Lecture, Book Signing on Grisone’s Sixteenth Century Riding Manual

Elizabeth M. Tobey will present a lecture and book signing at the Middleburg Public Library on September 18 at 7:30 p.m. Tobey will discuss her (and Dr. Federica Deigan’s)  translation of Federico Grisone’s The Rules of Riding (Gli ordini di cavalcare). Tobey began the translation project seven years ago while a John H. Daniels Fellow […]

Male or Female Rider: Does It Matter to the Horse?

  Does the sensitivity of a woman rider improve the way a horse performs? Or does the strength of a male rider produce better performance? According to scientists at  Veterinärmedizinische Universität (Vetmeduni) in Vienna, the horse doesn’t care. Scientists there recently published a paper describing how they arrived at their conclusions. Eight horses, eight male […]

Former Huntsman Billy “B.C.” Douglas Dead at Eighty-three

Billy “B.C.” Douglas, the first professional huntsman for the Two Rivers Hunt of Tampa , Florida (now known as the South Creek Foxhounds), died on July 28, 2014 at the age of eighty-three. B.C. was well-known as a night hunter and field trial judge throughout the states of Florida and Georgia. He was not only […]

Judge to Victoria’s Secret: Don’t Ride on Mr. Pink’s Coattails

The U.K. High Court of Justice has decided that Victoria’s Secret UK’s use of the word “Pink” in a line of lingerie infringes on a menswear retailer’s trademark, “Pink.” The London-based retailer of luxury men’s shirts, Thomas Pink, Ltd, uses a mascot called the “Cheeky Fox,” which identifies with the scarlet hunting coat sometimes called […]

Another Hunting Prosecution in England

  Three members of the College Valley and North Northumberland Foxhounds were charged under the Hunting Act. Two Masters—former champion jockey Ian McKie and Timothy Smalley—along with kennel huntsman Andrew Proe are accused of hunting illegally on February 27, 2014. Charges are based on evidence furnished by the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) and investigations […]

Maryland Celebrates its Equine Past with Tours

  Maryland has a rich equine history that includes Thoroughbred breeding and racing, a part in the birth of the U.S. Cavalry, and foxhunting. To celebrate that history, the Horse Industry Board of the state’s Department of Agriculture in concert with the Maryland Historical Society have created a free history tour in eleven parts on […]

Amwell Valley Hounds to Host Foxhunting Clinic

The Amwell Valley Hounds will host a foxhunting clinic at their kennels on 290 Rileyville Road, East Amwell, New Jersey 08525. For anyone interested in learning more about the sport, its practice, and its history, this will be a good opportunity ride with hounds in a structured setting and talk to Masters, staff, and members. […]

England’s RSPCA Heeds Donor Reaction; Restructures

  Like Fagin, the RSPCA is reviewing the situation. With income from donations having cratered by seven million pounds last year, the RSPCA is cutting jobs and restructuring. Donor disaffection is surely due, at least in part, to enormous sums spent by the Society in prosecuting foxhunters under the Hunting Act for very little return. […]

ROI Low in Prosecuting England’s Foxhunters

  The return on investment expended in the prosecution of foxhunters in England is abysmally low, yet the “social mission to purify” countryfolk persists, according to Michael Henderson in The Telegraph. The numbers are in. Of 110 people charged under the Hunting Act last year, fifty-six were found guilty. And most of those were poachers! […]

Joan Hopewell, ex-MFH, Dead at Ninety-Four

joan hopewell.lees

  Joan Hopewell (left) and daughter Tanya hunting with the Old Domionion Hounds / Douglas Lees photo Joan Hopewell, MFH of the Old Dominion Hounds (VA) from 1976 to 1979, died in Southern Pines, North Carolina on Thursday, June 26, 2014. She was born in England in 1919 and came to the United States in […]