Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound

Erin Bartle and her field hunter Firestorm are ranked ninth in the country in the Novice Division by the U.S. Eventing Association.  /  Beth Sutton photoErin Bartle rode her USEA nationally ranked Novice horse Firestorm to the First Flight Championship, the Melvin Poe Cup, and boosted the Rockbridge Hunt to the Clifford Hunt Championship—most points by a hunt—at the Maury River Hunter Trials, Virginia Horse Center, Lexington on April 7, 2012.

Despite threatening weather, the Second Annual Maury River Hunter Trials were held April 2 and enjoyed by more than seventy competitors, numerous tail-gaters, sponsors, spectators, volunteers, and judges on the rolling cross country fields of the Virginia Horse Center in Lexington, Virginia.

Cheryl Microutsicos and her handsome bay, WoW! Graphic Design’s Up & Coming (a.k.a. Uzi), accumulated the most points in the First Flight Open division to win the Melvin Poe Cup, sponsored by Brooks Cushman of Winbrooke Farm and awarded by the legendary Melvin himself, in attendance with his wife Peggy. Here, Cheryl is congratulated by Melvin and by Brian Ross, co-head of the Virginia Horse Trials.