Fox Hunting In Virginia

Fox hunting in Virginia was often viewed as a typically traditional British activity - but hunting with hounds takes place all over the world.

Historically, wherever the British have gone building empires, they have taken the foxhunt, or a close approximation of the field sport, with them.

Fox hunting in Virginia is the only way to live your life.

George Washington introduced fox hunting to the United States. And is considered the father of the Virginia fox hunt.

In many countries, including the USA, Canada and India, fox hunting is a living reminder of the days of the old empire.

But that is not to say, of course, that fox hunting is a British innovation. Plenty of other European countries have their own long tradition of hunting foxes with hounds.

France, Italy and Ireland, for example, have thriving foxhunts. In many regions of France, deer, hares, and wild boar are all hunted with hounds.

The hunting lobby has significant political presence, both in the European and regional parliaments in the form of the party Chasse, Peche, Nature, Traditions (Hunting, Fishing, Nature, Traditions).

Opposition to hunting is also fairly organized, with groups such as the Rassemblement des Opposants de la Chasse (Assembly of the Opponents of Hunting) conducting information campaigns against hunting.

ROC representative, Nelly Bouthinot, told BBC News Online that the French hunt or trap 90 different species of mammals and birds. She compared this to Belgium, which hunts or traps 18 different species.

Apparel-wise, the American and British hunts are almost identical.

And because of a lack of foxes, some fox hunts often hunt coyote.

Over in Canada, where the code also applies, there are a dozen foxhound packs, which may be used to hunt foxes or coyotes.

Laurie Kingston of the Canadian branch of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said: "There is a small fox hunt in Canada, but it is not very high profile.

"The provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia currently have annual fox hunts, but the size of the Canadian hunt is estimated to be 1/20 that of the UK fox hunt."

Because of Northern America's "more sporting" approach to hunting with hounds, there is much less organized opposition to the sport.

IFAW's Cindy Milburn said: "I have heard fox hunters in the USA boast that they haven't actually caught a fox for years.

Banned in some countries "In the USA the animals are not dug out if they go to ground, terriers are not sent down the earths after them and the earths are not stopped up."

In areas where communism has collapsed, the perceived class issues associated with fox hunting are no longer a bar to hunting taking place.

Russia is keen to attract overseas hunters to enjoy its vast tracts of open countryside and wildlife. However, hunting seems to generally consist of pursuing the quarry in trucks, and then shooting it.

Others countries, however, have banned hunting with hounds of live animals, branding it a "barbaric practice". In Switzerland and Germany, where hunting with hounds is outlawed, hunt supporters have to some extent adopted drag hunting as their sport.

IFAW says that the reason fox hunting in the UK is such a burning issue internationally is that Britain is seen as a country that sets high standards for animal’s welfare. Cindy Milburn said: "The fact that fox hunting with hounds is still legal exposes the UK to accusations of hypocrisy when we are involved in discussions with, for instance, the Norwegians or Japanese on whaling - or the Chinese on bear farming.

"The UK 'tolerance' of hunting with dogs is often brought up, understandably, in international negotiations on animal welfare issues."

Hunting with dogs does nothing to reduce the fox population, a recent scientific study concludes, contradicting a cherished belief of farmers and foxhunters. Hunting supporters, who are fighting to stop the government banning the centuries-old pastime, say the research — funded by animal welfare groups — is flawed.

Supporters of hunting with hounds say the practice is part of the rural way of life and helps keep in check the population of foxes, regarded as a pest by farmers. They say banning fox hunting, as many urban Britons wish, would lead to an explosion in fox numbers.

Foxes have no natural predator in this country. Man is its only natural predator. We're using nature's tool in the form of the hounds to control the population.

But research published in the journal Nature found that fox numbers changed little when hunting was banned for almost a year during England’s recent foot-and-mouth epidemic.

Scientists from the University of Bristol studied the fox population before and after the outbreak. Fox hunting was banned for 10 months after the disease was discovered in February 2001 as part of measures to stop the livestock virus spreading.

