripped away with a good scrubbing with Castile soap and a plastic kitchen scrubber pad. Despite its name, the bars of glycerine soap are less

useful in the cleaning phase — save them for later.

Another cleaning component is attention to the “silver stuff” that adheres to the cheek pieces at the bit, and wherever the buckles connect. On a new bridle, the metallic deposits are merely unsightly, but as they age, they eat into the leather and reduce the fibers’ resilience, leading to failure under the stress of a “hold hard” or other strong tug. A kitchen scrubby and the Castile, or a dab or Murphy’s Oil Soap, can help lift the metallic deposit and open the leather’s pores to a good oiling.

Grease is the Word

With the leather’s pores opened and cleaned by a combination of warm water (not too wet) and soap, you can begin to apply the moisturizing oils or emollients of your choice, and the choices are many. A favorite from my childhood at barns in Buckinghamshire, England (Fulmer School of Equitation and Muschamp Stud), is Flexalan, a light saddle oil that goes on smoothly and soaks in well without rotting the stitching.

Others prefer olive oil, neatsfoot oil, or oil and wax products combined. Really any fatty product will do.

“Oil should be applied to the leather in thin layers with a paintbrush,” says ChapmanBosco. “The leather should not be soaked in oil, over-oiled, or it will become greasy,” she says, although a number of participants on the Professional Equine Grooms website remain fans of the occasional soaking.

The risk I’ve encountered with soaking is that even lovely leather can go spongy and unpleasant in the hand when it’s been “overfilled” with oil. What’s worse, inexpensive, poor quality leather, the type that’s a bit cardboardy to start with, can literally shred and come apart when the fibers lose their adherence in an oil bath.

My favorite technique is to paint on a slightly warmed light oil (Effax, Flexalan, Tanners, etc), then roll the leather back and forth between my hands until it’s soaked in. Repeated over the course of a day or so, three or four times, it makes a big difference in the character of the fibers. For a slower approach, I replace the last couple of oil applications with a rubbing of Effax Lederbalsam, (a beeswax/ lanolin/avocado oil paste) which soaks in more slowly and has a variety of products blended in for resilience, water resistance and a good gleam.

Stirrup leathers and billets, being things that are under considerable strain, do well to have just the minimal amount of oiling once they’ve had a light, initial softening. Overly oiled billets and leathers will not only stretch more, but they’ll be prone to rolling up or twisting instead of staying steady under the leg.

Another place to minimize the oil is the saddle’s panels, where either foam or flocking beneath the panel will go lumpy over time from soaked-through oils. Also, a really floppy saddle flap will curl up under the leg in a frustrating way. Having once loaned an old saddle to an overly diligent young tack cleaning kid, I can say a floppy flap is a rather annoying thing.

Just don’t go there.

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Shine On

The essential final step, especially for the show ring or for those in dry climates, is a sealant. It provides a professional, healthy shine to the leather’s surface. But more importantly it seals the freshly cleaned and lubricated pores of the leather, keeping the volatiles of the oils inside, and blocking the sweat, salt and soil of daily use from penetrating those pores.

This is where the glycerine bar comes into its own, as a good layer of barely damp glycerine, laid on and left alone to dry, leaves a perfect covering.

Then when you wipe off your tack after the next ride, the dirt is captured on the glycerine layer and comes off easily, rather than pressed deep in the leather.

Glycerine is a solid choice for the traditionalists, but newer products do exist, of course, and there are some recommendations that one stick to a full family of products for the best complementary chemistry.

Stubben, Leather Therapy and

others are useful, and people have their favorites.

Interestingly, ChapmanBosco performed an experiment with some of her New Hampshire equine science students.

“I bought all sorts of products and let students use what they wanted,” she says.

“When the tack was due for their practicum, they brought it all in, didn’t tell anyone what cleaning products were used,

and let their classmates pick the three articles of tack that felt the best, were cleanest and best conditioned,” Chapman-Bosco says. “We had Leather Therapy, Lexol, Bickmore, Tattersal, in addition to Castile, glycerine and Effax. Know what won, hands down?” For cleaning castile soap; conditioning - Effax oil Sealing - Belvoir glycerine.

Not that you can’t use other things ... I’m just sayin’. spring 2013 | 39

FROM HUNTING IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, 1928. COURTESY OF TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY

HISTORY

George W. Beardmore, MFH, introduces the Prince of Wales to the Toronto Hunt’s huntsman, Charles Morris.

The Prince’s Visit

Known for his high-living style, Prince Edward charmed the Toronto Hunt.

