Heroes & Hounds
Heroes & Hounds, Bill Miller, Illustrated by Mary Burkhardt, 154 pages, $11.95 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle), Available on Amazon.comA lost tri-colored foxhound. A spunky eleven-year-old girl with an independent streak. A strange man who subsists in the woods. And weaving among them, a fox that seems at times to have almost mystical powers.
Author Bill Miller, an honorary whipper-in for the Norfolk Hunt (MA) for more than twenty years, crafts a tale of loss and forgiveness in Heroes & Hounds. Carly, a fifth grader who dreams of riding to the hounds with the posh Riverdale Hunt Club, lives with her irascible grandfather on a Virginia farm while her parents serve overseas in the military. Carly’s best friends are her talented pony, Monroe; a cat named Buster; and a schoolmate, Freddie, who follows her lead into trouble.
When Hampton, a young Riverdale hound, is lost, Carly vows to find him, dreaming of being hailed as a hero and being asked to join the hunt. Instead she risks Freddie’s life and discovers Strange Willie, who knows all too well about being a hero.
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 […]
Allen Forney Is Seventy; Maryland Foxhunters Throw a Party!
Jeanne & Allen Forney / Karen Kandra Wenzel photoHow often do we get the opportunity to celebrate the seventieth birthday of a foxhunting legend while he (or she) is still an active and constant contributor to the sport? A large group of friends—Masters, huntsmen, and foxhunters— representing most of the foxhunting clubs in central Maryland did exactly that on Sunday, April 10 at the Potomac Hunt in Barnesville, Maryland.
James J. Culleton, MFH
judy ciliberto photoJames J. Culleton, MFH of the Reedy Creek Hounds passed away on Friday, April 8 at his home, Reedy Creek Farm, in McKenney, Virginia. Culleton was born in Brooklyn, New York, pursued a career in the New York City Public School System, and also owned and operated a riding school and hack stable […]
The Happiest Man in England
The happiest man in England rose an hour before the dawn;
The stars were in the purple and the dew was on the lawn;
He sang from bed to bathroom—he could only sing “John Peel”;
He donned his boots and breeches and he buckled on his steel.
He chose his brightest waistcoat and his stock with care he tied,
Though scarce a soul would see him in his early morning ride.
Camden: A Mecca for Horses
Horses mean “business” in Camden, South Carolina. The area has been a mecca for horses and horse people at least as far back as the turn of the twentieth century, according to John Cushman, owner of The Tack Room in Camden. “Places such as Camden, Aiken, and Southern Pines (NC) became winter colonies before Florida […]
Rupert Isaacson: Foxhunter, Activist, Best-Selling Author
If you liked Rupert Isaacson’s recent New York Times Best-Seller, The Horse Boy: A Father’s Quest to Heal His Son, you will undoubtedly like his book, The Wild Host: The History and Meaning of the Hunt.
Co-published by The Derrydale Press, Wild Host is a beautifully illustrated history of hunting; a meditation on the meaning of hunting spiritually and culturally; and a very personal hunting account. Destined from the outset to be controversial, Isaacson justifies and celebrates hunting while acknowledging the realities of a modern world of heightened compassion and sensitivities. Wild Host is available here in the Bookstore.
Hunt Breakfast Recipe Contest Winners
Juliet Mackay-Smith, chef and proprietor of Locke Modern Country Store
Results are in for our Hunt Breakfast Recipe Contest! Our judge Juliet Mackay-Smith has made her selections, and we will pin the winning recipes with a blue ribbon within the website so readers will know which recipes have received these honors.
“Born into a foxhunting family, I have had first-hand experience of what makes for satisfying fare at a hunt breakfast…both for the hosts to prepare and for the guests to consume,” said Mackay-Smith.
Equestrian Sports and Oil Paintings: A Traditional Partnership
Bundled at the Races by Linda Volrath, oilPainting is a poetic visual language. One of the most satisfying aspects of creating my paintings is using this language to translate a fleeting moment in a tangible and permanent way.
I’m endlessly inspired and fascinated by the thrilling sports of steeplechase racing and foxhunting and the beautiful countryside that encompasses them. Incredible sights, sounds, and events unfold. Jockeys and grooms, athletic horses, hounds, and wildlife all have their role to play. I see my job as an artist to be the visual storyteller. The passion I have for these equine traditions and rural way of life seems perfectly paired with my passion to paint. It is a gold mine of images for my artistic vision.