By counting fox feces on 160 plots of land in foxhunting areas across the country, researchers concluded that the population in the two winters before the outbreak was roughly the same as in the winter after the ban. There was a small but statistically insignificant decline in 2002 compared to 2000.

The study was funded by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the International Fund for Animal Welfare and conducted by the Mammal Society, a scientific charity dedicated to the study and conservation of British mammals. The group does not have a position on fox hunting.

Society chairman Stephen Harris, who led the study, said the results "add weight to the argument that foxes regulate their own numbers and that all forms of fox culling are less important than hitherto believed." He said that when hunting dropped, more foxes died from starvation and other causes.

Queen Victoria Hunting

Fox hunting in Victorian England was an expensive business and the upper classes, which dominated the sport, were determined to keep it that way.

The rituals, the ceremonies and the rigid etiquette of the hunt was not from time immemorial, but a conscious effort to make it exclusive and to keep out not only the "submerged masses" but the newly enriched industrial middle classes who wanted a share of the action, who desperately wanted to rub shoulders with the "county" people and be accepted as their equals.

A vain pursuit. the quintessential "fox hunting man" wanted no truck with those, who they considered, had oil under their fingernails.

Class still plays a subversive role in British society: then it was all-powerful.

But the hunting fraternity was faced with a dilemma. The new rich would bring money, big money, into the sport and gradually they were allowed to join the hunts. There was also a good deal of humor to be had at the expense of the new rich, who, it seemed, hardly knew one end of a horse from the other.

Why was hunting so expensive? There was an extensive hierarchy, headed by the MFH (Master of the Foxhounds) and below him were subordinates such as the whipper-in (who stopped the hounds from straying and, as the name implies, used his whip), and, vitally important, the terrier man.

Also expensive were the activities associated with the hunt -- the hunt balls and so forth. Naturally there are no statistics, but large sums of money were expended keeping the farmers, over whose land the hunt operated, happy.

Fields in England were fairly small, and centuries-old hedges split rural land up.

Farmers had to be paid to build them up to present exciting hazards to the hunt, and if necessary paid to install five-barred gates to be jumped over. They also had to be paid not to shoot, poison or trap foxes.

When the newly invented barbed wire arrived from the U.S., they had to be paid not to put it up.

Each hunt had its own farm fund. There was two-way traffic; farmers let the hunt have its dead cattle for the hounds. Naturally the wealthier farmers hunted, and the lifestyle of the richest was not so different from that of the "toffs" -- a life of hunting, shooting and fishing.

Pictures of the time give us an idealistic view of Victorian fox hunting. But it was not like that in real life. In real life it was a shambles, for not only was it a sport but it was a social occasion and the more adventurous women were participating, may of them still ride sidesaddle. So we have hunt servants opening gates for the women -- and the less experienced riders. And we have dozens of riders meandering around, hopelessly lost. Plus the odd hound who has decided he is not a pack animal after all.

The hounds were the strike force, born to kill and kill fast.

No less essential were the terriers, which persuaded the foxes to leave their earths and when necessary joined in pitched battles under the soil, though barking was often sufficient to urge the fox from safety.

The terrier had to be quick, agile and fearless.

Many of these were Jack Russells, not yet named such but already distinctive, as we see in the cartoons of the humorous magazine "Punch," the only guaranteed guide to what English life was really like (photographers could only deal with subjects that stood still, artists painted idealistic pictures that would sell).

Some Jack Russells were bred with short legs so that they could be carried on the saddle, though it also made it easier for them to get into the earths.

Others kept their tails so that it was easier to pull them out of an earth.

By some strange mutation, they all acquired qualities not found in other fox terriers and achieved pet status, alongside other fashionable breeds such as the Pekingese and, surprisingly, the dachshund.

It is no accident that the chosen dog of today's county and aristocratic people (Prince Charles for one) is the Jack Russell, just as the Rottweiller is the preferred breed of macho inner-city man.

