Virginia Hound Show 2012: A big day for Iroquois hounds!

The HAs picking up a trophy at the Virginia Hound Show on Sunday.

What a day for the Iroquois Hunt’s English hounds! The houndbloggers were not in attendance this year at the Virginia Foxhound Show, but we got updates throughout the day from the English ring, where our hounds showed–and we’re pleased to say they brought home some of the silver! The show draws some 800 hounds from across North America, a real feast for the hound lover’s eyes. If you’ve never been, we encourage you to attend next year! For the complete list of results from the 2012 show, click here.

We’ve been following the HA puppies since their birth (and they were born, auspiciously enough, just before Blessing Day in 2010, when the annual Blessing of the Hounds kicks off the formal hunt season). They are sons and daughters of two hounds we imported from the Cottesmore in England, the doghound Hawkeye and the bitch Baffle, who also is the dam of our much-vaunted BA litter. The HAs have matured into an exceptionally regal group, and the houndbloggers had high hopes for this pride of young lions, who will join the hunting pack this coming fall.

Hawkeye (left) and his sons in the class they won, English stallion hound and three of his get. Photo by Nancy Milburn Kleck Equine-Sporting Artist.

Perhaps the most notable victory of the day was Hawkeye’s in the class for stallion hound and three get. Shown alongside his sons Halo, Hawksbridge, and Hanbury in front of judge Henry Berkeley from the Berkeley Hunt, Hawkeye scooped the trophy from a highly competitive class that also featured Live Oak Maximus, the Virginia Foxhound Show’s grand champion foxhound back in 2010, just a few months before the HAs were whelped. Hawkeye’s win is a big thumbs-up for the Iroquois Hunt’s breeding program, which already has seen success from the BA litter, Baffle’s first for us, on the hunt field.

Baffle and the HA pups back in the day.

Some of the hounds and volunteers taking pre-show exercise Sunday at Morven Park, scene of the prestigious Virginia Foxhound Show.

We’ll have to wait until fall to see how the HA puppies perform on the hunt field, but here’s how they did in Virginia:

Halo won his single doghound-unentered class. Hanbury was third in this class.

Halo and Hanbury came back to win the couple of dogs-unentered class, and Hardboot and Hawksbridge finished second to them.

Halo, Hawksbridge, Hardboot, and Hanbury, all unentered, won their two couple of doghounds-entered or unentered class.

Thanks to his victory in the unentered doghound class, Halo moved on to the unentered championship against the day’s top unentered bitch and placed second, making him the show’s reserve champion unentered hound.

A bath before the big day.

To see the HAs cover some ground, see the video below, taken in January at Boone Valley. A video from February is here.

Another winner at Virginia was Samson, our entered red-and-white doghound who is a big asset on the hunt field and the sire of our new BO litter out of Bonsai. He won his English stallion hound class, then came back to place third with Edie in the junior handlers’ class! We think Samson’s puppywalker in England, Nina Camm, will be especially thrilled with that news! To see Samson’s baby pictures that she sent us, click here.  To see our adventures bringing the very talkative Samson and Hawkeye with us by air from England (where they hunted with the Cottesmore) to Kentucky, click here. Yes, it was worth it!

The likeable red-and-white Samson, photographed in 2010.

In the afternoon’s bitch classes, another member of the HA litter, Hackle, finished second in the unentered bitch class, and Havoc finished third. This pair of Hackle and Havoc also finished second in the couple of bitches-unentered class. Dragonfly, a North Cotswold import and the mother of our famous doghoundasaurus Driver, placed second for the second consecutive year in the brood bitch class. To see a video of her (and the other Iroquois hounds) in action at last year’s Virginia Hound Show, click here. Dragonfly is at about the 2:20 mark.

Another houndblogger favorite, the powerful North Cotswold import Banker, also finished third in his class, the entered doghound class that Samson won.

Dragonfly, Driver’s mother, picked up a second in the English brood bitch class.

Banker at his first meet in Kentucky back in October 2010.

We understand that the Iroquois joint-Masters Jerry Miller and Jack van Nagell, huntsman Lilla Mason, kennel manager Michael Edwards, and the passel of hound volunteers led by Cice Bowers arrived back at the hotel exhausted but understandably pleased with the day’s results.

Iroquois joint-Master Jerry Miller does the honors. A toast to the Iroquois hounds and their supporters!

We know how much work went into making this day happen, and the hounds’ success was richly deserved. Congratulations, everyone, and safe home!

