The Aiken Hounds were established in 1914 by Thomas Hitchcock Sr. and his wife Louise Eustis Hitchcock. They were recognized by the Masters of Foxhounds Association of America in 1916.
“It’s a nice brisk walk to the Memorial Gate,” said Knox McLean. “It’s what everyone loves to do on Thanksgiving day.”
The pageantry of the hunt, the riders dressed in their formal attire, the clean horses and clean hounds are parts of the ceremony the public really enjoys, said Knox McLean.
The hounds will be receiving their annual bath on Wednesday, courtesy of the Aiken County Pony Club, said Knox McLean.
“The riders will dress formal, and the leather will be clean, everything will be spit and polish,” said Knox McLean.
This has been going on for years, and we thought same sex blessings were a problem!
There is a fine sight – the field in hunting pink at the canter.
I don’t hunt – but it is a fine sight.
D’ye ken John Peel?
Blessing the Hunt – the Green Spring Valley Hunt – following the Thanksgiving Day Morning Prayer service was a tradition at St. John’s Church in the Worthington Valley near Glyndon, Maryland during the time 1952-66 when my father, Nelson Rightmyer, was rector. I used to be his server and we have several pictures of the prayers in the field across Butler Road from the church. The newspapers and other who did not know any better used to call it the blessing of the hounds and ignorant wags used to ask about blessing the fox. But the prayers called for God’s protection on those who hunted, not the hounds, and are not different in kind from the invocations with which football games and other civic events begin even in our politically correct times.
Tom Rightmyer in Asheville, NC
Good on this group for drag hunting.