Bob Ferrer, MFH/Huntsman, with the Caroline hounds
Photo Courtesy of Robert Johnson
Table of Contents / Foxhunting
By Lauren R. Gianninin
Bob and Elizabeth Ferrer started Caroline Hunt in 2000. One year later, Elizabeth joined her husband/huntsman as joint-master. "Having a pack of hounds was definitely not something I wanted to do all my life, and now I can't imagine life without them," admits Elizabeth. "When Bob told me what he wanted to do, I thought 'Is he crazy? This is going to turn our lives completely around.' When 9/11 happened, Bob had already put in his retirement papers for the Marine Corps and he pulled them, leaving me with a brand new pack of hounds, so he could go fight the bad boys over there."
The Ferrers asked a member to hunt the hounds, but Elizabeth exercised them and learned to blow the horn. Nowadays, when Bob isn't with his hounds, he travels the USA as business manager for Patricio Enterprises, which provides acquisition and analysis services to government and industry. Elizabeth claims she learned to whip in by the seat of her pants and also to hunt hounds on the rare occasions when Bob can't.
Bob grew up on Philadelphia's Main Line in a family that spent holidays and summers traveling the world. Bob learned to ride in France and England which spurred on his lifelong passion for hunting. Elizabeth grew up in Caroline County, but didn't hunt: took lessons and never could shake it," she recalls. They celebrated getting married 15 years ago by going foxhunting in the UK, which proved to be a starting point in more ways than one.
Sidelines:
Did you always want to be huntsman?
RF:
On our honeymoon, we stayed with Lavinia Black, who whipped in for Chiddingford, Lecondfield & Cowdray Hunt [UK]. The horse I had was pretty sluggish. About an hour into it, Lavinia said let's change horses and you ride up front with the huntsman. Thatwhat I did for the rest of the day and everything came together. Being up there with the huntsman gave me a different perspective on hunting. You find you concentrate more on the hounds and I enjoyed that so much more than being in the field and focusing on my horse. That day turned my interest towards hounds.
Sidelines:
Did you have any help when you started Caroline Hunt?
RF:
Becoming a master, my mentor was Joyce Fendley [senior MFH Casanova Hunt] who took me under her wing and taught me so much about dealing with landowners and hunt members and running the hunt.
Learning to hunt hounds my chief influences were Tony Gammell [Keswick] and Tommy Lee Jones [Casanova]. Becoming a huntsman is very difficult, and I was very fortunate that Joyce guided me to people like Tommy Lee, Tony and Jim Atkins [at the time, huntsman for Warrenton, since retired]. They gave me a good solid pack to start with.
Sidelines:
What's your greatest satisfaction as huntsman?
RF:
There's nothing like the complete admiration the hounds give you for giving them sport. To see an animal that happy, enjoying the chase and so proud when they come back - there's almost a fatherly love for what they grow up to be and what they do for you.
Sidelines:
Do you have a favorite hound or field hunter?
RF:
I did my initial breeding with Casanova Diesel, a large white hound. Tommy Lee gave him to Jim Atkins and Jim gave him to me. Diesel was a bit older and he was the hardest working hound. I bred him to two different bitches and the first couple of litters have really hunted well for me. Tony also gave me Wanton - a superstar, always working, always honest - and Justice.
Seal, bred by Jim Atkins and given to Keswick, came to me as a young hound barely entered. She'd get lost or separated from the pack, sit down and start howling until a whip came to get her. Then she was as happy as can be. It was a matter of maturity. She turned out to be a great hound.
I've ridden a lot of different horses and always said I'd never ride a mare, but Glory, 17 hand Thoroughbred/Draft cross, was rather young when we got her from Janie Campbell over at Casanova. We sent Glory off for training with Jeannie Jenkins, who taught Stuart Sanders to ride. [Sanders piloted Sputnik to the Field Hunter Grand Championship in the 2007-2008 Masters of Foxhounds Association Centennial Celebration.] Jeanne made Glory into the hunt horse she is today. Glory knows her job and loves the hounds.
Sidelines:
Is there anything else you'd like to accomplish?
RF:
I'd like to keep doing what I'm doing and continue hunting hounds for as long as I can. Any time I can take off, I want to hunt my own pack. I'm very happy. There are lots of thing to do - open more fixtures, more paneling, taking care of the foxes. We don't have the benefit of 75 years of coverts. This hunt is still young. We're still learning. We're having fun.
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