Fox Hunt: Sport for Ham Radio Enthusiasts
What is a fox hunt? Well, it depends on whom you ask. If you are talking to a ham radio operator, he/she is apt to tell you that foxhunting is a sport over the airwaves in which ham radio enthusiasts search for a hidden transmitter—the fox—using directional antennas. In one form, an amateur radio club […]
The County Louth Foxhounds at Lisrenny Estate, Ireland
Mrs Sarah Angel, owner of the Louth Foxhounds, wishes new huntsman Alan Reilly well.The County Louth Foxhounds—founded in 1817 and one of the few packs of Old English breed of hounds in Ireland—have a new huntsman this season. Alan Reilly replaces Noel McKeever who sadly had to retire after nine seasons hunting hounds due to a recurring hunting injury.
The McKeever family has given exceptional service to this premier foxhound pack. Noel’s father Michael started working in the Louth kennels when he was fifteen years old. He whipped-in and hunted the hounds for a remarkable forty-four seasons.
The Mardale Hunt: Installment I
Author Ron BlackOnce upon a time there was a village—now submerged under a man-made lake—in the Mardale valley in the English Lake District. The occupants of the village were shepherds who tended their sheep high on the rugged fells surrounding the valley. Each year they would meet to exchange strayed sheep, and from these humble […]
Cleveland Bays (and the Blue Ridge foxhounds) Meet at Farnley
Fifteen Cleveland Bays convened for a celebration of the breed at a special meeting of the Blue Ridge foxhounds at Farnley. / Matthew Klein photo
How fitting that a large contingent of Cleveland Bay horses should convene at Farnley Farm for a special foxhunt with the Blue Ridge Hunt on Saturday, November 19, 2011.
The late Alexander Mackay-Smith, a past Master of the Blue Ridge, and his wife Joan purchased Farnley, near White Post, Virginia, in the 1930s. During Mackay-Smith’s travels in England over that decade he decided that the Cleveland Bay horse made the ideal field hunter. He imported and bred Cleveland Bays and introduced the breed to foxhunters and to other horsemen in this country.
Today the breed is dangerously rare, with only about five hundred purebreds in the world and less than two hundred in North America.
Fairfax Hunt Duo Wins Virginia Field Hunter Championship
Karyn Wilson and Chase from the Fairfax Hunt won the 2011 Virginia Field Hunter Championship. Last year’s winner Marilyn Jarvis, representing the Piedmont Fox Hounds, presents the trophy. Piedmont hosted the event at Salem Farm.
Congress Expected to Reverse Defacto Ban on Horse Slaughter
This year, Congress is expected to reverse the defacto ban on horse slaughter in the U.S. Annually, since 2005, the appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has arrived at both houses of Congress with riders (sponsored by the HSUS) disallowing any funds that would allow USDA to inspect horses in transit to […]
Some Hunters Are Getting It
Karen L. Myers photoIn my last blog, I expressed the wish that hunting organizations would become more visibly proactive about getting our own house in order. In our reluctance to condemn those irresponsible hunters who ignore game laws, who poach, who hunt private property without permission, and who help give all hunters a bad name, we often relinquish the high ground to the HSUS, an organization that would ban all hunting in a moment if they could.
New Huntsman at Myopia
Myopia’s hunt kennel with its weathered shingles on Boston’s North Shore evokes old New England.Robert Howarth is the new professional huntsman at the venerable Myopia Hunt located on Boston’s North Shore. Robert, originally from England and the Holderness Hunt, arrived at Myopia from the Hamilton Hunt in Ontario. He brought with him Liberty, an Old English foxhound which he bred whilst at the Holderness. I recently visited Robert and got to see Liberty again whom I walked as a puppy.
During my visit, I thoroughly enjoyed helping in Myopia’s prestigious hunt kennel, with its red and cream decor, chandelier, and hounds peacefully resting in their lodges to the sound of the classical music!
Foxes…In the Abstract
Foxes by Franz Marc, oil on canvas, 1913Franz Marc was a pioneer in the birth of abstract art at the beginning of the twentieth-century. He was born on February 8, 1880, in Munich, Germany and studied at the Munich Art Academy. He traveled to Paris several times where he saw the work of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and the Impressionists.
Marc was a founder in 1911 of the Blaue Reiter group, an influential circle of artists who produced exuberantly colored works based on emotional themes. Much of Marc’s work featured animals—dramatic groups of horses in particular.
The original oil painting of Foxes hangs in the Kuntsmuseum in Dusseldorf, but Giclee prints are available for purchase.
Mixed Pack Shows Great Sport at Stonewall
Lili Wykle, MFH and huntsman, Stonewall HoundsOn Tuesday October 19 we welcomed Todd Kern and fourteen of his Snickersville Penn-Marydel crosses to join the Stonewall Hounds (VA) for a weekday hunt. Todd was coming this way with a horse for one of is his whippers-in, Julia Bayliss, who is currently attending Sweet Briar college and hunting with us. This was very exciting for Stonewall because we had never hunted our country with a joint pack. Adding his seven couple to our eight-and-a-half couple made for a nice size pack.
Todd anticipated a good run on something besides red fox, his usual quarry. He wanted to get his hounds on game that they normally don’t hunt, such as gray fox or bobcat or coyote. We have that type of varied game (and even an occasional bear) in our country and not many red foxes.