THE CALL to the hunt is sounded on a crisp fall morning, and the hounds and riders of the Marlborough Hunt Club are off.
For the next several hours, a group of formally attired riders will jump fences, cross streams and circle fields, chasing the hounds that chase the fox.
Although their black coats and shining boots may appear fancy, the riders must be nimble enough to keep up with one of the three groups. This is not a sport for the faint-hearted.
"It is all a game. Here in America, we do not kill the fox, we are technically `fox chasing,'" says Katherine Cawood of West River, one of three hunt masters for the 125-member club. "There are so many holes and little spaces for the fox to dive into that when he decides to call it quits, it's over."
The riders cover several miles as the fox circles in its territory. The hunts take place on the big farms - Essex, Mary's Mount, Larking Hill, Obligation, Dodon and others - that have been part of the South County landscape for hundreds of years. Ideally, the hunters would like a couple of thousand acres to roam, but that is becoming increasingly difficult.
At the beginning of the formal season, which runs from the end of October through March, the masters put together a list of hunts, with the permission of landowners, called a "fixture card."
Development in Prince George's County, where the club also rides, has been a challenge in planning a season. Cawood credits Anne Arundel County's agricultural easement program with preserving at least some of the large farms.
Christy Clagett of Larking Hill Farm in Harwood, a member of the Agricultural Preservation Board of Anne Arundel County, sees the importance of open space beyond the scope of the hunt.
"The more concrete we put down in South County, the greater the impact on the bay," she says, "not to mention the fact that if we don't preserve the land, our whole way of life will be gone."
Clagett operates Larking Hill Farm as a race-training, breeding and breaking operation for horses. She also raises cattle.
The Marlborough Hunt Club was established in 1936, and Katherine Cawood has been hunting almost that long. Her great-great-great-grandfather, Robert Brooke, brought the first foxhounds to Southern Maryland in 1634. Many families have been involved in the club for several generations. There is also a vibrant group of relative newcomers who keep the group energized, despite other demands on their time.
