Casanova Hunt was ev-erything I dreamed about as a kid grow-ing up horse-crazy on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Thanks to the late Gretchen B. Stephens, MFH, and her won-derful field hunters (both ac-customed to leading the field), I learned to ride to hounds, to pilot a horse running flat-out when hounds are in full cry, to cope with drastic changes of ter-rain and, in first flight, to jump whatever's in the way amidst the excitement of the long column of enthusiastic equines and their riders.

The lessons applied equally to life in general, going beyond proficiency in the saddle and, in the barn, caring for horses. You learn about etiquette in the field, respect for authority and the land, the importance of friendly landowners. You come to em-brace the increasing need to preserve open space not merely for one's peace of mind and/or privacy, but also for country traditions such as riding, with or without hounds. It was the best of times, all things considered.

Being a high-risk activity, an in-jury makes you champ at the bit to get back in the saddle. Hon-estly, I'll take my chances and "Tally Ho" rather than go out in public, plagued as it is...

Casanova in the mid-1970s was like another world, about 20 minutes from Warrenton. We hacked from the kennels at Weston to many of the fixtures. Good memories carry all of us through the ups and downs of daily living, but hearing that Casanova is disbanding after 110 years of history, great sport and camaraderie is heartbreak-ing—and it certainly wasn't for lack of trying to keep the hunt going on for another hundred years. Losing this family hunt with generations represented is a tragedy.

Jeanne Clark and Kathleen O'Keefe, joint-Masters of Fox-hounds, were kids when they began riding and hunting. Kath-leen, a fourth generation fox-hunter, first rode to hounds with Casanova in 1992. When her husband Will O'Keefe retired as Executive Director of Morven Park in 2010, they returned to Pine Brook, his family farm and a favorite fixture in Casanova's country. Kathleen added to Ca-sanova's glory with her success-es in competitions for foxhunt-ers. She won the Virginia Field Hunter Championship once and the Theodora Randolph North American Field Hunter Cham-pionships in 1996, 2006, and 2011, as well as Best Turned Out in the finals of the 2007 MFHA Centennial Field Hunter Cham-pionships.

Jeanne grew up riding to hounds. Neé Fendley, her family is descended from Fauquier County farmers, and they moved to Casanova in the late 1970s. Her mother, Joyce Fendley, stepped up as joint-MFH in 1983, and her father, Bill Fend-ley, who made it a family affair and whipped in, followed suit in 2001. Jeanne served as honorary whipper-in and, in 2006, joined her parents in the mastership. Kathleen became jt-MFH in 2017. Joyce and Bill retired in 2019, and with Kay Blssic, exMFH and longtime whipper-in, they pondered with Jeanne and Kathleen the best course of ac-tion for this venerable farmer's pack with its unique history, very strong family and commu-nity ties, and loyal supporters.

Casanova hounds helped to promote their sport. They love people–like children, they live what they learn–and hounds were always a hit with school groups who visited Weston, his-toric estate and wildlife refuge, where the Casanova kennels have been located since early last century.

"I have always loved the field trips from local elementary schools to Weston that include Tommy-talks and the hounds," Kathleen said. "The awe and excitement from the children was contagious. It was a great opportunity to educate and en-tertain them – with Tommy's unmatched whip-cracking skills. The hounds were the best ambassadors for the sport, happily receiving all hugs, pats and kiss-es from the children."

Tommy Lee Jones is the lead-er of the pack—lead hound, so to speak. He has served as hunts-man for 50 years, 53 when you add his first season just hunt-ing and the next two when he whipped-in to MFH-Huntsman Ian Benson, who returned home to Ireland, leaving Tommy Lee to carry the horn. Outstanding with hounds, horses, and people, Tommy Lee's golden anniver-sary would have been celebrat-ed anew at the Virginia Hound Show at Morven Park when the Museum of Hounds and Hunt-ing of North America planned to honor Tommy Lee and two others with induction into the Huntsmen's Room, their hall of fame.