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• MFHA Site

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  ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF VIRGINIA HUNTS WITH WEBSITES

   

   

• Bedford Hunt (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, social activities, staff, hounds, and photographs.

   

   

   

   

   

• Belle Meade Hunt (USA, Georgia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, staff, photographs and history.

   

   

   

• Blue Ridge Hunt (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, social activities, staff, hounds, and photographs.

   

   

   

   

• The Carrollton Hounds hunt in Carroll County, Maryland
  - Newsletter, fixture card, staff, photographs and history.

   

   

   

   

   

• Fairfax Hunt Fairfax, Virginia.
  Email: Click here

   

   

   

   

• Farmington Hunt Club (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, social activities, staff, hounds, and photographs.

   

   
  The Presentation by Heywood Hardy

   

   

   

• Fort Leavenworth Hunt
  A military hunt, hunting on Ft. Leavenworth and in the Easton, Kansas vicinity. Organized in 1929 by the 10th Cavalry Regiment, disbanded during WW II, reconstituted in 1964, registered with the MFHA in 1965, and recognized by the MFHA in 1966. Very informative web page, including their fixture information and hound list.
  

   

   

• Foxatbay Foxhounds A live hunt on Maryland's Eastern Shore, with kennels in Salisbury, MD. This private pack of Penmarydel foxhounds was established in 1991 with drafts from Kimberton Hunt Club. FFH can be contacted via email to Kathy Phillips Click here
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• Gamble Hill Hounds
  A tradtitional country hunt serving Persia, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska. This is a fantastic site, with fixture information and recent news/photos about their hunt.
  

   

   

• Glenmore Hunt Club (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, calendar, social activities, staff, hounds, photographs and history.

   

   

• Grand River Hunt (USA, Ohio)
  - Fixture card, contacts, links.

   

   

• Highland Hounds (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, staff, hounds, photographs and history.

   

   

• Iroquois Hunt
  Located in central Kentucky, Iroquois Hunt is one of the oldest recognized hunts in the United States, founded in 1880, recognized by the MFHA
  in 1929. Iroquois hunts live fox and coyote.
  

   

   

• Kenada Foxhounds
  A traditional live hunt in Texas, established in 1983 and MFHA-recognized in 1986.

   

   

• Kimberton Hunt Club
  A live hunt in southeastern Pennsylvania; one of the oldest in the country (founded in 1870).
  

   

   

• Kingsbury Harriers (USA, California)
  - Introduction and photographs. They hunt in the Mojave Desert.

   

   

   

• Loudon County Hunt Club (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, calendar, social activities, staff, hounds, photographs and history.

   

   

   

   

   

• Meramec Valley Hunt (USA, Missouri)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, social activities, staff, hounds, photographs and history

   

   

• Midland Foxhounds (USA, Georgia)
  - Many photographs and an article on MFH Ben Hardaway from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

   

   

   

• Middlebrook Hounds (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, calendar, social activities, staff, hounds, photographs and history.

   

   

   
  JFK at the races

   

   

   

   

• Middleburg Hunt Races (USA, Virginia)

   

   

   

   

• Misty Morning Hounds (USA, Florida)
  - Drag. Newsletter, fixture card, staff, hounds, photographs and history.

   

   

• North Hills Hunt
  Traditional Hunting in the rolling hills of Western Iowa and the sand hills of Nebraska.

   

   

• Oak Ridge Fox Hunt Club (USA, Virginia)
  - Not-to-be-missed protocol.

   

   

• Penny Royal Hunt Club (USA, Kentucky-Tennessee)
  - Introduction and photograph.

   

   

• Rappahannock Hunt (USA, Virginia)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, social activities, staff, hounds, and photographs.

   

   

• Red Mountain Hounds (USA, North Carolina)
  - Introduction, calendar and FAQ.

