Goshen Hounds
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History of Goshen
The 2006-07 season marks the fifty-third o
pening hunt and the fiftieth year as a recognized hunt that the grey and gold of the Goshen Hounds will grace the countryside of Montgomery County, MD in pursuit of Sir Charles.
The Goshen Hounds Hunt Club was established in 1957 from an original nucleus of members from Master Thomas Motts Redland Hunt. Mrs. Jane (McGrath) Collins still hunts with Goshen and was among the founding members. Also in this same period, a young foxhunter that had started following hounds with neighboring Iron Bridge Hounds before moving to Redland, Stanley Stabler, joined Goshen and later was persuaded to become Joint Master. Master Stabler continued for approximately four decades to serve actively in the operation of the hunt and was named “Master for Life” by unanimous petition of the membership several years ago.
Much of the early work of establishing a new hunt was done by Master William Carl, with Goshen’s first huntsman, Frank Fraley, and Frank’s cousin, Joe, whipping in. Tragically, Master Carl died a year after the hunt was established. At this critical point in the club’s early days, several members contacted Marian P. Curran, Sr., who, at the time, was Master of his own Indian Spring Hunt. (The Indian Spring Country Club was the site for many years of Goshen’s annual hunt ball.) Master “Pop” Curran was persuaded to accept the joint-mastership at Goshen with Master Stabler and served in that capacity from 1959-69.
Goshen’s hounds are as exciting to see as they are to follow. They are a very level pack of lemon-and-white and red-and-white generally purebred American Foxhounds. The original pack was drawn from the Bywater hound line of Virginia, with breeding assistance from such venerated houndsmen as Joe Hutton and Everett Wagner. The pack recently has been infused with blood from Orange County, Bull Run, and Potomac Hounds and now is competitive on the benches as well as in the field. Recent outcrosses to mostly American crossbred hounds and to Penn Marydel hounds has made it possible to continue the American breeding line without becoming inbred.
For the 2007-08 season, Goshen’s hounds will be hunted by Mr. Robert Taylor who comes to us from his native Ireland by way of Australia. Mr. Taylor, the son of an outstanding huntsman, Jack (read more at Huntsman's corner) who served as Goshen’s kennel huntsman when he was in the States, brings to Goshen the hunting acumen of one born to the sport and the horsemanship typical of his countrymen. Robert will be hunting Goshen's hounds for the 10th season. The hard work of Robert and many others in the off-season gives promise of outstanding hunting in the upcoming season.
