Today's Date: February 06, 2012 - UPCOMING EVENT: TBA
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Today's Date: February 06, 2012 - UPCOMING EVENT: TBA |
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Sue Levy, Joint MFH & Huntsman, has been riding with Wentworth since the mid-nineties. No one was more surprised than her when she took over the Huntsman helm in 2007 – now, no one is more delighted than the club. She has done a fabulous job, building a new pack, training hounds to hunt, but also sharing the fun experience with members. She often will recount how the hounds did at a hunt at the tea afterward. Her stories about the hounds are priceless. Her mount Hannah has become a pro riding with the hounds.
When she is not riding or working with the hounds, Sue works with her husband at their enterprise and they are building their dream house on Great Bay this year.
Ann Wicander, MFH, has had the vision to bring our club to a new level. It is through connections she has made within the hunting community and her hard work that we have built a new pack from scratch – with hounds from Aiken, Myopia, Green Mountain Hounds. She has orchestrated joint meets with Myopia, North Country and Guilford in the last few years, and she keeps us connected with the larger MFHA hunting community. She also brings a high level of riding and respect, growing our first field and competitiveness at the hunter trials. Ann caught the horsey disease when she was five. She has had the pleasure of riding to the Wentworth Hounds since 1996. She also Events at the Preliminary level, with her mare Wow, an eleven-year old Hanoverian, who also loves to hunt. Wow has shared the opportunity to be in the hunt field with twelve-year old Hanoverian stable mate, Cali. Ann is president of WE Cork, an international cork company based in Exeter, New Hampshire. Classic Girl (Cali) became a Centennial Field Hunter (top eight of the New England Centennial Performance Trial). Her property Garrison House Farm has become a popular fixture, with a fantastic run through woods with natural jumps followed by cross-country jumps throughout the fields that flank the historical Garrison house. During formal season the teas are inside this carefully restored gem, often with a roaring fire in the sitting room. During cubbing season, the teas are equally enjoyable, out on the screened porch overlooking the pond and hayfields.
Kami Wolk, Assistant to the Huntsman and First Whipper-In, joined the Staff in 2009. We are so lucky to have Kami join our staff, she has a lifetime of experience with horses, and has honed her hunting skills with our club. In 2010, she hunted the hounds several times and the 2011 season marks her rise to Assistant Huntsman. She knows our territories and hounds well. She assists our Master and Huntsman, Sue Levy, MFH, with all aspects of hound care and training. During after-hunt teas, it is wonderful to hear her stories of how the hounds hunted and what to watch and listen for in the riding field. She has been working on good ways to have the riders observe the casting of the hounds and watching them at work. She trains, competes and cares for horses, grew up riding, and runs a 12-stall barn at her farm. She is an active eventer, finishing first place Preliminary Team at GMHA’s September Horse Trials, with her event horse Hurricane Bay, and she hunts her horse Trinidad.
Liz Esmiol, Whipper-In, joined the Staff in 2008. She came back to hunting with Wentworth in 2007 and worked with her horse Ballan to make him a great hunter. Liz was introduced to foxhunting as a child in Connecticut with Fairfield County Hunt Club and continued to ride all through her school years. She was on the first Connecticut College riding team when the intercollegiate shows began in the 1970s. Liz had hunted in the past with Wentworth (whipping under Lena Amirian, MFH, in the mid-nineties) and with Myopia, and has enjoyed hunting and riding also in Virginia, New York, Ireland and Austria. At her farm in Amherst, she operates a training facility Hunterfield Farm, specializing in hunt seat. She will be sitting out the beginning of our season, and we can’t wait until she returns.
Diane Kane, Whipper-In, of Scarborough, Maine, has hunted with the club since the 1980s, and served in the past as field secretary and has most recently whipped-in with her gray Trakehner Max. Now retired from New England Telephone, Diane runs Kane Kountry Farm and is a certified instructor of hunt seat and combined training level II with the American Riding Instructors Certification Program (ARICP).
Riding is a family affair for the Kanes: husband Mike (former Hunt President and Field Master), Diane, and daughters Shannon Leigh (a whip at age 12) and Krystal all enjoyed showing in the former Seacoast Association of Riding Clubs (SARC, now disbanded) where Diane was leading rider three years in row. She showed all seats, hunt, western, saddle seat and trained all her own horses. She has bred, raised, and trained show hunters and event horses and trained young riders that are successful at the local and state level in Hunters, Equitation, Eventing, and Dressage. She instruct Sea Coast Pony Club and they have been to Pony Club Nationals six times, winning in Dressage, Horse Management and Quiz. Diane’s daughter Shannon rode at NEED Medals and Maine Medal Finals and won awards too numerous to mention in Maine Horse Association. Her daughter Krystal rode with the Wentworth Hunt the first time when she was four-years old (on a lead line) and loved watching the “hound puppies” as she called them. Diane’s farm currently stands the twelve-year old thoroughbred stallion Our Jeff's Ladd, who has recently been not only a winning show hunter but also successful at every USEA event he has entered.
Daun DeFrance, Whipper-In, joined the Wentworth Hunt in 2008. When she and Alyssa (see Ground Crew) moved from Texas and tried one of our paces, they were hooked. They have been very actively involved in the club since then. This is Daun’s first season regularly whipping, on her hunt horse Brego. Daun was instrumental in two major improvements for the staff this season. First the GPS collar system, so that our hounds can be accurately tracked and data can be analyzed after the fact. If you are ever curious about the GPS tracks, please contact Daun. She will know where every hound was, has been, how fast they were ... a wealth of information. The second is the Staff Play Book, with detailed tracks for every single fixture so all of the staff can be coordinated. She is also the keeper behind the curtain for our website. When not busy with the hunt and hounds (or work), they are building a wonderful farm in Deerfield.