   

   

• Red Rock Hounds (USA, Nevada)
  - Calendar, activities, history, and photographs. Includes information on The Western Challenge (won by this Hunt in 2000).

   

   

• Smithtown Hunt (USA, New York)
  - Drag. Calendar, activities, staff, and photographs.

   

   

   

• Triangle Hunt
  A live foxhunt, located in Eastern North Carolina including areas of Johnston, Nash, Greene, Pitt, Lenoir and Edgecombe Counties. Established in 1961, MFHA-recognized in 1969. Another very informative site.
  

   

   

• Woodbrook Hunt
  Located in Tacoma, Washington, Woodbrook is a drag hunt which hunts on the Fort Lewis military reservation

   

   

   

   

  British Government Foxhunting Inquiry
  Foxhunting is under serious attack in Britain, and this official British government site details the status of the inquiry into whether it should be banned. Take note of it. Unfortunately, fads and frenzies so while this applies only to Britain, there is always the danger of it spreading to other places. The official inquiry has been completed, so this site is no longer accepting input, but it's still worth looking at to get an accurate report on the actual status, since much of the information available in the media has been slanted. 
   

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• Barwon Hunt (Australia, Victoria)
  - Staff, hunt reports, history and photographs.
• The Central Otago Hunt (New Zealand, South Island)
  - Staff, hounds, photographs and history.

   

   

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• The Annapolis Valley Hunt (Canada, Nova Scotia)
  - Includes the "Bad Boys' Hunting Tour" diary.

   

   

• Bethany Hills Frontenac Hunt (Canada, Ontario)
  - Fixture card, photographs, traditions

   

   

• Fraser Valley Hunt (Canada, BC)
  - Brief Introduction

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

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• Ashford Valley Foxhounds (UK)
  - History and picture galleries of this club in the central and western portion of Kent.

   

   

• Braes of Derwent Fox Hunt (UK)
  - Newsletter, fixture card, activities, hunt reports, hunting campaign news (The Grass E-Route), and photographs.

   

   

• Dumfriesshire Hunt (UK)
  - Information, fixture, map and photographs.

   

   

• Equestrian Cornwall - Hunting (UK)
  - Current news and contact information for the East Cornwall, North Cornwall, South Cornwall, Cury, Four Burrow, Tetcott, Western and South Tetcott foxhound packs.

   

   

• Kincardineshire Foxhounds (UK)
  - News, hounds, terrier work, and general information about foxhunting.

   

   

• Spooner's and West Dartmoor Foxhounds (UK)
  - Fixture card, membership information, history and contacts.

   

   

   

   

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• British Fieldsports Information
  - Quarry and season regulations for shooting and fishing in the UK. From Hendry Ramsay and Wilcox Sporting Agent and Gunshop (Scotland).

  http://www.charlottesville-area-real-estate.com/images/georgewrighttakingafence.jpg

  Taking a Fence by Geo. Wright

   

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  North East Cheshire Drag Hunt (UK)
  - Drag. Fixture card, calendar, membership, FAQ, staff, photographs.

   

   

   

   

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• Fox-hunting on the Findon Downs (UK)
  - History and stories from 1675 to the present, with many photographs. Part of a site devoted to the historical record of life in Findon, West Sussex.

   

   

• Fox Hunting in Ol' Virginny
  A very amusing and informative site maintained by Doug Morris, who hunts with the Bull Run Hunt near Culpeper, Va. It has a lot of photographs and information about BRH, but there's a lot more, including some very amusing stuff and a lot of links to other hunting sites.

   

   

   

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• CA - Hunting with Dogs
  - Clickable links to information on fox, mink, deer and hare hunting. From the Countryside Alliance.

   

   

   

• Foxman on Foxhunting (UK)
  - FAQ about foxhunting in the UK, including necessity, history, rules, and research.

   

   

• Matt Simpson's Foxhunting (USA)
  - Foxhunting information from a very personal perspective. Includes information on the Foxhunters OnLine email discussion group.

