MFHA Elects Tony Leahy President; Promises Season of Celebration
MFHA President Tony LeahyTony Leahy, MFH of the Fox River Valley Hunt (IL), was elected to a three-year term as President of the Masters of Foxhounds Association at the Annual Meeting held on Friday, January 27, 2017 in New York. Leslie Rhett Crosby, MFH, Mooreland Hunt (AL) was elected First Vice President and Penny Denegre, MFH, Middleburg Hunt (VA) was elected Second Vice President. Also, David Twiggs was officially confirmed as the MFHA’s new Executive Director.
Retiring Executive Director Dennis Foster will remain at the office for another two months to complete David’s training. Upon his official retirement, Dennis will continue to assist the MFHA in animal rights and other areas, on a consulting basis.
I had the distinct honor of addressing the Annual Meeting crowd, the largest crowd I have ever seen, to relate how special David and his family are, and to explain President Leahy’s vision for an upcoming season of celebration. It was literally standing room only.
NYC Carriage Drivers Take the Offensive
Mayor de Blasio, have you no romance? (c.1960 original vintage poster by Stan Galli and other antique horse-related posters are availabe from Chisholm Gallery.)Just three weeks after embattled New York City horse carriage drivers filed a lawsuit against NYCLASS, three leaders of that animal rights group—the Executive Director and two organizers—have resigned.
During his 2013 mayoral campaign, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to remove the iconic horse-drawn carriages from the city’s streets. The FBI has been investigating that campaign pledge as it relates to donations made to NYCLASS by top de Blasio supporters; donations from NYCLASS to deBlasio’s mayoral campaign; how those donations related to de Blasio’s pledge to wipe out the horse carriage industry; and threats made by NYCLASS in 2013 to de Blasio’s chief rival in the mayoral race, Christine Quinn.
Randy Rouse, MFH, Donates Middleburg Training Center to Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation
Loudoun Fairfax Hunt Master Randy Rouse has donated a well-known Middleburg, Virginia property to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation. The transaction was completed on Thursday, December 29, the day after Randy celebrated his one hundredth birthday. “I can take a tax writeoff,” Randy said to The Fauquier Times. “At my age, I’ve got to start thinking […]
Fox Eradication Program In Tasmania Lives On
No one has ever seen a live fox on Tasmania, an island state off the southern coast of Australia. Yet fifty million dollars have been spent over a ten year period to fund the fox eradication program. An occasional dead fox has been found, and fox scat has been noted, but many believe the evidence […]
Free Market Funds Largest Purse In Thoroughbred Racing
Florida’s Gulfstream Park is offering a new race—the Pegasus World Cup—featuring a twelve million dollar purse, the largest in Thoroughbred racing. The first running will be on January 28, 2017. The mouth-watering purse, funded by a free-market concept, has attracted an international scramble just for a place in the starting gate. Each of the twelve […]
Foxhunting Issue Erupts Again in Bucks County, PA
Jim and Judy Cox, a Warwick, Pennsylvania couple who live in the vicinity of Dark Hollow Park, are once again campaigning to ban foxhunting in the park. Four years ago the couple sued the Huntingdon Valley Hunt and huntsman Richard Harris, MFH, claiming that hounds knocked Judy Cox down while walking her dog and bit […]
Scottish Police Say Foxhunting Law Is Unworkable
Foxhunting was banned in Scotland in 2002 by enactment of the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act. Since that date, there have been no successful foxhunting prosecutions there. According to Police Scotland, while “exceptions to the offence to ‘deliberately hunt a wild animal with a dog’ are multiple and provide opportunities for exploitation by those […]
Farmington and Windy Hollow Hunts Top Winners at Penn National
Windy Hollow Hunt Tops Hunt Team Competition. / Al Cook photo Traditionally, Monday night is Hunt Night at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg. This year, twenty-two hunt teams from thirteen hunts showed up in formal hunting attire on October 17, 2016 to compete in the evening’s highlight event. As usual, the course featured […]
Sewickley Hunt Will Raise Funds for Local Park
Horse Show at Hartwood, 1932 Successful and long-lasting hunting establishments are those which not only provide benefits to their subscribers, but also contribute to and become an integral part of their communities. Like the Sewickley Hunt (PA), which will stage a demonstration fox hunt on October 9 to help raise funds for the Hartwood Acres […]
Horses Can Learn to Read and Communicate
A Norwegian study recently proved that horses can quickly learn to read simple symbols and use them to communicate whether or not they wish to wear a blanket. The study was conducted with twenty-two riding horses of various breeds over a period of time during which weather temperatures varied from pleasant, to cold, to cold […]