David Hindle
Bassets Column
David Hindle
David Hindle trained as an agronomist and intended to be a farmer but, on leaving university, went into the agricultural seed industry where he spent the rest of his working life. He is now retired and lives in Lincolnshire. A former Master of the East Lincs Harehounds, he was later a Joint-Master of the Colchester Garrison Beagles before they amalgamated with the Sproughton Foot to become the Stour Valley Beagles. He has been Chairman of the Masters of Basset Hounds Association since 2003.
Report of the 67th Annual Show of the Masters of Basset Hounds Association on Wednesday, July 22nd at the Festival of Hunting, Peterborough Showground
The Association has nine member packs in the United Kingdom and all except one brought hounds. Total entries were up about 7% on 2008 and particular interest was shown in the two new classes for hounds not exceeding fifteen inches, each of which was held at the beginning of the morning and afternoon sessions. Both these new classes had good entries from each of the packs.
This year the show was held indoors for the first time and for all of us it was a new experience and we started the day with some trepidation. The layout for the Bassets, Beagles, Harriers and Bloodhounds consisted of four ample-sized rings, surrounded by white, plastic, picket fences with a carpeted floor over concrete. Nobody really knew how hounds would react under these new conditions and we tended to treat the day as something of an experiment.
Our judges this year were Mr. Don Peacock, a former secretary of the Association who was a Master of the Oaston Bassets, who formerly hunted in Leicestershire until disbanding in 1975. This was due to urban development and the construction of motorways in their country. The other judge was Mr. Barry Fews, who has been in hunt service most of his working life. He has worked with Foxhounds, Beagles, Harriers and Bassets throughout the United Kingdom and is currently with the Weardale and Tees Valley Beagles in County Durham. This pack hosts a very popular festival each year in and around Alston, high on the Pennines, for visiting packs.
The Peterborough Show Ground
Unlike the other hound breeds, the Basset judges have to be on their feet virtually all day, with dog hounds in the morning and the bitches in the afternoon. Judging of the dog hounds starts at 10.30 am and there is a break for lunch around 1.00 pm. The bitches are judged in the afternoon, usually from 2.30 pm until around 5.00 pm. You can imagine the amount of concentration necessary for the judges and the general opinion was that they did a very good job between them.
The kennels at Peterborough were nicely situated this year just outside the building in which hounds were being shown, so the ring was kept busy all day, with very few pauses. I have asked all packs showing to let me have their comments on the new arrangements and we will see what, if anything, is necessary to try and change for the future but, in general, I believe the experience of showing indoors was better than expected, but with a different atmosphere to that when showing outside. From a spectator’s point of view the new arrangement was probably more successful. In the thirty five years I have been involved with the show I can certainly never remember so many people watching the judging of the Bassets.
The judging ring
The results of the classes are listed below, but a word or two should be said about the championship classes. In the morning, the Westerby took the dog hound championship with Teacher ’08. This hound had earlier won the class for the best dog hound not exceeding fifteen inches. The reserve was East Lincs Eager ’07, who had won the entered dog hound class.
For the bitches, the championship was won by Four Shires Sample ’06, the winner of the entered bitch class. This hound had, in fact, been bred by the East Lincs and drafted to the Four Shires. The reserve was Westerby Verity ’08, who had earlier won the class for hounds not exceeding fifteen inches.
All in all, it was a very pleasing and successful show. It was good to see the member packs again, remembering that this is the only time in the year when the Masters and their hounds get together in the same place at the same time. I am looking forward to next year already!
Results – Dog Hounds
Class 1 - For the best entered or unentered dog hound not exceeding 15 inches.
- 1st Westerby TEACHER ‘08
- 2nd De Burgh and North Essex CARVER ‘08
- 3rd Albany and West Lodge PRESTON ‘06
Class 2 - For the best unentered dog hound.
- 1st East Lincs. ARCHER
- 2nd East Lincs. SARACEN
- 3rd Albany and West Lodge POGLE
Class 3 - For the best entered dog hound.