An Irish Hunting Year in Pictures and Audio

This is, quite simply, one of the most gorgeous slideshows we’ve ever seen. There are fearsome Irish banks, sly foxes, and mud-splattered hounds, and much more. It’s from sporting photographer David Ryan, and it’s not just the photographs that make this piece so evocative. It’s also the glorious audio. Click play, turn your volume up a bit, and let yourself be carried through an Irish hunt season, from puppy show to hunt ball.

Peterborough foxhound show: The video!

Ringside scenes from the world’s most important show for working pack hounds! Thanks for your patience!

To see Part One of our coverage, click here. Two see Part Two, click here.

The show’s modern foxhound results are here. Old English foxhound results are here.

And the houndbloggers offer many hearty thanks to Creative Commons, the Free Music Archive, and composers Kevin MacLeod and Jonah Dempcy for use of their wonderful music.

Houndbloggers Abroad: Peterborough, part one

To see the show’s modern foxhound results, click here.

To see the Old English foxhound results, click here.

THEY call summer hound shows the “silly season,” and certainly it is not really the same thing as hunt season. Working pack hounds are bred for the hunt field, not the show ring, after all. But, all the same, showing at the Peterborough Royal Foxhound Show is serious business for competitors, and the show offers Masters and huntsmen a great chance to look over potential stallion hounds and examine other hunts’ bloodlines. For the houndbloggers, the 2011 show was the perfect opportunity to see the hound world’s great variety, to eyeball some of the sport’s most prestigious pack members, and to spot some hounds from bloodlines that link with our own Iroquois pack.

A glimpse of Driver’s father

Perhaps the most notable “Iroquois relation” we saw was the Duke of Beaufort’s Gaddesby ’07, sire of our own young dog Driver ’10. We spotted Gaddesby in the Best Stallion Hound class, where, alas, he was unplaced. But we did manage to get a couple of quick snapshots.

Gaddesby '07 in the stallion hound class.

Gaddesby ’07 on the move.

Spot any similarities? Here’s Gaddesby’s son Driver:

Driver after a hunt in March.

Gaddesby’s conqueror in the Stallion Hound class was Duke of Beaufort’s Doynton ’09, who went on to win the Champion Dog Hound title over the Vale of the White Horse’s young dog Ptarmigan ’10.

Peel’s words of wisdom

The Grove and Rufford prepare to enter the ring at Peterborough on July 20. Their dog Stafford, right, won the Best Unentered Dog class.

In the issue of Horse and Hound that came out immediately before the Peterborough show, North Cotswold Master and huntsman Nigel Peel wrote, “Hound shows are wonderful summer gatherings, and it is a great joy to admire the best lookers of the breed. But remember that that is what it is–a beauty competition. Do not get downhearted should your hounds fail to find favor. Remember that you are taking part in a pageant and in so doing you are holding your hunt’s flag high for all to see. … We all get slung out of the ring from time to time, and sometimes it is quite hard to remember that it is the taking part and not the winning that counts.”

Huntsmen wore their prizes on their sleeves.

At Peterborough, as it happened, Peel’s hounds rarely were “slung out of the ring.” The North Cotswold bitches, in particular, had a fantastic day. Bobbin ’10, Bobtail ’10, Gradient ’10, and Gridiron ’10 won the Best Two Couple of Entered Bitches class, while Caroline ’08 was judged Best Brood Bitch. Bobtail went on to finish second, as reserve champion, to Heythrop Mellow ’10 in the Champion Bitch class.

The North Cotswold dog hounds fared well, too, taking the Best Couple of Unentered Hounds class with Gregory and Growler.

The crowd in Peterborough’s main arena, where the modern foxhounds were exhibited.

Remembering the Great Grundy

Having met up with him at the foxhound ring, we took the opportunity to ask Peel about some of the hounds he has sent to Iroquois–most notably our late, great stallion hound and superb coyote hunter Grundy ’98, who died in 2008.

Grundy in October 2006 with Iroquois joint-Master Jerry Miller

 Grundy was a son of the North Cotswold’s Peterborough winner Grapefruit, and Peel’s reminiscences of Grundy went back another generation, starting with Grapefruit’s own mother.

“Her mother was a very, very good bitch, a wonderful hunter, and Grapefruit we were very lucky with, because she was walked by Charlie Warren, a great North Cotswold puppy walker,” recalled Peel. “He actually had driven the first tank onto the battlefield at Alamein. We had a lovely hound that he had walked the year before that we had won a lot of prizes with, but, sadly, she was poisoned out hunting. Charlie said, ‘I think I’ve got one that might be as good.’ And, by God, he had: that was Grapefruit.

