Fox Hunting News
Mosquito-Born Viruses Kill
Mosquito-Born Viruses Kill Spring is here, and it’s time for horse owners to protect their horses from two serious and potentially fatal viruses spread by mosquitoes: Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis (EEE) and West Nile Virus (WNV). Foxhunting Life reminds you to contact your vet and schedule spring vaccinations. The New York State Department of Agriculture notes that cases of EEE in horses have been on the rise since 2009. In that state, more than 90% of the cases were fatal, and survivors of the disease are generally unusable and even unsafe to be around. Although EEE cannot be transmitted between infected horses and humans, New York State has experienced fatalities in both horses and humans as a result of the disease in each of the past three years. Posted April 12, 2012
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Camden, South Carolina: It’s Old Timey
Horse racing in Camden, South Carolina is the way racing used to be, says Eclipse Award-winning journalist Claire Novak in ESPN.com. The venerable Springdale Race Course was founded there in 1928 and hosted its signature steeplechase event—the Carolina Cup—two years later. Thoroughbred trainers from the north would bring their flat racehorses down to this gentler clime in the winter to work over the well-draining, sandy footing. A handful of old-time horsemen still start youngsters at Springdale or at the nearby Camden Training Center and then ship their young charges to top trainers all over the country. In Camden, the belief is that horses brought along in their idyllic setting become happy horses. Steeplechase and flat trainer Jonathan Sheppard first came to Camden in November of 1961. He stayed for four months, liked it, and it became a habit. Trainer Arch Kingsley, a former steeplechase jockey from Virginia, has twenty stalls at Springdale, and more at his farm nearby. Kingsley saddled the 2011 Carolina Cup winner Sunshine Numbers. Wendy Kingsley claims she never met a horse that didn’t love Camden. Click for Novak’s complete column.
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NC Conundrum: Opening Coyote Season May Endanger Red Wolves
The North Carolina Wildlife Commission has a problem, says the highly respected Scientific American magazine. The state wants to expand the legality of daylight shooting of coyotes to allow night shooting as well—no permit required; no bag limit. Although night hunting of coyotes is permitted in many states, North Carolina is unique in that the state harbors and protects the world’s only wild population of federally-listed red wolves. The fear is that juvenile red wolves may be at risk of being mistaken for coyotes and shot. Some conservationists claim that the red wolf is the most imperiled canid in the world. The Scientific American article, written by T. DeLene Beeland, reviews characteristics of both species comprehensively. Click to see. Posted April 7, 2012
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Sporting Collectibles from the Hueber Estate to Be Auctioned
Wiederseim Associates, the Chester Springs, Pennsylvania auction house, will offer items from the collection of the late Christian Hueber, MFH of the Radnor Hunt on April 7, 2012 at Griffith Hall, Ludwig’s Corner Fire Company in Glenmoore. Hueber, who succumbed in 2005 after a long battle with cancer , was a popular and passionate sportsman. Among the items from his collection to be auctioned are two dozen lots of foxhunting and sporting books; several Staffordshire fox-head stirrup cups, likely to bring low-three-figure prices; Radnor Hunt watercolors; and a striking oil-on-canvas painting of two fighting roosters by the British artist Stephen Elmer (1717-1796). The painting has a presale estimate of $6,000 to $8,000. Click for David Iams’s complete article in the Inquirer. Posted April 1, 2012
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Hillsboro Hounds New Kennels Win Industry Award
New kennels built for the Hillsboro Hounds (TN) won an industry award for Brindley Construction, the company that poured the concrete. Reinforced concrete walls and sloping slabs in the inside corridors and outside runs were poured in place and showcased “concrete’s ability to solve construction challenges,” according to the Tennessee Concrete Association, sponsor of the annual awards. The state-of-the-art kennel, constructed of concrete, was completed on schedule despite seventeen days of rain during construction. Posted March 27, 2012
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George S. Hundt, Sr., ex-MFH, Dead at 81