Current events postponed all hound shows until 2021, so there will be plenty of reason for jubi-lation when the Virginia Hound Show returns on Memorial Day Weekend. It just won't be the same without Casanova showing in the American and Crossbred rings, but some packs might enter hounds whose bloodlines hark to Casanova. Tommy Lee leaves a legacy of finely bred hunting hounds, and the pack has always boasted a few that could show almost as well as they hunted.

"One of the most wonderful things about hunting with Casanova was the abundance of fox that we had, gray and red, and the opportunities to get to see them and to watch the fox enjoy playing with the hounds," re-called Jeanne.

"The fox used to show them- selves all the time. We would see not one or two, but many. We loved watching the hounds work. They would find the scent, lose the scent and get it back again. It was really fun."

The demise of Casanova Hunt results from the loss of open country to development, increasingly dangerous heavy traffic on major and minor roads, and the escalating risk to life and limb of the hounds, horses and staff. The arrival of coyote up-set the balance of nature because the more aggressive predator set to killing the once abundant and relatively carefree gray and red fox that are ideally suited to Ca-sanova's countryside.

Coyote and fox are as dif-ferent as chalk and cheese. Fox want to return home or, at the very least, go to ground in some burrowing animal's hidey-hole so they can laugh at hounds, singing "we know you're in there" as they dig frantically at the earth's entrance. Unlike the beloved fox, coyote are travelers and, when pursued by hounds, run like blazes back to their own turf, miles away. Hunts chasing coyote are situated in more open countryside where roads are few and staff can keep up with hounds to make sure they're safe from road crossings.

"It's so dangerous for the hounds when they get up coy-ote [before we can stop them] and dangerous for the staff to protect the hounds due to de-velopment and people drive so fast and they're not really pay-ing attention," Jeanne said. "I have almost gotten killed several times, trying to get to hounds to keep them from being mowed down by 18-wheelers. Last year, I was literally three feet away from death and I got the hounds stopped and turned away from Route 28, but three 18-wheel-ers blew their horns when they passed by me and the hounds."

About 10 years ago, the coy-ote invasion got really notice-able. "It changed everything," Jeanne explained. "It's no longer the art of fox hunting, it's more like damage control because you're running just to keep up to hounds and you're praying, when you get to them, they're going to be alive. That, to me, is the loss of the art of foxhunting. It's been very hard on Tommy – he tries so hard to hunt red and gray fox only and not run coy-ote. We come across them, but we looked for fox and they got really hard to find. I think what happened is that the fox are un- der so much pressure and com- petition from the coyote and the coyote hunt them so that the fox no longer feel like they want to play. It's changed how we're able to hunt here and taken a bit of the fun out of it. Every time you go out, you have to worry about hounds."

Riding is considered a high-risk activity. Foxhunting com-pounds the danger although it's great "craic" as the Irish say, un-believably fun and exhilarating. Nowadays, roads like Route 3, 17, and 28 in Casanova's coun-try are morphing into rural su-per highways, putting dire new meaning into "ride at your own risk."

"I've been raising puppies for about 15 years and every one of these hounds is personal. I know them and I worry about them," Jeanne said. "I worry about myself, my horse and my sister who's also whipping in. The other factor is that you cannot foxhunt coyote in a subdivision. We have more subdivisions now than we've had before and that's where the fox are hiding. It's funny because the fox are hang- ing out in subdivisions because people leave dog or cat food out and that's a good place for a fox to go eat."

Subdivisions also promise fox relative safety from coyote, which tend to avoid humans, but as Jeanne pointed out, you can't run 30 or more people on horse-back through a subdivision.

"With Tommy's 50th year as huntsman, the hunt 110 years, we feel like we did a good job," Jeanne said. "We had a great club, it was a blast, but it's time to be done. We're closing this on a positive note. Yes, it's the end of an era. We're taking great care with placing our hounds. They've been getting spa treat- ments. We look long and hard where they're going. We had four hounds go to Piedmont, four of our best show-breed quality hounds, and four hounds to Rappahannock. We plan to send some hounds to Potomac and spread Tommy Lee's legacy around a little bit."

Good night, Casanova Hunt. Thank you for everything: great runs, awesome hospitality, fam- ily and community spirit, shared passion for countryside and its wildlife, but most of all, special thanks for the memories.