Or more to the point, who are these two giants of foxhunting? One is revered for his uncanny rapport with hounds; the other is remembered for his imaginative contributions to the world of horse sports and sporting scholarship.
This puzzle was posted on our Facebook page, and Carey Shefte was the first person to correctly identify both men and claim the prize. Foxhunting Life is sending Carey a CD of foxhunting songs collected by one of our mystery men. Read on for the answers!
The photo was taken at the Orange County Hunt Puppy Show in May, 1968. Melvin Poe was showing the unentered puppies and Alexander Mackay-Smith was judging.
Notice the cow horn under Melvin’s arm, which many American huntsmen used to favor. Hunting all manner of woodland creatures was part and parcel of growing up in Hume, Virginia, as Melvin did midst other hunting families—among them the Chadwells and Bywaters—whose names are embedded in the history of American foxhunting. Melvin, coming ninety-two this summer, would have been nearly forty-eight in the photo. From the Old Dominion Hounds he moved to Orange County and hunted their distinctive red ring-necked hounds for twenty-seven seasons. He is still hunting hounds in Bath County and from his home in Hume; he is still happy to advise Masters and huntsmen on any aspect of hounds: breeding, hunting, training, and showing; and he is still the man who attracts a crowd. If he isn’t the best-loved huntsman in America, I don’t know who else it might be.
The late Alexander Mackay-Smith was editor of the Chronicle of the Horse for almost twenty-five years. A graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School, Alex had the intellect and wide-ranging interests to excel in any field he chose. He was captivated by foxhunting, however, and devoted his life to hunting, writing, researching, and creating wherever he found a need. He wrote twelve books on a variety of subjects, including hunting, foxhounds, horses, and equine history. He was a founder of the United States Pony Clubs, the United States Combined Training Association, the National Sporting Library, the Association of Equine Artists of America, the Cleveland Bay Society, and the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association. He even invented, organized, and rode in the first hunter pace event! His contributions to every aspect of foxhunting—indeed all equine sports—were monumental.
Posted May 3, 2012
See our Bookstore for Foxhunting with Melvin Poe by Peter Winants and for available titles by Alexander Mackay-Smith. Remember, subscribers receive an automatic ten percent discount on all items in the Bookstore.