The View from Down Here

Two Blessings in Three Days, by Ziggy Pelham

This past Thanksgiving weekend my rider, Joint Master of Tennessee Valley Hunt Gretchen Pelham, and I had a busy holiday.  After finishing TVH’s Blessing, we loaded up and road tripped to the Shaker Village in Kentucky for the Woodford Hunt’s Blessing of the Hounds.  Oh, for those of you who are really slow and completely uninformed, I am the blogging Tennessee Valley Hunt Horse, Awesome Ziggy.

Our Tennessee Valley Blessing of the Hounds was …

The HumaneWatch Interview: Jake Geis

The Humane Society of the United States has put many Americans in uncomfortable positions during the current decade, but few have found themselves in a box quite like veterinarians.

Just last week the American Veterinary Medical Association (whose chief executive we interviewed back in September) made significant changes to The Veterinarian’s Oath, which had only been amended once since its creation in 1969. It now refers to “animal health and welfare,” along with “the prevention and in reaction …

The Carol Challenge

Waterloo Hunt proposed the carol challenge.

Jingle Whoa!

(sung to the tune of Jingle Bells)

Dashing through the snow, on a horse I cannot stop
Through the fields we go, crying all the way.
The bit is in his teeth, I’m praying for a check
All I can do is hang on tight and hope that we don’t wreck, OH.

chorus: Jingle WHOA, jingle WHOA Jingle all the way,
Oh what fun it is to hunt a horse I cannot stop, OH
Jingle WHOA, jingle WHOA Jingle …

Waterloo Hunt Proposes the Carol Challenge

by Marcia Boynton

Since 2006, the Waterloo Hunt Club in Grass Lake, Michigan has enlivened its holiday party with Foxhunters’ Christmas Carols. This trend was launched when a particularly large group of new members redrafted the Twelve Days of Christmas to a foxhunting theme, and sang their new song to the delight of the membership.

Since then, each year new carols are written, including now established favorites such as Jingle Whoa! (Jingle Bells) , I’m Dreaming of a Safe Hunt Horse …

Photo of the Month

The Red and the Grey: Arapahoe Hunt (Colo.) hosted a joint meet in November. Present were members of The Juan Tomas (New Mexico), Caza Ladron (New Mexico) and Bijou Springs (Colo.) Photo by Nancy Ambrosiano

Fabulous Prize Sponsors Announced for the First Annual Covertside Photo Contest!

Now is the time to take out your digital cameras and start shooting. This is your opportunity to capture the majesty of hounds, horses and humans at sport. Prize sponsors for the contest include:

Dover Saddlery ($100 gift certificate)

The Horse Studio (fabulous leather halter!)
TF Gauntt (foxhunting themed art and gifts)
Limited Edition, Centennial View

Others to be announced!

What makes a photograph a Covertside winner? Technical quality, clarity and composition are all important, but so too is the ability capture the …

Blackberry Farm Provides Sport at Three Sisters Hunt Country

“Three Sisters hunt country is one of the most extraordinary places I’ve ever heard hound music. Echoing through the valley, it sometimes sounds like two packs answering each other.”

Those words were spoken by Grosvenor Merle-Smith, MFH, whose striking photograph, taken at Three Sisters, is featured on the cover of this issue of Covertside. They describe the powerful Pennmarydel hound chorus Tennessee Valley Hunt Subscribers are enjoying at a bold new hunt fixture—minutes away from Blackberry Farm in east Tennessee.

Named “Three …