The Hunt Button Mystery
It began with a subscriber’s question. Vicki Reeves wrote, “A friend inherited some hunt buttons which have a hunting horn on them and “M.B.H. 1881.” How can I find out what hunt they represent or any additional information about the buttons?”
Foxhunting Life was able to identify the buttons as those of the Meadow Brook Hunt (NY). Once that was established, the owner of the buttons, Connie Rhodes West from Tampa, Florida was able to surmise the likely provenance of the buttons back through family history. Her story was so interesting, and the chronicle of the fabled Meadow Brook Hunt is so extravagant, we thought our readers would enjoy a trip back to those bygone days.
Meath Foxhounds Host International Ladies’ Side Saddle Hunt
Side saddle meet organizer Susan Oakes with her stallion, SIEC Atlas, at The Knightsbrook Hotel in Trim before the meet
The Ladies Side Saddle Hunt at Boyerstown, County Meath in Ireland was the brainchild of the Meath Foxhounds Masters and side saddle enthusiast Susan Oakes who is the current British side saddle high jump record holder at five-feet-nine-inches. (At Aintree last year Susan just rolled the top pole in her attempt at the world record of six-feet-six-inches.)
The meet, or was it a Ladies Gathering, was a world record turnout of lady side saddle riders seen in any hunt country. Up to fifty ladies from Ireland, USA, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Italy, Sweden, and Belgium descended on County Meath, and what an impact they made. It was like a scene from the last century when ladies still rode side saddle, with high standards of hunting dress, style, and elegance.
Virginia Senate Passes Ban on Competition in Fox Pens
Yetserday the Virginia Senate passed Senate Bill 1280 which prohibits competitions in fox or coyote pens. This will affect foxhound field trials that use such enclosures for their sport. The bill also limits the number of dogs allowed in an enclosure to no more than five per acre. The bill does not curtail the use […]
Foxhunting, Austrian Style
The traditional “Night of the Foxes” took place in Upper Styria, Austria over the last weekend in January, 2012. The tradition endures there as a way of controlling the fox population, balancing the natural environment, and protecting small game. Although details were sparse in the Austrian Times article, the hunting method seems to involve the […]
Shangri-La?
Huntsman Claire Buchy Anderson takes the Santa Ynez Valley Hounds (CA) to the next draw. This little corner of hunting heaven was captured by photographer Jennifer Calderwood. Posted February 5, 2013
A Holiday Hunt: Kudos to the Fox
The author, leading the field / Nancy Kleck photoMasters, staff, and field of the Blue Ridge Hunt are thankful for the recent Martin Luther King holiday. We always advance the meet from our usual Tuesday to any Monday holiday to give the juniors a chance to hunt. With the Virginia hunting country enveloped in sub-freezing arctic air on Tuesday, Monday’s “storybook” hunt—fifty-five minutes on one fox—was a special gift.
The meet was at Catherine Berger’s Rolling Hills Farm. Hounds found their fox in the first covert where it was viewed across the open fields by a car follower. Before horses were even warmed up, we found ourselves racing to the first fence—a brand-new, raw, double-wide coop standing high on its timbers.
The Cheshire in Winter
I can get lost in a photo like this. There is so much to see and so much that is felt rather than seen. In the foreground are huntsman Ivan Dowling and whipper-in Stephanie Boyer, obviously communicating. Hounds, though bright and lively, are squinting to keep the snow out of their eyes. The horses and […]
Southeastern States Facilitate Interstate Horse Transport
A new permit—the Equine Interstate Event Permit (EIEP)—will allow the transport of horses between states in the Southeast for six-month periods. These permits will serve in lieu of the usual Certificate of Veterinary Inspection which is good for only thirty days. Dr. Richard Wilkes, State veterinarian with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services […]
The Future of Foxhunting: We Have Seen the Enemy and He Is Us
Foxhunting is and will continue to be embattled on two fronts: (1) animal rights activism and (2) loss of open space. The good news is that we have strategies for dealing with these pressures. The uncertainty rests with our own will and dedication, as Walt Kelly’s cartoon character Pogo told us many years ago. Now and in the future, we need to look harder within…at us.
Thoroughbreds: Kings of the Hunting Field
Nina Siepel on Steppenwolfer, out with the Cheshire hounds this year
Consider the happy life of Steppenwolfer (by Aptitude out of Wolfer): lots of treats; a big field with clover and buddies; and, from September to March, running around the countryside with a lot of other horses chasing a pack of hounds. A far distance from running third to Barbaro (by Dynaformer out of La Ville Rouge) in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Arkansas Derby in 2006.
Gelded and purchased by Gail and Dixon Thayer as a steeplechase prospect, his short steeplechase career wasn’t as stellar as hoped for. But he’s one happy puppy now. And Nina Siepel, who hunts him with Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA), always wears a big grin, as if she still can’t really believe her good fortune. I’m not sure who is the luckier of the two.