Her only vice was that she was mouthy in the hound truck. Bobby was always trying to shut her up by swerving the truck or hitting the brakes,lol. Never worked.
So, that's Shamrock and Lark gone this year. Hopefully, Reilly, Rebel and Raven will turn out to be as good as they. And Ryan- now renamed T-Bone ( sigh) by Tommy. Their sire is Tommy's Twister, out of Bobby's bitch, Reno. Both very good strike hounds. Reno now resides in my kennel, not sure how I feel about that. But the day Lark died, right after we buried her at the Ireland homestead ( the family has kennelled hounds there for decades) , Bobby turned to me and blurted out " take Reno home with you". Before I could even answer, he had her loaded into my hound truck. . Not sure if he just wanted her to go so he'd have one less mouth to feed, or because he knew how I would feel when I went into my kennel to feed, and would see one less eager face staring up at me.. Regardless, she is no trouble -I kept her while she was pregnant and until the pups were weaned last summer. Actually, I took her after she had broken her RF leg ( non-displaced fracture) and had been in solitary confinement for 3 months while it healed. When the time came for her to begin to get some exercise, I offered Bobby to let me take her so she could get out every day at my place. Two weeks later, she came in heat.
Whatever. She seems to really thrive here. I catch her playing like a puppy with her daughter, Reilly, when they are out in the exercise yard. So, I guess she's mine now. But I would have liked a younger bitch. I still have room for one more....
Here is a picture of Shamrock, taken out in the field during a hunt:
I didnt make 100 hunts-but the other fellows all did-they ended with around 109. I missed some due to unavoidable circumstances, and I missed some because I thought it best for my hounds to stay in kennels. No regrets there! The season prior, I managed 108 times out. Who knows what will happen in 2012-13.
All I know is, right now it's mid- June and horse and hound exercise will continue until we begin our cubbing season on or around August 1. Sooner if it's cool enough, hopefully not later because of drought and hot weather.
Here's a pic from my hack out with Mel today:
We've had mostly coool temps this Spring -except for last weekend when I took Mel up for a hunter pace at Amwell Valley Hounds in New Jersey. It was hot and humid and just plain nasty. But the big horse did super over a nice course of about 8 miles. We looked too gawd-awful to pose for any pics afterwards. All I wanted to do was get my horse to his overnight digs and get him hosed down and cooled off. .But dontcha know, the temps cooled off that night and it was very pleasant for their hound walk the next morning:
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| Amwell Valley Hounds huntsman, Steve Farrin, and his lovely pack of English Foxhounds. |
So, that's all for now. Basically, I'm allcaught up with recent events. But stay tuned - some exciting things to come by late summer!