- 1st East Lincs. EAGER ‘07
- 2nd Westerby ANCHOR ‘03
- 3rd De Burgh and North Essex CAMBRIDGE ‘08
Class 4 - For the best couple of entered dog hounds.
- 1st East Lincs. EAGER ‘07 and ESCORT ‘07
- 2nd De Burgh and North Essex VALOUR ’06 and CROMWELL ‘08
- 3rd Barony TOPIC (A) ‘04 and TWIST (A) ‘03
Class 5 - For the best stallion hound.
- 1st Albany and West Lodge SADDLER ‘04
- 2nd East Lincs. ERNEST ‘03
- 3rd De Burgh and North Essex (Huckworthy) ORION ‘03
Class 6 - For the best single doghound to have completed six seasons hunting.
- 1st Westerby PLOUGHMAN ‘02
- 2nd Leadon Vale (Huckworthy) ORPHEUS ‘03
- 3rd Leadon Vale (De Burgh and N Essex) DRUID ‘99
Class 7 - For the best doghound and any two of his progeny.
1st Westerby SAUNTER ‘04, with TEACHER ’08 and TRIFLE ‘08
2nd East Lincs. GRAINTHORPE ‘06, with AZTEC and AMPLE
3rd East Lincs. EARNEST ‘03, with EAGER ‘07 and ESCORT ‘07
Class 8 - Doghound championship.
- Champion: Westerby TEACHER ‘08
- Reserve : East Lincs. EAGER ‘07
Results - Bitches
Class 9 - For the best entered or unentered bitch hound not exceeding 15 inches.
- 1st Westerby VERITY ‘08
- 2nd Westerby TRIFLE ‘08
- 3rd Albany and West Lodge BUBBLE ‘08
Class 10 - For the best unentered bitch hound.
- 1st East Lincs. AMPLE
- 2nd Albany and West Lodge GOOGLE
- 3rd Barony MERMAID
Class 11 - For the best entered bitch hound.
- 1st Four Shires (East Lincs.) SAMPLE ‘06
- 2nd East Lincs. OUTFIT ‘08
- 3rd East Lincs. TRIFLE ‘03
Class 12 - For the best couple of entered bitch hounds.
- 1st Leadon Vale BARLEY ’03 and TREACLE ‘02
- 2nd Albany and West Lodge BUBBLE ’08 and BRAMBLE ‘08
- 3rd Four Shires WIDGEON ‘04 and TREASURE ‘03
Class 13 - For the best brood bitch.
- 1st Four Shires (East Lincs.) SAMPLE ‘06
- 2nd Westerby VENUS ‘’06
- 3rd East Lincs. OYSTER ‘05
Class 1 - For the best bitch to have completed not less than six seasons hunting.
- 1st Westerby TARIFF ‘02
- 2nd Barony RIPPLE (A) ‘03
- 3rd De Burgh and North Essex DAZZLE ‘99
Class 15 - For the best brood bitch and any three of her progeny.
- 1st East Lincs. OPERA ‘05, with EBONY ‘07, EMBER ’07 and EASEL ‘08
- 2nd Leadon Vale (De B and N Essex) WISHFUL ‘01, with SALLY ‘08, SATCHEL ‘08, SAUCY ’08.
Class 16 - Bitch championship.
- Champion: Four Shires (East Lincs.) SAMPLE ‘06
- Reserve: Westerby VERITY ‘08
David Hindle
The Hunting Basset
David Hindle’s book is now available. It tells the story of the Basset Hound in Britain from when it first arrived from France during the second half of the nineteenth century. It describes how it was first used mainly for showing and then why the hunting world went its separate way by the formation of the Masters of Basset Hounds Association (MBHA) in 1912. Each of the current member packs of the MBHA is featured and the whole story makes fascinating reading.
The book is in hardback form and has 114 images in colour or black and white – some of which are over one hundred years old. It is published privately in a limited numbered edition and the author intends to give any profits from the publication to the MBHA in support of its work. It is available now from the address below at £28 (including postage and packing in the UK).
Cheques with order please, payable to: David Hindle at:
The Hemmels, Brinkhill, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 8RA