The Foxhunter Who Became Britain’s Leading Conservative Thinker
Sir Roger Scruton, conservative thinker, teacher, foxhunter, author, and advisor to the British government, died of cancer at age seventy-five on January 12, 2020. He wrote more than fifty books on aesthetics, morality, politics, and even on foxhunting.
In that well-received book On Hunting (1998), Scruton’s opening sentence goes like this:
“My life divides into three parts. In the first I was wretched; in the second ill at ease; in the third hunting.”
Atherstone Hunt Cancels Foxhunting Season
The two hundred-year-old Atherstone Hunt that hunts country in West Leicestershire and North Warwickshire (UK) has ceased hunting for the remainder of the season. Bordering the four hundred square mile Atherstone hunting country are the iconic Pytchley and Quorn hunts. According to the Daily Mail, a spokesman for the Atherstone said, “We are sad to […]
Essex Fox Hounds Master’s Chase: A Good Community Event
Pony stick racing over hurdles / Priscilla K. Miller photo
The Master’s Chase is a fun-filled annual event that hunts can put on as a fund raiser for a worthy cause and reach out to their community of non-riders as well. Billed as “family fun for horse and non-horse people alike,” Essex Fox Hounds Master’s Chase will feature amateur racing for field hunters and ponies, adults and children, tailgating, and a group of local vendors at Natirar Park, 2 Main Street, in Peapack, New Jersey on Saturday, October 5, starting at noon. The day is sandwiched between a weekend of events with a Friday night party and a Sunday hunt.
It all traces back to the Farmer’s Day Races of the early twentieth century in which hunt clubs invited farmers in their hunting countries to a picnic and day at the races. For those hunts that do not hold annual point-to-points or sanctioned steeplechase races, it’s a fine way to keep racing alive and give everyone a taste of the excitement. The Essex Fox Hounds donate all proceeds to the non-profit Countryside Alliance of Somerset Hills for the preservation of farmlands.
Andrews Bridge Litigation Resolved
The Masters of the Andrews Bridge Foxhounds—George Strawbridge Jr., Steve Harris, Betsy Harris, Cathy Huston, and Bill Kimmel—made public the following statement:
We are pleased to report that all litigation between the Cromptons, the Harrises, and the Andrews Bridge Foxhounds Inc. has been resolved. It was decided that in the best interest of our sport, the two Andrews Bridge hound packs should be reunited and again hunt as one unified pack in our territory.
Like everything else in life, the hunt has taken many detours in the past 102 years and we have not been the exception. A journey is not a single straight line, but rather a long up and down winding road.
Expert Witness Testimony Discredited By a Kiss; UK Huntsman Found Not Guilty
Professor Stephen Harris is an opponent of hunting and was serving as an expert witness in the prosecution of a huntsman on trial in the UK for illegally hunting the fox with dogs. Harris’s testimony was thrown out, however, after he was seen being kissed by another witness. That witness was known to be a […]
Home Tours, Rural Spring Festivals Can Promote Foxhunting
For several years Bob Ferrer, MFH, and Caroline Hunt members gave foxhunting demonstrations at Mount Vernon—another excellent venue for outreach that attracts visitors from around the country and the world.
One stop on Virginia’s Fredericksburg-area Historic Garden Week Tour this spring was at Chase’s End, the home and farm of Bob and Elizabeth Ferrer, Joint-MFHs of the Caroline Hunt. It’s quite a commitment to invite the world into your home and property, but the week-long tour has been a popular tradition in Virginia since 1927 when the Club decided to raise funds to save trees planted by Thomas Jefferson on the lawns of Monticello.
Today, funds raised during Garden Week are still used to restore and maintain Virginia’s historic gardens and to provide graduate level research fellowships. On Tuesday, April 30, 2019—the day scheduled for the tour at Chase’s End—the Ferrers hosted nearly 800 guests and staged a unique scene rarely experienced on Garden Club stops. Mounted Caroline Hunt members and staff rode out with foxhounds at 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. to demonstrate our sport to the uninitiated. What nicer way to introduce and promote foxhunting?
Brenda Milne: A Celebration of Her Life
Brenda Milne―widow of the late Ian Milne, namesake of the MFHA’s prestigious Ian Milne Award to huntsmen―died on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. A celebration of her life will be held at the Warrenton Community Center on Saturday, April 13 from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. (The Center is located near Wal-Mart across from the State […]
Learning to Say ‘Tally Ho’ in Chinese
You are forgiven for assuming that The County Down Club is in Northern Ireland. Actually, it’s in Shanghai, China, and is described as the first exclusive club for horsemanship and foxhunting there. The County Down Club takes advantage of the country’s growing economy—now the second largest in the world. Established three years ago by Steven […]
Duke of Buccleuch Foxhunters Not Guilty In Scotland
A Master and whipper-in, both of the Duke of Buccleuch’s Foxhounds accused in the Jedburgh Sheriff Court on October 8th of breaching Scotland’s fox-hunting laws, were found not guilty by Sheriff Peter Paterson on December 8, 2018. The five-day trial of Huntsman Timothy Allen, MFH, and whipper-in Shaun Anderson centered on video recordings covertly filmed […]
Duke of Buccleuch Master and Huntsman On Trial
Timothy Allen, MFH and Shaun Anderson, huntsman of the Duke of Buccleuch’s Hunt in Scotland appeared in the Jedburgh Sheriff Court on October 8th on a charge of breaching Scotland’s Protection of Wild Mammals Act by deliberately hunting a fox with a pack of hounds. The pair pled not guilty. Last year, Johnny Riley and […]