Fast away the old year passes…

by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 30, 2022

My headline, which I have always used for New Year’s stories over the decades, comes from a seldom-sung verse of a favorite carol, Deck the Halls. It is amazing how fast a year goes by, isn’t it?

Last January, we were still feeling the effects of coming out of the Covid panicdemic, so everything felt a little bit new as the year 2022 began. Remember that the 2021 Olympics and many other competitions were held without spectators. The dressage and show jumping phases of the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star three-day event were staged in an empty stadium, with only cardboard cutouts looking on from the stands.

But this year, the crowds came back, and not just in Kentucky.

The fans enjoyed seeing Doug Payne finish as the highest-placed U.S. competitor at the Land Rover Kentucky 5-star. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)

Shows such as Devon, which was not held for two years, were welcomed by fans. It was good to have everything return that makes Devon, Devon, from the ladies’ hat contest to the lemons with candy sticks, the tea sandwiches and an acapella men’s chorus singing the Star-Spangled Banner before the Sapphire Grand Prix. And yes, that class ended as usual, with McLain Ward collecting the blue ribbon.

The crowds were happy to return to Devon and cheer on favorites like McLain Ward. (Photo © 2022 by Nancy Jaffer)

Another big show that came back after a two-year absence was Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, celebrating its hundredth anniversary in the same style we always loved; women in long gowns, men in tuxedoes or white tie and tails; a sold-out arena and top caliber international horses and riders to close out the North American Fall Indoor Circuit in style.

The months zipped by. One minute, we were looking forward to 2022’s world championships in the Olympic disciplines and Para; now we’re focusing on this April, when the FEI World Cup Finals in dressage and show jumping return to the U.S. for the first time since 2017. In 2023, as in 2017, it will be held in Omaha, and vaulting is joining the offerings.

The inaugural Omaha finals was the first time an international championship in the Olympic disciplines was held in that area of the country. The concept achieved its goal of boosting equestrian sports in that region. Want proof?  Split Rock’s Fort Worth, Texas, show will present the finals in 2026.

The world championships were a mixed bag for the U.S. The dressage team’s sixth-place finish guaranteed the U.S. a berth for that discipline in the 2024 Olympics. The show jumping team was not so lucky, with Sweden dominating the team championship and its star, European Champion Henrik von Eckermann on the superlative King Edward, taking individual gold. He is ranked number one in the world.

World Champion Show Jumper Henrik von Eckermann gave King Edward a hug after winning his title.

The American squad finished eleventh and will have to do better at the Pan American Games to earn a place in Paris.

The U.S. para riders, however, came through with individual silver and bronze medals, and a team bronze that qualified the country for the Paralympics in Paris.

The eventers don’t have to sweat Paris; they qualified for the 2024 Games with a team silver, their first team medal at a world championships in 20 years.

There were plenty of big stories during the year. Former Winter Equestrian Festival impresario Mark Bellissimo presented a plan for developing acreage in Wellington, Fla., including the site of the Global Dressage Festival (dressage would move to a different location in the community under another facet of the complicated deal.)

Where dressage will be held during the 2024 Wellington circuit is up in the air, as the Global grounds may be developed. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)

That saga will continue well into the new year, with hearings slated to start in February.

The most high-profile narrative was the trial of dressage trainer Michael Barisone, charged with attempted murder of a tenant on his property in a teacher/student relationship that went very wrong. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remains at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital.

A lot happened on the local level in New Jersey in 2022.

More than two years after Lord Stirling Stable’s horses were sold as the facility was shut down during Covid, a plan to buy “a number of horses” and begin reintroducing equestrian programming before the end of the year at the Somerset County facility in Basking Ridge was announced in September. It didn’t happen.

The only specifics offered included “limited trail riding for more experienced patrons,” and providing lead-line rides for beginners. But this month, pony rides and grooming lessons for kids were halted “until better weather,” even though the stable has an indoor arena.

Lord Stirling was the venue where so many people started riding in a robust lesson program before Covid struck. There are fewer and fewer places in the state where such programs are available.

Another one that’s off the list is Essex Equestrian Center in West Orange, which closed this month. No reasons were given for the closure, but it has gotten more and more expensive to operate such facilities.

The Delaware Valley Horsemen’s Association, whose lower-level shows were popular for decades, ceased operations in the face of declining entries and a squabble between the organization’s factions.

