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FOXHUNTING
Five Questions for Tony Leahy – MFH & Huntsman

MFH/huntsman Tony Leahy is much happier on a horse surrounded by hounds than anywhere else. He enjoys hunting his Selle Francais stallion, affectionately known as Chester. Grand Marnier gets jumpers and event prospects, but foals out of the right mare would inherit great temperament and hound-sense as well as incredible athleticism
Photo Courtesy of Nancy Schmid

By Lauren R. Giannini

Patrick Anthony Leahy makes his home in Illinois where he serves as Master and huntsman for Fox River Valley and Cornwall. He’s also master/huntsman for the Spring Creek Bassets. Leahy grew up in County Meath (IRE) next door to the foxhound kennels of the Ballymacad. His entire family boasts many generations of horsemen and hunting enthusiasts. As a youngster he rode to hounds quite a bit with the Meath and the North Fingal Harriers. He also competed all over Ireland and Europe in show jumping.

Nowadays, he’s mostly known for his hounds and hunting.

In 1994 Leahy tied the knot with Heidi, who is also an enthusiast. They have a five-year-old progeny, named ‘fair child’ in Gaelic, who already shows great interest in horses and hounds.

Sidelines: What was it like growing up?

PAL: My father was chairman of the Meath, my uncle Willie Leahy was field master of the Galway Blazers, and another uncle Ned Campion was Chef d’Equipe of the Irish Show Jumping team. Willie is also a really big horse dealer and mostly what I did was ride horses from the two big sales barns. I was show-jumping horses that were for sale. If they looked destined for the big-time, they got snapped up. It was business, and I got to ride a lot of horses.

Sidelines: When did you first realize that you wanted to hunt hounds?

PAL: It never came to a decision like that. I just fell into it. I grew up with hounds and never considered hunting hounds as a career. We sold a lot of horses through hunting – the horse farm was next to the kennels – and it was fun as well as business. I was more on the horse side of things.

I came to the US for the first time in 1985 – to do some show jumping and hunting – and then I went back to Ireland. I graduated from high school at 15 and went to a regional college and got my diploma in law that would allow me to work as a law clerk. I lasted about six weeks in an office and left to go back to show jumping.

In 1987 I came back to the US again. After I got badly by a couple of jumpers, I decided to take some time off from showing and took a job whipping in to Tommy Kniep, the huntsman at Deep Run Hunt in Virginia. He was a great guy and I spent three years there. It was a great deal and I rode a lot of horses for different people, but whipping in to Tommy was the start of it.

Then I went to Illinois to work for Bill McGinley. Shelley O’Higgins, who’s terrific, was huntsman at Fox River Valley, but she ended up leaving. So I took over with the hounds, figuring that I would do it until they got someone else. That was in 1990.

Sidelines: Do you carry on the family tradition of training and selling?

PAL: I train and sell, but I’m not a hard sell guy. We’re pretty low key and sell about 80 per cent to repeat customers. We like that. I get an idea of what works and what doesn’t and can direct the horses to the right places.

I have a Selle Francais stallion, Grand Marnier (Galoubet A–C’est Si Bon) – we call him Chester – and he produces more jumpers but he gets quite a few eventing prospects. [Leahy hunts hounds off this Horse`85]

Sidelines: Leahy has handled the Crossbred champion five out of the last six years at the Virginia Foxhound Show at Morven Park. In 2003 Cornwall Secretary (Fox River Valley) won the Crossbred title and the Grand Championship. Last year, Secretary’s son Fox River Valley Keg followed suit and won the Grand Championship. Where did you learn about hound breeding? Do you have a favorite hound? Did they ask you to judge this year to give other Cross-bred packs a chance?

PAL: Over the years I picked up things. I’m a real student of hound breeding. It’s pretty interesting to me and I pay close attention to it. I have tons of respect for a whole bunch of hound breeders.

One favorite hound – that’s a tough one. Several families have been great, but the most dominant is Windfall, an English hound I got in ’91 from a friend of mine. Her most successful crop is the K line from Midland. [Windfall’s son FRV Larry won the Cross-bred championship at the ’04 Virginia hound show.]

We’ve been lucky showing at Virginia. I have a hard time at the shows – they’re stressful because I’m non-competitive. I just like doing my own thing with the hounds and hunting. I’ve judged before all around the US and Canada. So it will be a nice change to judge this year.

Sidelines: If you could ride any horse in the world, who would it be?

PAL: Rodrigo Pessoa’s Galoubet de Rouet. He’s by Galoubet A, the same sire as my horse Chester, and he won the World Cup championship three times and the Athens Olympics. He’s such a great jumper.

For all the photos go to your Barnes & Noble or Hastings book shop and pick up the May issue.