Otis Ferry
A brave, gifted horseman with a phenomenal knack for his hounds, Otis Ferry has stopped at nothing in his passion for the sport. Frank Houghton Brown catches up with him on the eve of his departure from hunting the South Shropshire
We talk to the master and huntsman
THE elusive Otis Ferry is in his last few weeks as master and huntsman of the South Shropshire. I finally caught up with him when he was on his way back from a successful northern trip hunting his hounds in the Middleton, Tynedale and Border countries.
He immediately went into great detail about a tremendously long and arduous hunt of twoand-a-half hours or more that his hounds had achieved against the odds in the Wannies, a mass of rocky crags, windblown fir trees and uncrossable peat bogs. The fact that his mounted followers had been abandoned for all this time on the only dry acre of land for two miles while Otis leapt on a local quad bike was totally irrelevant to him. The frost and snow had put a stop to hunting in Shropshire, so I cornered him at Belvoir Castle, home of his delightful girlfriend Alice Manners. He is perched beneath the John Ferneley painting of Belvoir Rallywood 1850 in the Duke of Rutland’s sitting room and it just confirms to me that if Otis slipped over in the proverbial, he would still land firmly with his bum in the butter.
The Duke puts his oar in straight away, reminding me that his lodger is “the Emmeline Pankhurst of hunting”. He may have made a brilliant job of hunting the South Shropshire for 14 seasons, but he has also spent four months in Gloucester prison for hunting’s cause, as well as organising a quite remarkable and audacious hijacking of the House of Commons chamber while in session and debating the hunting ban.
SEVEN HORSES IN 14 SEASONS
OTIS, son of the rockstar Bryan Ferry, is not from a traditional country sports background.
“My first hunting memory is of riding Rory Knight Bruce’s horse with the Tedworth,” he recalls, “being bolted with across the plain and the initial terror turning to excitement and the exhilaration of total freedom.”
He spent some time with Henry Gordon in Galway, a former huntsman of the North Galway and a whipper-in to Brian Fanshawe when he hunted the Galway Blazers.
“We would be hacking quietly down a lane and he would say, ‘Tighten your girth’ and would immediately turn his horse and jump some giant wall off the road,” remembers Otis. “We would set sail across the small grass enclosures jumping everything.”
Henry was a mentor to Otis and the quiet riding style and skills that he imparted have been one of Otis’ hallmarks. He is one of the bravest and most gifted of horsemen; never in a rush or with any visible fuss or encouragement, he crosses the stiffest of country with ease. The most incredible statistic is that he has had only seven horses in 14 seasons.
“I bought Woody from Bob Woodhouse, a North Yorkshire nagsman, 14 seasons ago and he’s still going today,” Otis reminisces about one of his best horses.
After Ireland, Otis moved to be full-time amateur whipper-in at the Middleton for four seasons.
“I was completely blown away by the harsh reality of all the work involved, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” he says. “I started at the very bottom and experienced every sector at the Middleton. It has been helpful to have done all the jobs myself that I have asked other people to do.
“It became clear that hunting had all the elements I love: the countryside, animals, adrenalin and riding. So when Andy
Vernon, who was whipping-in to the Wynnstay, came up to the hound trials that were held at Birdsall [where the Middleton are kennelled] and I heard he was going to take the South Shropshire, I thought: ‘If he can do it, then I can definitely do it.’”
Andy Vernon hunted the South Shropshire for a season, and then Otis took them as master and huntsman in 2004.
Otis took two bitches with him to the South Shropshire from the Birdsall kennels and these have produced his best working lines.
“Middleton Verso 99 caught my first-ever fox,” he says. “She was very fast and would regularly be the leading hound and putting them right at a check. Middleton Banish 02 looked like a lioness and was very independent and mischievous, which is a good trait if it can be positively directed.”
Through Otis’ good auspices, judicious breeding and expert, gentle handling, the South Shropshire hounds have produced consistently high standards of sport throughout his tenure.
“It’s important to breed your hounds for the country,” is Otis’ mantra. “Cry is important here in the thick dingles and open hills, and drive, so at a check they try on over the wire fences in their cast.
