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Brian Ferrell is new MFH at Blue Ridge. / Nancy Kleck photoBrian Ferrell has been appointed MFH at the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA), joining Masters Linda Armbrust and Anne McIntosh in a team of three. Ferrell, who is dead serious in his commitment to the hunt and to the sport, is nevertheless somewhat bemused. “I don’t really fit the mold,” he says with a faint grin, the most you can expect from this soft-spoken, reserved, yet very popular member of the hunt. “I don’t come from a hunting background, and a Mastership was never my goal. I started taking riding lessons because my kids were riding. I picked it up reasonably well because I’ve always been pretty athletic.” There’s a typical Ferrell understatement. As a high school state regional tennis finalist and a third-ranked regional giant slalom skier in Middle School, he was indeed a top athlete in his boyhood. Ferrell grew up in Waterford, Virginia. His dad—also a good athlete—rode a little, but neither the family nor Brian ever had thoughts or aspirations of foxhunting. That came from his children, Emily and Charlotte. His wife Clare is from Devon, England and also rides. Ferrell has no illusions about the prestige of Mastership. “Everyone at Blue Ridge has to work and contribute,” he said. “I’m willing to put the time in and do the work, and I think I can provide a balance to the team of Masters through my own business experience and understanding of the need for teamwork. In the end I just want everyone to go out and have fun.” Posted May 20, 2013

Karen Myers photo Huntsman Dennis Downing has moved from the Montreal Hunt (QC) to take up the horn at the Saxonburg Hunt (PA). That position became available when former Saxonburg huntsman Hugh Robards decided to make a move of his own. Downing has been at Montreal for just one season after having hunted hounds at the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA) for eleven seasons. His current move is of special significance to him as both he and his wife Sue are now U.S. citizens. “I’m very pleased to return to the States as a citizen,” said Downing. “And I’m happy to be working with a smaller hunt, but one with a very enthusiastic membership.” The British-born and -trained huntsman has been in professional hunt service for forty-one years. Starting in 1972 as second horseman to the North Cotswold, Downing went on—as is the custom in English hunt service—to whip-in to six hunts over a ten-year period: the Croome, East Sussex, Llangibby, High Peak, Pendle Forest and Craven, and Meynell. He carried the horn for fifteen years in England for the Llangibby, South Tetcott, and Croome, before moving to the U.S. as huntsman to the Mooreland Hunt (AL). There he discovered a new quarry—the coyote! He remained at Mooreland for three years after which he moved to the Blue Ridge. Downing is no stranger to Saxonburg MFH Floyd Wine. “I’ve known Dennis for ten years,” said Wine. “He sent me drafts from the Blue Ridge. I know he’s a solid individual and a good man for hound breeding.” Posted May 20, 2013

Flying Change: A Year of Racing and Family and Steeplechasing by Patrick Smithwick, Chesapeake Book Company, 2012, 360 pages, $30.00Writer/horseman Patrick Smithwick has been awarded the seventh annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award, for his 2012 autobiographical work Flying Change: A Year of Racing and Family and Steeplechasing. The work which was reviewed enthusiastically by Foxhunting Life is a follow-up to the author’s 2006 volume Racing My Father: Growing Up with a Riding Legend, itself a finalist for the inaugural Book Award in 2006. A $10,000 winner’s check and a custom-designed Irish crystal trophy were presented to Smithwick on April 10, 2013 during an evening reception at the Castleton Lyons farm in Lexington, Kentucky. In Flying Change, the author—son and nephew respectively of Racing Hall of Fame horsemen Paddy and Mikey Smithwick and a rider possessed of his own bonafide credentials—relates the story of his return to steeplechase competition in his late forties, a quarter-century removed from his previous racing career. With humor, elegance, and charming introspection he recalls the difficult road back from complacent middle-age to athletic fitness…the doubts, the joys, and setbacks along the way in his quest to compete and to defy the passage of time. Smithwick’s beautifully written book impressed all three judges, who remarked on the loving detail included therein, and the honesty—sometimes brutal—with which the story was told. Submissions for the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award came from all over the world, included among them histories, biographies, fiction, and a volume on equine law. In addition to the winner, finalists for 2012 were: Kentucky Derby Dreams: The Making of Thoroughbred Champions, by Susan Nusser; and The Garrett Gomez Story: A Jockey’s Journey Through Addiction and Salvation, by Rudolph Valier Alvarado, with Garrett Gomez. Dr. Ryan, a successful businessman who founded Europe’s Ryanair airline in 1985, loved horse racing and a good story. In 2006 he tipped his hat to both by launching the Castleton Lyons Book Award, which with $10,000 in prize money quickly drew entries from some of the world’s foremost sporting authors. Although Dr. Ryan passed away the following year, the contest now named for him has since been carried on by his son Shane, president of Castleton Lyons. Judges for the competition were Kay Coyte, managing editor of the Washington Post-Bloomberg News Service; HRTV broadcaster and producer Caton Bredar; and attorney and author Milton C. Toby, winner of the 2011 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for Dancer’s Image: The Forgotten Story. Posted April 29, 2013