I

n the fall of 1924, Ontarians were thrilled to learn that the world’s most eligible bachelor, His Royal Highness Edward, Prince of Wales, might visit the province again. Five years before, King George V had sent his eldest son around the world to thank his subjects for their sacrifices in the Great War, and the heir to the British throne had charmed his hosts with his fun-loving spirit. For example, Edward had won Canadian hearts by impulsively buying an Alberta cattle ranch. Yet this time, unlike the previous royal tour, no official meetings were scheduled and the prince was merely passing through our province by train on his way to New York City where he would board a ship for home. Excitement spread when word got out that he was planning to stop in Toronto, though just for one day.

He was going to step off his train for the 40 | COVERTSIDE

BY POLLY WINSOR

sole purpose of riding to hounds with the Toronto Hunt. With the Roaring Twenties in full swing, Canadians loved the idea that their future king, at the age of thirty, was a thoroughly good sport.

The 1920s was a golden era for the foxhunting members of the Toronto Hunt.

Their aging MFH, George W. Beardmore, enjoyed spending the wealth that flowed from his father’s huge tannery. Under Beardmore’s mastership beginning in 1893, the Toronto Hunt had a lovely clubhouse overlooking Lake Ontario, and besides kennels and the huntsman’s house, members enjoyed polo, golf and tennis. In 1920, when urban sprawl spoiled the surrounding countryside, Beardmore built an elaborate stable, kennel, and riding facility on Eglinton Avenue, at the city’s northern edge, calling it “Toronto Hunt – Eglinton” while

other country-club activities continued at the lakeside. In 1922 the Toronto Hunt hired Charles Morris, whom the authoritative MFH Henry A. Higginson described as the most talented huntsman he had ever known. A year later, Beardmore purchased a farm 30 km north of Eglinton, christening it “Beverley Farm.” Because the Eglinton hounds could only drag hunt, Beardmore kenneled part of the Toronto Hunt’s pack at Beverley. Right away, Morris lived up to his reputation, befriending local farmers and learning the country, so that when Higginson came to judge the Royal Winter Fair in 1924 and rode with the “Toronto Hunt – North York,” he declared it a foxhunter’s paradise.

On a lovely Wednesday morning, October 15, 1924, Beardmore waited in his automobile at the Toronto station to meet the royal party.

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Edward and his companions emerged, dressed not in the hunting kit they wore at home, but in less formal riding clothes, as was proper for visitors (photographs show gentlemen subscribers to the Toronto Hunt in top hats, Edward in a bowler). Police held back the enthusiastic crowd, which was dense downtown but thinned out as Yonge Street turned into a dirt road north of the city. The meet that morning was at the summer home of the chief justice of the Ontario Supreme Court, Sir William Mulock. His very distinguished career had included two decades as member of Parliament for York North and active leadership of the University of Toronto, but more to the point on this day, he had spent years improving his experimental farm. About 2,000 onlookers, 150 carefully turned-out riders, and numerous reporters and cameramen filled his spacious lawn. All these people knew that this was an occasion they would remember for the rest of their lives, but not a soul imagined that this prince, destined to become King Edward VIII in 1936, would abdicate the throne thanks to the love of a twice-divorced American woman named Wallis Simpson. Today we remember him as the Duke of Windsor.

Among the staff traveling with Edward were three men who also rode: Alexander Murray, Edward Dudley Metcalfe, and Alan Lascelles. Since it was usual for a gentleman to switch to a fresh horse after several hours of fast going, Beardmore and his neighbor Æmilius Jarvis had ordered their grooms to prepare at least eight of their best horses.

Among them was Jarvis’ Solar Eclipse, which had set a world record by jumping eight feet, but because the prince was known to ride with a tight rein, he was given Jarvis’ Kildare for the start, switching midway to Beardmore’s Alter Fire.

Naturally, Beardmore invited the prince to ride up with him, and assigned a few dependable men to keep an eye on him. Allen Case was one, another was the great steeplechase rider Frank Proctor, who later wrote his memoirs. He would confess to having been dazzled by the situation, and he could barely contain his admiration for the prince.

“Arriving at the horses, he went into action like the real horseman he is, feeling out the girths, adjusting the stirrup leathers, examining the curb chain, he slipped into the saddle, and pulled away into the crowd, leaving rank and prestige in the offing. This enthusiastic sportsman then took us all on, over stump 42 | Covertside

and rail fences, on a strange horse, in a strange land man to man,” according to the account in Frank Proctor’s 1929 book, “Fox Hunting in Canada and Some Men Who Made It.” Morris put hounds into covert two miles west of the meet. Many of the horses, already excited by their own unusual numbers, were frightened by the extra vehicle traffic. Proctor’s memoir continued: “Our Huntsman, Charles Morris, is an Englishman of experience, with the accent still in his tongue ... His honor was at stake this day and he was drawing the toughest country he knew. Within an hour an old hound gave

In his own memoirs, Edward testified that riding hard was one of the few times he escaped the oppressive sense of duty that dominated his life. tongue, followed by snappy, anxious answers from the rest of the pack as they broke cover going west. Within five minutes, between refusals, mix-ups and falls, less than fifty were left in the chase. Striding along at the front of this field, the Prince approached a very ordinary fence. It looked insignificant, but his horse misjudging its height, jumped too low,

became entangled in loose rails ... and rolled over into the field. Scrambling up in ten seconds, his rider walked and ran through several fields to where Major Metcalf, a brilliant rider, had caught his horse. As he mounted, now a mile behind hounds, I knew we were in for a gallop.” In his own memoirs, Edward testified that riding hard was one of the few times he escaped the oppressive sense of duty that dominated his life.

