Eastern Coyote Is Part Wolf
The secret of the Eastern coyote was revealed just this year when scientists discovered wolf DNA in coyotes living in the U.S. Northeast. The scientists hypothesize that the Western coyotes mated with wolves as they migrated eastward north of the Great Lakes across Canada during the last century. The finding helps to explain why the […]
The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey’s Memoir
The Simple Game:
An Irish Jockey’s Memoir
by Thomas Foley
Foreword by Otto Thorwarth
Caballo Press of Ann Arbor Book, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2010, 163 pages, ISBN-13: 9780982476659
Thomas Foley was an empty-headed (by his account) seventeen-year-old when he came to America from Ireland to pursue a career in jump racing. This month he will be seen by millions of movie goers as he plays the part of Secretariat’s exercise boy in Walt Disney’s long-hyped movie about the great racehorse. Between the two events, which bracket a period of twelve or thirteen years, young Foley has experienced a bit of life.
Call for Art
I’m anxious to develop FHL’s coverage of sporting art still further, and to that end FHL invites artists to send us a selection of their images along with a brief description of their artistic background, their achievements, goals, and what they try to communicate in their work. Artists, please educate us so that we may […]
Thoughts on Outriding
I was an outrider at the Blue Ridge Fall Races on Saturday. Besides the fact that I love sitting on a horse and that outriding is a great way to see the races, it’s also a habit. I’ve been doing it on the Woodley racecourse in Berryville, Virginia for twenty-five years. The sun was shining in a brilliant blue sky, my horse looked handsome, the hospitality tent was filled with delicious food, and all was right with the world. Until it wasn’t.
Sportsmen Seek Constitutional Protection for Hunting
Four states—Arkansas, Arizona, South Carolina, and Tennessee—have right-to-hunt referendums on the ballot this year. Kentucky may follow. Such constitutional guarantees have already been passed in nine states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Not all the legislation has been recent; Vermont passed their […]
Florida Bans Fox Pens
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has banned the use of enclosures in the hunting of fox or coyote with hounds. The decision, made at a commission meeting on Wednesday, September 1, made permanent the temporary ban instituted in February. The ban is the result of complaints concerning at least one pen owner’s non-compliance […]
Early Morning Light
Cubhunting is now underway in most hunting countries, and the early morning slanting light is a photographer’s wish come true. Some stunning photos are coming our way, and we will be sharing them with you. For a sample of Karen Myers’ photographic art on opening day of the Blue Ridge cubhunting season, click on Photo […]
Blair’s Memoir: An Astonishing Claim
In an astounding revelation, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair claims to have deliberately sabotaged the Hunting Act of 2004 so that foxhunting would continue.
In his newly published memoir A Journey (Random House), Blair says that the hunting ban was “one of the domestic legislative measures I most regret.” He claims to have (1) engineered sufficient loopholes in the Act so that hunting could continue and (2) instructed his Home Office minister to steer the police away from enforcing the law.
Have Books; Will Travel
In case you haven’t noticed, I have a new book out: Foxhunting Adventures: Chasing the Story. It’s a collection of thirty-two of my foxhunting stories, the earliest ones written over forty years ago. I’ll be signing books at various locations over the next few months, and if you’re in the neighborhood or are planning on attending any of the following events, please stop and say hello. Here’s my schedule as it stands now:
September 5: Hunt Night at the Warrenton Horse Show. I’ll be with Jan Neuharth and Vicki Moon who will be signing their books as well.
September 15 (10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.): Tri-County Feeds, Etc., Marshall, VA
September 17: Blue Ridge Fall Races Calcutta Night at Woodley, Berryville, VA
October 8: Locke’s Store wine tasting, Millwood, VA
October 18: Hunt Night at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show, Harrisburg, PA
October 27: Chevy Chase Club, Chevy Chase, MD
November 5: Belle Meade Opening Meet, Thomson, GA
Melvin at Ninety
Douglas Lees photo
Hounds were screaming, and the huntsman was cooking. A cattle guard loomed ahead—a coop to the left and a gate to the right. The huntsman veered left.
“Melvin,” someone yelled, “the gate’s on the right!”
“Melvin just kept kicking on, right over the coop,” recalled Joe Conner, shaking his head and grinning in wonder.
Conner, who has whipped-in to Melvin for years at Bath County (VA), didn’t resurrect that story out of a distant past. It had happened only weeks before Melvin Poe’s ninetieth birthday celebration.
A month or so earlier, I had recognized the same notes of awe and wonder as I stood chatting with Brian Smith, my farrier, about Melvin’s upcoming ninetieth birthday.