“I remember when I came, Marek Kwiatkowski [Otis’ tutor at Marlborough College and then subsequently chairman of the South Shropshire] taking me to see Lindsay Wallace, who was the incumbent chairman. ‘It’s not a bad place to cut your teeth but you wouldn’t want to stay here long,’ was how Lindsay described it.
“I had his advice in the back of my mind until my fifth season, when I finally realised what a fantastic country the South Shropshire is — a hidden gem. It has everything: plenty of grass and lovely hill country to watch hounds, a low country where you can scare yourself and a high proportion of old-fashioned hunting people.”
A BRILLIANT HUNTSMAN
THE South Shropshire country hasn’t changed much but the hunt infrastructure certainly has. With a completely refurbished kennels, two immaculately turned-out whippers-in on two quality horses, a full-time countryman and a throng of visiting thrusters who have come from far and wide to witness the thrills and spills or watch this hard-driving pack, a day’s hunting with “the South” is more akin to an old-fashioned day in the Shires.
“Last Wednesday we had 25 visitors at the meet,” Otis chuckles with a glint in his eye, as he has always taken a childlike enjoyment from other people’s mishaps. “After three miles, we had the first check and there were only four people still with me. We are so lucky to have three of the best field masters in England, and they go very straight.”
Otis is certainly different and sees things from a unique perspective, so he is not everyone’s cup of tea, with a rather fey and distant manner which can be rather disconcerting for those who don’t know him well. However, he can turn on the charm when needed and has always managed to build an impressively loyal team around him who work tirelessly on his behalf.
Neil Gittens is one of his field masters and says about Otis:
“The way he handles his hounds is just phenomenal. There is so much trust and belief between them. A huntsman like him only comes along once in someone’s lifetime. He is an animal lover, not a people lover, but I could never imagine having a better relationship between field master and huntsman.”
We all hear only too often the fatal words “no scent”, but Otis thinks this has been, on the whole, a very good scenting season.
“We had a five-mile point from the opening meet and have had no end of hunts of over seven miles, including one hunt of 13 miles with a seven-mile point,” he says.
In this day and age, that quality of sport is almost unheard of and proves the hunting ability of his hounds, which he largely leaves alone except for a few quiet, deft touches when they need help.
Otis holds Pamela Sykes, who is president of the South Shropshire, having hunted the hounds herself in the late 1960s, in very high regard.
“He’s more than just a natural,” she says, describing his talent for hunting hounds. “It is uncanny how he just knows where to cast. Unlike most huntsmen, he is the full package because he is both good with his hounds and a good rider.”
Undoubtedly, Otis has a rare talent with hounds and horses, something with which only a very few are lucky enough to be gifted.
A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
HIS passion for hunting has led him into various scraps with the law. I remember when Otis borrowed my car to place hunting stickers on Tony Blair’s constituency office and shinned up motorway signs to paint prohunting slogans. He was caught, and by pure coincidence it was me who got into trouble for having empty rifle bullets in the car.
As for his famous invasion of Parliament in 2004, he says: “I was so outraged by the ridiculous legislation and was told that if I could breach the sanctity of the House, the debate could be postponed. I still think it could have worked and I should have made it more difficult for us to be removed.”
Otis and his fellow conspirators were placed on house arrest and charged at Bow Street
‘He’s more than just a natural.
It is uncanny how he just knows where to cast’
PAMELA SYKES, PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH SHROPSHIRE
Magistrates’ Court with a public order offence.
Following a fracas with antis out hunting, Otis was imprisoned on remand for four months in 2008, despite never being found guilty. No bail was permitted despite several applications, until eventually it was decided that there was no charge for him to answer. This was undoubtedly a huge miscarriage of justice that would scar any man. As if this wasn’t enough, he was pursued for damages in a civil court and had a huge bill to pay.
Otis’ commitment to the cause has been wholehearted and in many ways he has suffered for it, but his comeback is simple.
“Life is too short to do anything in moderation,” he says.
The age of 36 is very young to be giving up hunting, but he has packed many experiences, good and bad, into his time. Perhaps he is leaving the door ajar when he says: “It would have to be a very special opportunity to do it again, but it might be very frustrating hunting in the field.”