Horses

Field Hunter Champion Gabrina Von Schweez ridden by Lindsey Williamson.   /   Middleburg Photo

I watched for glimpses of red and gold in the forests along the highway as I headed North on Saturday, October 2, 2021. But, no, not a glimpse of any color but green. Virginia wasn’t far enough north of Georgia, where my horses and I foxhunt with Belle Meade Hunt, or South Carolina, where I live and work. Fall and cooler temperatures had yet to arrive in Virginia. It’s still hot.

My F250 and four-horse trailer were fully loaded, hauling three horses to Middleburg, where I would stay through the end of the coming week. Four days of foxhunting with four different hunts were in my plans as a judge in the Theodora A. Randolph Field Hunter Championships: hunting in the field every day with the competitors and then riding in the finals on Saturday, October 9, at Glenwood Park. The final tests and awards in the morning would lead up to the Virginia Fall Races in the afternoon.

Laura Sloan, a well-known foxhunter and trainer of field hunters, won the Field Hunter Division of the 2021 National Thoroughbred Makeover competition on Donna Verrilli’s off-the-track-Thoroughbred (OTTB), Forthegreatergood. But the story doesn’t end there.

On the final evening of competition, October 17, 2021, in the arena, Sloan and Forthegreatergood won a final recognition at the Kentucky Horse Park: Overall 2021 Thoroughbred Makeover Champion of all competing horses in all ten divisions. This was the first overall championship for a horse from the Field Hunter division.

US Capitol  /   Wikimedia Commons Image

Legislation to permanently ban horse slaughter in the United States has been introduced by a bipartisan group of U.S. senators. The proposed bill would also ban the transportation of horses for slaughter. Congress effectively ended all horse slaughter in the country about ten years ago, but the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported that horse welfare suffered as a result.

The new bill―Save America's Forgotten Equines (SAFE)―is sponsored by U.S. Senators Susan Collins, R-Maine, Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey, and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island. Senator Whitehouse, for one, is certainly knowledgeable about equine issues. His father, Charles, a former ambassador, served as Master of the Orange County Hounds (VA) after retiring from foreign service.

While the bill is crafted to save horses' lives, the real question is will it solve the underlying problem of unwanted horses? Or will those horses’ lives become even more tragic because humane euthanasia is denied? Without funding as a part of this or any such bill, I'm afraid so.

Tommy Thompson and Jenny Camp

Foaled in 1926 at the United States Army Remount Depot in Front Royal, Virginia, Jenny Camp was named after the cavalry's horse shows known as "Jenny Camp" shows, open to enlisted soldiers, women, and children. Despite being the daughter of one of the Army's finest remount stallions, Gordon Russell, Jenny Camp did not come equipped with wonderful conformation below the knees, but she did come with a scrappy hardiness that would take her far. She was out of a half-bred mare and she stood sixteen hands high.

Maiden Hurdle Race, second division: Gostisbehere (Graham Watters up) leads the field over the last fence and is first at the wire. /  Douglas Lees photo

Old Dominion Hounds (VA) held their spring Point-to-Point races once again in springtime! What’s unusual about that?” one might ask. Last year, Old Dominion was the first of the Virginia hunts to stage their spring races in the autumn, after Covidstopped our lives in March. Warrenton’s point-to-point last year on March 14^th, its usual time, was the last of two spring races (Rappahannock on March 7^th) until Old Dominion gave horsemen a day of racing on September 12^th followed by Blue Ridge on September 19^th. Without spectators, however.

So this spring has been a welcomed return to semi-normalcy. We’re not completely there yet, but we’re close enough to consider this spring special...and to appreciate it as such. The turf was good and entries were healthy enough for the ten-race card of hurdle, timber, and flat racing.

Last fence in the Open Hurdle Race (l-r): Noah And The Ark (Gerard Galligan up) is 1st; Compass Zone (Sean McDermott up) is 2nd; #1, Mr. Sarinana (Bernie Dalton up) finishes 3rd.  /   Douglas Lees photo

Two weeks after kicking off the spring point-to-point season in Virginia, the Warrenton Hunt ran a second day of Point-to-Point Racing at the Airlie racecourse. Eight races were on the card this day, Sunday, March 28, 2021, compared to just five for the opener. Four hurdle races were added, three of which were well-filled and one was split into two divisions.

Lady Rider Timber: Cocodimama (Chloe Hannum up) battles down the stretch to hold his slim lead over Bridge Builder (left) ridden by Erin Swope. Aggressive (center, rear) finishes third under Skylar McKenna.  /   Douglas Lees photo 

The Piedmont Point-to-Point Races at the Salem course in Upperville, Virginia, was the venue for Chloe Hannum and Teddy Davies to notched their first career wins racing horses over fences. The date was March 20, 2021.

Hannum won two races this day—Lady Rider Timber and Maiden Flat. Davies won the Amateur and Novice Rider Timber for his milestone.

(L-R) Open Timber winner Highway Prince (Skylar McKenna up) and Some Response (Teddy Davies up) the challenger  / Douglas Lees photo

The Warrenton Hunt (VA) kicked off the spring point-to-point season on March 13, 2021, at the Airlie racecourse. Entries were light, but it was a fine start for the season after the depressing broken schedules of last year.

Five races were run under rules―two over timber and three on the flat. The hurdle races didn’t fill, but informal schooling races over hurdles allowed horses, jockeys, and trainers to make at least some use of their preparations.

Songster and Bert Main, his rider throughout World War I

Songster, a small, aged, chestnut horse was called up for duty on the very day after England declared war on Germany—August 4, 1914. The fourteen-year-old gelding, standing just over fifteen hands high, was considered too old and too small for the demands of wartime service, but there he was on Wednesday, parading through Loughborough Market Square in Leicestershire, on his way to France.

Age and size notwithstanding, he brought to the service his character, intelligence, and bravery. Those attributes plus a measure of luck helped him and his Trooper, Bert Main, to survive the three frightful years of war.

Chris Ryan staying with his Scarteen Black and Tans  /  Catherine Power photo

It is generally recognised that only a very special horse will suffice for a huntsman of a premier pack. Many of these horses acquire fame in their own right and often become even better known than their riders. No horse should ever be considered too good or too valuable for a huntsman on a big day. Capt Harry Freeman-Jackson regularly hunted the Duhallow hounds off St. Finbarr, which he rode when representing Ireland in the Rome Olympics. Many of the greats are a one-of and often unridable unless they are up front.