THE OPENING MEET

The Opening Meet is the morning in early October when the Millbrook Hunt begins its formal season, in Dutchess County, in the Hudson Valley ninety miles north of New York: the field gathers at a meet, at the Wethersfield Estate in Amenia in 2026, and hunts from seven in the morning until noon, with those who jump in the First Field and the Hilltoppers going round by the gates. By custom the autumn is hunted in ratcatcher, tweed, and from the Opening Meet the field changes into formal hunting dress, scarlet for members entitled to it and black or navy for the rest.

Since 1927 the Millbrook pack has had five huntsmen, and the first two were father and son.

The Pack

Foxhunting at Millbrook was first recorded in the local newspapers in 1889. In 1907 the Millbrook Hunt was officially recognised by the Masters of Fox Hounds of America, thanks to Charles C. Marshall, who for a short time acted as Master.

In 1910 Oakleigh Thorne took it over “with the goal of establishing the finest hunt in America”. He built kennels, brought in staff and hunted six days a week: four for the fox, with two packs of foxhounds, and two for the hare, with harriers. When he retired in 1927, Howard Collins and others incorporated the Hunt afresh as the members’ club it is now.

The same year twenty-three couple of American hounds were bought in Virginia by Elias Chadwell, who came north with them as huntsman, and fourteen and a half couple more were given by other packs; they are the foundation of today’s pack. Chadwell hunted it until 1950 and his son Earl until 1978, then Betsy Park until 2004 and Donald Philhower until 2019. Erin McKenney has carried the horn since 2020. Crossbred hounds were brought in from 1980, from Ben Hardaway’s Midland, and Penn-Marydel hounds in 2004.

The hounds hunt red foxes and coyotes now, and now and then a grey fox or a bobcat; in America the Masters’ association forbids pursuing quarry for the purpose of killing it. Many of the founders of the Dutchess Land Conservancy, in 1985, were members of the Hunt, and the Conservancy now holds easements on more than forty-six thousand acres. A Thorne is still President.

The Meet

The Hunt is a members’ club, and riding with hounds is one of the things its members join for. Hounds go out sixty-five to eighty-five days a year, as the weather allows, and every rider signs the Hunt’s release before hunting.

At a meet the field divides. The First Field follows the hounds and jumps what is in the way; the Second Field, the Hilltoppers, goes round by the gates, and the Hunt welcomes newcomers among them. The stirrup cup is the traditional drink at a meet before a hunt, usually port or sherry.

Dress is laid down by the Masters’ association, and “each Hunt has its own colors, buttons and traditions.” A gentleman in formal dress wears a silk top hat or a hunt cap, a scarlet or black coat, a white four-fold stock, white or buff breeches and black boots, with brown tops only if he has been given his colours. “Scarlet should be worn only by members with their colors.”

The Opening Meet of 2026 was held on Saturday 3 October, from seven until noon, at the Wethersfield Estate on Pugsley Hill Road in Amenia; that of 2025 was on 4 October.

What to Know

It has been held on the first Saturday of October, in 2025 and in 2026, and the place of the meet may change from year to year. The 2027 date has not been announced.

There are no tickets. The meet is the Hunt’s own, and the Hunt publishes no arrangement for guests or onlookers; a place at it is by invitation.

Country attire for those who follow, tweed and a tie: nothing is published for followers. A rider wears formal hunting dress under the Masters’ guidelines, and the Hunt’s colours only if they have been given.

Millbrook is in the Hudson Valley, ninety miles north of New York; the county’s bus runs there from Poughkeepsie. Stay in the country round Millbrook.

The mistake is to wear scarlet without the colours. Under the Masters’ guidelines it belongs only to members who have been given them; every other rider wears black or navy.

The Court

The Opening Meet is not the Court’s own. It belongs to the Millbrook Hunt, and a place at it, mounted or following, is sought on a member’s behalf only by the Hunt’s invitation; the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay in the country round Millbrook, and the table afterward.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.