If the entry end of the horse business goes away, it will lose its base and become a sport only for the wealthy. But in that regard, a hopeful sign is that the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association’s Outreach programs that enable people to venture into the show scene for a reasonable price with appropriate challenges in the arena.

What lies ahead for 2023? I think a key issue will be “social license to operate.”

Don’t forget the emphasis the FEI (international equestrian federation) puts on that, as public opinion of horse sports is emphasized. Everyone has a video camera on their phone, so there’s no hiding not only abuse, but also practices that some with no horse experience would interpret as abuse.

Expect a great deal of “guidance to promote an ethical horse/human relationship” under the banner of equine welfare. Practices you take for granted now may well not pass muster in the year to come.

One more thing. As we look back over 2022, let’s recall the people who were part of the horse world that left us in the last 12 months. Read about them at this link and raise a glass to their memory.

A tradition that keeps up with changing times: Part One

by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 21, 2022

It’s a scene that resonates every autumn, set to the bright, beckoning notes of the huntsman’s horn and the music of hounds in full cry, played out against a backdrop of brilliantly colored leaves.

Eager riders on neatly clipped mounts with carefully braided manes gather for the excitement of the chase, galloping across the countryside and over fences as they take  part in a treasured ritual. Even in New Jersey, the most densely populated state, the tradition continues with five hunt clubs.

The Monmouth County Hunt. (MegVal photography)

They are Monmouth County, the Essex Foxhounds in Somerset County, the  Amwell Valley Hounds in Hunterdon County, Spring Valley Hounds in Warren and Sussex counties and the Windy Hollow Hunt, which is based in New York but does some hunting in Sussex County.

Although the traditional look may be the same as in decades past, times have changed, and the hunts have changed with them. In any area where territory is at a premium, keeping these hunts going requires a greater effort than it did when open land was more available and the march of development slower. That means reaching out beyond the sport’s usual constituency, actively recruiting members and supporters.

“All of the hunts are really doing their best to confront reality,” said David Feureisen, the New Jersey/New York District Director for the Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America and a master of the Golden’s Bridge Hounds in North Salem, N.Y.

Andrew Barclay, director of hunting for MFHA, which has 144 member hunts, recalls a time when “hunting really was a fabric of the community. People who owned the land hunted, there was much more of a tie-in to the area and the hunt.”

The passing years have brought a big difference in that regard.

“Nowadays, most hunts have got people from towns and elsewhere who don’t really know what hunting’s about,” he observed. “You’ve got to educate all the new people who moved out to enjoy the countryside.”

The clubs’ masters of foxhounds, who lead the way in keeping things going, have plenty to do.

“The work of the master always has been a major job, but it’s much more complicated than it used to be,” he pointed out.

Barclay, formerly the huntsman for the Green Spring Valley Hounds in Maryland, noted it’s increasingly the practice for hunts to be headed by multiple masters.

“You don’t have the lord of the manor becoming master. It’s people who work for a living, and by dividing the workload, hopefully you’re not overworking any one master,” he explained.

All but two of the five clubs that hunt in New Jersey have more than two masters, because the job entails so much responsibility, from landowner relations to finances and conservation, along with everything in between.

“It’s too overwhelming for one person. It no longer suits to have a single master who is in charge of everything. There are so many nuanced things to be done,” said Jazz Johnson, who serves with Dennis Sargenti, Sarah Slack and Lynn Jones as a master of the Peapack-based Essex Foxhounds.

In addition to keeping landowners happy and insuring the integrity of a hunt’s territory, attracting new members and encouraging them to stay on board is a concern. The image of hunting as a sport with a touch of snobbery is outdated. Now it’s busy building a new identity.

The Essex Foxhounds Thanksgiving hunt is a time for a meet-and-greet with the community. (Photo © 2022 by Lawrence J. Nagy)

“There’s a much more awareness toward proactiveness on the part of hunts and I think that’s a good thing,” said Barclay, noting, “There is a lot of interest in hunting. Covid actually increased the interest, as people could not do things they wanted to do or go to the horse shows. and they ended up coming back to hunting. Almost to a hunt, they say their membership and capping (riding as a paid guest) picked up during Covid.”

Meg Valnoski, who serves as one of the masters of the Monmouth County Hunt with Jen Donaldson and Doug Raynor, observed about hunting that “In the past, it was far more social.”

There was a time when some people equated being in a hunt club as similar to joining a golf club, and they remained a part of it longer, she commented.

“Now there’s more rotation of membership, so we have to keep working on it,” said Valnoski.

