William P. Wetherall, Jr. (1934–2011)
William Pinkney Wetherall, Jr., foxhunter, race rider, and racing official died at the Winchester Medical Center in Virginia on Monday, September 12 at the age of seventy-seven. Bill was an excellent horseman and all-around athlete. He set a long-standing record in the hurdles at Episcopal High School, then attended Princeton University and Virginia Tech. Bill […]
Horses Across the Country Are Testing Positive for West Nile Virus
Horses have tested positive for West Nile Virus across the country, and some state officials are recommending vaccinations even now for horses that have not yet been vaccinated. California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, and Utah have reported recent cases, and the mosquito season has several weeks to go in many of these areas. Infected horses […]
What’s Hard to “Like”?
Okay, I’ll admit that I’m a Neanderthal when it comes to social media. Why does Foxhunting Life need a Facebook page, I wondered. Those in the know assured me it would be useful. They were right. Some of you have posted some terrific material on Foxhunting Life’s Facebook page. Hugh Brown from the Glenmore Hunt […]
Old Huntland, Joe Thomas Photos Discovered
A youthful Joseph B. Thomas at Huntland / Courtesy of Karen L. MyersJoseph B. Thomas, MFH came to Middleburg, Virginia via Boston and New York in the early part of the twentieth century and built Huntland—house, stables, and kennels. Thomas was a founding member of the American Foxhound Club, Master of the Piedmont Fox Hounds, and author of Hounds and Hunting Through the Ages, the first comprehensive book on hunting with hounds ever written by an American.
Thomas became the largest breeder of foxhounds for mounted packs in North America and helped to define the American foxhound breed. He has been a subject of great interest to all serious scholars of North American foxhunting, and much has been written about him. However, available images of Thomas (and his famous huntsman Charlie Carver) to grace all that published text have been sparse.
Now, just in time for the present owner and restorer of Huntland, Dr. Betsee Parker, to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of her famous home, we have a treasure trove of recently discovered old photographs of Thomas, Carver, hounds, and kennels.
My Hounds…
The kids are back to school in their quest for higher knowledge, and it remains our challenge to keep up with them. To help you meet that challenge, Foxhunting Life offers up a little Shakespeare.
In Act IV, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Theseus prepares to impress Hyppolita with his hounds. She, having hunted with Hercules, however, gives Theseus a hard act to follow!
The Foxes of Cumbria
BorrowdaleIn the Lakeland District on the English/Scottish border, about four or five miles from Ambleside on the Hawkshead road is a T-junction. Turn right and the road ascends the shoulder of a small water-cut valley, finally reaching it’s destination at the Drunken Duck public house from whence a choice of routes beyond this story can be found.
2011 Hunt Roster
The 2011 MFHA Hunt Roster is now available under Horse & Hound and Resources under our main menu.
Bridlespur Hunt Photo Gallery
Click any photo to open a slideshow {phocagallery view=category|categoryid=57|limitstart=0|limitcount=0}
Bridlespur Hunt
Bridlespur huntsman Eleanor Hartwell and houndsIn our Hunt Club Pages under the Horse and Hound drop-down menu, we publish a page (or more!) for every North American hunt. On those pages appears every published article about or refering to that hunt.
We recently asked you for descriptions or histories to use as a lead for your hunt’s page. The response has been terrific, and we’re continually fascinated by the diversity of each hunt’s origins and individual culture. Here’s Bridlespur’s story:
Horses in Art at the Bruce Museum, Connecticut
The horse has been a romantic subject for artists for twenty-thousand years. That is when the oldest known cave painting of horses were executed. The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, Connecticut has mounted an exhibit of horses in art—“Saddle Up! Horsing Around at the Bruce Museum.” From Pierre Jules Mene bronzes to Eadweard Muybridge’s iconic equine […]