Ewbank Clothiers Gutted by Fire
The fire that consumed Ewbank Clothiers in Berryville, Virginia on Thursday, August 13, 2015 couldn’t have come at a worse time for proprietor Karen Ewbank. Her custom tailoring shop was full of hunt coats and other foxhunting attire either being repaired or built in preparation for the upcoming hunting season.
“I woke up at three in the morning that night, counting red coats,” she recalls.
In addition to the loss of clothing and fabrics, perhaps even more serious is the loss of her meticulously cut pattern drafts—now ashes—used to trace shapes onto fabrics. The patterns will have to be re-plotted on brown Kraft paper from client measurements and re-cut—a process that takes about five hours for each client’s hunt coat. As of the date of this article, Karen doesn’t yet know whether her client measurement charts survived. They’re in steel filing cabinets in the front of the shop, and she has hopes that they were spared.
“I’m kicking on,” Karen told me today, the first workday of a new week. “I’m moving everything to my house and will work from here until the shop is rebuilt. That could take months, even though the structure is still sound.”
Downton Abbey Conclusion Will Air Foxhunting “Issue”
By now most of us have heard (and shed tears) that the upcoming season of Downton Abbey will conclude the five-year series. The final season promises to resolve all those Grantham family dramas that have captivated viewers in 250 countries. Through a single family, we have witnessed the British aristocracy and its seemingly inviolate traditions […]
Scottish National Party Delays Attempt to Relax Hunting Ban
In a reversal of expectations, the Scottish National Party (SNP) has threatened to oppose the pro-hunting effort to relax a key provision of the Hunting Act in England. The SNP move appears to doom chances of passage. As Foxhunting Life reported last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron, a former foxhunter, decided not to test […]
Cleveland Bay Day in Maryland to Hack, School, Visit
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A Plan to Modify England’s Hunting Act
With Prime Minister David Cameron now leading a majority government, pro-hunting Conservatives are looking to him to make good on his pledge to bring a free vote to the floor in Parliament to repeal the despised Hunting Act of 2002. Despite his majority, however, Cameron is loath to risk a free vote. Too many members […]
Rachel Gray, Whipper-In, Former Jockey, Killed in Motorcycle Accident
Douglas Lees photoRachel Lynne Gray, 31, died early Thursday morning, June 25, 2015, at the scene of a motorcycle accident around midnight. Born in Warrenton, Virginia, Rachel was a skilled horsewoman. She whipped-in to her husband, Spencer Allen, huntsman of the Piedmont Fox Hounds (VA), and she was a former jockey at Charles Town and […]
Scientists Claim Thoroughbreds Are Running Faster
For the past thirty years, conventional wisdom has held that horses have attained their maximum speed. Now, researchers at the University of Exeter in England claim that racehorses are running faster. Looking at data from more than 616,000 races run by more than 70,000 horses, these scientists have found the winning speeds greatly improved, particularly […]
Cleveland Bays Bring Real Field Hunters to Upperville
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Janet Hitchen Estate Sale Scheduled
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Dr. Jock Tate Is New Master at Moore County
The Moore County Hounds (NC) has announced the appointment of Dr. Jock Tate as a new Master of the hunt. Jock, a veterinarian, has been a member of Moore County for more than a half century. He was awarded his colors back in 1959 by Pappy and Ginnie Moss, the hunt’s founders. Jock is described […]