Dear Members of the Fort Leavenworth Hunt:



As we kick off the season, the Joint Masters would like to ensure that members are up to date on matters relating to the hunt and know what to expect this season.

Firstly, the season is off to a great start! We enjoyed a productive summer that included trail familiarization rides, full moon rides, and—despite struggling to schedule a formal work day—enough work by various members that our primary fixture is in quite good shape. Our fall activities included hound exercises, the Intro to Foxhunting sessions, autumn hunting, and our participation in the second annual Kansas Hunt Week. Hunt Week kicked off with a fabulous staff/welcome party and a terrific performance by our pack at our home fixture on October 6. It concluded with our Opening Hunt on October 12—featuring a horse-drawn hay wagon and fantastic whoopee wagons—which was enjoyed by our own members as well as several guests from visiting hunts. And, the fall Hunter Trials on October 20 was also a huge success!



Secondly, we would like to provide updates on/clarify the following:



Staff

• MFH/Honorary Huntsman Dr. Steve Thomas had a shoulder surgery that will “ground” him for a period. His status as a Joint Master and Honorary Huntsman is unchanged and he will continue to execute all the associated responsibilities of these positions—minus the mounted hunting of the hounds, which will be carried out by MFH Teresa Griffith, our named “backup” Honorary Huntsman, during his recovery. He expects to be back in the saddle at the beginning of February.
• With Teresa stepping up as Huntsman, our already quite minimal staff will be further reduced. In order to be able to continue taking hounds out safely, we will need more of our members to step in and help. Please keep in mind that FLH is a volunteer-run hunt—leadership and staff pay the same dues as all members, but commit to a certain level of time and effort to ensure ongoing sport. While we are happy to do so, we can’t do it alone! Please think about how you might be able to help ensure that we can hunt regularly, whether by driving hounds, hauling an extra horse so that someone else might drive hounds, learning to whip in (mounted or as a road whip), helping existing staff tack up/untack so they can focus on hounds, etc. Teamwork makes the dream work! Please contact MFH Steve Thomas (913.636.3778) or MFH Teresa Griffith (913.486.4707) for more information/to volunteer.

Fixtures and Hunt Schedule

• We will maintain our Wednesday (informal) and Saturday (formal) hunt schedule as permitted depending on staff availability and with the typical adjustments as required by weather, deer hunting season, or other operational considerations. As always, the safety of the hounds and of our members and their mounts is top priority.
• We plan to hunt exclusively at our McGuire’s fixture until the beginning of the year due to staff limitations and lack of trail clearing at other fixtures. We will coordinate opportunities to hunt with the Flint Hills Hunt during the fall/winter and will hopefully return to our Division, Staver’s, Buchanan, and Maryville fixtures in the spring.

Please continue to watch Facebook and our weekly emails for additional/new information as it becomes available. In the meantime, feel free to contact any of us individually or as a group (at [email protected]) with any questions/concerns. Thank you to everyone who has already contributed so much—including our LFA counterparts—to make this season a success. We hope you are as excited about the rest of the season as we are!



Sincerely,



Jim, Teresa, Candy, Steve