Filling in for Staff this year, Jen Mulstay, Whipper-In, and Linda Saba, Whipper-In, have stepped right up to help with the hounds, and have come to know our territory all the better. Jen is also Treasurer of the Hunt, and has hosted many parties and meetings at their lovely home in Newington, overlooking Great Bay. Linda is also on the Board, and runs a boarding and training facility, Pingree Hill Farm, in Auburn.
Chuck Cox, Kennelman, has been the kennelman for the Wentworth hounds for more than a decade. We are lucky to have Tuckaway Farm as cornerstone territory and home of the kennels. There are many options for hound exercise and Tuckaway is host to hunts and other events. Chuck is usually very busy running their working family farm, with organic hay, blueberries and vegetables. When he can, he rides in First Flight taking all the jumps and in no way tires. His family holds an honorary membership with Wentworth for their years of service and contributions to the club. All four of their children went to Cornell and all played polo there too.
Kerry Rodgers, First Field Master, has been leading the field for the past two years. She has been very active with the club over the last decade, with various major roles on the board. She has been one of the most active foxhunting evangelists for us -- introducing many riders to the sport of foxhunting and the warm hospitality of our Wentworth Hunt. She says that foxhunting has provided her with a nice outlet to "just get away" and have some excitement in her life (she and her husband Kevin are busy raising three very active teenage boys). Kerry says it is also a really nice way to ride on lovely properties that you normally would not have an opportunity, and of course the chance to get together with horse friends. If you are looking to buy a Wentworth polo shirt, tote bag, sweatshirt, or hat, Kerry is the one to see. Look for her trailer at a meet or contact her directly.
Kelly Perkins, Second Field Master, is a huge asset to the club … field master, landowner and member of the board! She invited Wentworth to hunt on their land shortly after they bought the lovely, colonial era farm and grew it into a wonderful horse and rider eventing facility, Echo Ridge Farm in Lee, New Hampshire. They have carefully restored and updated the farmhouse along with the new equestrian facility. Kelly has thirty years experience in riding and training all breeds and disciplines. She has competed through Preliminary level in eventing, and is a very active trainer, with experience working with "problem" horses, off-the-track thoroughbreds and babies. She has been alternate Field Master, very capably leading First or Second Field. She has also brought along more than a few new foxhunters from Echo Ridge.
Jean Jeffords, Hilltop Field Master, joined the hunt in 2007. Horsemanship had been a dream of Jean's since childhood. Once her children were grown and "almost" gone, she had time to pursue that dream. When Jean bought her Canadian horse, Kamou, she was ready to try foxhunting. Jean's first hunt was such an exhilarating experience; she was so inspired by all of the riders and their mounts and how the huntsman worked the hounds.
Jean serves on the board and has been the Hunter Pace Chairman, bringing the pace series to a new level for fundraising, good introduction to foxhunting for those interested in trying it out under controlled setting, but also making them fun -- whether you’re out there for a trailride or competing for a ribbon. She also enjoys taking the snap shots during the hunts! See our Photo Gallery. In 2009, she was awarded the first of a perpetual trophy donated by Ron and Judy Carey, to the member who distinguishes themselves with exemplary hunt etiquette and protocol, serving as a model to all.
Krista Trefethen has become the hounds’ best friend and the club’s most valuable volunteer! Since 2007 she has been lead in working with the hounds as ground crew during meets, she has been a regular help for hound walks with the huntsman. Krista does plenty of riding herself, and was part of Wentworth’s blue ribbon team at the 2008 New England MFHA Hunter Trials! She has also showed our hounds at the New England Hound Shows, winning ribbons there too. Also meet Krista’s mom Brenda Feely, a regular with our ground crew since 2009, and now one of our Field Secretaries.
Joe Vaillancourt, hound truck driver, ground crew, landowner, does an awful lot for the club! We are so lucky. His place, Garrison House Farm, is a wonderful fixture and he has done so much work on the trails and jumps and footing and fields – it is a territory we all enjoy very much. When you see the hound truck arrive to deliver our stars to the meet, Joe is usually behind the wheel.
Alyssa Carpenter joined the ground crew in the 2009 season. She works with the hounds at the Wednesday meets and often rides with the hunt weekends on her hunt horse Hobby. She also helps the huntsman with hound walks from the kennels on a regular basis and occasionally whips.
Deb Bloomberg and Brenda Feely are sharing the work of Field Secretary this season. Deb has prepared the logs for years for our longtime Field Secretary Arthur and so is familiar with all of the names and this season she’ll be able to put a face with the name. Deb will be greeting you most Saturdays and Brenda most Wednesdays. Deb drove out to North Dakota a few summers ago to get her new Lakota “George”, who joins Mycroft “Mikie” in her barn. Brenda has been a familiar face for the past few years, helping with the hounds and ground crew at meets since 2009, and serving water and lemonade at stirrup cup. Brenda has become very familiar with the hounds and now she’ll come to learn all of our mounts too. We appreciate the help and support of our volunteers!
We dedicate the 2011 season to our longtime Field Secretary and friend to all, Arthur Williams. He worked tirelessly to keep us organized during the hunt, keeping detailed and impeccable records for our Master and Secretary. Arthur was granted an Honorary membership for all his contributions to the club, his years going back to the seventies with the Hunt. Arthur served as Whipper-In and alternate huntsman during the Osgood years on his favorite mount Joker. When you arrived for a hunt, he was always there with a smile and a story for you. We will miss you Arthur!
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