News Archive — Bull Run Hunt

Dear BRH Members and Friends of the Hunt,

The Masters of Bull Run welcome everyone to our 107th season of hunting. BRH has had an incredible summer. Early hunting begins September 5th, Opening Meet will be October 22nd and Closing Meet will be March 31, 2018. We have over 100 hunting days planned for our 2017/2018 season. We hope you had a delightful summer and have your horses and rider in shape for what is shaping up to be our best hunting year ever. A few highlights of recent and upcoming events are:

Recent News & Events

BRH hounds excelled at summer hound shows. When Charles joined us three years ago, he put in place a five year hound development program to get our pack to a level of national recognition. The strong hunting performance by our hounds last season and the success we had this summer at hound shows suggests the pack is ahead of Charles’ schedule. Having observed the hounds perform over the last month with staff hunting, Members are in for a real treat next week. Congratulations to Charles, Boo, Annie and our whips for getting our pack in such fine hunting form.
- Update on the Hounds from Charles:
- The spring and summer at the kennels are spent preparing our young hounds to be members of the pack. Next year's entry are started walking on leashes, learning their names, and eventually walking out on foot with the pack on exercise. Preparation for the Hound and Puppy Shows is the final step in the preparation for the young hounds entry into the pack. This preparation helps them to gain confidence in new and stressful environments which hopefully translates into increased resiliency in the hunting field.
- The Virginia Hound Show is the largest gathering of foxhounds in the world. To win a class there is a big accomplishment. Bull Run won two classes this year - the Stallion Hound Class with Neptune and the Benjamin H. Hardaway Performance Trial Trophy for the Champion Performance Trial Hound with Ella. Neptune, our stallion hound winner, is a young hound who was drafted to us as an unentered hound by the Hillsboro Hounds in Tennessee; he was also the winner of Bull Run's first puppy show. This big white dog, who is starting his third season, is young to be a stallion hound but the hunting ability he showed during his first season convinced me that his genetics should be a part of Bull Run's pack. In order for Ella to qualify for the Performance Trial Championship class at Virginia Hound Show she had to score within the top 10 hounds in one of three scoring categories at a recognized performance trial. Ella did this as part of our trial-winning group at Belle Meade Field Trial last winter. Ella is a big friendly tri-colored girl who was here to be entered my first season as huntsman at Bull Run. From the beginning she has exhibited great leadership and hunting ability within the pack.
- Our second annual puppy show was won this year by a blue mottled dog pup named Skye. He and his brother Seymour, during their third hunt in staff hunting this season, were part of the pack that put a red fox to ground after a great run. I think this litter will add greatly to the hunting ability of the pack and a maybe their genetics will be added into the pack in the future. We will have to see. Ella, Neptune, and Skye with their outgoing personalities and great drive in the field have become some of personal favorite hound friends. I am lucky in that I have a whole pack of friends. The hounds are walked out on foot from the kennels at 8:00 AM on Wednesday mornings. All members are welcome to come and join us and get to know these amazing animals better.
- After hound show season ended, Boo has been hard at work getting horses fit. We have a four year-old thoroughbred gelding that we are bringing along as the young blood for our hunt strings and we hope to have him out hunting mid to late season. Annie and Boo are working hard on getting the GPS collar technology in smooth working order so that we can have two GPS units in the hunting field this season - Boo's on horseback and one in the truck with Annie. Annie in addition to her usual duties with puppies and kennels has been hard at work learning the finer points of truck whipping and using the GPS tracker. She has also been riding a few horses and learning the country around the kennels.
- Annie, Boo, and I are looking forward to the season at hand. Come hunt with us. -Charles Montgomery, Huntsman
BRH Puppy Show was a lot of fun and a financial success for the Hound Fund,
Summer Trail Rides were well attended and attracted a lot of riders new to BRH,
Kennel Improvements. If you haven’t been to the kennels recently, it’s amazing the transformation that has occurred. Not only have we completed a multi-year upgrade to the kennels with new fencing, hound runs, tack room and feed room, we have now completed fencing 40 acres of paddocks. Thank you to everyone (shout out to Bucky Hill!) who contributed to making our facility one of the best in the country.

Upcoming Events

Performance Trials. BRH is honored to have been selected by the MFHA to jointly host with Rappahannock the Hark Forward Fall Classic Performance Trial October 19th thru 21st. It is going to be a great event and coincides with our Opening Meet, October 22nd. Three hunts, post-hunt breakfasts and the Awards Dinner with the MFHA board over four days! Hounds, staff and members from eight hunts will be participating, so get ready for great hunting and camaraderie. Check BullRunHunt.com for more details. Be sure to invite our hunting friends from around the country, particularly those who enjoy our March Madness! Not only is it an opportunity to showcase BRH, but for foxhunters from around the country to get in a lot of foxhunting, participate in a great social program and meet the MFHA board.
BRH Fall Hunter Pace is September 24th. Let’s make this one our best yet!
Membership Growth. As our reputation as “the most fun hunt in Virginia” grows, so does our membership. We are pleased with the large number of new member applications. Please join us in giving these new members a big BRH welcome!
Trail Clearing. Over the summer new trails and roads have been opened to give us more access to our large, beautiful territory. However, a wet spring and summer have accelerated plant growth and we are “up against it” getting all our trails mowed and trimmed in August and September. We need more tractors and mowers in the field now! We also want to hire an experienced operator, preferably with their own tractor and mower, immediately to help get everything done by the end of September. If you know someone, please have them contact Rosie. We would also appreciate any contributions to our Trail Clearing Fund to help offset this expense. There is nothing like a great chase through the forest on well-maintained trails.

