Mr. Nelson Minnick, MFH

Nelson was rather late to become an equestrian. He may not have had many
opportunities to ride when he was young but he certainly enjoyed riding in a western
saddle. He was drawn to sales at an early age from going door to door to sell tickets to
the Boy Scout exposition, expanding his paper route from 50 subscribers to over 120 or
selling books for three years during the summer in Texas to pay for his education.
He moved on to bigger fish once he was married with a family. He wound up living in
Huntersville, just north of Charlotte, where his then wife Pam homeschooled their
daughters. As part of their lessons, both girls joined a 4H club. One day the Club had a
guest speaker from the Yadkin Valley Hounds. Soon the girls and their mother decided
fox hunting was the coolest thing around. The young girls shared a horse and fox
hunting became their weekly Physical Education course. Nelson supported them in
every aspect but remained on the sidelines.

When the family moved to Hendersonville they joined Tryon Hounds with the all the girls riding to the hounds. Nelson was attending most functions and got to know the riding members who were constantly encouraging him to take some lessons and give it a try. He did and absolutely loved it. By 2005, the entire Minnick family was riding with the Tryon Hounds!

He ended up serving on the Board as Treasurer, Vice President and twice as President. Back when the Hunt had their own horse show, Nelson along with a group of volunteers would prepare barbeque for all the Exhibitors including making their own home made hush puppies. In addition, he headed up the Tryon Hounds Hunter Pace that the club sponsors twice a year with typically over 125 riders f rom all across North and South Carolina and Tennessee as well. When asked how he did all that with a demanding career he replied, “It’s my pleasure to serve and work with so many talented people. They make my job a lot easier.” He also credits one of his mentors, Bonnie Lingerfelt for instilling the importance of fundraising in him. “Bonnie is so astute at implementing ideas into events.” He points out that is expensive keeping 40-50 hounds in the kennels.

In 2022, Nelson was tapped to be Joint Master along with Bonnie and his other fine mentor, Dean McKinney. When asked what he thought the most important message was about the Tryon Hounds Nelson beamed and said, "Tradition! Just think about it. Thanks to Carter Brown the Tryon Hounds are celebrating 100 years. I think he would be proud of all of us."

Dr. Dean McKinney, former MFH, Honorary Whipper-In

Chance at 32 years old.Dean didn’t grow up riding horses until his good friend Bobby Turner bought a couple of Tennessee Walking Horses and asked him to go on a trail ride. Dean said he’d try it out as long as Bobby showed him where the brakes were. It turned out Dean enjoyed himself, especially the interesting new people he met. One was a girl named Roberta. He admits he kept on riding “to chase that girl” he later married.

Roberta had a home with a beautiful view of Lake Bowen but they could not keep horses there. Dean talked her into looking for some land so they could have a horse farm. Roberta replied, “It better have a room with a view.”

The couple built their dream farm in the heart of the Tryon Hounds Hunt Country, and yes it has a gorgeous view of the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. They soon met a lady name Ann Stevens Allen who foxed hunted. This was in 1994. Ann invited Dr. and Mrs. McKinney to a hunt breakfast the Tryon Hounds was having.

“We couldn’t believe how welcoming everyone was,” Dean said. “Some of the nicest people you would ever meet.” Some of the members asked them both to come out and hunt with them. They both thought it was something they would like to try. The only problem was that Dean had a TWH, named Chance, who had never trotted, cantered or jumped.

Dean decided to take Chance over to Terry Russell’s farm. Terry was a renowned horseman. Dean asked him if he thought Chance could become a hunt horse. Terry said, “I could teach him to jump but the horse is going to look pretty stupid doing it from that running walk thing you ride him in. I have to teach him to canter first.”

While Chance was in training Dean started riding a Thoroughbred named Flashman"Flash") who had raced for 7 years and was only 2 months off the track according to his lip tatoo. Dean  made the fast track to an Honorary Whippers-In and later First Flight Field Master in 2012 untill recently when Huntsman Beth Blackwell called him back to whipping full time. Soon thereafter, Roberta decided that she should be the one riding Flash. Dean then quoted from a John Ford movie: Greater love hath no man than he who gives up his horse to his wife.” This would become a reoccurring theme in their long marriage. The couple decided to celebrate Chance's 32nd birthday byt throwing a party in his honor. Chance had a long career and took 23 different riders fox hunting, from staff to novices. He will be missed by many and remembered fondly.