“In her first year here at Peterborough, she won the Best Unentered Bitch, and the following year she won the championship. She was a terrific hunter, like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord, and hated foxes. So we thought we must find her a really good husband. In those days, Tim Unwin was Master of the Cotswold and a very, very fine breeder of hounds and a good huntsman. We used his dog Patron, a gray dog, I remember. That produced Grundy.”

Peterborough isn't only about foxhounds. The show also featured woolly mink and otter hounds (see above), mournful bassets, beautiful beagles, handsome harriers, and lashings of lurchers!

What made Patron the right choice for Grapefruit?

“He was a lovely-looking dog, and he had terrific quality,” Peel said. “He just struck me as being a very good sort of stallion hound to use. And the breeding linked. I always line-breed our hounds, and the breeding fitted in beautifully. So we thought he was the one to have.

“Jerry Miller wanted a dog hound, and we called this whelp Grundy because, when Iroquois was formed, it was named after a horse that won the Derby.

Old English hounds exit the ring after a class at Peterborough.

“Grundy was walked by Charlie Warren, and our chairman at the time was Tim Holland-Martin, who had bred the horse Grundy, who had also won the Derby,” added Peel. “So that’s why we called the hound Grundy, because we thought that it was appropriate. Grundy came to you principally because Jerry Miller wanted a hound or two, and it’s rather difficult to refuse Jerry Miller!”

Peterborough show officials in the foxhound ring.

Peel later saw the hound Grundy in Kentucky, and he was pleased with how he had developed.

“I thought what a very good one he was,” Peel said. “His sisters we had, and we bred from those and we’ve got hounds that go back to them today here at Peterborough.

“I’m really pleased that Grundy did so well, not only in the showing, but also that he was a really first-class dog in his work.”

There’s more to come from our Peterborough report! Stay tuned for more pictures, some video, and more from Nigel Peel.

Iroquois hound show pictures and video!

Kids and the Iroquois retired hounds also participated in the show. Photo by Dave Traxler.

THE Iroquois Hunt‘s hound and puppy show on Saturday proved a good practice session for the upcoming Virginia Hound Show, and it also gave the HA puppies, sons and daughters of Hawkeye and Baffle, valuable exposure to the world beyond the kennel and their woods.

By the way, Judge Bud Murphy chose Hawkeye as the “grand champion” of our informal event. He just nosed out Sassoon, in Bud’s opinion, in the older male category. The houndbloggers will, of course, abide by the judge’s decision, but at least one of us reminds our readers that Sassoon Is The Best Hound Ever. This blog is too short to extol his many virtues, but suffice to say we love him.

Two of our other favorites also were on the boards at the hound show, young Bagshot, who showed last year at Virginia and then enjoyed a good first season in 2010-’11, and the chestnut-colored retiree Glog, last seen out hunting on Blessing Day 2010 and now taking great pleasure in his retirement activities–including, as you’ll see in the video below, pats and scratches from his new best friends, the children at Saturday’s show.

The weather gods were smiling on us, because we got just about the only two hours of sunshine central Kentucky saw all weekend, and in that warm, sunny window we were treated to romping puppies, fine-tuned canine athletes, brief presentations on basic hound conformation and the whipper-in’s job, and Pimm’s served out of the Iroquois Hunt’s silver Kentucky Hunt Cup trophy punch bowl.

Sassoon enjoys a one-on-one conversation with IHC member and volunteer Leesa Moorman. Photo by Dave Traxler.

For a spectator’s view the show, click here, where Samantha Clark also has posted photographs and a story about the day’s events.

Thanks to everyone who participated, volunteered, and attended!

Now our thoughts turn toward the Virginia Hound Show and preparation for summer hound walks. And, of course, the annual Hound Welfare Fund dinner and auction, which takes place on June 4 at the hunt’s Grimes Mill headquarters. One hundred percent of your tax-deductible donations to this 501(c)(3) charity go directly to the retired hounds’ care. The retirees–who clearly relish their role as ambassadors!–appreciate it.

If you’re interested in attending the dinner and auction, please send an e-mail to hannah[at]iglou.com. If you want more information about the Hound Welfare Fund or would like to make a donation, please feel free to check out the fund’s website here.

An Iroquois first: a puppy show! (with HD video)

Iroquois Hunt will host its first puppy show on Saturday at the hunt’s headquarters, the Grimes Mill, seen in the video above. The six-month-old HA puppies and the young entered hounds, including the beloved Paper and Driver, have been hard at work practicing for the big day–and so have the Iroquois members who have volunteered to be on the human end of the leash!

To see what they’ve all been doing and hear Iroquois huntsman Lilla Mason’s comments on the hounds’ progress and on the purpose of the puppy show, click on the video. To see the video in high-definition, after you click the “play” triangle, look for the box in the upper-right corner that says HD. Click it!

