with Horse and Hound

January 7, 2016

Author Martha Wolfe to Speak at VFC Annual Meeting

The Virginia Foxhound Club Annual Meeting, luncheon, and silent auction are scheduled for Sunday, February 14, 2016. This year’s guest speaker will be Martha Wolfe, foxhunter and author of The Great Hound Match of 1905: Alexander Henry Higginson, Harry Worcester Smith, and the Rise of Virginia Hunt Country. “There was to be a contest, a Great Hound Match, between two packs of foxhounds—one English and one American.” In her book, Ms. Wolfe sets a fictionalized version, accurately based on events, of this historic competition against the history of foxhunting in Virginia. Viewed as a metaphor for America’s brash emergence as an international power, she has written a wonderful account of the battle between two wealthy men—Higginson and Smith—with egos to match their fortunes, one representing the New World and one representing the Old World, each adamant that his hounds were the best. Meeting and luncheon will be held at the Fauquier Springs Country Club, 9236 Tournament Drive (off Springs Road), Warrenton, Virginia 20186. A cash bar and silent auction will start at noon, with luncheon at 1:00 pm, followed by a short meeting and Ms. Wolfe’s talk. Foxhunting Life Editor Norman Fine will introduce Ms. Wolfe. Price is $35.00 per person. For reservations, mail check payable to Virginia Foxhound Club to Judy Allen, PO Box 11, Casanova, Virginia 20139. Reservations must be received no later than February 3, 2016. Posted January 7, 2016
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The Blessing of the Red Mountain Foxhounds

On the first Saturday in November each year, the Red Mountain Foxhounds in Durham County, North Carolina holds its annual Blessing of the Hounds at Quail Roost Farm, to which the public is invited. The Blessing is followed by a drag hunt. Videographer Meredith C. Browne of See It All Media captured these scenes from last year’s event and skillfully synchronized the words of the prayer to her images.  
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Sedgefield Hunt—Members and Hounds—Go Visiting

farnley.fred.grahamSedgefield Master and huntsman Fred Berry (left) visits with his pack of Penn-Marydels. Blue Ridge huntsman Graham Buston (right) was his guide for the day.  /  Nancy Kleck photo

The Sedgefield Hunt, founded in 1927, hunt a pack of Penn-Marydel foxhounds in the Piedmont region of North Carolina and Southern Virginia. We are a small hunt, but we have big fun, and we love our hounds. Last November we took a road trip to Northern Virginia to hunt with Blue Ridge and Thornton Hill. Six members, ten couple of hounds, eight horses and Ellie Mae, my mule, hit the road.

Fred Berry, MFH and huntsman, and his wife Elaine went up first and had a great day with Blue Ridge and their magnificent pack of Modern English and Crossbred hounds. On our day with Thornton Hill, which also hunts Penn-Marydels, the packs were put together. In our final outing with Blue Ridge, Fred was invited to hunt our Penn-Marydels. I'm told that for 275 years—from the time George Washington hunted with Lord Fairfax over that same country—the local foxes had never before heard a pack of Penn-Marydels in full cry!

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