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Huntsman Richard Roberts and trainer Colleen Hayduk were married on April 14 in Hawaii. The pair will honeymoon there before Richard takes up his position as the new huntsman at the Deep Run Hunt near Richmond, Virginia. Richard is former huntsman of the Piedmont Fox Hounds where he showed brilliant sport during his six-year tenure there. Colleen operates Landmark Ponies, a training facility in Middleburg, Virginia. “Why Hawaii?” I wanted to know. “A friend, Ray Stone, who hunts with Orange County, is co-owner of Dolphin Quest,” Richard explained. “They have an educational and breeding operation here in Hawaii. I have an avid interest in marine life and marine biology and a fascination with dolphins, so here we are!” In addition to running her pony farm, Colleen raises puppies for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI), a service dog organization. She raises and trains the puppies from the age of eight weeks to a year-and-a-half, during which time she reports regularly on their progress and takes training classes herself. She’s working on her sixth puppy now. Colleen characterizes this passion as “the best thing” she ever did in her life. “When you return home will you whip-in to Richard,” I asked. “Definitely not!” she replied instantly. “I’ll help him all I can with the hounds, but whip-in to him? No. We’re very happy, and we’re going to stay that way!”

Shortly after returning from the Southern Hound Show, Ben Hardaway, MFH of the Midland Fox Hounds (GA), fell in the kitchen of his home and suffered a broken hip. He is in the Hughston Hospital, Room 263 (phone 706-494-2100). Son-in-Law Mason Lampton writes that Hardaway “is in some pain but still has his humor.” Phone calls from friends are encouraged. A hip replacement procedure is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, April 13, but any operation must wait until the effect of Hardaway’s blood-thinning drug wears off. Call Mason or Mary Lu for information. Posted April 12, 2011

Uncle Mo, a 1-10 favorite in the Wood Memorial, stunned the crowd at Aqueduct on Saturday, April 9 by getting passed in the stretch by two horses. The previously unbeaten three-year-old finished third to the disappointment of many in the racing world who hoped for a super horse to spark the upcoming Triple Crown season. Uncle Mo’s defeat stands as one of the biggest upsets in the eighty-seven-year-old Grade 1 race. “The horse didn’t fire today,” said owner Mike Repole. The Kentucky Derby picture became instantly fuzzy. The 1-1/4 mile Derby distance looms huge in light of  Uncle Mo’s stretch loss to two relatively undistinguished horses. For more details, see Tom Pedulla’s article in USA Today.

Dialed In proved himself a legitimate contender to pre-race favorite Uncle Mo for the upcoming Kentucky Derby on May 7. The dark brown colt electrified the crowd at Gulfstream by coming from a fourteen-length deficit to win the Florida Derby on Sunday. The Nick Zito-trained colt bested what was considered the deepest field in a decade in this million dollar Grade 1 prep for the Triple Crown season. Soldat, the pre-race favorite, came in fifth. Affirmed was the last horse to win the Triple Crown. That was in 1978. The horse racing industry needs something to cheer about, and a new super-horse would be the answer to their dreams. More details in Greg Cote’s article in the Miami Herald. Posted April 4, 2011

Horses mean “business” in Camden, South Carolina. The area has been a mecca for horses and horse people at least as far back as the turn of the twentieth century, according to John Cushman, owner of The Tack Room in Camden. “Places such as Camden, Aiken, and Southern Pines (NC) became winter colonies before Florida developed, and a lot of people who came were horse enthusiasts and brought horses for foxhunting, bird hunting and such,” said Cushman in Bob Spear’s article in The State. The climate and the sandy footing suit horses. According to Thoroughbred trainer Frank Wooten, they don’t even put shoes on the youngsters until they start breezing them. Camden is also home to the Camden Hunt, where hounds hunt the native fox and coyote over 12,000 acres of protected land. The Carolina Cup steeplechase races are run in the spring, and the more prestigious Colonial Cup takes place in the fall. The South Carolina Equine Park, whose slogan is “Our Horses Mean Business,” stages more than forty horse shows a year. The shows are diversified, including walkers, Quarter Horses, paints, hunters and jumpers. They even have rodeos. Hope Cooper, executive director of the National Steeplechase Museum estimates that horses bring almost $2.8 million annually in direct and indirect spending impacting restaurants, hotels, and merchants. Cushman makes the interesting point that horses are labor intensive and require specialized manual labor. “Think about a couple of thousand horses….that’s a lot of workers,” said Cushman. It was precisely because the citizens understood those numbers that the community and government came together and established the South Carolina Equine Park. The county owns the park, and the South Carolina Equine Promotion Foundation oversees the operation. “Horses create a twelve-month-a-year industry,” said Cushman.

HSUS has been publishing a newsletter for school children—KIND News—since 1983. It’s printed for three levels of readership: kindergarten through second grade, third through fourth, and fifth through sixth. HSUS President Wayne Pacelle claims that the newsletter focuses on non-controversial subjects. “We really believe in teaching kids about being good to animals and kindness as an important part of citizenship and adolescent growth,” Pacelle is quoted as saying. “This publication is used throughout America, and it never has political content….It certainly doesn’t take a stand against hunting or farming in any way.” No quarrel with that. But is Mr. Pacelle being disingenuous? According to the North Platte Telegraph (NE), the Lincoln Public Schools have pulled the April 2010 third/fourth grade edition because of its content. A picture on the front page showed a child wearing a gas mask and asked, “What if you had to wear a gas mask to play in your yard?” The article went on to describe agricultural areas affected by swarms of flies, harmful gases, and rivers tainted by animal waste. Children were urged to write to the USDA, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and to lawmakers expressing their concerns. The newsletter was pulled by the Lincoln Public Schools because they have a policy requiring both sides of any controversial issue to be presented to students. They will no longer distribute the newsletter because they cannot effectively monitor its contents. For more information, see Heather Johnson’s full article. Posted March 20, 2011

Richard “Pinky” Edmonds, 86, died on Wednesday, March 9 from post-operative complications following knee replacement surgery the week before, according to Jon Massey of Folsom, Louisiana. “He will be profoundly missed by everyone who knew him,” said Massey. “Pinky was one of the first real horsemen that I met when I started foxhunting,” said Jef Murdock of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. “He is much beloved and well known in the northeast foxhunting scene from Connecticut to New York State and long ago was involved with packs in Aiken, South Carolina. He was an old-fashioned groom who lived the real life of caring for horses and the people who rode them.” Funeral services will be held in Millbrook, New York on Saturday, March 19. Posted March 11, 2011 Previously published News items are all available. Click on News/News.