George S. Hundt Sr., MFH of the Radnor Hunt (PA) for twenty-two years, died of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of eighty-one on Tuesday, March 6, 2012, at Neighborhood Hospice in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Mr. Hundt made his home at Braeburn Farm in Malvern. Mr. Hundt rode, hunted, and showed horses from an early age. His mother, Rebecca, was a Master of the Princess Anne Hunt (VA) in the 1930s. While Master at Radnor, Mr. Hundt was responsible for the hound breeding program. After retiring from the Mastership in 1990, he continued to follow hounds for another ten years. Mr. Hundt served as district director of the MFHA, president of the American Foxhound Club, and president of the Bryn Mawr Hound Show Association. He was a longtime stockbroker and retired from UBS as vice president in 2002. Click for the complete obituary by Inquirer Staff Writer Sally A. Downey in Philly.com. Posted March 19, 2012
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The Party Whip: Where Politics Meets Foxhunting
We have all heard and read of the party whips—both Republicans and Democrats—who are primarily responsible for mobilizing votes on major issues along party lines. The party whip wields political power within a state or federal legislative body, and the post is aggressively sought after by ambitious politicians. The Charlotte Observer tells us that the term comes from foxhunting, whips being “members of the hunting team responsible for keeping the dogs from straying during a chase.” The reader may form his or her own conclusion about the aptness of the term’s usage! Posted March 19, 2012
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Foxhunting in Ocala, Florida
In September of 1896, Ocala, Florida wasn’t preparing for the influx of horse show enthusiasts from the north as it does now. At the time, however, a recent resident to the town was planning to establish a fox hunt there, according to columnist David Cook in Ocala.com. John Vogt told the Ocala Banner he was “inaugurating a genuine fox hunt at least twice a week on old fields surrounding Ocala. Vogt was making his home on South Second Street, complete with 10 of his purebred hounds, which were noted, he said, ‘as the finest hunters in the country.’” Vogt said there were plenty of foxes in the fields around Ocala, and he felt Ocalans would enjoy joining the hunt for them, following his hounds. As we all know, owners of field hunters eventually seek other diversions to prove the worth of their horses—racing and showing. Perhaps Mr. Vogt’s initiatives were at least partly responsible for the beginnings of horse show interest in Ocala. Posted March 19, 2012
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Downing to Montreal: New Huntsman for the Oldest Hunt
Karen Myers photoDennis Downing will be the new huntsman for the Montreal Hunt (PQ) next season. Established in 1826, the Montreal Hunt is the oldest hunt in North America. Downing moves there after eleven seasons hunting hounds and showing fine sport at the Blue Ridge Hunt (VA). The British-born and -trained huntsman has been in professional hunt service for forty years. Starting in 1972 as second horseman to the North Cotswold, he went on—as is the system in England—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—with the Llangibby, South Tetcott, and Croome—before moving to the U.S. as huntsman to the Mooreland Hunt (AL) where he found himself hunting a new quarry altogether—the coyote! After three years at Mooreland, Downing came to the Blue Ridge where he has been a popular and articulate spokesman for foxhunting in the community. “Dennis has been a wonderful asset to the Blue Ridge Hunt during his years here,” said Linda Armbrust, MFH. “He has been a true professional throughout. He loves his hunting, and he loves his hounds. He will be missed by subscribers and landowners alike. Montreal is extremely lucky to have him.” Posted March 10, 2012
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Peyton “Skip” Cochran, ex-MFH, Dead at Eighty-Five
Peyton Skipwith Cochran, Jr., ex-MFH of the Green Spring Valley Hunt (MD) died Thursday, March 1, 2012 of complications from Altzheimer’s and a stroke. He was eighty-five. Skip Cochran was active in foxhunting and steeplechasing. He was a director of the MFHA for the Maryland-Delaware District and a partner in Arcadia Stable, owner of the renowned Buck Jakes, a two-time winner of the Maryland Hunt Cup. After graduation in 1944, Skip joined the Navy, but by the time he finished boot camp and was shipped to California, the war had ended. He joined the Rouse Company and was active in the development of shopping malls in commercially-developed areas. However, he was passionate about preserving open space in rural areas. He was a founding member of the Land Preservation Trust, creators of Shawan Downs, and the Maryland Association for Wildlife Conservation, advocates for hunters’ rights. Click for more details in Jamie Smith Hopkins’s tribute in the Baltimore Sun. Posted March 6, 2012
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