Today's Date: March 10, 2010 - UPCOMING EVENT: TBA
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Today's Date: March 10, 2010 - 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 a new home 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 and currently leads First Field. 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.
Walker Greenwell, Second Field Master, has been riding with the hunt for the past two decades. She is an avid equine enthusiast, typically riding in the First Field when not leading the Second. She and her horse Eliot have competed at the New England Field Hunter Trials and the Centennial Performance Trials. She ably leads the Second Field, allowing the riders to share the thrill of being near the front, while paying attention to safety for those who won’t do all the jumps. Her hunt horse Eliot ably leads the field. Walker has been President of the club since 2008.
Terry Monks, Hilltop Field Master, started foxhunting in the South of England as a young girl where she also was an avid Pony Clubber. After her marriage to Ian, they moved to the United States in 1966. Terry and Ian have three children, two boys who have taken the reins of the family business in Massachusetts and a daughter who similarly enjoys horses like her Mother. Karen Monks Reilly is a well-known training instructor, formerly teaching in Chester, now in Pennsylvania. Terry and her husband own a farm in Chester, NH, Monks Stables, where she has enjoyed many horse disciplines including dressage, eventing, driving and foxhunting – foxhunting being favorite.
Terry served the club as Honorable Secretary for years. She has mentored many new foxhunters. She affectionately refers to the group that often rides at her indoor arena and have become fast friends, “The Chester Girls”. Her mount for years has been Punch, but she just recently imported a horse from England, Toby. Terry leads the Hilltop Field, knowing all of the territories very well, she is able to position the field to watch the hounds work. The Hilltop Field is the perfect place for green horses and green riders, but also those that want a slightly slower pace, mostly walk-trot and some canter.
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.
Kami Wolk, 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. 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 hunt horse Hurricane Bay. She has gotten to know our hounds and has even whipped with Myopia and North Country when we had joint meets!
Diane Kane, Alternate Hilltop Field Master and Alternate 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.
Jean Nadeau, Alternate Hilltop Field Master and sometimes Fox, started riding with the hunt the year after it was established, on her Tennessee Walker runaway. She has served in many capacities on the Board, including Treasurer for seven years and President for two. She has served the hunt in one capacity or another right from the beginning. Along the way, she has led every field. She is territory chairman for Branch Hill Farm and Prodigue Farm. She lost her hunt horse Sonny Express, and is now grooming young Rocky for hunting. She says that foxing for her has been an awesome experience, a safe and wonderful way to enjoy the hunt. When the hunt calls on her to lead Hilltop, she never says no.
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.
Cindy Jenkins, Fox, has had a horse since she was a teenager, but really learned the most about horse management and riding when her daughter Linda started Pony Club in 1983. Prior to that, our family focus was flying – they owned an airplane and her husband John was a commercial pilot. All the children learned to fly – Cindy would even fly to shop for horses. She was a member of the 99's (female pilots) for quite a few years but when the focus became horses, the flying stopped. She joined the Wentworth Hunt in the mid-eighties, when Bill and Belinda Osgood (now Belinda Perry, of Santa Fe, author William A. Luckey) were Joint Masters – the Milton Mills territory was being hunted and used for paces then too. With Wentworth, she has served as Steward, Treasurer, Secretary for paces and the UNH Dressage Show, Hunt Ball & Nominating Committees. She has been Hilltop Field Master and rode as part of the Staff. Since 2008 she has been fox, laying the drag scent, which she really enjoys and puts in a great deal of time in knowing the territories well, and helping to scout out new trails during the off-season. She is the Territory Chairman for Yorkfield Farm, Kensington. She has competed First-Level Dressage, evented at Novice, and competed in Hunter Trials with both her mounts Mikee and Stark, as well as using them both to drive, pulling a cart and a sleigh. Her white pony Kieran is being used in Pony Club by her granddaughter Marley, who recently won a blue ribbon in her first two phase.
She reports her most horrific hunting experience was at the Kingston Territory when the hounds fanned out into the cow pasture and the Hunt was in a narrow lane with electric wire on both sides. While riding through, the cows were following, and the hounds were spreading out and somehow the cows managed to drag the wire down and carry it with them while doing a slow stampede back to their feed pen. It was a mess, with her horse and others getting shocked. They halted everything, contained the cows, put back fencing, gathered the hounds, and settled the horses. Cindy thinks that is what is so captivating about hunting – between hounds, horses, and the terrain, you never know what will happen.
Arthur Williams, Field Secretary, has worked tirelessly to keep us organized during the hunt. He keeps 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 arrive for a hunt, he is always there with a smile and a story for you. Other faces you might see with the staff each hunt:
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 also regularly walks and exercises the hounds 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! Because of her commitment to our hounds and club, Krista has been recognized with an annual honorary membership since 2008. A regular with our ground crew in 2009 is Krista’s mom Brenda Feely. We appreciate their help and support!
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. Before he retired to care for a farm, cut hay, clear trails, and be our number one hound truck driver, Joe was a commercial airline pilot. He still loves to fly and does as often as he can. For his continued support to the club in this very important role, Joe is recognized with an annual honorary membership in 2009.
Alyssa Carpenter joined the ground crew in the 2009 season. She works with the hounds at the Wednesday meets and rides with the hunt as a member weekends on her hunt horse Hobby. She also helps the huntsman with hound walks from the kennels on a regular basis.
Deb Bloomberg is Assistant Field Secretary, and she prepares the logs for our Field Secretary Arthur. She drove out to North Dakota two summers ago to get her new Lakota “George”, who joins Mycroft “Mikie” in her barn. She hopes to hunt him when he’s older.
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