Huntsman and Whipper-In to Wed at Tennessee Valley
Huntsman Andy Bozdan and whipper-in Erin Doyle, both at the Tennessee Valley Hunt, have announced their engagement. The couple plan to marry in May. London-born Bozdan is in his first season hunting hounds in the U.S. Prior to his arrival at the Tennessee Valley, he was huntsman of the Barwon foxhounds in southern Australia. Andy […]
Blue Ridge Hunt Signs On New Huntsman
Huntsman Robert Howarth has been working his way south. He will carry the horn at the Blue Ridge Hunt in Virginia this year, arriving after a season hunting hounds at the Myopia Hunt in Massachusetts and before that the Hamilton Hunt in Ontario. Howarth will succeed Dennis Downing, now completing his eleventh season at Blue […]
Boxing Day Foxhunting Meets Draw Big Crowds in UK
While Boxing Day—the day after Christmas—passes largely unnoticed in the U.S., it traditionally draws large number of riders and spectators at foxhunting meets in England. According to The Daily Mail, a quarter of a million hunt supporters turned out for meets all across the country. Now a bank holiday in England, Boxing Day is thought […]
Morven Park: Hound Show In; Steeplechase Out
Morven Park and its lovely grounds in Leesburg, Virginia are familiar to many foxhunters. The former estate of the late Governor Westmoreland Davis has been home for many years to the Virginia Foxhound Show, meets of the Loudoun West Hunt, and the Morven Park Steeplechases. The mansion has recently been refurbished—a major project taking several […]
Foxhunter Mary Motion Caught the Racing Bug on Her Pony
Mary Motion at sixteen is one of only four riders of that age in the country to have earned a steeplechase amateur jockey’s license. Riding against some of the best and experienced jockeys last fall on Pennsylvania Hunt Cup Day, she placed third. It was only a few years ago that Motion was tearing up […]
Let’s Meet for a Pint at the Death of the Fox Inn
A morbid meeting place at first blush, but this historic tavern in Mount Royal, New Jersey, built around 1727, came by its name in the course of honest business—providing drink and sustenance to members of the Gloucester Fox Hunting Club after their hunts. Founded in 1766 by a group of Philadelphia gentlemen, the Gloucester Foxhunting […]
PETA Breaks Ranks with Activists on Horse Slaughter Issue
Congress recently cleared the way for the resumption of horse slaughter in the United States after a report by the General Accounting Office revealed that their earlier actions actually harmed the welfare of horses. (See prior FHL news item on this subject.) While most animal rights activists have expressed opposition to Congress’s turn-about, PETA, strangely, […]
Fox Hunt: Sport for Ham Radio Enthusiasts
What is a fox hunt? Well, it depends on whom you ask. If you are talking to a ham radio operator, he/she is apt to tell you that foxhunting is a sport over the airwaves in which ham radio enthusiasts search for a hidden transmitter—the fox—using directional antennas. In one form, an amateur radio club […]
Congress Expected to Reverse Defacto Ban on Horse Slaughter
This year, Congress is expected to reverse the defacto ban on horse slaughter in the U.S. Annually, since 2005, the appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has arrived at both houses of Congress with riders (sponsored by the HSUS) disallowing any funds that would allow USDA to inspect horses in transit to […]
Gillian Dupont Succumbs to Cancer
Gillian Dupont, founder and owner of The Old Habit in Marshall, Virginia, passed away Sunday, October 30, 2011 after a courageous battle with cancer. Her sister was by her side. There will be a service at the Leeds Episcopal Church in Hume, Virginia on Thursday, November 3rd, at 11 am. There will be a small […]