Competing at the Canadian District qualifier for the Centennial Field Hunter Cham-pionships took Anne McKibbin on a walk down memory lane. In the months before the competition, held Oct. 15 in Caledon, Ont., she worked hard to make sure she would be in the running to win the best turned-out award.

“It took me three months to get ready for the turnout part. What fun we had, going through old trunks with family and friends to find such things as breeches with buttons, a sewn bridle and a three-fold leather girth with no elastic,” she said.

“It’s lucky that I am old and remember all this stuff! One of the judges commented that I looked like I was from the 1700s. I chuckled and noted that I thought it was more like 1910. We had lots of antique stuff, and I grew up with it, so I knew what to do with it. Some of the younger generation would look at things like the breeches with the buttons, and say ‘No way! You can’t ride in that!’ “

McKibbin, 56, grew up foxhunting–her parents, Arthur and Brenda McKibbin, were joint huntsmen of the Ottawa Valley Hunt (Canada) in the 1950s. She took a break from riding and hunting due to career demands, but five years ago she returned to her roots. All the effort paid off with not only the best-turned-out award, but also first place in the performance phase of the Canadian District qualifier.

The competition–one of 16 district competitions planned across the country–qualifies riders and horses for the finals of the Centennial Field Hunter Competition, which will take place on May 27, in conjunction with the Virginia Hound Show.

The field hunter competition is just one of many activities under the umbrella of the Masters of Fox Hounds Association’s centennial celebration. The festivities include hound performance trials, a traveling art show, joint meets, a ball, and a book and DVD.

Each of the district competitions had an appointments judging, a flat phase and a mock hunt. After the mock hunt, the judges selected a group to compete over a handy hunter course and then selected their winners. The top four finishers in each district are invited to compete at the finals this spring.

McKibbin, who hunts with Ottawa Valley, traveled seven hours to compete on the weekend, and she arrived well prepared. “We practiced things like opening gates, jumping a pink coat laid over a rail, and leading over a fence. So, we mastered all that,” she said.

McKibbin’s partner for the wins has almost as much experience in the hunting field. She rode Jocko, a 27-year-old Thoroughbred cross. “It’s amazing,” McKibbin said of Jocko’s advanced age. “I’ve hunted him for five years. We bought him, and my husband kind of took him over. He said we won because I rode him the way he told me to. He’s quite a glamorous horse–he’s eye-catching.

“I had given up riding for 12 years, so he was kind of the horse I had always dreamed of having. He and I got along, and he got me back into riding and back into hunting. He goes anywhere, he jumps anything, and he doesn’t waste any energy.”

McKibbin kept riding and hunting as she taught elementary school, but after she took on the duties of school principal, she just didn’t have the time.

But six years ago, she saw retirement in sight and decided to pick up the reins again. And Jocko came into her life five years ago. For the last three years of her career, she mixed working and riding. “With Jocko being older and well-schooled, it didn’t really matter how consistent I was with my riding.

Once I retired [in 2005], I could go back out full-time,” she said. “The first time I hunted after having not hunted for so many years, it was very emotional,” McKibbin recalled. “As soon as the hounds cast and the horn was blown, a lot of memories flooded back. I could see my parents up there hunting the hounds. I was just quiet for a few moments, and then went on. It comes back quickly.

“My love of hunting is watching the hounds work,” she added. “People go through phases in their life of hunting for the excitement of riding, or jumping, and as they learn more about foxhunting, they come to appreciate the hounds. I’m very interested in the houndwork and the relationship between them and the huntsmen.”

McKibbin isn’t sure if she’ll take Jocko to Virginia for the finals, but she’s definitely planning to attend.


What A Hunter Should Be
Will Coleman Jr. shares McKibbin’s sentiment about hunting. “I love to ride, and I also love the outdoors, so it’s a match made in heaven. Watching the hounds work is, to me, an added bonus,” Coleman said.

Initially, the day of the Virginia District qualifier–Nov. 12–didn’t look like a promising day when Coleman awoke. “The weather was not very hospitable–it was a cold, rainy, windy day. I called three times to make sure they were still happening. Secretly, I was kind of hoping they wouldn’t have it. It was a Sunday, and sitting by the fire seemed pretty attractive to me,” Coleman recalled.

But he persevered and was rewarded with the win in the performance phase aboard his Sherman, an 8-year-old Selle Francais cross. “I think he just has a nice ground-covering gallop, and a nice, forward jump. He’s an attractive horse. And on this cold, blustery day, he was well-mannered and just did his thing,” Coleman said of the 18-hand gray, whom he’s had for four years. “He’s what a hunter should be.”

Coleman bought Sherman from Nelson Gunnell, and they promptly won the 2004 Virginia Field Hunter Championships together and were finalists at the North American Field Hunter Championships last fall.

Coleman, Gordonsville, Va., represented Keswick Hunt at the qualifier and also subscribes to the Piedmont Fox Hounds (Va.). He also shows competitively on the hunter/ jumper circuit in the high amateur-owner jumper division. And he’s watched his son, Will Coleman III, compete at the advanced level of eventing.

