Who Is This?
This photograph along with the question of the couple’s identity was posted on our Facebook page to provide an entertaining and informative way of featuring iconic figures in American foxhunting. We furnished a few hints, thinking that this would be a tough puzzle, but our readers made short work of it.
Verity Cameron and Bill Getchell were the first to correctly identify our mystery couple, and since their complete answers were posted pretty much simultaneously on our Facebook page, each will receive a gift from Foxhunting Life. Anne Manfredo Darken filled in more information by naming their pack correctly, so she deserves an honorary mention!
Morven Park Clarifies its Future
Concerned horsemen were mostly mollified by the message from Morven Park officials in a pair of meetings held last week. While the plan is to make a wider public use of the Leesburg, Virginia property, it appears that the only equestrian casualty will be the steeplechase racecourse. Other equestrian facilities will be continued and even […]
General Patton Wouldn’t Give Way at the Fences
Three long-time residents of Potomac, Maryland spoke recently to a standing-room-only crowd at a local restaurant about their town’s past. Two of the three speakers—Bob Hanson and Leonard Proctor—had hunted with the Potomac Hunt. Hanson related an amusing anecdote about a recalcitrant General George Patton. “Patton was not a gentleman when it came to jumping […]
The Mardale Hunt: Chapters 8 to 10
The Dun Bull Hotel, 1920Here are Chapters 8 to 10 of The Mardale Hunt by Ron Black. Through the courtesy of the author, Foxhunting Life is bringing you the entire book in installments every two weeks. You are free to download the book to your computer. We hope you have enjoyed the previous installments. There […]
The Galway Blazers at Athenry
Joint-Master David McCarthy over one of what sporting artist Snaffles called “The Biggest Walls.” / Noel Mullins photoA meet of the Galway Blazers around the medieval walled town of Athenry, County Galway in the heart of the hunt country is not to be missed. Before traffic congested the town centre, meets were traditionally held at Higgins’ Bar. Masters and huntsmen would be served a stirrup cup by the proprietor Brendan Higgins who, with his sister Mary Josephine (my mother), hunted with the pack.
Foxhounds and Greyhounds; Scent and Sight; The Ultimate Pack
The Shawnee Hounds set out into big, open country for a tiring day in the mud. (Foreground) Master and huntsman Dr. Mark Smith, (background, l-r) Lee Carson, Courtney Carson and guest Jeffie McAfoo / Sue Brandt photoThe Shawnee Hounds (IL) Mannings fixture was challenging to hunt this day—substantial ditches, wide open fields that were muddy and quickly sapped the horses’ strength, and large wheat fields that had to be circumnavigated to stay in the farmers’ good graces. This made it difficult for the whippers-in as well as those who had to stay further out in order to not lose the pack on a big run. The large woods that we normally would avoid due to being leased by deer hunters were open now that deer season was over.
This hunt was further challenged by too much of a good thing—lots of coyotes! They were everywhere, and I doubt I can remember all the views of different coyotes seen and by whom.
The Berkeley Hunt at Thornbury
The Berkeley Hunt (pronounced Barkley!) is said to be the oldest pack of foxhounds in England, harking back to the twelfth century. The pack is still owned by the Berkeley family. The Fifth Earl of Berkeley could hunt his hounds from Berkeley Castle to Berkeley Square in London and had kennels along the route. The season would start in Berkeley and progress to each of his kennels to London and then in stages back again to Gloucestershire. The present kennels date from the early eighteenth century.
The photos in this report were taken by Simon Clare on Boxing Day in Thornbury, an ancient market town in the west of England near Bristol, about 125 miles west of London.
Ancestral Mother of All Horses Lived 160,000 Years Ago
Scientists have discovered through mitochondrial DNA that a mare that walked the earth 160,000 years ago is the ancestral mother of every horse in the world. Eighteen different genetic clusters were identified as having come from the ancestral mare reports Bloomberg News, which suggests that domestication of horses occurred in many places across Europe and […]
Is He Up to My Weight?
Denya Dee Leake was preparing to exercise her field hunter Fearnought bareback (under blanket), when Promise, her Jack Russell terrier, jumped onto the horse’s back from the mounting block. This wasn’t the first time! There must be a message there. If you think you know what Promise is thinking, type it into the Comments box. […]
Tally Slo! The Leisure Field Debuts at Red Rock
Joy Smith leads the Leisure Field on Kindred. By A.P. Indy, Kindred sold at Keeneland in 2006 for one million dollars, but has since found more satisfying employment. / Shawn Lloyd photoGreat ideas are sometimes borne of desperation.
I was desperate to get back on a horse after a lumbar fracture at the beginning of the hunting season. Having already sat out much of the season. I just couldn’t resist riding at the annual joint meet in Ridgecrest, California. Hounds and members of Red Rock Hounds (NV), Kingsbury Harriers, Santa Ynez Valley Hounds (CA), Grand Canyon Hounds (AZ), Paradise Valley Beagles (AZ), as well as members of several eastern hunts all come together for three days of hunting, eating, drinking, and mingling with great friends and fantastic animals.
Riding was definitely not on my list of “can do” activities, but give me a quiet horse and a promise to only walk then no harm can be done, right?