Dr. Joseph M. Rogers, MFH, Dies at Home on Hillbrook Farm
At the Piedmont Point-to-Point in the 1970s / Douglas Lees photoDr. Joseph Megeath Rogers, 90, died on Saturday, March 8, 2014 at his Hillbrook Farm near Hamilton following a stroke. While he occupied a gigantic space in the world of foxhunting, that world was but a small part of his very full, productive, and generous life.
Physician, farmer, Master of Foxhounds, steeplechase rider and trainer, businessman, rural land conservationist, and philanthropist, Dr. Rogers was a tireless advocate and practitioner of country living whose contributions in a broad range of interests were made quietly and with little fanfare.
His public persona was most closely connected with remarkable success as an owner, trainer, and rider of some of Virginia’s most successful steeplechase horses running under his familiar red with white cross sash silks. But his success in that rugged and dangerous sport was merely a visible extension of his commitment to protect Virginia’s rural countryside, a mission he often defined as a moral obligation.
Phase-Out of Fox Pens One Step Closer in VA
A plan to phase out fox pens in the Commonwealth over a forty-year period was endorsed by the Agricultural Committee of the Virginia House of Delegates yesterday. The Richmond Times-Dispatch characterized the 18-3 vote as significant, since the House has traditionally been more reluctant than the Senate to interfere with foxhound training pens. Under the approved […]
Virginia Point-to-Point Association Seeks Donations
Don Yovanovich, president of the Virginia Point-to-Point Association has proposed the establishment of an Annual Giving Fund. In a letter to hunt supporters, Yovanovich explains that for a variety of reasons, the hunt point-to-points are threatened to the extent that the Virginia season is now reduced to eight race meetings, down from fourteen not long […]
Douglas Lees to Speak, Exhibit Photographs
Douglas Lees photo The photography of Douglas Lees has long been a benchmark of such excellence that Lees has earned the admiration of even the best of his camera-toting peers. Lees will speak and exhibit his photographs on Sunday, March 2, 2014 at 4:00 pm at Blue Ridge Farm, 1858 Blue Ridge Farm Road, Upperville, […]
Wise Dan in Rarified Company after Second Horse of the Year Title
Not since 1971—the introduction of the modern system of Eclipse Award voting—has a horse won three categories of awards—Horse of the Year, Older Male, and Male Turf Horse—two years in a row. Wise Dan did so by winning six of his seven starts on turf, carrying high weight in five races, and winning four Grade […]
RSPCA Ratchets Up the Pressure Against Foxhunters
In what the Western Morning News calls a “game-changer,” the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) will soon be able to intensify its surveillance of foxhunting practices in England. An article by Martin Bell claims that The League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) has financed the hiring and equipping of ex-armed forces […]
Huntsman John Harrrison Returns to Toronto and North York
Former Toronto and North York huntsman John Harrison has been hunting the Ullswater Foxhounds in the Cumbrian fells for the past eighteen years.
John Harrison will return next season to the Toronto and North York Hunt (ON) to carry the horn once again—a post he had previously filled from 1991 to 1996. During those years, Harrison bred a number of outstanding hounds and won many championships at the Virginia Foxhound Shows.
Harrison was born and raised in the Cumbrian Lake District of England, where hunting is in the genes and the country is so rough, horses cannot be used. The literature of foxhunting is replete with accounts of grueling days with the famous foot packs of the area, climbing and descending the scree-strewn crags and struggling to snow-filled borrans.
Congress Bans Horse Slaughter…Again
The Congress passed, and the President signed the new budget, effectively banning horse slaughter once again by cutting funding for USDA inspections at horse slaughter facilities. Congress did this very same thing in 2006, an action which effectively closed all horse processing plants in the country. Much has happened between then and now. In 2011, […]
NYC Mayor Vows to Banish Horse Carriages
Two days before New York Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio was to be sworn into office he vowed to eliminate the horse carriages that have for so long played a romantic role in Central Park. “It’s over,” he said. “We are going to quickly and aggressively move to make horse carriages no longer a part of […]
Horse Slaughter: State Judge Trumps Federal Appeals Court
A district judge in New Mexico has delayed for ten days the planned operations of the nation’s first horse slaughter plant in seven years. On January 13, 2014, State District Judge Matthew Wilson will listen to testimony in a lawsuit brought by state Attorney General Gary King. King filed the lawsuit last month after a […]