Pet Fox?
David Norman photo Whipper-in and pet fox out for a stroll? Not really. To capture this intriguing image, photographer David Norman used a long lens which foreshortened the perspective. The fox, he says, moved out smartly! Posted September 25, 2012
The Turning Point
Steve Price and Frosty test their mettle at Old Dominion / Tom Sullivan photoI wouldn’t consider myself a real foxhunter.
True, I’ve ridden to hounds several times, but always more like a spectator than a participant. This September, however, I had an awakening!
Thanks to the good graces of my friends Betsy Parker, proprietor of Hunter’s Rest in Flint Hill, and Norman Fine, of Millwood (and Foxhunting Life), I’ve been wending my way for the past four years from my New York City home to steep myself in semiannual Virginia equestrian sprees. Trail riding on Betsy’s school horses and on one of Norm’s hunters, Guitar, is the primary lure. In addition, Norm has taken me hunting with the Blue Ridge Hunt in the hilltopping field.
West Nile Virus Is Still a Threat
West Nile Virus remains a threat across North America. The last two months have seen an increase in cases reported in both horses and humans.
So far this year, thirty-one states have reported 157 cases of West Nile in horses, with Louisiana and Texas having the most cases.
The New York Times reports that 118 people have died and 3,000 more have been sickened by the virus this year. Fifteen people have died in Dallas County alone since July.
Dr. Bruce Dalton, MFH, Killed in Plane Crash
Dr. Bruce Dalton, MFH of the Red Mountain Foxhounds in Rougemont, North Carolina, was killed last week when his single-engine plane crashed in Colorado. Dalton was sixty-nine and a certified, experienced pilot. His friend and passenger, Steven Huber, an instrument-rated commercial pilot was also killed. The crash is under investigation. Dalton was a pediatrician and […]
Moingona Starts Season in Kansas; Next Stop Iowa
Huntsman Ken George (foreground) and whipper-in Bill Sipp / John Webber photoThe Moingona Hunt (IA) had a great start to the season. I joined Steve Satterly, ex-MFH, and Matt Lange—local cowboy turned foxhunter and whipper-in—for the season’s very first cub hunt on a hot, dry day in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Huntsman Ken George took out twenty-two-and-a-half couple of hounds.
Junior Field Hunter Championships Just Keep Growing
(l-r) Lauren Gibson and Landmark Cracker Jack, winner of the Hilltopper Division; Iona Pillion; and Douglas Wise-Stuart, MFH / Liz Callar photoThe tenth annual Junior North American Field Hunter Championship competition is in the offing with this year’s finals scheduled for Sunday, November 4, 2012 at the Radnor Hunt in Chester County, Pennsylvania. What started in Virginia has now spread to neighboring mid-Atlantic states and the number of participating hunts continues to grow.
More than a competition, the main purposes are to expose foxhunters eighteen years of age and younger to a variety of hunting countries, to instill in their young minds the importance of open space preservation if our sport is to continue beyond their lifetimes, and to stress suitability of mount to rider. The concept was hatched ten years ago by Douglas Wise-Stuart, MFH and Iona Pillion, both renowned for their junior foxhunting programs.
September: The Sweetest Month
Karen Myers photoFor foxhunters, our sport plays a major role in establishing the rhythm of our year. Yes, other interests and family matters intrude on this major annual cycle, but September looms large as the start of the foxhunting season for most of us. The summer months are for keeping the horses moving and smiling […]
Irving Abb Dead at Eighty-six
Irving Victor Marken Abb died at his home in Woodbine, Maryland on July 13, 2012 at age eighty-six. Mr. Abb was a passionate foxhunter. He kept a private pack of hounds in Howard County, Maryland in the 1970s. He helped organize the Carrollton Hounds and, after he stopped riding horses, followed the Goshen Hounds in […]
Hemmed in by Development?
Looking for open country over which to hunt? Try Cumbria or the Cheviot Hills on the English-Scottish border! Photographer Alexander Burns captures breathtaking hunting scenes in these magnificent countries. For a slide show, go to our Photo Gallery.
Sad Times for Goshen Hounds
Nick Hartung and houndsThis has been a difficult year for Goshen Hounds (MD) and its members. We have lost four men closely associated with us: former huntsman Nicholas Hartung, board member Bruce Sieling, ex-MFH Hansen Watkins, and, most recently, Irving Victor Marken Abb.