One of Britain’s smallest packs of foxhounds is appealing for draft bitches, after their last few litters produced a surfeit of doghounds.
Cury huntsman Adam Tiffin and his wife Rachel only breed one litter a year, but this has resulted in just one couple of bitches being entered in 2011 and 2012.
“We don’t want to breed any more, so we would love [to hear from] anyone who wanted to draft out some small bitches or whelps,” said Mrs Tiffin.
The Cury was a harrier pack until the 1960s and its hounds are still small, to cope with the hunt’s rugged country on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall.
“They are small, strong and stocky; the type I love is three-quarters modern and a quarter Old English,” said Mrs Tiffin.
“As beautiful as the modern hounds are, they wouldn’t suit our country — they’d be cut to ribbons in the tight coverts.
“The Heythrop bitches tower over our doghounds at Honiton [hound show],” she joked.
The Tiffins would like to find two couple of bitches, either entered or unentered.
“Anything small with a bit of Old English blood would be handsome,” said Mrs Tiffin.
Please contact the Tiffins via the Masters of Foxhounds Association (MFHA).
This news story was first published in Horse & Hound magazine (6 June 2013)
