Community Corner
Annual hound show livens up Morven Park
Foxhounds and those who love them converged on Morven Park May 29 for the 64th annual Virginia Foxhound Club show, replete with fine food and upscale shopping
Morven Park went to the dogs Sunday, May 29.
More correctly, it went to the hounds. The occasion was the 64th annual Virginia Foxhound Club competition. From homes in Texas to Florida to New York and Ontario, 38 fox hunting clubs brought their best hounds to present to judges and, they all hoped, to snag a blue ribbon or two. The fun started the afternoon before with the induction into the Museum of Hounds and Hunting of three near iconic figures the sport: Melvin Poe, Albert Poe and the late Mrs. John B. (Nancy) Hannum. Several cocktails parties on the Morven Park grounds in front of the Westmoreland Davis mansion followed. Competition for horn blowing honors ended the evening.
The serious business of showing hounds started at 7 a.m. the next day.
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First, an explanation of foxhounds and the vocabulary of foxhunting:
If it pursues foxes, it is a hound. Everything else, no matter how noble in bloodlines, is a dog. If it interferes with the hunting of foxes (or coyotes), it is a “cur dog.”
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Dog hound -- a male.
Bitch -- not a value judgment. It is a female foxhound.
Gone away – the exhilarating moment when the hounds “open” (give cry) on the scent line of a fox and set off as fast as they can while not losing the scent.
Come a cropper – what happens when one of the mounted enthusiasts trying to keep up with the hounds fails to negotiate an obstacle?
Gone to ground – what the fox (or coyote) does when he tires of the chase.
Judging at the hound show divides the contestants into four categories: American Foxhounds, English Foxhounds, Crossbred Foxhounds (their bloodlines combine the genetics of the American and English breeds), and Penn-Marydel Foxhounds (American bloodlines, but Penn-Marydels have their own registry).
Not everyone’s attention stayed with the hounds. Tents housing the buffets of all those clubs surrounded the exhibition rings, and between the kennels and the rings, vendors of all things equine and vulpine set up shop. Finding a new garden party hat is almost obligatory.
Hats were a major draw, as were antiques, art and clothing.