You don’t have to ride to be associated with a hunt, though.

“We try to go at it from multiple angles,” she mentioned.

“We urge people to get involved however they would like; as volunteers, car followers, patrons–what gives them a comfort level. People can be around the hunt club without immediate pressure of signing up for a big membership. It gives them time to process.”

When it comes to following the hounds on horseback, though, she noted that “the fear factor” can dissuade people from actually mounting up and joining the field.

But not to worry.

What’s different today is “what you see on TV and the way it used to be when I started hunting. It’s a little bit tamer, to be honest,” Valnoski said.

Although the “first flight” includes experienced riders who can keep up with the huntsman and hounds, jumping every fence along the way, there’s also a tamer second flight that likely won’t jump at all. And gaining popularity among hunts is a third, or walking, flight.

At Monmouth, that started with a September introductory clinic on hunting at the club’s Allentown base. Other hunts offer similar clinics to give people a quick course, complete with tips on hunt etiquette, on what to expect when they’re out hunting, as well as what is expected of them.

Riders and hounds from Monmouth gather before the start of the hunt. (MegVal Photo)

MFH Donaldson mentioned that people would say, “I’d like to try this sport, but I’m nervous to try it.”

The walking flight led by a Pony Club member proved to be the answer; it was so popular it was added every Sunday in October. Hosting it, however, “is not easy,” Donaldson advised, “because you get everything from very green horses to very timid riders, who have either never been out of the ring or never been on a trail ride.”

Yet it’s worth the extra effort.

“For us, it’s a way to give more people access to the sport. There was a ton of interest because it provided them (the riders) a great way to see hounds work at a pace they were comfortable with. We’ve had riders in it every single week coming to cap, including two who have joined as members. We did it at our 137th opening day with the blessing of hounds and breakfast under a tent.”

Once riders gain confidence, some move to second flight, where they can trot and canter up hills, said Donaldson.

Valnoski noted Monmouth also uses social media and stays in touch with local barns and trainers. The suggestion is that instead of going to a show every weekend, trainers can pursue an income alternative in leasing horses to those who want to try hunting, while picking up trailering and training fees along the way.

“It has to be a constant effort and integrated approach to reaching out to new membership,” said Valnoski.

In that regard, Essex promotes its Friends program.

“We’re trying to reach out to a broader group of people…and be a little more like a community organization and not such a closed club. We’re very approachable,” said  Essex MFH Dennis Sargenti.

“We’re going to have days when people can follow on foot, with a fieldmaster.  It’s weather-dependent.  I think all the clubs are facing dwindling memberships, so it’s another way of getting people involved.”

In a unique approach, Windy Hollow offers a series of well-subscribed dressage shows at the Sussex County Fairgrounds in Augusta, N.J.

A beautiful view of the Windy Hollow Hunt’ s country. (Photo courtesy of Windy Hollow)

“The shows are a major fundraiser, so we can keep our dues low,” said Lindie Scorsone, a joint master of Windy Hollow with senior MFH Ed Wiley, Emily Wiley, Shane Haslim and Dale Roberts.

A broader base is key for clubs’ survival, and preservation of the countryside is a watchword for all the hunts. It’s also an important element in appealing to a new constituency. Essex, for instance, is very involved with the Countryside Alliance of Somerset Hills.

“We would like people to know that Essex Fox Hounds is about more than the fox hunting, it’s about supporting the community and keeping the country open. We’re involved with many other organizations in the area, the Pony Club, the puppy show and lots of local businesses. It’s important that if you are out here, there’s so much else going on you can be a part of,” said Jeanne Clarke, who was handing out the red-jacketed Essex Almanac during the gathering for the Thanksgiving hunt, where hundreds turn out to send off the riders and perhaps even enjoy a stirrup cup.

PART TWO, out next week, will deal with the future of hunting in New Jersey and include comments from masters of the other hunts.

A tradition that keeps up with changing times: Part Two–what does the future hold?

by Nancy Jaffer | Dec 29, 2022

In Part One last week, we talked about how New Jersey’s hunt clubs are adapting, becoming more welcoming, even offering options for people who just want to walk and trot while following the hounds. Here is a link to that story. This week, we discuss the future for these clubs.

Hunt clubs are about more than the chase. They play an important role in the equestrian community, often supporting Pony Clubs and a variety of activities such as hunter paces and small shows. That’s in addition to helping keep land open while encouraging an appreciation for the countryside and its way of life.