Our puppy show will have a different twist on it from the traditional ones in England, which you can see in this Horse & Country TV video from the Berkeley Hunt’s puppy show. The most significant difference is that our attendees on Saturday, including children, will have a chance to try their hand at hound-showing, too! And kids also can enjoy supervised playtime in a pen with the HA puppies, now about six months old. There also will be snacks for kids.

For the adults, there will be the traditional puppy show Pimm’s, as well as hors d’oeuvres. Bud Murphy kindly has agreed to be our judge for the day.

The HA puppies will be shown for the first time on Saturday, but the now-entered BA litter will be using this as a dress rehearsal in their training for the prestigious Virginia Hound Show at the end of the month. You can see how they and other Iroquois hounds did last year at Virginia, and get a feel for this beautiful hound show, here.

The  houndbloggers will be at the Mill Saturday to catch some video, and later this month we’ll see you in Virginia!

Anything but a blank day …

The Clear Creek Beagles, photographed by Jean MacLean.

WE ran across an interesting note from the past in a Horse and Hound magazine, detailing one of the Ampleforth Beagles’ more interesting–and unsettling–finds back in 2001. The pack hunts in Yorkshire. Said Horse and Hound:

“Ampleforth College students were returning to the meet after following the beagles when they discovered what appeared to be an unexploded shell. Police called in the Army bomb disposal unit to detonate the shell, thought to be a World War II relic.”

It’s not something American packs have to deal with very often!

The Ampleforth Beagles were a college pack at Ampleforth College  from 1915 to 1994. They’ve since been taken over by an alumni group but still attract students as followers and as staff, including one who is named, endearingly, a Captain of Beagling. Happily, the pack is still featured under “Activities” on the Ampleforth College website, which notes that “through the Beagles, the boys and girls of the College have the chance to enjoy close and friendly links with local people across the Moors, links often shown in the farmhouse teas provided after hunting. The Beagles also give boys and girls some experience of animal welfare through visits to the kennels and some local students help at hound shows during the Summer months.”

Puppy show next week!

Which makes a nice segue back to the Bluegrass, whereIroquois members, their guests, and the Iroquois Hounds are busy preparing for their first-ever puppy show, to be held May 14 in front of the Grimes Mill. The show starts at 4 p.m. and will feature children’s activities and chances for kids and adults to meet the puppies, retired hounds, and the Iroquois hounds that are being prepared for the prestigious Virginia Hound Show at the end of the month. Also on offer: Pimm’s! Watch this space for more information in the coming days.

Iroquois at the Virginia Hound Show (with video)

The Virginia Hound Show: foxhounds everywhere you looked!

IT was hot, but it was fun. Hundreds of hounds, from horizon to horizon. If you can’t be out hunting, freezing in the sleet and gale-force winds atop Pauline’s Ridge or some other place while the hounds go singing along Boone Creek, well, if you can’t be doing that, standing in the shade of massive old trees and watching just about every kind of foxhound with every kind of coat–English woollies, American tri-colors, and black-and-tan Penn Marydels–parading by isn’t too shabby as an alternative. Especially when one of your hounds takes home a trophy, which is kind of nice!

Best fun of the day: seeing relatives to our hounds, such as Hailstone’s sire Live Oak Hasty and Iroquois Gloucester’s son Mill Creek Rasta.

Make a slideshow

But now, as Iroquois huntsman Lilla Mason put it, the fun really begins: summer hound walk. That starts in just a few days, and the houndbloggers are especially looking forward to it. Paper, the clown of last year’s puppy crop, is now a hunting veteran, and it’s time for Driver and the BA litter to start walking out with some of the big pack. We’ll be following their adventures!

All hail Hailstone!

Iroquois Hailstone with huntsman Lilla Mason (kneeling) and (back row, left to right) Jim Maness, kennel manager Michael Edwards, Iroquois joint-Master Jerry Miller, Sally Lilly, Cice Bowers, and Cooper Lilly, and (front row, left to right) Peggy Maness and Robin Cerridwen.

THE RESULTS  from the Virginia Foxhound Show are in! The big Iroquois news from the show was Hailstone’s victory over a crowded and highly competitive group in the Single Crossbred Dog – Entered class. He showed well throughout the class, demonstrating great composure despite the crowded showring and the Virginia heat, and he wowed ’em with his beautiful way of going.

Judge Tony Leahy took his time looking over the doghounds in Hailstone’s class, and it’s easy to see why. They were a gorgeous group, and we’re so proud of Hailstone for putting in a performance that helped him stand out in such a group.

