Bay Cockburn, ex-MFH, Race Rider, Huntsman
Douglas Lees photoBay Cockburn, ex-MFH, hard-riding huntsman, and former winning steeplechase jockey and trainer, died of complications from melanoma on December 25, 2013.
Confined to a wheelchair for the last fifteen years of his life as the result of a riding accident, Bay was an aggressive race rider and had been referred to as the Evel Knievel of all huntsmen. He represented the epitome of invincibility in the saddle until one fateful day, while exercising a hunter over a straightforward coop that he had jumped countless times, he fell and was left paralyzed from the chest down.
He stayed in the game as best he could, training steeplechase horses, and despite the wheelchair, he continued to live the only way he knew how: full speed forward. I saw him at the races one day propelling his motorized chair, rocking perilously over the lumpy ground across a hillside until it finally toppled over. Friends rushed to right him and rearrange him in his chair, and he continued his hurried progress to get a glimpse of his horse at the next fence. Just another of many falls to ignore. Bay maintained his training license and remained active through 2013.
Bay rode in sanctioned races and point-to-points from 1991 to 1997 with twelve sanctioned wins to his credit. I saw him steal a race down the stretch at the Blue Ridge Hunt Point-to-Point one year. He was lying second trying to overtake the leader. He anticipated just when the jock in first place would turn around to check on him. His body went quiet as if he had resigned himself to second place. The jock in front checked on Bay, was satisfied he had the race won, turned back to the wire and went to sleep. Bay got into his horse like a whirling dervish and passed his victim just before the wire.
Bay Cockburn, ex-MFH, Race Rider, Huntsman
Douglas Lees photoBay Cockburn, ex-MFH, hard-riding huntsman, and former winning steeplechase jockey and trainer, died of complications from melanoma on December 25, 2013.
Confined to a wheelchair for the last fifteen years of his life as the result of a riding accident, Bay was an aggressive race rider and had been referred to as the Evel Knievel of all huntsmen. He represented the epitome of invincibility in the saddle until one fateful day, while exercising a hunter over a straightforward coop that he had jumped countless times, he fell and was left paralyzed from the chest down.
He stayed in the game as best he could, training steeplechase horses, and despite the wheelchair, he continued to live the only way he knew how: full speed forward. I saw him at the races one day propelling his motorized chair, rocking perilously over the lumpy ground across a hillside until it finally toppled over. Friends rushed to right him and rearrange him in his chair, and he continued his hurried progress to get a glimpse of his horse at the next fence. Just another of many falls to ignore. Bay maintained his training license and remained active through 2013.
Bay rode in sanctioned races and point-to-points from 1991 to 1997 with twelve sanctioned wins to his credit. I saw him steal a race down the stretch at the Blue Ridge Hunt Point-to-Point one year. He was lying second trying to overtake the leader. He anticipated just when the jock in first place would turn around to check on him. His body went quiet as if he had resigned himself to second place. The jock in front checked on Bay, was satisfied he had the race won, turned back to the wire and went to sleep. Bay got into his horse like a whirling dervish and passed his victim just before the wire.
Irving Abb Dead at Eighty-six
Irving Victor Marken Abb died at his home in Woodbine, Maryland on July 13, 2012 at age eighty-six. Mr. Abb was a passionate foxhunter. He kept a private pack of hounds in Howard County, Maryland in the 1970s. He helped organize the Carrollton Hounds and, after he stopped riding horses, followed the Goshen Hounds in […]
Sad Times for Goshen Hounds
Nick Hartung and houndsThis has been a difficult year for Goshen Hounds (MD) and its members. We have lost four men closely associated with us: former huntsman Nicholas Hartung, board member Bruce Sieling, ex-MFH Hansen Watkins, and, most recently, Irving Victor Marken Abb.
Nicolas J. Hartung, Farrier/Huntsman
Nicolas Hartung and wife Ann with two of their lurchersNick Hartung, former huntsman and farrier, passed away on May 17, 2012 at his home near Staunton, Virginia. Nick suffered respiratory disease commonly referred to as “Farmers Lung” in his native England. Nick was a farrier of great repute, commuting to Maryland for most of his […]
How Maryland Prepares Hounds for the “Big Time”
Penn-Marydel Champion Mount Carmel Mandolin with (l-r) kennelman Nancy Morris and handler Allen Forney / Karen Kandra Wenzel photoFor thirty-seven years now on the “first Sunday after the first Saturday in May,” foxhunters from the Mid-Atlantic region have gathered to display and compare the results of their breeding programs for the past year. Initiated by Dr. Roger Scullin, MFH, Howard County-Iron Bridge Hounds (MD) in an effort to better prepare young hounds for the *big* shows in Virginia and Bryn Mawr, the Maryland Foxhound Club Puppy Show has grown to now having representatives from nearly all Maryland packs, both recognized and private, several Virginia packs, and many from Pennsylvania. This year the show even attracted hounds from as far away as New York state. In all, nearly two hundred hounds were entered.
Look, No Leashes! Goshen Hounds on Parade
Foot staff (l-r) are Tom Pardoe, MFH; honorary whippers-in Ande Kinder, Liz Lavine (front), MacKenzie Taylor (behind), and Dr. Frank Becker; and Robert Taylor, MFH and huntsman. / Frankie Pardoe photoPerhaps nothing is more important to the perpetuation of foxhunting than public relations. Consequently, when a prominent member of the local agriculture community contacted the Goshen Hounds and invited them to participate in the “First Annual Lisbon Ole Fashion Horse Parade,” the response was immediate. “Count us in!”
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.
Whiskey Road Hunt Week, Aiken, SC
Second Installment
Betsy and friends escape frozen Virginia for a week of hunting in warmer climes. We bring you Installment Two of her daily blog, exclusive to Foxhunting Life.
(l-r) Whiskey Road Field Master Geri Rapp, Fairfax Hunt members Ray Moffett, and PetraProbably seventy-five riders in the field this morning from the Batesburg fixture. Whiskey Road hosted a stirrup cup and snack before the meet after which huntsman Joseph Hardiman moved off with the mixed English and Penn-Marydel pack, east towards the cow field adjacent to the fixture.
Hounds struck immediately, coyote, probably, a brace or possibly a leash, and split into two or three groups. Hardiman went with one group, Master/whipper-in Lynn Smith with another, and (seemed like) Master David Smith and the main field with still another.
Whiskey Road Hunt Week, Aiken, SC
Betsy and friends escape frozen Virginia for a week of hunting in warmer climes. We bring you her daily blog, exclusive to Foxhunting Life.
First Installment
Don Palus, Dawn Cline, Maggie Johnston, and Jackie Burke stretch their horses’ legs in the Hitchcock Woods in preparation for Hunt Week in Aiken, SC.
It poured rain last night. Woke up several times with rain pelting the tin roof of our cottage, but when I opened the door to see if we were going to float away I couldn’t help notice it was weirdly warm. Like sixty degrees warm! Odd.
This morning dawned light and sunny and toasty warm. I stripped down to just my turtleneck layer for the horse trials next door.
At Full Gallop Farm, they hold training horse trials—intermediate level all the way down to beginner novice—attracting hundreds of competitors. Our Hunt Week crew is volunteering for duty to “earn” the right to school/ride/hack over their hundreds of acres of cross country jumps, show jumping fences, and dressage arenas.