The beauty of horses and hounds running together could kindle admiration in those unfamiliar with equine pursuits, which might inspire them to explore an equestrian connection after glimpsing hunters in action.

So it is important that the clubs continue, but they face challenges in terms of sufficient membership and land on which to operate. Can they survive? It depends on the club, the area where they are located and the determination of their leaders and members.

“We’re in a spell now because of the changing times and changing economy where some hunts can’t stay viable,” said Andrew Barclay, director of hunting for the Masters of Foxhounds of America Association.

He called it, “A funny time for foxhunting, we are losing some hunts right now because of money or a change in the way people view outdoor country sports. It’s happening all around. People aren’t doing as much outdoors like they used to. Too many other things we’re competing against.”

Even so, he pointed out “There are other hunts that are trying to start.”

The most significant issue faced by many hunt clubs across the country is how to deal with a loss of territory as development continues its march. This is particularly an issue in densely populated New Jersey.

In Hunterdon County, the Amwell Valley Hounds’ Cindy Hoogland Nance, who serves as joint master with Dan Wasserstrom, worries that “We are on our last 10 to 20 years of foxhunting in New Jersey.”

She observed, “New Jersey is becoming slowly not a horse community, as it used to be. The farms are being bought up.”

Members of Amwell, founded in the 1960s, ride across farmland, not estates, as the Essex Fox Hounds often do, and not on state land, as the Monmouth County Hunt, with roots in the 19^th Century, does at the Assunpink Wildlife Management Area.

“In the valley, our farmers are real farmers,” the Amwell master explained.

“They’ve owned the land and farmed it, normally for two generations. Some three.”

The younger generation, however, is not going into farming.

“These lands are getting sold off to people coming out of New York and taking 100 acres of our territory,” Nance said, noting newcomers often get bad legal advice amid fears that someone will get injured on their property if they allow the hunt to ride there. Although New Jersey has an equine liability law to protect them, they and their attorneys may not be aware of it, she suggested.

Amwell, Nance explained, is “getting encroached by suburbia. Once we lose a 10-acre slot, we tend to lose the coherence of being able to get to the 100-acre field on one side and the 100-acre field on the other side.”

The Amwell Valley Hounds hunt across farmland.

There are people coming in who don’t farm, and don’t want the hunt on their property. But the hunt can be a plus for landowners, she pointed out, since Amwell mows where it hunts and will clear fallen trees.

Similar issues with territory affect Essex in Somerset County and the New York-based Windy Hollow Hunt, which at times also meets over the state line in Sussex County.

Farmers like the hunt because the area is “infested,” as Nance puts it, with bold coyotes, pests that can attack goats, lambs and pets, in addition to children–sometimes when adults are just feet away.

Two such incidents in California were in the news earlier this year. Here are links to a couple of dramatic videos: A coyote attacked a toddler on a beach while her family briefly was looking in another direction, and a man rescued his daughter in front of a suburban home as the child was being dragged away by coyote.)

“Almost every pack in the country is hunting coyotes,” the MFHA’s Barclay said.

The Essex hounds operate wearing GPS collars, which joint MFH Jazz Johnson notes is particularly helpful with puppies who could stray, as well as when hounds are following coyotes.

The Essex Fox Hounds. (Photo © 2022 by Lawrence J. Nagy)

“Because coyotes run in a straight line, they can get way outside of our allowed hunt territory very quickly,” she noted. If one or two hounds start following them and are headed out of bounds, the GPS makes it easy to “go and retrieve them.”

Coyotes offer “a cracking run” but they can get so far so fast that the proximity of Routes 78 and 206 could mean danger.

She noted that hunts elsewhere are coping with coyotes too, and “a lot of coyote pressure means much fewer foxes.” She doesn’t think that’s the case around the Essex territory, but rather “it is a problem in other hunt countries where there’s a lot of open space.”

“Nowadays in the sport,” she said, “the aim is not really to be killing game, it’s really just the pursuit and the… sporting (aspect) of it.”

Nance coordinates New Jersey hunts’ fundraising event schedules, so one hunter pace doesn’t conflict with another, for instance. Could more such cooperation mean mergers as an answer to problems facing the hunts?

“We’ve been starting conversations on how we’re going to do it,” she said, emphasizing they are in the “very preliminary” stage.

She believes, “the future of us is coming together with the different hunts, combining these packs with each hunt responsible for a particular territory.”

That, she explained, would mean “we can move around a little bit more versus doing the same five or six fixtures and going around in a circle.”

