|
By Jeanie Thomas, MFH
The Why
Worry Hounds were founded in 1996 as a modest "farmer's pack".
We were very lucky to receive some wonderful drafts from Charles Montgomery
at the Whiskey Road
and Oliver Brown at the Rappahannock. These were joined by several drafts
from Midland and Ben Hardaway and the Deep Run and Tommy Kniepp. Our
major tail male and tail female lines came from these early drafts and are
the
core of our pack today.
Our main
goal has been to blend some of the old Bywaters bloodlines with crossbreeds
of English influence. Our interest in the Bywaters breeding program is strong
due to the fact that George, through his Mother's family, is a Bywaters himself.
He is a 6th generation huntsman so his love of hounds and hunting is deeply
rooted.
Our breeding program has had some wonderful influence from some of the top packs in the country. We have bred our bitches to several of the Live Oak's excellent stallion hounds and we thank Marty and Daphne Wood for their advice and counseling. We have also received as drafts some wonderful "old boys" from Midland whose influence is evident now from breedings to "Midland Boss". We have high hopes for the two litters we have this year by "Midland Rambler". The exciting part is watching the pack become more uniform and beginning to take on our own "look". We have been successful in the hunt field, show ring, and performance trails and we are mightily grateful to all those who have helped us along the way.
We still try to maintain our laid back approach to foxhunting and strive to interest both children and adults who have never hunted to give it a try. We really enjoy seeing these newcomers become just as hooked as we are on this wonderful sport. Although our membership is small in numbers, they are full of enthusiasm and love for the hounds and the sport. At the end of a long day, that's what makes it all worthwhile.
I must confess that even though I first hunted as a teenager, I really
was one of those people who hunted to ride. Since we began to hunt our own
hounds the whole concept has changed completely for me. Our hounds and horses are a huge part of our lives now and we can't even imagine life without them.We moved to our new
farm and kennels on Colbert Bridge Road in 2001. We were registered with
the MFHA in 2000 and
recognized in 2003.
|