Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound

Lynne Carlisle, a talented and well known sporting artist, was found dead in her home in Aiken, South Carolina on Wednesday, May 17, 2012. The Aiken Standard reports that police responded to a 911 call from her, and upon arriving at her home were fired upon by her ex-husband Craig Jarvis. The police returned fire, and Jarvis died in surgery.

Foxhunting Life published a profile of Lynne and her work in January this year. She showed remarkable artistic talent even as a child and was enrolled in art lessons at the age of five. By the age of nine she was attending all-day classes every Saturday at the Art Institute of Chicago.

“No one is more surprised than I,” wrote Lynne, “to see my portraits evolve on the watercolor paper. They just come up from the colors and shapes that I see.”

I have always loved her work with horses, but the dogs in her portraits really talked to me. She had an uncanny ability to capture a feeling of earnest communication between the dog and the viewer.

She was a generous and loyal friend, and I will miss her greatly. Certainly her passing will leave a great gap in the Aiken sporting community.

"Lynn was a devoted friend, a loving mother, an avid sportswoman, and a talented artist," said Linda McLean, MFH, Aiken Hounds. "Her death is a tremendous loss for her family, the Aiken community, and the entire foxhunting community."

The family has asked that donations in Lynne's memory be made to the Hunt Staff Benefit Foundation of the MFHA.

Posted May 18, 2012

Three members of the Crawley and Horsham hunt in West Sussex, England were found guilty in Horsham Magistrates Court of violations under the Hunting Act. These are the first convictions in Sussex under the act.

Four of the hunt’s members were charged with five separate offences. All pleaded not guilty. The evidence, including video clips, was furnished by a West Sussex animal rights group.

Neill Millard, MFH; Rachel Holdsworth, hunt secretary; and Andrew Phillis, former huntsman (now Master and huntsman of the Dart Vale Harriers) were found guilty of illegal foxhunting. Charges against Jamie Hawksfield, MFH were dropped during the trial.

The judge disagreed with assertions by the accused that they were taking part in legitimate trail hunting, following a scent laid for hounds.

A representative of the Countryside Alliance expressed disappointment in the verdict and promised that the organization would continue to support the defendants should they wish to appeal.

Posted May 17, 2012

Visitors in town for the Virginia Foxhound Show will be able to attend the second annual Book Fair at the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg, Virginia on Saturday, May 26, 2012 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. A part of the annual Hunt Country Stable Tour, the Book Fair is open to the public.

Five authors will sign books and give brief talks about their work: Kathryn Masson (Hunt Country Style; Stables: Beautiful Paddocks, Horse Barns, and Tack Rooms; Historic Houses of Virginia; Great Plantation Houses, Mansions, and Country Places); Patrick Smithwick (Flying Change: A Return to Steeplechasing; Racing My Father: Growing up with a Riding Legend); Elizabeth Letts with guest Harry de Leyer (The Eighty Dollasr Champion: Snowman, the Horse that Inspired a Nation); Anne Hambleton (Raja: Story of a Racehorse); and F. Turner Reuter, Jr. (Animal & Sporting Artists in America).

A duplicate book sale will also be going on at the Library and Museum, as well as other current exhibits, including Scraps: British Sporting Drawings from the Paul Mellon Collection.

Posted May 14, 2012

A genetic study of horses combined with mathematical analysis of various scenarios has traced the domestication of horses to the wide open grasslands of southwestern Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

Domestication is generally thought to have occurred about six thousand years ago, but the new evidence suggests that it may have taken place independently in different places within that geographic area.

The study, which was performed at the University of Cambridge, examined DNA from horse hair collected over a sixteen year period. Samples were taken from more than three hundred “local village-type horses” in the expectation they would have less crossbreeding confusion in their genetic profiles.

For more information, read the Associated Press report by Rafael Satter.

Posted May 8, 2012