That same evening, October 15, 1924, the royal party left Toronto. The weekend papers featured Edward’s fall in their headlines, and reported Murray’s more serious spill, without mentioning that several other riders, including Proctor, had come a cropper that day. Proctor was disgusted that they had not instead celebrated the prince’s bravery. A few days later Edward rode with the Montreal Hunt, and after that, with the Myopia Hunt near Boston.

A month later in England, he was carried off a steeplechase course with a concussion. At last, King George became so angry at his son’s risk-taking that in 1929 Edward gave up riding altogether.

The year 1929 would close an era for the Toronto Hunt as well. With the collapse of the stock market, Beardmore lost everything, including his Eglinton stables and Beverley Farm. How foxhunting survived that crisis is a story for another day.

Polly Winsor has ridden with the Toronto and North York Hunt since 1972. She is a retired professor of history.

H.R.H. Edward, Prince of Wales, freshly mounted on “Kildare” at Sir William Mulock’s home, October 15, 1924. Courtesy of the City of Toronto Archives, Globe and Mail fonds, Fonds 1266, Item 3918.

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BOOK REVIEW

Fae Meets Horse Country ‘To Carry The Horn’ adds dimension to the Wild Hunt myth.

www.tnpewter.com covertside_spring13_Layout 1 22/01/2013 20:48 Page 1

901-465-2609

REVIEWED BY BETSY BURKE PARKER

F

or 3,000 years, the Irish have bred and raised horses, hunted and raced horses, written and sung about horses, and sold horses all over the world, so it’s not wonder that Karen Myers’ new book, “To Carry the Horn,” marries Celtic mythology with a strong dose of Virginia horse country.

When Virginia foxhunter George Talbot Traherne loses track of the Rowanton Hunt’s hounds in a dense covert, the last thing he expects is the next jump to teleport him into the fae otherworld.

New author Karen Myers has created in the Traherne character something of a cross between Harry Potter and Melvin Poe — a reluctant postmodern hero thrust into an unseen parallel universe overlapping the modern Piedmont’s hunt country with an ancient elfish realm.

“To Carry The Horn,” is the first in this Hume, Va.-based writer’s “Hounds of Annwn” fantasy series. The classically-educated Myers combines her knowledge of hunting, ancient languages and traditional mythology to create a believable elf-land that exists in the here-and-now, right on top of Virginia’s modern magical foxhunting region.

“To Carry The Horn” is a moving exercise in heroic fantasy, 44 | COVERTSIDE

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in which protagonist Traherne is the unlikely champion, a Virginia gentleman and amateur whipperin to the local Rowanton pack who is thrust into a murder mystery when he’s called into the alternate universe by long-lost and previously unknown — unimagined — ancestors living and thriving in an otherworld.

Traherne tumbles into Annwn after a 12-point buck draws him into a deep thicket as he tries to gather the Rowanton pack. Turning his horse,

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SPRING 2013 | 45

as he tries to gather the Rowanton pack. Turning his horse, Mosby, over a fallen log to find the errant hounds, Traherne hits his head on a lowhanging branch, waking up to find himself in the same place, yet another world altogether.

Drawing from Celtic myth, Myers concocts a real-life fairy tale when she draws Traherne into the fairy realm, as he is called into the land of his great-grandfather, Gwyn ap Nudd.

With characters based on easily recognizable hunt country types, Myers says in fact no character in the book is based on a real person. Only Blue Ridge Hunt’s Iona Pillion makes an actual cameo appearance, as a pony breeder who is friends with the Annwn huntsman.

Virginia hunt country readers will do well to remember that “To Carry The Horn” is not a contemporary foxhunting novel with some elements of fantasy.

Rather, it is a contemporary fantasy book based on hunting with hounds. “To Carry The Horn” is a densely constructed, lavishly imagined adventure.

With superior attention to plot, character and realistic scene-setting, the dialogue-rich novel offers intriguing thematic insights while paying homage

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to traditional myth without rehashing it.

In the end, the epic story is strongly character-driven, with themes of ego and ambition, heroism and cunning, and above all justice and the opportunity to re-create a life with honor and meaning, something for which the contemporary man yearns.