You can see Hailstone’s class, which was one of the largest and toughest of the day, below.

Other highlights of the day:

Dragonfly ’07 finished second in the Best English Brood Bitch class, a real testament to her value for the Iroquois breeding program. As the dam of our promising young puppy Driver, she’s already proving her worth!

Sassoon ’04 came up against Live Oak Maximus, the eventual grand champion foxhound, in his class (Single English Dog – Entered) but showed himself with his typical dazzling presence and that charming face. He placed fourth.

Stanway ’08 finished third in the Single English Bitch – Entered class, another encouraging result for the Iroquois breeding program. Stanway is by our handsome stallion hound, the late Gangster.

Iroquois Sassoon, in the ring with Peggy Maness (left) and huntsman Lilla Mason, finished fourth in the Single English Dog - Entered class.

The Puppy Report: Not all of our youngsters showed with confidence, but there were two particularly important positives for them. Driver and the BAs got strongly favorable reviews from English judge Nigel Peel, who noted that they were showing against older puppies and, while less mature than many of their show-ring rivals, they were beautiful hounds who will have promising futures. That’s the kind of take-home message any hound person loves to hear, especially from a judge as well-regarded as Peel.

And the pups gained vital experience in the deep end of the hound-show pool, experiencing a road trip, a stay away from home, several hundred new hounds, countless spectators, golf carts crunching along on gravel, big fancy hats, hordes of babies and toddlers, and lots of other entirely new things.

We should point out that Bagshot showed well, and Bailey and Barwick received third place in the Couple of English Dogs – Unentered class!

Handlers and hounds at Morven Park on Saturday, the day before the Virginia Hound Show.

We’re proud of everyone!

Over the next few days, we’ll post more video from this extraordinary–and extraordinarily beautiful and old-fashioned–hound show, and we’ll give a more complete description of the Virginia trip, too. With pictures! But for now, your houndbloggers are going … to … go … get … some … sleep.

Finishing touches, and revisiting the National Sporting Library

FOUR days to go until the May 30 Virginia Hound Show! On Sunday, the houndbloggers visited the Iroquois kennel for the final weekend training session before the show. Driver’s and the BA litter’s training has progressed very well, as you can see by comparing videos from leash-training in February and more advanced training in May. Now huntsman Lilla Mason, joint-Master Jerry Miller, and kennel manager Michael Edwards are  putting the final touches on the youngsters before they head to Virginia on Friday. No detail is overlooked, right down to the shape of the hounds’ nails and the types of biscuits Lilla will toss in the show ring. Want to learn more about how both can affect the hounds’ appearance in the show ring? Click the “play” button in the short video above.

The houndbloggers also will be attending the hound show this weekend, where we hope to get some good video and pictures of Driver, the BAs, and our entered hounds in action at the show.

Are you going to Virginia? Visit the National Sporting Library!

If you’ll be in Virginia for the hound show, there are two special events that will be going on at the National Sporting Library & Fine Art Museum:

• SPORTING BOOK SALE! On Saturday, May 29, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the library is offering duplicate and used books on a wondrous array of sporting topics. Most hardbacks will be available for just $5 and most paperbacks can be had for just $2,  for books you’d be hard-pressed to find in any of your local bookstores. Topics include foxhunting, horse breeds, riding, horse racing, hunting and shooting, and wildlife and game. Stock your own library or pick up gifts for your sporting friends–at bargain prices. Plus, proceeds benefit the NSL Book Acquisition Fund.

• NEW EXHIBIT! Lives of Dogs, Viewed through Literature, Art, & Ephemera. Opening Thursday, May 27, in the library’s Mars Exhibit Hall. The exhibit “features books and objects that span four centuries and are selected from the library’s holdings as well as those of private collectors. Lives of Dogs provides a glimpse into the richly complex topic of the relationship between dogs and humans.” Among the things you’ll see: Tubervile’s hunting classic from 1576, Turbervile’s Book of Hunting (see some of Turbervile’s work–and the library–here); artworks depicting dogs, including bronzes and watercolors; a private collection of dog collars including coursing leads, “highly-decorated leather collars with emblems of the dog’s role, and silver and leather combinations with beautifully engraved sentiments identifying beloved family pets”; and books of sketches by Cecil Aldin, Michael Lyne, and Paul Brown. And much more.

For more information on the National Sporting Library, the book sale, the Lives of Dogs exhibit, or just to have some fun, check out the NSL’s website.

The National Sporting Library is located in Middleburg, Virginia, at 102 The Plains Road. Admission in free, and directions are located on the website. By all means, go!