Windy Hollow MFH Lindie Scoresone agreed, “the biggest problem is losing land.”

Windy Hollow rotates around its territory, spending one-third of the time in New Jersey, the rest in New York.

“You don’t want to over-hunt the area, you can’t be there every couple of days,” she pointed out.

The Windy Hollow Hunt setting out.

Vernon, N.J., is “one area where we’ve been very lucky. There are a lot of farms that have been preserved and are friendly to the hunt. Further down in Sussex, they’re putting in fancy horse breeding farms and saying,  `Sorry, we don’t want you to come through here anymore.’ That makes it difficult to get around.”

All hunts need to make concessions to landowners, but as long as it’s a two-way street, it often can be done.

One farm where Windy Hollow hunts “has cows in there and we have to work around where the cows are,” Scoresone said.

They also had an issue with a deer hunting club that didn’t want Windy Hollow to come through their leased land. It was “touchy,” but such matters can sometimes be solved with negotiation.

At one point, Windy Hollow considered additional acreage that looked promising for hunting, but it was “close to Route 94 and sort of a dangerous area to hunt.”

With the Vernon option, “we can back away from 94 and into those areas that have been preserved. It’s much better than we ever thought,” Scoresone commented.

In terms of increasing membership, she noted Windy Hollow’s Pony Club kids are very young,” but “we’re hopeful that’s the next step.”

Lynn Jones, an MFH from the Essex Fox Hounds, feels the same.

“One of our real priorities is to get the interest of young riders in the sport. We’ve engaged with the Somerset Hills Pony Club and encouraged those members to come out with us for a very nominal fee. It’s been great to have these young kids out hunting with us. It’s actually one of my favorite things, to teach them the sport,” she said.

Children are the future for the Spring Valley Hounds, as they are for the other hunts seeking to expand membership. (Photo courtesy Scott Mickelsen Photography).

The Spring Valley Hounds decades ago adjusted to the suburbanization of its territory in New Vernon, just outside of Morristown in Morris County, by splitting time between that area and Allamuchy in more rural Warren County, where the kennels were located.

Now it visits New Vernon on only a few occasions, since that area is far less horse-oriented than it used to be, despite retention of its trail system and small showgrounds.  But in the northwest part of the state, Spring Valley, which also hunts territory in Sussex County, has “a bunch of landowners who like to see us,” said Dr. David Schroepfer, who serves as joint master with Dr. Louise Barbieri.

Spring Valley has another edge. Unlike the New Jersey hunts that chase foxes and coyotes, it is a drag hunt, with hounds following a line laid out in advance. Rather than using messy fox scent, Spring Valley’s hounds sniff anisette; yes, the liquer. It also smells better to humans, should one happen to spill it.

Schroepfer notes an advantage of a drag hunt is its ability to be more nimble than a live hunt.

“If there are crops in one section, I can direct hounds around that. Usually, that takes care of some people’s issues,” he said.

The hunt has “a fair amount of young members,” while partnering with a stable means people can ride horses out from there. Schroepfer believes in a focus on youth and families. Spring Valley’s “Coffee and Cars” is an event that attracts people who may not want to hunt, but still like to be a part of things.

“My thought is, if I get the whole family involved, then everyone is involved,” he said. With a drag hunt, he pointed out, if new or novice people are out, it’s easy to control certain situations.

“We can just stop for a little bit and do something else and modulate things,” he explained. It also enables Spring Valley to avoid areas that host deer hunters on a private basis. By the time Spring Valley gets to those sections, the hunters usually are finished for the day.

The Spring Valley Hounds, led here by Dr. Dave Schroepfer, enjoy their location in northwest New Jersey. (Photo courtesy of Scott Mickelsen Photography)

The masters of the New Jersey hunts meet once a year for dinner and to talk over common issues as a group. One of those issues is the question of mergers.

“Spring Valley has no interest in merging,” said Schroepfer, though like the other hunts, Spring Valley does joint meets with other clubs.

“We just do our own little thing; things seem to be going along okay,” he said.

Could drag hunting provide an answer for clubs feeling the territory pinch?

Windy Hollow’s Scorsone notes, “We really enjoy live hunting and having a live view”

With drag hunting, she contends, “You draw a different group of people who just want to go out for a couple of hours and run and jump. We’ve talked about it, and maybe use one territory?  Everyone says, `No, we’re not interested.’ But if it ever got to the point where we couldn’t hunt at all unless we do that, it’s probably the solution.”