The history of foxhunting in America is rich and colorful.  Colonel Robert Brooks came to North America and settled in Maryland in 1650. He brought his hounds with him from Great Britain. His was the first pack of foxhounds in North America.  As the colonies grew, so did the sport of foxhunting. By 1775,  foxhunting was a somewhat organized sport. In 1835, the first American military hunt club was formed at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. There were 76 known organized hunt clubs in North America by 1904, and the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America (MFHA) was founded in 1907. Since then the sport has grown steadily in popularity.  Today, it still adheres to strict rules of protocol established centuries ago. The organized hunting club, whose season runs  from September to March, has been fairly well standardized. Its hierarchy consists of the Master of Foxhounds, the huntsman, the whippers-in, the hunt secretary, and the members of the hunt, or field. Today there are about 140 such hunts throughout the United States and Canada registered with MFHA.

To those watching a foxhunt for the first time, it looks like an excuse to get dressed up in odd clothing and chase hounds about the countryside with a group of friends on horseback. MFHA’s definition is, “Foxhunting is the sport of mounted riders chasing wild quarry with a pack of hounds. It is a union of humans and animals in the beauty of nature’s setting. Man is an observer mounted on a horse, the vehicle that allows him to follow and observe the hounds as they hunt the fox. The scenario unwinds before the foxhunters’ eyes and ears with the sound of the huntsman’s hunting horn as hounds give chase. The fox or coyote maneuvers, circles and runs through the country cunningly evading the hounds.”

“An excellent place to start to learn important information on foxhunting is surfing the Masters of Foxhounds
Association of America’s website, www.mfha.com.

To those who hunt,  foxhunting can best be described as PASSION. Everyone who participates has been caught up in the passion of this ancient sport. Foxhunting permits us to forget our daily responsibilities and to gallop over fields and fences that we would never have the opportunity to gallop over if not for this sport--a sport which binds people to horses and horses to hounds and all of us to the land. (From the Tennessee Valley Hunt website)

Liz & Dice, Greg & Bux

Liz & Dice, Cathy & Sam, Claire & Maggie, Greg & Shiraz at Iroquois Point-to-Point