Foxhunting Life with Horse and Hound

Or more to the point, who are these two giants of foxhunting? One is revered for his uncanny rapport with hounds; the other is remembered for his imaginative contributions to the world of horse sports and sporting scholarship.

This puzzle was posted on our Facebook page, and Carey Shefte was the first person to correctly identify both men and claim the prize. Foxhunting Life is sending Carey a CD of foxhunting songs collected by one of our mystery men. Read on for the answers!

After winning three consecutive Amateur/Novice Hurdle Races and placing second in four starts, Annie Yeager and Mischief wind up in the turf at Old Dominion.The Amateur/Novice Hurdle team of Annie Yeager and her brilliant gray horse Mischief experienced a frightening moment at the Old Dominion Point-to-Point on Saturday, April 7, 2012 at Ben Venue Farm in Flint Hill, Virginia. With three consecutive wins and a second place finish in four starts in the division, Mischief went down with Yeager, who was airlifted from the course.

The good news is that the horse is fine, and Yeager was released from the hospital the following day with a concussion and a broken collar bone. Those who witnessed the fall close up, including this reporter, expected a far worse outcome, and that expectation clouded the rest of the day’s racing.

Emily Digney and Mr. Goodbar, Farmington Hunt, were Champion, 13 and Over.With more than two hundred entries, organizers Douglas Wise, MFH Old Dominion Hounds (VA), and Iona Pillion, Blue Ridge Hunt (VA), were thrilled to observe that the 2011 Junior North American Field Hunter Championship drew the biggest fields to date in the nine years of this unique trial. The program listed twenty-one finalists in Hilltoppers, twenty-two in First Field 12 & Under, and twenty-one in First Field 13 & Over. On November 6, 2011, trailers from New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia gathered in the heart of the Warrenton Hunt country for what is turning into a huge event that bodes well for the future of foxhunting.

The meets have been announced for the Junior North American Field Hunter Championships in 2011. For fifty bucks, juniors eighteen-and-under can hunt with other juniors in new surroundings and experience camaraderie; competition; and a variety of hunting countries, foxhound types, and hunt staffs. It’s both fun and educational.

Karen L. Myers photoLast month we announced a new feature on Foxhunting Life --- Hunt Club Pages. We have a page for every North American hunt with all the articles we have published about that hunt or referring to it. Now we want to make your hunt’s page even more informative.

We have added space for historical or descriptive text about each hunt plus a link to the hunt’s website. The description and link will always appear first on that hunt’s page—before the articles.