By Tommy Brannon, MFH
The Masters of Fox Hounds Association (MFHA) held its biennual Hunt Staff Seminar April 21-22 in Chantilly, Virginia. Masters and staff from all over North America attended. For the first time this year vendors brought products of interest to show the fox hunters. Some of the vendors were Centaur Fence; Tennessee Pewter of Somerville, Tennessee; Foxmask, designer of the Foxhunt logo; custom hunt clothier Bosley Apparel, and Vogel Boots. There was a live auction for some fabulous hunting trips to England, Ireland and New Zealand.
Speakers and topics for the Masters seminar included:
Fundraising and Hunt Activities: Jane Winegardner, MFH & Mary Pierson of Woodford Hunt in Kentucky talked about how a small 42-member hunt successfully rises enough money from outside the membership to support staff and hounds.
First Aid and First Response in the Hunting Field: Robbie Poe, EMT & Dr. Joan Bales of Live Oak Hounds in Florida talked about pre-incident planning and first aid response.
How Partnerships Help Your Hunt: Carla Hawkinson, MFH Tennessee Valley Hunt talked about Tennessee Valley’s relationship with Blackberry Farm resort in the Smoky Mountains and how their partnership mutually benefits the hunt and the resort.
Visas & Green Cards for Hunt Professionals: Laurie Volk, Immigration Lawyer: information and discussion about how to navigate the difficult and capricious laws and personnel in the U.S. Immigration service, in order to hire trained staff who are not U.S. citizens.
The second day of the seminar was open to masters, staff and interested hunt members. The discussions were led by many of the most experienced huntsmen in North America. Topics were:
Hunting the Red Fox: A panel consisting of Tommy Lee Jones – Huntsman, Casanova Hunt; Tony Gammell – Huntsman, Keswick Hunt; and Lt. Col. Robert N. Ferrer, Jr., MFH, Caroline Hunt. All are huntsmen who still hunt red fox only, in spite of the invasion of coyote in the eastern U. S. They discussed techniques and strategies to keep the coyote out and the fox in their hunt country.
Unwanted horses in the U.S.: Speaker Jeri Dobrowski gave an in-depth PowerPoint presentation covering many alternatives to dealing with unwanted horses. She said, “It is a huge problem we cannot ignore and continues to get worse. There are 140,000 unwanted horses each year in the U. S. Couple that number with 38,000 wild horses in holding pens and another 37,000 wild horses living on public lands that can only sustain 26,000, and we have a horse welfare problem like never before.” She proposed some solutions, including reinstituting hose slaughter. There did not seem to be a consensus among the audience as to that solution. She informed the audience of a recently published.GAO (Government Office of Accountability) report (GAO-11-228) on the subject. This report can be found at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-228
Managing a hunt horse Barn: A panel consisting of Clydetta Poe Talbot – Warrenton; Leasa Dowling – Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire; Laura Sloan – Midland, Shakerag, Blue Ridge & Loudoun West; and Karen Kingsley Nutt – Loudoun West. These professional horse women manage horse facilities that cater to fox hunters. Some of the topics discussed were matching horse to rider, including children as well as adults; horse care upkeep; exercise; maintenance; and type of temperament/athletic ability needed in a fox hunting horse.
The Characteristics of the Foxhound: The Good and the Bad. (English, Old English, American, Crossbred and Penn-Marydel) Another panel discussion, with some good natured bantering, took place amongst the huntsmen representing the various types of foxhounds. The panel consisted of Geoff Hyde - Huntsman, Elkridge-Harford, (Crossbreds); Larry Pitts - Huntsman, Potomac (American); Martyn Blackmore - Huntsman, Loudoun West (Old English); Dennis Downing - Huntsman, Blue Ridge (modern English); Fred Getty, MFH – Huntsman, Middlebrook (Penn-Marydel. The banter drew much laughter from the audience. Huntsmen are very passionate about their hounds and have a decided preference for their particular breed. For example, when Fred Getty was asked “What were the good and bad traits of Penn-Marydel hounds?” he listed the good qualities and then after a pregnant pause he said, “There aren’t any bad ones.”
In addition to the seminar, Middleburg Photo owners Douglas Gehlsen and Karen Monroe gave a workshop on foxhunting photography, including the dynamics of photographing the action and types of photos that work best for magazine publications, such as Covertside.
