Epic Pursuits on Horseback
Focused on the scent of a coyote or fox, hounds followed by their master seek a creature they have never seen and may never see during their travels – an illusive fox or coyote. The air is filled with the sounds of hounds in full cry and hooves beating the earth mingled with the scent of freshly fallen leaves. It is 11 a.m. and you are a member of the hunt. You join about 35 other men, women, and a few children, all out to enjoy an extreme sport that dates back to 1340.
Donning a protective hat, black hunting jacket, white shirt, stock tie, neutral-colored riding breeches, and black leather boots, you move through the landscape in harmony with your horse and other members of the hunt. Adrenalin rushes through your body as you race through a scene reminiscent of a 17th century painting with your trusted equine partner, following a pack of hounds pursuing a trail of scents left by a coyote or fox as long as 5-6 hours ago. This pack of hounds is one of 168 packs from Ontario to California recognized by the Master of Foxhounds Association (MFHA).
Each pack hunts for different quarry based on its prevalence. In Illinois, the quarry is coyote, rather than fox, because it is more common. The coyote (quarry) in the hunt is not domesticated or released from a container, but wild and tracked strictly by the choice of the pack of hounds rather than humans.
“The hounds spread out and find a scent,” explains Fox River Valley Hunt’s Master of Foxhounds Tony Leahy. You see the animal you are seeking, if you’re lucky. A master like Leahy might see the quarry a few times on the day of the hunt.
“The whipper-in sees more,” Leahy confides. “They are out on flanks [and] more engaged in more open spots in the edge of covers.”
Meet a Master
Master of Foxhounds Leahy leads the hunt through fields and woods, crossing roads, jumping fences, and wading through on occasional creek. Originally from Ireland, Leahy worked with show jumpers and steeplechasers in Virginia, Florida, and Pennsylvania before he met Barrington’s Bill McGinley of Horizon Farm. Recognizing his talent, McGinley encouraged Leahy to come to Barrington and work with Fox River Valley Hunt’s (FRVH) Master of Foxhounds, Victoria (“Vicki”) Fitch. Leahy and Fitch worked together until Fitch died in 2005.
When he is not leading a hunt, Leahy is training and breeding about 73 hounds, caring for 27 pups, and tending to 35 horses that he moves between Barrington Hills and Elizabeth, Ill., and Albany, Ga. Leahy, who lived in Barrington Hills for 12 years, currently spends most of his time just outside of Galena in the pastures of Elizabeth, where he has nurtured a positive working relationship between Fox River Valley Hunt and Cornwall Hounds.
This past April, Leahy’s hounds received championship recognitions for English, American, and crossbred hounds and two out of the three reserve-type championships at the Masters of Foxhounds Association & Foundation Southern Hound Show in Monticello, Fla. In 2009, Leahy’s hounds competed in the Virginia Hound Show, receiving Grand Champion recognition (out of 800 hounds) in the largest hound show in the United States and Canada.
“The hounds adore what they do. You can just look at them for positive reinforcement. It’s a dog connection, a pure relationship,” explains Leahy. “I’m an orchestrator behind the scenes. I feel that the older hounds teach the younger hounds more than I teach.”
“We have primarily a crossbred pack because we are trying to pick the best attributes from each breed [and] I find [cross-breeds] to be more dynamic,” explains Leahy. “We train the hounds for everything from start to finish. We send a hound into a covert to look for the scent, so we’re cold trailing. The thrill of the chase is to develop the hound to be dynamic enough to find the coyote.”
FRVH Barrington vice president Jason Elder, who started fox hunting with FRVH in 2005, extols Leahy for his skills in the field. “Hunting is all about the chase,” explains Elder. “Tony sees the coyote in his mind all the time, and has 2-3 specified whippers-in that assist him. The rest of the field is really there to enjoy nature, the thrill of a fast horse crossing the country, and the sights and sounds of the chase. To stay one step ahead is a real art,” says Elder.
The Family that Rides Together
“My whole family has been doing it for hundreds of years,” acknowledges Leahy, whose humility precludes conversations about his talents. As Master of Foxhounds for FRVH, Leahy leads hunts in
Barrington and Elizabeth, Ill., as well as Albany, Ga.
Tony Leahy’s wife, Heidi, is the secretary and treasurer of FRVH, and a whipper-in during hunts. Their daughter, 9-year-old Caelinn, is an accomplished rider and competitive jumper who attended her first fox hunt while a preschooler, on a pony lead by her mom.
For FRVH member Bryan Cressey of Cresswood Farm, fox hunting was something he discovered after a neighbor invited him and his wife to their first fox hunt 20 years ago. “I realized if I wanted to see my wife and children, I needed to learn to start riding,” Cressey said. Bringing his wife, and daughters ages 12, 10, and eight to the hunt, Cressey enjoyed this “fabulous family activity [for] seven wonderful years” until the girls got into other high school activities and left for college.