It’s the kind of life Coleman envisioned while working in a high-powered trading career in New York City decades ago. He’d ridden as a boy and stopped in high school.

An avid sportsman, he was frustrated by two knee surgeries and took up riding again when he was 35 and still living in New York City.

Riding not only gave him an athletic outlet, but it also made him yearn for greener pastures. “I was thinking about leaving New York and moving back to Virginia. I had three little boys, and I wanted them to enjoy the experience of growing up on a farm. I thought, ‘If I do this, I need to do it now.’ So, we moved in 1989,” Coleman said.

He began hunting with Farmington Hunt (Va.) and carried on with Keswick and Piedmont. Coleman now hunts once or twice a week.

“I’ve had dressage horses and jumpers, and I still think foxhunters are so special. You’re on your foxhunter for anywhere from two to five hours in a day, and you really do get to know these animals quite well. They either make the day wonderful or they don’t, and it’s quite special to have one that makes a day even better,” he said.

Coleman plans to compete at the finals in May and looks forward to checking out his competition there. “I think it’s fun to see the horses they pick, the various breeds and the different backgrounds, different types of riders. It’s very interesting,” he said.


One Experience Is All It Took
Tracey Cover doesn’t have decades of foxhunting experience–she just started hunting three years ago. But that didn’t stop her and Clementine from topping the Northern Virginia District qualifier on Oct. 22 at Mt. Elery in Rappahannock Hunt territory.

Cover rode as a junior and showed in the hunters and equitation, but she put riding on hold while in graduate school and beginning her first career, as a nurse anesthetist. But Cover went back to school, and the bug struck again.

“When I started law school, my husband said he’d get a couple of lessons. And that was it! From there, I ended up getting back into it completely,” she said. “I ran into some friends who thought I’d enjoy foxhunting, as opposed to getting back into the showing. One of my friends took me along as a guest with Middleburg Hunt [Va.], and another friend offered his horse, and I went out and was addicted instantly. One experience is all it took.”

Cover found Clementine, a 9-year-old Percheron-warmblood, three years ago. “When we went looking for her, we had a tall order to fill. My husband is very much a beginner–he’s just learning how to ride. Our goal was to find a horse who could take a beginner around and then also foxhunt with me,” she said.

Luckily, the striking gray mare she found at Elise Daniels’ fit the bill perfectly, becoming an able mount for both Cover and her husband, Alan Speir. “She, in the past couple of years, has taught him how to ride, to the point where she took him out hilltopping for the first time last year. Then, she turned around the following day and went to the Virginia Field Hunter Championships with me [and won]. She’s so sweet and quiet that I put my 21�2-year-old niece up on her,” said Cover.

Now a lawyer practicing in medical malpractice defense litigation and health care regulatory work, Cover gets up at 5 a.m. in her home in Alexandria, Va., drives to the farm in Upperville where she boards Clementine and her other horse, Nutmeg, and rides. She commutes back to Manassas for her workday. She hunts with the Middleburg Hunt one or two times a week.

Cover, who rides with Kim Keppick, has also started branching out into a new sport. She took up eventing last year with her 5-year-old Westphalian mare, Nutmeg, and hopes to move up to novice level this year.

But she has new challenges too. “My latest goal is that I started to ride Clementine side-saddle a few weeks ago. A girlfriend of mine is getting married in March and asked me to ride side-saddle at her wedding. So, my goal is to be able to hunt Clementine side-saddle by the end of March,” Cover said.


The Real Charm
George Mahoney attended the Maryland/ Delaware District qualifier to represent the Green Spring Hounds, where he’s a jt.-MFH, and ended up winning.

“It wasn’t really a goal–it was a matter of participating in the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the MFHA, and I thought that it would be a good thing to support. It was also a really fun thing to do, for everyone to get out and show off their field hunter,” Mahoney said.

Mahoney has been hunting his whole life and is also a jt.-MFH of the United Hunt in Ireland. All of his horses come from Ireland, as did Bob, his mount for the win.

Mahoney bought Bob as a green 4-year-old four years ago and left him in Ireland for six months for some show jumping experience. Bob never hunted in Ireland, but he took to it right away after Mahoney brought him home.

“He can go anywhere in the field. Leading the field across a field, and going down to a jump alone, he has no problem with any of that,” Mahoney said.

“He’s just got a tremendous amount of jump. He’s a very well-bred horse with jumping lines, and he’s got a huge jump. In addition to that, he’s got a lot of Thoroughbred blood, so he’s got a lot of gallop. He’s a sober-minded horse; he has a good brain, but yet he can perform. Those are pretty good ingredients.”

Mahoney, Glyndon, Md., has a construction company and road painting and site utility business.