Completing the recent round-robin of “Huntsmen on the Move,” Martyn Blackmore will be the new huntsman at the Loudoun Hunt (VA) come the month of May, the traditional month for hunt staff to move to their new posts. Blackmore is the departing huntsman at the Loudoun West Hunt, just across town. With this announcement, a circle is completed as three huntsmen trade places among three hunts. Huntsman Andy Bozdan moves from the Tennessee Valley Hunt (TN) to fill the vacancy at Loudoun West. Huntsman Ryan Johnsey leaves the Loudoun Hunt to fill the vacancy at Tennessee Valley. And Blackmore, departing from Loudoun West, fills the vacancy at Loudoun. “Sue and I look forward to meeting Andy and Erin Bozdan,” said Martyn, “and will offer them any help they may need.” To most members of the field, the huntsman is a heroic figure on horseback who gives us great pleasure in our moments of recreation. For the huntsman, however, those glorious moments are but brief episodes ina career for which their are very few opportunities available in the entire world! What brings these men and women to commit their working lives to such a career? Foxhunting Life will be starting a new series of articles focusing on huntsmen and their own stories of how they came to their profession. It promises to be a fascinating glimpse of lives most of us know nothing about. Watch for it! Posted April 24, 2013

Douglas Lees photoMary South Hutchison, a powerful presence in the world of Virginia foxhunting, died suddenly on Thursday, April 4, 2013. Mary South—as she was known to visitors and members of the Orange County Hounds, exhibitors at the Virginia Foxhound Show, and members of the Virginia Foxhound Club—served the Orange County Hounds as Honorary Secretary for about twenty years and the Virginia Foxhound Club as Treasurer for about the same period of time. “I don’t know what we’ll do without her,” Orange County MFH John Coles said. “Hers was a life dedicated to the sport. She was a traditionalist, and kept things in line for us.” Coles’s Joint-Master Malcolm Matheson agreed. “She was the eyes and ears of the Masters in the field,” he said. “She didn’t mind stating her opinions, good or bad!” He paused, then chuckled remembering. “And she was fearless,” he said. “One time hounds struck on the other side of a five-foot stone wall. She was one of only four field members to jump that wall. Even Melvin went around! We four had the hounds all to ourselves until the others caught up.” Hunting with the late Jimmy Young, MFH, Orange County in 1996 / Douglas Lees photo Mary South Hutchison lived in Middleburg and worked as a real estate agent. She had been battling cancer, but she was out and active right to the end, even closing on a property just three days before her death. The suddenness has shocked her community. Joan Jones recently stepped down as president of the Virginia Foxhound Club, the organization that puts on the Virginia Foxhound Show. She and Mary South as treasurer have been the faces of the hound show for a good twenty years or so. With the show approaching in May, Joan finds herself trying to get a handle on all the financial matters, including the vendor spaces, that Mary South has for so long managed. Joan echoed Master Coles’s words to the letter. “I don’t know how we’ll get along without her,” she said. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, April 10, 2013 in Middleburg. Posted April 7, 2013 Float tubing on the Shenandoah River with photographer Douglas Lees

Dr. Ian Harrison of Berryville, Virginia was named Veterinarian of the Year by the Virginia Horse Council.  Dr. Harrison was honored at a luncheon on Saturday, March 16, 2013 during the VHC Annual Meeting and Educational Seminar held at Wyers Cave, Virginia on the campus of the Blue Ridge Community College. Australian-born Dr. Harrison graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master’s Degree in surgery. In 1983 he came to the U.S. to complete a surgery residency at the University of Pennsylvania, New Bolton Center. Although he originally intended to return to Australia, his plans changed after meeting Ginny, a veterinary technician at New Bolton Center, whom he married. From New Bolton Center, Dr. Harrison joined the faculty at Auburn University in Alabama. He was promoted to Associate Professor, but soon after, he and Ginny decided to move north to be closer to Ginny’s family in Delaware. After working in private equine practices for a while, Dr. and Mrs. Harrison opened Harrison Equine in Berryville, Virginia where Dr. Harrison is a Board Certified Equine Surgeon. He has a special interest in upper airway diseases and sports medicine. The couple live in Rippon, West Virginia. The Virginia Horse Council serves as the umbrella organization for Virginia equine interests. The Council lobbies the state legislature on issues affecting horsemen, horsewomen, horses, and related industries. Posted March 19, 2013