A Little Something to Hang
Juli Kirk (American, born 1957), Hounds on Scent, oil on canvas, 24″ x 36″, signed, dated 2015. Click on any of the images for a larger view.
Through the kind permission of Greg Ladd, owner of the Cross Gate Gallery in Lexington, KY, Foxhunting Life is proud to report, along with a selection of riveting images, on the highly successful third annual Sporting Art Auction at the Keeneland Sales Pavilion held there on November 18, 2015. Racing and shooting sports were also well represented.
Each year, Ladd travels across the United States and Europe to acquire important works worthy of the attention of a discriminating clientele. Eighty-nine percent of all the works offered were sold, and thirty-seven percent sold for more than the high-end estimates. Sir Alfred Munnings’ signed and dated painting of the champion French Thoroughbred, Mon Talisman, brought the top price of $250,500. At the other end of the spectrum, a lovely hunting gouache of a Worcestershire Foxhounds scene sold for just $3,450.
Bill Would Keep State-Raised Animal Rights Donations in Oklahoma
The Oklahoma House of Representatives will soon consider House Bill 2250, a measure crafted to forbid animal rights groups from spending monies raised in Oklahoma on any out-of-state expenses or for political purposes. The bill is being championed by State Representative Brian Renegar (D), a veterinarian. He was prompted to his crusade when, in the […]
Everyone Knows Bundles Murdock, But She Knows Everyone Else!
Catherine “Bundles” Murdock is the lady to seek out when paying your cap at Orange County. Be sure to observe proper protocol by enclosing your check in an envelope with your name and address. Ms. Murdock is one field secretary who knows her protocol! / Douglas Lees photoIn a recent article in the Loudoun Times-Mirror, Billie Van Pay wrote, “Almost everyone in horse country knows Catherine ‘Bundles’ C. Murdock, a fourth-generation member of a family well-known for its community leadership and for helping make the area known for its foxhunting.”
Indeed, Murdock is a long-time member of the Middleburg, Virginia community and the Orange County Hounds, serving as honorary secretary, field secretary, and road whip. And “almost everyone in horse country” does know her. But Murdock knows everyone else. Like Barbara and George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Queen Elizabeth to name a few.
Murdock was born in New York, but Middleburg has always been home. Her grandfather William Philander “Pappy” Hulbert came to Middleburg more than one hundred years ago, and her mother grew up on the family farm, Stonehedge, before her.
Horses Can Read Human Facial Expressions
A study has shown that horses can distinguish between happy and angry human facial expressions. The study was performed by psychologists at the University of Sussex (UK) on twenty-eight horses. When viewing angry human faces, horses look more through their left eye. This phenomenon has also been seen in dogs and other animal species, the […]
NYC Horse Carriage Deal Goes Bust
In New York City, as Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” In the case of Mayor de Blasio’s animal rights-funded war against the horse-drawn carriages, that homegrown proverb was never truer. With a deal in hand between the mayor’s office and the Teamsters union representing the carriage drivers—requiring only the City […]
A Foxhunter Turns 100!
On the happy occasion of Mr. I. Tucker Burr, III’s one hundredth birthday on Thursday, July 27, 2017, we republish the story of his raucous escapade in 1936 when he and a schoolmate ran his mother’s Norfolk Hunt foxhounds on a drag hunt through Harvard Yard.
Mr. Burr, you and your friend Leverett Saltonstall, Jr. were a proper pair of rascals, and we all wish we could have been there for the fun. Happy birthday, sir.The Leverett Saltonstall Family in the Norfolk Hunt field, 1930. Leverett (top hat) was governor of Massachusetts and U.S. Senator, three terms each. Leverett, Jr is just left of his father.
In the dark of night on April 16, 1936, the atmosphere of refinement within the hallowed walls of Harvard Yard was suddenly shattered by foxhounds in full cry. A candid confession to the affair is buried in the pages of The Norfolk Hunt: One Hundred Years of Sport, published in 1995 to commemorate Norfolk’s centennial. The statute of limitations having long expired, we can confidentially out the two students who organized and carried out the caper: Leverett Saltonstall, Jr. and I. Tucker Burr, III.
Tuck’s mother, Mrs. I. Tucker (Evelyn Thayer) Burr, Jr. was MFH and huntsman of the Norfolk Hunt at the time of the incident. Whether she was a willing accessory we’ll leave to the reader to decide. Young Leverett whipped-in to her from time to time. Leverett’s father, who traced his roots directly to the Mayflower, was Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, soon to be governor for three terms, and finally U.S. Senator for three elected terms.
The Harvard Yard Run
The Leverett Saltonstall Family in the Norfolk Hunt field, 1930. Leverett (top hat) was governor of Massachusetts and U.S. Senator, three terms each. Leverett, Jr is just left of his father.
In the dark of night on April 16, 1936, the atmosphere of refinement within the ancient walls of Harvard Yard was suddenly shattered by foxhounds in full cry. A candid confession to the affair is buried in the pages of The Norfolk Hunt: One Hundred Years of Sport, published in 1995 to commemorate Norfolk’s centennial. The statute of limitations having long expired, we can confidentially out the two students who organized and carried out the caper: Leverett Saltonstall, Jr. and I. Tucker Burr, III.
Tuck’s mother, Mrs. I. Tucker (Evelyn Thayer) Burr, Jr. was MFH and huntsman of the Norfolk Hunt at the time of the incident. Whether she was a willing accessory we’ll leave to the reader to decide. Young Leverett whipped-in to her from time to time. Leverett’s father, who traced his roots directly to the Mayflower, was Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, soon to be governor for three terms, and finally U.S. Senator for three elected terms.
The Owl and the Earl
Book Review by Martha A. Woodham
The Owl and the Earl, Paul Smith, Silverwood Books, 2014, Paperback, 198 pages, $14.95As the newest Master of the Blankshire Hunt, our hero of The Owl and the Earl, Hector Griffiths, inadvertently steps into what is known as a “sticky wicket” when he is tapped to raise funds to build a new stable for the hunt.
Threatening to sabotage the fund raising is a rivalry between old money and new. The family of Lord Blankshire, the Hon. Alexander Bichester, came over with the Normans. By comparison, the fifth Earl of Melsham, aka “Sid,” is practically nouveau riche. Sid, known locally—but only behind his back—as “the belted earl,” likes to stick it to Alex every chance he gets, leaving poor Alex, a gentle soul, flummoxed, frustrated, and a bit peeved.
Old North Bridge Hounds in the Footprints of History II
The Old North Bridge Hounds meet at The Old Manse, home of Ralph Waldo Emerson and his forebears, adjacent to the North Bridge, their namesake. / Elizabeth Goldsmith photo
In an earlier story, we read of the Old North Bridge Hounds (MA) meeting at historic Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in nearby Sudbury. This drag pack, established in 1969 and recognized by the MFHA in 1973, boasts connections back to Colonial days, and hounds hunt routinely across some of our nation’s most hallowed ground.
The hunt was organized in Concord, Massachusetts, the town that inhospitably hosted several companies of British regulars on the 19th of April, 1775. On that fateful day, the first British casualties of the War of Independence were shot and killed at the Old North Bridge spanning the Concord River. The redcoats were driven back to Cambridge by scores of Minute Men from surrounding towns who had assembled there, having been rousted by Paul Revere the night before.
NYC Horse Carriage Deal Is Struck
Representatives of the horse carriage industry in New York City have reached an agreement-in-concept with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office on the future of horse drawn carriages there. To become effective, the deal must be approved by the City Council. Under the compromise agreement, new stables will be built in Central Park for the horses, […]