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Spring 2010 Foxfield Races

by Elizabeth H. “Beth” Sutton

Photo by Stephanie Guerlain

Albermarle County, Virginia’s popular Foxfield Races concluded with “The Blue Ridge Maiden Hurdle Claiming race.” The winner was Kinross Farm’s With Bells On, with Matt McCarron wearing the beige and blue cap.

Beagles Show Good Sport Despite Heat

By Billy Bobbitt, MB

Summer-like weather is good for people who have suffered through a cold, snowy winter, but it is not great for hunting hounds, and the temperatures at the National Beagle Club Spring Pack Trials rose each day of the trials; nevertheless, most packs had a rabbit to run and the scenting seemed to be good despite the heat.

The opening class …

Control and Communication

For Horse and Rider
by Paul Striberry

Foxhunting presents considerable challenges to a horse beyond those found in most competitions.  Rodeo horses buck for eight seconds in an arena; race horses gallop for a mile more or less on state of the art tracks, polo ponies play seven minute chukkas on a manicured field. Show horses jump their courses in a ring that is raked between classes. Event horses perform over a well groomed course under the watchful eyes of technical delegates …

Exploring the History of a Hunting Song

By Noel Mullins

The famous hunting song D’YE KEN JOHN PEEL has been sung in hunting circles around the world for nearly two centuries to the rousing chorus as we know it:
‘T’was the sound of his horn called me from my bed,
And the cry of his hounds has me oft-times led;
For Peel’s view hallo would waken the dead
Or a fox from his lair in the morning’
But it was actually written in the Cumbrian dialect of the north of …

Land Conservation Requires Collaboration

By Deb Balliet, Executive Director, ELCR

The Equine Land Conservation Resource received a call from a farm owner and former MFH expressing concern about a neighbor’s plan for a 16-home “piano key” development proposed in their rural area. “The development,” she expressed, “is highly out of character for our area which is populated with horse farms, cattle operations and crop farms.”  The area includes thoroughbred breeding farms and is home to  foxhunters, hunter/jumpers and trail riders. With the planning committee meeting …