The “O” Boys

Satisfaction

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Picture of the Week

By Norman Fine

Selfie by hard riding Jenny Irwin, who rarely misses a day’s sport.

A winter storm blanketed the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia on a hunting day for the Blue Ridge Hunt. The gently falling snow quietly covered the drabness of the frost-killed rolling fields and bare trees. It also produced rosy cheeks and a soft, white covering upon those hardy souls who embraced the temporary beauty of a wintry day in the woods and fields.

Posted January 26, 2020

The Moment

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Picture of the Week

By Norman Fine

“The Moment” by Yongqing Bao, Wildlife Photographer of the Year

This image of a Tibetan vixen with three cubs to feed attacking a terrified Himalayan marmot earned photographer Yongqing Bao the prestigious title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year. The paralyzing wildlife moment was shot in the remote Qilian mountains of China.

Competition winners were announced during an awards ceremony at London's Museum of Natural History from 48,000 entries received from 100 countries.

Posted November 19, 2019

Resting Up For the Chase

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Picture of the Week

By Karen Kandra

The Green Spring Valley (MD) foxhounds were gathered at the meet, waiting to move off, when one member of the pack decided to catch a quick rest beforehand and needed to find a comfortable chair. Karen Kandra, whose photos often grace these pages, was there to shoot this unusual tactic, a humorous example of civilized life in a pack of foxhounds, from the alphas to the long-suffering. The hound providing the comfort is clearly speaking to us with its eyes.

Posted September 29, 2019

Albert Poe and the Old Virginian

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Picture of the Week

By Norman Fine

Mary Phillips Coker photo

The Huntsmen’s Room of the Museum of Hounds and Hunting at Morven Park is a space that honors all North American huntsmen for their existential contributions to our sport. Enshrined therein are the images and histories of certain huntsmen who, by their demonstrated skill with hounds, their courage across country, and their unselfish and complete dedication to the sport, have been selected for individual honor in representing their peers.

In the same room stands a sculpture of the Old Virginian by the important American artist (and Hall of Fame polo player) Charles Cary Rumsey (1879–1922). This is one of Rumsey’s many smaller bronzes of horses, though he is probably best know for his grander works such as war memorials, the Three Graces Fountain at Forest Lawn Cemetery, his controversial nude, The Pagan, and the triumphal arch and colonnade at the Manhattan entrance to the Manhattan Bridge.

Mary Phillips Coker’s snapshot of Rumsey’s bronze in context with the image of recently deceased Albert Poe may not be an award-winning photograph—Mary has already won her share of awards and attention for her artistry and sculpture—but for those of us in the foxhunting fraternity, the photograph has a stirring significance. The mounted Old Virginian, walking with his hounds in this hall of memories where fitting tributes have been paid to both Albert and Melvin Poe, makes us wonder if we have seen the last of such Virginians with their passing—countrymen born in a simpler time when youngsters grew up absorbing naturally the secrets of the fields and woods and hunting for the dinner table and for sport. If so, aren’t we lucky to have been here in their time?

Posted June 10, 2019