Michele Doucette photoDonald V. Little, MFH of the Myopia Hunt in Hamilton, Massachusetts, died on February 29, 2012, three days after a fall from his horse while competing in the Masters Classic at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida.
Don was in his seventies—an all-around sportsman with interests in foxhunting, polo, show jumping, Thoroughbred racing, and sailing. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he lived most of his life on Boston’s North Shore, foxhunting and playing polo at the Myopia Hunt Club in Hamilton. He also enjoyed hunting with the Piedmont Fox Hounds in Virginia—a hunt with close family ties to Myopia.
He was captain of the Myopia polo team from 1968 until 1981 and served as MFH of the Myopia Hunt—one of America’s oldest hunt clubs—since 1989. He also served the MFHA as a Director for the New England District.
Judith Little, Don’s wife of fifty-seven years said, in a press release from the Winter Equestrian Festival, “I will miss him so much. Donald died doing what he loved. He was loved and respected by so many people, including his fellow competitors, partners, and team members in the horse worlds of polo, field hunting, show jumping and Thoroughbred racing as well as in all other aspects of his life.”
Don was a pilot, a U.S. Air Force veteran, and was the youngest air commander serving in the Srategic Air Comand.
Active in the world of Thoroughbred racing, Don founded the well-known Centennial Farms racing partnership that campaigned Rubiano and Belmont Stakes winner Colonial Affair.
At the time of his death he was an investment manager at UBS.
On a personal note, I had occasion over the years to compete against Don in hunter trials and horse shows in New England, to hunt with him at Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA), to meet with him when he represented the New England District on the MFHA board of directors, and once I even discovered I was anchored near his sailboat in Cuttyhunk Harbor, Buzzards Bay. I remember him as a man of commanding presence, exuding an aura of self confidence whatever the occasion.
Posted February 29, 2012