Kansas Tally Ho!
A video of a fantastic tally ho at the Mission Valley Hunt’s Performance Trials in Kansas this past November 23, 2024.
James Schmidhammer 1950-2024
James L. Schmidhammer, former MFH for Tennessee Valley Hunt, passed away on November 1, 2024.
Old Dominion Hounds Celebrate 100 Years
This year in celebration of their 100th anniversary, a wonderful documentary video called “Centennial Celebration: A Century of Sport with the Old Dominion Hounds” has been released.
Worst Timing for a Foxhunting Conviction in England
Ex-Cheshire huntsman John ‘Ollie’ Finnegan was found guilty of one count of hunting a wild mammal with dogs this September and was fined £468. The charge related to an incident that took place on a trail hunt on November 26, 2022, with the Cheshire Hunt. This marks the first time someone has been convicted of foxhunting in Cheshire (a county in northwest England).
Under the Blue Ridge Mountains
Glenmore Hunt’s Christine Brady took this beautiful image of staff on a run with the Blue Ridge Mountains watching over them. When Christine is not the hunt club’s photographer, she is a whipper-in.
Frederick George Getty 1941-2024
Frederick George Getty, the long-serving senior Master and Huntsman for Middlebrook Hounds in Middlebrook, Virginia, has passed away.
New Threats to Riding to Hounds in the UK
Now that Scotland has successfully banned trail hunting, the Labour Party has promised to follow suit in England and Wales. The fallout from this promise, laid out in its “manifesto” released this summer, has already affected several hunt clubs that hunt on Ministry of Defence land despite there not being any new legislation enacted from the newly elected party. In response, the British Hound Sports Association held a National Trail Hunting Day this month to try to sway public opinion away from supporting a total ban.
Virginia’s Right to Retrieve Law is Challenged
This September a challenge to Virginia’s Right to Retrieve law* was sent to the state’s Supreme Court for consideration.
Better Living Through Titanium Road Trip, Last of Seven Parts
In February 2024, I took a road trip to hunt my way across the US and back after finally being cleared to ride again after back surgery. I hunted to Pennsylvania before returning west to hunt my way home to Nevada.
BEES!
Nothing is more terrifying during early Autumn Hunting in the East than when a member of field yells “BEES!”. Yellow Jackets are a dangerous surprise that can cause complete chaos in late summer (Yellow Jackets are wasps, not bees, but when in the moment the fewer syllables required to scream a warning is best). There are some precautions everyone should take when riding out in the country in late summer to prevent injury from falling off a panicked horse, anaphylactic shock from a venom allergy (for both horse and rider), and permanently terrifying new riders to never ride out of the ring again.