Like many diehard foxhunters, it’s the thrill of the chase that hooked Mahoney. “I love when the hounds are put into cover and they find a fix and hunt that fox away,” he said. “You never know, when you’re behind hounds, where that fox is going to go. It’s an uncharted, totally extemporaneous experience, and I think that’s the thrill of it. When a pack really hunts a fox well, you just never know what’s going to happen. To me, that’s the real charm of hunting.”


Molly Sorge

Remembering Our Roots
The best-turned-out phase at all of the district qualifiers for the MFHA Centennial Field Hunter Championships, while optional and judged separately from the three performance phases, plays a significant role in the centennial celebration. Not only is it fun, but it’s also meant to educate foxhunters about tradition and correctness in the field.

Middleburg Hunt (Va.) jt.-MFH Mrs. John (Penny) Denegre, who helped develop the field hunter contests, explained, “The reason for the appointments class is to bring people back to the fact that the championships are about the tradition of hunting, our roots, not just the performance of horses. There are a lot of opinions about correct turnout and some are hard and fast and some are a matter of preference. People use their horses for so many things and those traditions creep into what we do, we [foxhunters] need to remind ourselves what we do.”

While the judges were given a list of options, riders were not required to wear the most formal turnout in order to be considered. Although there were some hard and fast rules, judges were guided by their own subjective opinions. The most formal guidelines follow.


Tack General Guidelines
All tack must be flat, not raised and without decoration. It should be an appropriate hunting weight. Rubber reins are not allowed. The bridle should be a snaffle, pelham or double bridle. All cheek pieces and reins must be sewn-in.

Caveson nosebands are required.

Breastplates or martingales are optional.

No saddle pads or stirrup pads should be used. The stirrups should be traditional, not jointed.

Three-fold girths are preferred. String or web girths are permissible. No elastic should be used.

Billet guards are required.

Sandwich case and/or a flask must contain the appropriate food and beverage. The sandwich should be chicken or turkey (butter is allowed) on white bread with the crust removed, wrapped in wax paper. Ladies may carry tea or sherry in their flask. Gentleman may carry brandy.


Lady Member Attire
Hat: Silk top hat with a crown of five inches or more. A hatguard is required. Dressage hats are not appropriate. Hairnets are correct; no jewelry should be visible.

Coat: Shadbelly or frock, black, dark blue or charcoal Melton or other suitable material. Colors and buttons as adopted by the Hunt represented, if the wearer has her colors.

Vest: Solid buff, canary or hunt livery color as adopted by the hunt represented.

Stock: White four-fold, properly tied with a plain horizontal stock pin.

Breeches: Buff or tan (not white) or as adopted by the hunt represented. Breeches with four small buttons at the knee are preferred.

Boots: Regulation hunting boots of black calf, patent leather tops are allowed if the wearer has her colors. Tabs sewn on but not sewn down to tops, tops should be sewn on boots. No field boots and no zippers.

Boot garters: Black if wearing black calf or black patent leather if wearing tops; worn between the two lowest buttons, the buckle against the buttons on the outside.

Spurs: Regulation hunting spurs, with plain black leather straps. The spurs should be worn high on the heel.

Gloves: Heavy wash or brown leather. Black is not appropriate. Rain gloves (white string) should be carried under the girth: left glove on left side, right glove on right side. Glove thumbs should be turned against the palm, fingers facing toward the front of the saddle.

Whip: Regulation hunting whip with a thong.


Gentleman Member Attire
Hat: Silk top hat with a crown of six inches or more. A hatguard is required. Dressage hats are not appropriate. A silk top hat is to be worn with coats cut in the shadbelly, weasel belly or frock style.

Coat: Scarlet, shadbelly, weasel belly, frock or hunt livery with appropriate colors and buttons for the Hunt represented if the wearer has his colors. Scarlet should be worn only by members with their colors.

Vest: Solid white, buff, canary or hunt livery as adopted by the hunt represented.

Stock: White four-fold, properly tied with a plain horizontal stock pin.

Breeches: White (buff or brown according to the livery of the individual hunt) breeches to be worn with scarlet, shadbelly, frock or weasel belly. Breeches with four small buttons at the knee preferred.

Boots: Regulation hunting boots of black calf. Brown tops if the wearer has his colors. Tops should be sewn on boots, tabs sewn on but not down. No field boots and no zippers.

Bootgarters: Black if boots are without tops. If tops are worn must conform to the color of breeches and be worn between the two lowest buttons, the buckle against the buttons on the outside.

Spurs: Regulation hunting spurs, with plain black leather straps. The spurs should be worn high on the heel.

Gloves: Heavy wash or brown leather. Black is not appropriate. Rain gloves (white string), should be carried under the girth: left glove on the left side, right glove on the right side. Glove thumbs should be turned against the palm, fingers facing toward the front of the saddle.

Whip: Regulation hunting whip with a thong.


Junior Attire
It is not necessary for juniors to wear formal attire. Cub hunting attire is appropriate and acceptable for a junior in the best turned out phase. A shadbelly should not to be worn by a junior. A properly fitted safety helmet with the chinstrap fastened is required.

Donna Ross