Domestication of Horses Traced to Steppes of Eastern Europe
A genetic study of horses combined with mathematical analysis of various scenarios has traced the domestication of horses to the wide open grasslands of southwestern Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Domestication is generally thought to have occurred about six thousand years ago, but the new evidence suggests that it may have taken place independently in different […]
Southern Hound Show
Grand Champion Live Oak Hannibal 2009 (Live Oak Hasty ’06–Their Asset ’03) / Jim Meads photoThe sixth annual Southern Hound Show, held on April 28, 2012 at Live Oak Plantation, Monticello, Florida was once again blessed with perfect weather. Ten packs from as far away as Tennessee and Palm Beach competed under the watchful eyes of Richard Sumner, MFH of the Heythrop Hunt in England and Dennis Foster, Executive Director of the MFHA. Robert Ferrer, MFH of the Caroline Hunt was apprentice judge.
English, American, Crossbred, and Penn-Marydels all show in one ring against each other. As there are two Crossbred rings at the Virginia Foxhound Show (based on number of hounds in kennel), this is the only occasion that Fox River Valley, Live Oak, Midland, and Mooreland go head to head in every class.
The 116th Maryland Hunt Cup
Twill Do (left) wins in one of the closest Maryland Hunt Cup finishes ever.One after the other, the two favorites tumbled from contention, paving the way for one of the closest finishes ever in the 116th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup on Saturday, April 28, 2012. Twill Do ridden by James Stierhoff and Battle Op with Connor Hankin aboard battled down the stretch with Twill Do doing it by a head at the wire. It was the second Hunt Cup win (2010) for Twill Do, who is coming back this season from an injury.
Who Is This?
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!
Flying Change
Flying Change: A Year of Racing and Family and Steeplechasing by Patrick Smithwick, Chesapeake Book Company, 2012, 360 pages, $30.00If you can avoid disabling injury, horseback riding is a sport that many enjoy for a lifetime. All of us have heard anecdotal tales of people who ride—and even foxhunt—up into their seventies and eighties.
With Baby Boomers aging, those stories will become more prevalent, although many of us may be opting for the dressage arena instead of the hunt meet…or the race track.
Author Patrick Smithwick decided to meet growing older head on. He challenged himself at age forty-six to ride in the Maryland Hunt Cup, a four-mile timber race over twenty-two solidly built fences that are not for the faint of heart. It is the world’s stiffest timber race.
Byers and Peace: New Joint-Masters at Aiken
Larry Byers and Joey Peace are new Joint-Masters at Aiken. / Randy Wolcott photoThe venerable Aiken Hounds (SC)—a pack steeped in the history of North American sport—has appointed Larry Byers and Joann “Joey” Peace as Joint-Masters. Established in 1914, the Aiken Hounds hunt the drag through the Hitchcock Woods.
All New Staff at Blue Ridge
The Blue Ridge Hunt (VA) will welcome in a very few days the arrival from England of two new professional staff members—huntsman Guy Allman and first whipper-in Thomas Hopson. Huntsman Allman comes to Blue Ridge after twelve years hunting hounds at the Mid Devon Foxhounds in England. Before that he was kennel huntsman at the […]
Crawley and Horsham Prosecuted Under the Hunting Act
The trial of four members of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt in West Sussex, England opened in Horsham Magistrates Court on Monday, April 23. The four are accused of violations under the Hunting Act. Two Masters, the hunt secretary, and the former huntsman (who now hunts the Dart Vale Harriers) are charged with five separate […]
How Tony Gammell Trained Hounds to Hunt Only the Red Fox
Huntsman Tony Gammell and the Keswick hounds in 2012 / Liz Callar photo
Foxhunting Life first published this story in 2012, when Tony Gammell was huntsman at the Keswick Hunt (VA). He’d trained the pack of American foxhounds to hunt the red fox and only the red fox. No gray fox, coyote, deer, or any other woodland creature. The article was well-received, and we decided it was worth bringing back.
Why wouldn’t he want to hunt gray fox? I wondered. Yes, they run short and tight with more jinks and double-backs, but they make hounds work for every inch of sport. It can be fun to watch. And even assuming he has good reason for not hunting gray fox, how does he teach hounds to ignore the line? I collared Tony at an MFHA Staff Seminar and asked, and I got more hound wisdom than I bargained for.
Red Fox Is the Only Quarry at Keswick—By Choice!
Keswick huntsman Tony Gammell / Liz Callar photoHuntsman Tony Gammell at the Keswick Hunt (VA) has developed a pack of American foxhounds that hunts the red fox and only the red fox. No gray fox, coyote, deer, or any other woodland creature.
Why wouldn’t he want to hunt gray fox? I wondered. Yes, they run short and tight with more jinks and double-backs, but they make hounds work for every inch of sport. It can be fun to watch. And even assuming he has good reason for not hunting gray fox, how does he teach hounds to ignore the line? I collared him at the recent MFHA Staff Seminar and asked, and I got more hound wisdom than I bargained for.