Who Is This?
This gentleman’s portrait along with the question of his identity was posted on our Facebook page to provide an entertaining and informative way of featuring iconic figures in American foxhunting. We had some respectable guesses, but no one came up with the correct answer!
Meet A. Henry Higginson, MFH!
Bill McDevitt: Friend and Benefactor
Bill McDevitt, honorary whipper-in and benefactor of the Los Altos Hounds (CA) since 1963, passed away at his waterfront Sausalito home over the weekend. He will be remembered by his many hunt buddies and the numerous Masters he served, including Tom Harris, W.W. Mein, Richard Collins, Eugene Rettig, Mrs. Jay Foss, and Albert Schreck. He […]
What Do Foxhunters Do in the Summertime?
Jim Wofford photoWe all rue the end of the foxhunting season in March. And now that the point-to-point season has ended and the final hound show of the year is only a few days away, what to do until September?
Well, after crying over the season’s end, we all seem to find a lot to do. Sometimes it’s just the same old things that produce the familiar rhythm of the year’s cycle. I’m always anxious to get my tomato plants in and toil away for what sometimes results in a rewarding harvest and other times ends in a tangle of limp and barren vines. No matter. I do it again the following year with renewed hope.
Foxhunters Wilson and Gunnell Wed in Middleburg
Photograph by Middleburg Photo
Wendi Wilson and Nelson Gunnell were married at Banbury Cross Farm, the Gunnell family farm in Middleburg, Virginia, on Saturday evening, May 28. The ceremony took place in the garden—a fairy tale setting midst blooming spring flowers under a perfect blue sky with a pond sparkling in the distance. The bride arrived in an antique white horse drawn carriage driven by her hometown friend, Tommy Lee, who later whisked the couple away after the vows were completed.
Foxhunting Amateur Rider Wins Irish Grand National
The value of the foxhunter’s riding experience was well demonstrated on April 6 when Ward Union Staghounds hunt follower and amateur rider Nina Carberry won the 250,000 Euro ($350,000) 3 miles 5 furlong Irish Grand National on a horse named Organisedconfusion at Fairyhouse Racecourse in County Meath. She prevailed against top National Hunt jockeys, including Ruby Walsh and recently crowned sixteen-times British Champion Jockey A.P. McCoy.
The Keen Foxhunter’s Miscellany
The Keen Foxhunter’s Miscellany, Peter Holt, Quiller Publishing, 2010, 224 pages, illustrated, available on AmazonHere’s a book about foxhunting by a man who never hunted. Peter Holt’s wife, however, is a Master of Foxhounds, so the poor fellow has probably heard more about hunting than he ever wanted to know.
The book is a quirky collection of literary quotes, short reports, historical oddities, profiles of hunting eccentrics—no story longer than two pages.
Notwithstanding Holt’s lack of hunting experience, this is a very funny book. Admittedly, my sense of humor is sometimes weird, so here are a couple of samples. You decide.
Uzi Mows ’em Down at Maury River Hunter Trials
Despite threatening weather, the Second Annual Maury River Hunter Trials were held April 2 and enjoyed by more than seventy competitors, numerous tail-gaters, sponsors, spectators, volunteers, and judges on the rolling cross country fields of the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Virginia.
Cheryl Microutsicos and her handsome bay, WoW! Graphic Design’s Up & Coming (a.k.a. Uzi), accumulated the most points in the First Flight Open division to win the Melvin Poe Cup, sponsored by Brooks Cushman of Winbrooke Farm and awarded by the legendary Melvin himself, in attendance with his wife Peggy. Here, Cheryl is congratulated by Melvin and by Brian Ross, co-head of the Virginia Horse Trials.
Regional Correspondents Are Bringing More News
In a recent blog I discussed our intention to expand coverage across the foxhunting world by establishing a network of regional correspondents. We want to publish more news about people and hunts—new Masters, changes in hunt staff, marriages, births, deaths, illnesses—indeed any news that others in our fraternity of foxhunters would want to know.
We want news not only about Masters and staff, but about foxhunters’ accomplishments and milestones as well. Did a foxhunter’s horse win the Kentucky Derby or the Grand National? Was a foxhunter named Horseman of the Year? Win a Pulitzer Prize? Write a best-selling book?
So far, six regional correspondents are in place: Ian Anderson, ex-MFH of the Ashford Valley Hounds (UK); Denya Massey Clarke (ON); Noel Mullins, County Dublin, Ireland; C. Thompson Pardoe, MFH of the Goshen Hunt (MD); Becky Thayer (SC); and Martha Woodham (GA). We’re thrilled to have each of these talented individuals feeding current news from their regions to readers around the foxhunting world through Foxhunting Life.
Hat Trick for Neil Morris at Old Dominion
Lake Placid and Matthew McCarron hold off Fantastic Foeand Jeff Murphy for the Open Hurdle win.Trainer Neil Morris scored a hat trick at the Old Dominion Point-to-Point races on Saturday, April 9, 2011 at Ben Venue Farm. Morris saddled three winners: Maiden Hurdle, Open Hurdle, and Open Timber.
Morris’s first two wins were the easy ones. In the Maiden Hurdle, Last Noble with Jacob Roberts aboard led the field all the way and won easily. In the Open Hurdle, Lake Placid with Matthew McCarron in the irons raced around the course on the lead, turned back a challenge by second place finisher Fantastic Foe, and won by four-and-a-half lengths.
Ben Hardaway Hospitalized with Broken Hip
Shortly after returning from the Southern Hound Show, Ben Hardaway, MFH of the Midland Fox Hounds (GA), fell in the kitchen of his home and suffered a broken hip. He is in the Hughston Hospital, Room 263 (phone 706-494-2100). Son-in-Law Mason Lampton writes that Hardaway “is in some pain but still has his humor.” Phone […]