It’s not an easy task to tackle a story of this type and to stick the landing. This work of fiction brings us an intriguing world where death is something that opens a door, and the guidance of otherworldly gods may be needed for mortal justice. And, though written for general local interest and foxhunters as well as fans of the fantasy genre, Myers says that teens with an interest in the fae world and hunting will also enjoy it.

The price is $5.99 for an Ebook, $17.99 in paperback. “To Carry the Horn” is 427 pages and the first in a three book series. At press time, the second in the Hounds of Annwn series, “The Ways of Winter,” had been released, with the third to be completed in late spring.

Editor’s note: An profile of Karen L. Myers appears on ecovertside.net

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BREAKFAST AT COVERTSIDE Hunter’s Broth • 1-2 PHEASANT CARCASSES (more if using smaller birds such as quail), but this works equally well with ducks or chickens, including necks and backs, unused legs, etc. The carcasses can be cut into separate pieces, either still raw or having already been roasted. (I usually keep a number of these carcasses ready, pre-frozen in large freezer bags for when I have an hour or so to make the stock.)

• 1 LARGE ONION, cut into large chunks • 2-4 CARROTS, cut into large chunks • 2-4 RIBS CELERY, cut into large chunks • 10 SPRIGS FRESH THYME Consomme, served with wine and baguettes, hits the spot after a cold and damp hunt. It’s kept warm in a hanging caldron.

Hunter’s Broth à la Champchevrier

BY MARC PATOILE

T

hose new to witnessing the grandeur and pageantry of a foxhunt are often transported back a century or more to a long lost time.

This is no more true than in France, where mounted followers, with different packs of hounds, still pursue stag, roebuck, wild boar, hare and rabbit. Even the French hounds look a bit from a bygone era, as they still have a sliver of wolf blood bred into many of the French breeds. The riders are in their full glory with sabers and French hunting horns accompanying their long frock coats and their boots, turned up to protect the knee.

Sometimes, cooking also takes you back to a bygone era, an era when things were made simply and at home, before commercialization took over everything. This recipe takes us back, not only to the era when soups didn’t come from a can or a box, but back to Le Château de Champchevrier in the Loire valley, where the Bizard family, who has lived in this grand palace in the forest, has been hunting stag since 1728. They serve a version of this hunter’s broth in a gathering room next to the

stables after hunts that can often be cold and damp, as a way of refreshing and warming the hunters who stand by the fire where the broth is kept warm in a hanging caldron.

In French cooking, a consommé is a type of clear soup made from richly flavored stock that has been clarified, a process which uses egg whites to remove fat and sediment.

A broth is a liquid in which meat, fish or vegetables have cooked when the goal is also to consume the meat, fish or vegetables. Stock is a liquid in which the meat, fish, bones, or vegetables have simmered for a long period and then been discarded.

I often roast ducks and chickens and use the carcasses to make this delicious and easy stock, but a left-over chicken carcass works just as easily. The stock can be frozen for later use, and I find one liter plastic orange juice jugs to be the perfect storage vessel.

• 10 SPRIGS FRESH PARSLEY, or just the stems (Again, you can throw the stems into the freezer bag with the birds, having used the leaves for some other recipe.)

• 2 BAY LEAVES • 8 to 10 PEPPERCORNS • 2 WHOLE CLOVES GARLIC, peeled • 2 GALLONS COLD WATER Place carcasses, vegetables, herbs and spices in a 12-quart stockpot and pour in the water. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains a low, gentle, slow boil. Using a ladle, frequently skim the foam and impurities from the stock for the first 10 minutes of slow boiling. Reduce to a simmer for at least one hour. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. This can simmer uncovered for one to eight hours.

Using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth (or both, if you want it extra clear), strain stock into another large stockpot or heatproof container; discard the solids. Cool immediately in a sink full of ice water to a temperature below 40 degrees. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and discard. Stock can be kept in the refrigerator for two to three days or in freezer for up to three months. Prior to use, bring to a boil for two minutes. To use as a broth, serve in tea cups to warm hunters, or as a homemade stock for other recipes.

Voilà!

SPRING 2013 | 47

last run of the day Photograph by Don West

Across the Iron Bridge

I captured this photo on December 8, 2012, while photographing the Tryon Hounds (Tryon, N.C.) at the Iron Bridge fixture. The iron bridge has been photographed many times by many photographers so I was looking for a different view. The water level was down in the river so I put on my rubber boots and positioned myself in the middle of the river. I was fortunate to capture the Tryon Hounds huntsman and staff crossing the iron bridge with the hounds to start the day. —Don West

Editor’s Note: Do you have a photo, story or essay to share with Covertside?

Send high-resolution, 300 dpi photographs or essays to editor@covertside.net, or snail mail to Covertside, 2329 Lakeview Rd. SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105

48 | Covertside

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