“It’s really about the camaraderie of the ride and the sport of riding,” concurs Elder. Fox hunting has a stuffy reputation, but we’re the opposite of that. Everyone is welcome to come out and try it.”
A Magical Combination
As open space and wildlife habitat in the Barrington Hills area remains challenged, past masters of the hunt, led principally by Vicki Fitch, have developed creative ways to acquire land to continue the fox hunting tradition so richly steeped in Barrington culture.
“A lot of the country [that FRVH formerly used in the Barrington area] was forest preserve - Spring Creek Forest Preserve,” says Elder. Due to an unrelated incident at another forest preserve in 2001 whereby unleashed pit bulls maimed a child, unleashed dogs of any kind are not currently permitted on Cook County Forest Preserve District property.
“It’s a shame, because much of Spring Creek was donated or sold to Cook County by some of the original families in FRVH with the understanding that we would always have access,” reflects Elder. “We’re working on regaining access to this historic and important part of our country.”
Seeing this dilemma, Vicki Fitch and Tony Leahy purchased property near Albany to provide “winter quarters” from January through the end of March, and other FRVH members have acquired rural property with low development pressure to protect and preserve wildlife habitat in Elizabeth, Ill.
“Current master and huntsman Tony Leahy has worked with the surrounding landowners to create one of the largest and best wildlife habitats available to any hunt club in this country,” says Elder. “It’s a magic combination of great country- beautiful, rolling, well-watered land, with plenty of rivers and creeks, pastures, agricultural lands, and forests - a pack of hounds that’s unbelievable - and a huntsman who is completely passionate about the sport and pushes himself so hard he has become unconsciously competent at something that is very, very difficult.”
Winding Down
After about four hours of riding, you have covered about 20 miles. The hunt is winding down. The coyote got away, and everyone is heading back to the barn. Fox hunting continues in the Barrington Hills area with the thoughtful collaboration of local property owners.
“It’s a glorious day out with nature,” reflects Cressey. “All of fox hunting is a beautiful ride.”
Everyone around you is filled with joy – happy for the shared adrenalin rush, friendship, and day
in nature.
Fox Hunting Facts
- For most Midwestern clubs, it’s generally no longer “fox” hunting. Fox hunting participants and their team of hounds search for more plentiful coyotes.
- It’s a sport focused on chasing rather than catching. Masters of the Foxhounds Association (MFHA) provides strict guidelines to foster the sport.
- You don’t have to leap over fences to participate. Each hunt has two or three groups of hunters – first field hunters who jump fences to keep up with the huntsman and hounds; second field hunters who go through gates and may take a slightly different route; and third field “hilltoppers” who ride at a more leisurely pace.
- You don’t have to ride a horse. Some people ride along in cars, ATVs, or motorcycles, following the hunt as it winds through Barrington and Elizabeth.
Fox River Valley Hunt/Cornwall Hounds Events
Fox River Valley Hunt/Cornwall Hounds has a full, year-round schedule including bi-monthly social events when it’s not hunting season, and trail ride barbecues in June and July. Informal hunting begins with cubbing season in August and September. The official hunt season begins at the end of September with the Blessing of the Hounds. During the entire season the group is out twice a week in Elizabeth and also twice a month in Barrington. The season ends in December.
Saturday, September 10
Fox River Hunt/Cornwall Hounds Hound parade at the Kalaway Cup Polo Event on Bateman Road in Barrington Hills. Gates open at 11 a.m. Opening ceremony begins at 12 p.m.
Sunday, October 2
75th Annual Blessing of the Hounds. 12 p.m.
Saturday, November 12
FRVH/Cornwall Hounds/SCBH Hunt Ball
For more information, email Lorelei Benkendorf at lbenkendorf@comcast.net or call 847- 387-3681.
Historical Notes
1340 King Edward I of England is believed to have hosted the first royal foxhound pack.
1534 A fox hunt was recorded in Norfolk, England.
1650 Robert Brooke arrives in Maryland with his family and hounds.
1670s Great Britain’s oldest foxhunt, the Bilsdale, is started in Yorkshire, England.
Early 1700s Fox hunting gains popularity in Maryland, Virginia, and other colonies.
1747 Thomas, Sixth Lord Fairfax, hosts an organized hunt in Northern Virginia.
Early 1800s Women ride in fox hunts on side saddles.
1826 Montreal Hunt Foxhound Club is estabpshed in Canada.
1840 Piedmont Foxhounds were estabpshed in Virginia.
1907 Master of Foxhounds Association of America (MFHA) estabpshes Code of Hunting Practices, “to maintain the highest standards of sportsmanship and good behavior at all times.”
1936 Fox River Valley Hunt forms in Barrington Hills, and becomes registered with MFHA four years later.
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April Anderson is a naturalist and writer working to promote healthy, sustainable living through positive relationships with humanity and the natural world. She may be reached at teamnature@owc.net.