Your Masters are committed to maintaining a high quality of hunting that complies with the long traditions of our sport. These traditions all have a purpose to promote enjoyment and safety. This season we are focusing on field etiquette.

First and foremost, respecting landowner property is a priority. Staying to the edge of planted fields and making sure all gates we pass through that were closed, remain closed. Also, acknowledging and thanking landowners every chance we get is a great practice to maintain positive landowner relations. Foxhunting is a community activity and we should do everything we can to ensure landowners and non-hunters enjoy our presence in the community.
Given the size of our territory and large forested areas, radios have become a necessity for staff to communicate during the hunt. However, radio chatter can be distracting from the enjoyment of being outside experiencing the sounds of nature, the voices of our hounds and excitement from the unpredictability of the chase. We ask that only staff have radios turned on in the hunt field. Car followers are welcome to use radios to help them stay with the hunt.
BRH has a long tradition of offering three fields from which riders may choose based on the ability of horses and riders, hunting conditions and terrain. Once you have chosen the field in which you wish to ride for a particular hunt, it is essential you stay in that field. You must stay with your field master. Unless you have a tack failure or an injury to your horse or yourself, never pull up. If you need an exception to these rules, make a request to your field master. If in the middle of a chase, you are having difficulty maintaining an acceptable distance with riders in front of you, let other riders politely pass you. Finally, if you find it necessary to retire from the field before the end of the hunt, inform your field master, but only leave the field with someone who knows the way back to the meet!

Your Masters are incredibly excited about the upcoming season. We look forward to joining with you to uphold our reputation as the most “fun hunt in Virginia”. We know the key to having fun is being with others who are having fun, so SMILE-HAVE FUN! Let’s make this hunting season our best one yet.

Happy Hunting!

BRH Masters

Hunt Division

Team #	Names	Time out	Time in	Elapsed Time	Place	Time off pace time
19	Blue Star, Priscilla Friedberg	11:44:25 AM	12:14:48 PM	0:30:23	1	0:05:15
9	Jumping For Joy, Amy Savell	10:15:16 AM	10:47:38 AM	0:32:22	2	0:07:14
1	Step at a Time I, Julie Williamson	9:15:05 AM	9:48:57 AM	0:33:52	3	0:08:44
2	Step at a Time II, Jack Hook	9:15:15 AM	9:49:09 AM	0:33:54	4	0:08:46
12	All About Flatter, Bridgette Efaw	10:21:07 AM	10:57:30 AM	0:36:23	5	0:11:15
16	Terrific Thompson, Mark and Shelly	11:02:47 AM	11:40:12 AM	0:37:25	6	0:12:17
8	Mobile Home Mommas, Carter Iseman	10:12:54 AM	10:51:48 AM	0:38:54	7	0:13:46
17	Riddle Me This, Cheryl and Budd Riddle	11:29:17 AM	12:16:46 PM	0:47:29	8	0:22:21

Junior Division

Pinny #	Names	Time out	Time in	Elapsed Time	Place	Time off pace time
15	Hope's Legacy, Jenny Germoth	11:48:39 AM	12:43:25 PM	0:54:46	1	0:16:31
21	Duet, Armena Smithberger	10:42:29 AM	11:43:18 AM	1:00:49	2	0:22:34

Pleasure Division

Team #	Names	Time out	Time in	Elapsed Time	Place	Time off pace time
18	Odd Couple, Suzy Gheris	11:32:31 AM	12:14:48 PM	0:42:17	1	0:02:43
20	Spring Gap, Cindy Walsh	11:57:01 AM	12:51:25 PM	0:54:24	2	0:09:24
3	White Oak Stables, Greta Krafsis	9:20:07 AM	10:15:04 AM	0:54:57	3	0:09:57
4	Young and Restless, Adrianna Waddy	9:27:47 AM	10:27:39 AM	0:59:52	4	0:14:52
6	Triple Threat, Anne Young	10:01:12 AM	11:03:21 AM	1:02:09	5	0:17:09
11	Team Powhaten, India Pruitt	10:18:09 AM	11:24:46 AM	1:06:37	6	0:21:37
10	Shenanignas, Amber Littlejohn	10:25:19 AM	11:32:31 AM	1:07:12	7	0:22:12
7	Fantastic Four, Brandon Miles	10:23:21 AM	11:36:02 AM	1:12:41	8	0:27:41
14	Team Blue Creek, Lynne Allen	11:04:09 AM	12:21:13 PM	1:17:04	9	0:32:04
5	Three "S's", Erica Stevens	9:38:58 AM	10:59:29 AM	1:20:31	10	0:35:31

Men's

Junior's

Women's

Hunt Teams

Hunt Division

Junior Division

Pleasure Division