In the UK, Foxhunters Can’t Win for Losing
Frightened by nearby foxhounds in Warwickshire, a young rhea—a large, flightless bird related to ostriches and emus—escaped its pen and wound up on a road carrying traffic. A video of the event taken by hunt saboteurs was turned over to a sympathetic news outlet which painted a picture of a frightened foxhunter getting his comeuppance by being chased up and down the road by this impressive bird. Bottom line? A story of a frightened and angry foxhunter.
Any viewer who knows anything about foxhunting or horses would interpret the video quite differently. Bottom line? A story of a foxhunter doing his best to herd and contain the rhea to the area, alert the traffic, and keep it off the road until help arrived. All, despite the machinations of his nervous horse.
Horses, Hounds, and History in Kentucky
The Iroquois Hunt, established in 1880, celebrates Opening Meet of the formal season at their ancient clubhouse in Lexington, Kentucky with a traditional Blessing of Hounds. The video includes brief statements by Dr. Jack van Nagell, MFH, and Lilla Mason, MFH and huntsman. This video was produced by Fox 56 Ten O’clock News, Lexington, KY […]
The Moment
“The Moment” by Yongqing Bao, Wildlife Photographer of the Year This image of a Tibetan vixen with three cubs to feed attacking a terrified Himalayan marmot earned photographer Yongqing Bao the prestigious title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The paralyzing wildlife moment was shot in the remote Qilian mountains of China. Competition winners were […]
Russell Clark and Other Sporting Families of Myopia
Russell Burrage Clark of Hamilton, Massachusetts died peacefully at home on November 2, 2019. Russell served as MFH of the venerable Myopia Hunt (est. 1882) on Boston’s North Shore from 1975 to 1994 and was an avid polo player as well. A complete sportsman, as were many of the Myopians, Russell competed in every hunter trial and horse show in the state. If he didn’t have a made horse ready to go for an event, he’d pull a green horse out of the field and show up to participate anyway. Sitting tall and slim on his Thoroughbreds, Russell presented the image of sporting elegance.
Tommy Lee Jones: 50 Years Huntsman at Casanova
Huntsman Tommy Lee Jones and hounds of the Casanova Hunt / Douglas Lees photo
This season Tommy Lee Jones begins his fiftieth year as huntsman for the Casanova Hunt (VA). The popular Virginia horseman has played a leading role at every level of hunting and showing and possesses the ability to educate others through his writing skills.
Tommy Lee was the first recipient of the MFHA’s Ian Milne Huntsman’s Award in 2012, and next year he will be inducted into the Huntsman’s Room at the Museum of Hounds and Hunting.
Sporting Art Auction 2019 at Keeneland
Lot 51, Franklin Brooke Voss (American, 1880–1953), THE MIDDLESEX FOXHOUNDS IN THE MILLBROOK COUNTRY, signed, dated 1921, $8,000. – 10,000
Sunday, November 17, 2019 will mark the seventh annual Sporting Art Auction at the Keeneland Sales Pavilion—a cooperative venture between the world’s largest Thoroughbred auction house and its Lexington, Kentucky neighbor, Cross Gate Gallery, a leading source of the world’s finest sporting art. Collectors will take home works by highly regarded artists at prices possibly as low as $900, many under $3,000…others, truly exceptional works, as high as six figures.
This year’s offerings feature 189 lots of paintings and sculptures by masters long gone as well as by leading contemporary sporting artists of the day. Among the European artists represented are Henry Alken, Peter Curling, John Emms, Harry Hall, the various Herrings, Michael Lyne, Sir Alfred Munnings, and many others. American artists this year include Paul Brown, Juli Kirk, Booth Malone, LeRoy Neiman, Sandra Oppegard, Andre Pater, and Larry Wheeler.
How Horses Sleep
by Bill Fish
Do horses really sleep standing up or must they lie down? Can they dream like humans do? How many hours of sleep do they need on a daily basis? How are horses’ sleeping habits the same or different compared to those of other large animals?
Like cattle and some other animals, horses are capable of sleeping in a standing position. Sleeping while standing is beneficial because it tricks potential predators into thinking the animal is awake and less vulnerable. The ability to sleep while standing is due to a series of leg ligaments and bones called the “stay apparatus” that allows certain large animals, such as giraffes and zebras, to lock their legs.
Horses do not do all of their sleeping standing up. Horses engage in light sleep while standing, but cannot experience REM sleep unless they lie down. Horses regularly take short naps while standing throughout the day, which is likely the reason some people assume horses always sleep standing up.
Atherstone Hunt Cancels Foxhunting Season
The two hundred-year-old Atherstone Hunt that hunts country in West Leicestershire and North Warwickshire (UK) has ceased hunting for the remainder of the season. Bordering the four hundred square mile Atherstone hunting country are the iconic Pytchley and Quorn hunts. According to the Daily Mail, a spokesman for the Atherstone said, “We are sad to […]
AAEA Art Show Returns to Its Roots
Linda Volrath from White Post, Virginjia, with one of her oils, a handsomely mounted huntsman, Jordan Hicks, and his Piedmont foxhounds / Middleburg Photo
The American Academy of Equine Art, after an absence of thirty years, has returned to its original home, Middleburg, Virginia, with a delightful exhibit of equine art. The works chosen for the AAEA 39th Annual Open Juried Exhibition will be available for viewing until October 26, 2019 from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Saturday, at the newly occupied headquarters of the Masters of Foxhounds Association, 301 East Washington Street (U.S. Route 50), Middleburg, Virginia 20117.
The MFHA headquarters is “a beautiful facility inside and out, fully restored and expanded,” writes AAEA President Booth Malone. “The Academy plans to give them a show they can be proud of.”
Ellen Emmet Rand Exhibition “Leads the Field” at NSLM
Ellen Emmet Rand painted by Mary Foote in 1907A new exhibit, Leading the Field: Ellen Emmet Rand, opens at the National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) with a reception for members on October 4, 2019, and will hang through March 22, 2020. Rand was the first female student of American painter and sculptor Frederick MacMonnies, spent decades studying and painting in Paris, and for decades more was a successful portrait painter, commuting from her beloved Connecticut farm to her studio in New York City and across the country on commissions. Her subjects included sportsmen and women, captains of industry, judges, lawyers, socialites, children, and politicians—notably the first presidential portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
During a journey that fulfilled her dream of becoming a foxhunter, she crossed paths with some of the most influential sporting figures of the 1920s and 1930s, memorializing Masters of several prestigious hunts such as Fletcher Harper of Orange County (VA), Dr. Howard Collins of Millbrook (NY), and Evelyn Thayer Burr of Norfolk (MA). This important exhibition brings together several of these sporting commissions as well as paintings, studies, and sketches of the artist’s family and friends, and creates a personal picture of Rand as a fiercely talented painter, loving mother, countrywoman, and horsewoman.