The Masters of Fox Hounds Association (MFHA) held its biennual Hunt Staff Seminar April 21-22 in Chantilly, Virginia. Masters and staff from all over North America attended. For the first time this year vendors brought products of interest to show the fox hunters. Some of the vendors were Centaur Fence; Tennessee Pewter of Somerville, Tennessee; Foxmask, designer of the Foxhunt logo; custom hunt clothier Bosley Apparel, and Vogel Boots. There was a live auction for some fabulous hunting trips to England, Ireland and New Zealand.
Speakers and topics for the Masters seminar included:
Fundraising and Hunt Activities: Jane Winegardner, MFH & Mary Pierson of Woodford Hunt in Kentucky talked about how a small 42-member hunt successfully rises enough money from outside the membership to support staff and hounds.
First Aid and First Response in the Hunting Field: Robbie Poe, EMT & Dr. Joan Bales of Live Oak Hounds in Florida talked about pre-incident planning and first aid response.
How Partnerships Help Your Hunt: Carla Hawkinson, MFH Tennessee Valley Hunt talked about Tennessee Valley’s relationship with Blackberry Farm resort in the Smoky Mountains and how their partnership mutually benefits the hunt and the resort.
Visas & Green Cards for Hunt Professionals: Laurie Volk, Immigration Lawyer: information and discussion about how to navigate the difficult and capricious laws and personnel in the U.S. Immigration service, in order to hire trained staff who are not U.S. citizens.
The second day of the seminar was open to masters, staff and interested hunt members. The discussions were led by many of the most experienced huntsmen in North America. Topics were:
Hunting the Red Fox: A panel consisting of Tommy Lee Jones – Huntsman, Casanova Hunt; Tony Gammell – Huntsman, Keswick Hunt; and Lt. Col. Robert N. Ferrer, Jr., MFH, Caroline Hunt. All are huntsmen who still hunt red fox only, in spite of the invasion of coyote in the eastern U. S. They discussed techniques and strategies to keep the coyote out and the fox in their hunt country.
Unwanted horses in the U.S.: Speaker Jeri Dobrowski gave an in-depth PowerPoint presentation covering many alternatives to dealing with unwanted horses. She said, “It is a huge problem we cannot ignore and continues to get worse. There are 140,000 unwanted horses each year in the U. S. Couple that number with 38,000 wild horses in holding pens and another 37,000 wild horses living on public lands that can only sustain 26,000, and we have a horse welfare problem like never before.” She proposed some solutions, including reinstituting hose slaughter. There did not seem to be a consensus among the audience as to that solution. She informed the audience of a recently published.GAO (Government Office of Accountability) report (GAO-11-228) on the subject. This report can be found at http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-228
Managing a hunt horse Barn: A panel consisting of Clydetta Poe Talbot – Warrenton; Leasa Dowling – Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire; Laura Sloan – Midland, Shakerag, Blue Ridge & Loudoun West; and Karen Kingsley Nutt – Loudoun West. These professional horse women manage horse facilities that cater to fox hunters. Some of the topics discussed were matching horse to rider, including children as well as adults; horse care upkeep; exercise; maintenance; and type of temperament/athletic ability needed in a fox hunting horse.
The Characteristics of the Foxhound: The Good and the Bad. (English, Old English, American, Crossbred and Penn-Marydel) Another panel discussion, with some good natured bantering, took place amongst the huntsmen representing the various types of foxhounds. The panel consisted of Geoff Hyde - Huntsman, Elkridge-Harford, (Crossbreds); Larry Pitts - Huntsman, Potomac (American); Martyn Blackmore - Huntsman, Loudoun West (Old English); Dennis Downing - Huntsman, Blue Ridge (modern English); Fred Getty, MFH – Huntsman, Middlebrook (Penn-Marydel. The banter drew much laughter from the audience. Huntsmen are very passionate about their hounds and have a decided preference for their particular breed. For example, when Fred Getty was asked “What were the good and bad traits of Penn-Marydel hounds?” he listed the good qualities and then after a pregnant pause he said, “There aren’t any bad ones.”
In addition to the seminar, Middleburg Photo owners Douglas Gehlsen and Karen Monroe gave a workshop on foxhunting photography, including the dynamics of photographing the action and types of photos that work best for magazine publications, such as Covertside.