   

   

• Old Norris' Foxhunting Page (UK)
  - Archives of the East Kent Hunt, songs, verse, quotes, photographs, illustrations, and links. Especially good maps of hunting territories in the UK.

   

   

   

• Western Challenge 2000
  - Photographs and hunting diaries of the annual competition for best hunting pack in the West.

   

   

   

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• D'ye ken John Peel?
  - Lyrics and history of this famous song and 'Horn of the Hunter'. Listen to the melody on Windows Media Player.

   

   

   

• Fox Hunting
  - Background information for the novel 'The Toll-Gate' by Georgette Heyer, including The Melton Men, general hunting history, and the MFHA and its regulations.

   

   

   

   

• Hunting Songs
  - Lyrics and history of hunting songs from various countries.

   

   

   

   

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• Baden-Powell, Lessons from the Varsity of Life
  - Comments on importance of fox-hunting.

   

   

   

• Derrydale Press
  - Ordering information. Publishers of books on foxhunting, hunting fiction and sporting art.

   

   

• FOL Fox Hunting Tales
  - A variety of stories extracted from the email discussion group.

   

   

• Hardaway, Never Outfoxed
  - Ordering information. Ben Hardaway's foxhunting experiences, including his perspectives on the breeding, training, and hunting of a pack of hounds.

   

   

   

• Harvey, If St. Peter Has Hounds
  - Ordering information. An account of the author's hunting days with every mounted British pack (almost 300).

   

   

• Hughes, Branston`s Pickles - The Diary of an English Hunting Horse
  - Foxhunting stories (1995-present) from the point of view of the horse; includes pictures of the "author" and his friends.

   

   

   

• National Sporting Library (USA)
  - Middleburg, Virginia home of more than 15,000 books on horse and field sports dating back to the 1500s.

   

   

• Selected Harrier Reading
  - Bibliography of hunting literature, especially pertaining to harriers.

   

   

• Sinclair-Smith, Michael
  - Ordering information. Author of novels about foxhunting.

   

   

   

• Tallyho and Tribulation
  - From the Atlantic Monthly, September 2000, by Stephen Budiansky.

   

   

• Trollope, Hunting Sketches
  - The complete text (1865) of a series of essays on the topic of foxhunting.

   

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• Masters of Foxhounds Association (USA)
  Governing body of recognized fox, coyote and drag hunting in the USA and Canada. Includes information on the sport and its history, as well as the official MFHA foxhound stud book, hound shows, publications, and charitable foundations.

   

   

   

• Wildlife Legislative Fund of America
  An organization singularly dedicated to the protection of hunting, fishing, trapping and the scientific wildlife management programs which support them.
  

   

   

• American Association for Horsemanship Safety
  This site contains the most comprehensive information available anywhere on horsemanship safety and legal liability. It is provided free of charge to the public as a service by the American Association for Horsemanship Safety, Inc.(AAHS). The sections on Recreational Use Statutes and Equine Activity Statutes provide lots of good information to hunt clubs who need to know what statutes exist in their state to protect them and their landowners from frivolous lawsuits.
  

   

   

• Countryside Alliance
  (Formerly British Field Sports Society) Information about foxhunting and other field sports in Great Britain. A lot of good overall information about foxhunting, and up-to-date information on the attempts to ban foxhunting in Britain. This is a very educational site for all foxhunters, regardless of location.
  

   

   

   

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• Encore Editions - Hand Colored and Rare Prints, Collectibles, Used and Rare Books
  - Copies of old English hunting prints.

   

   

   

• Prints Old & Rare - Fox Hunting
  - Old English prints.

   

   

   

   

  Tallyhooooooooooooooooooooo,

  Toby Beavers - Virginia Hunt Country Realtor

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•  In June of 1962, a curious 3.3 mile stretch of four-lane highway was completed between the Virginia towns of Marshall and Delaplane, about fifty miles west of Washington, D.C. The four lanes connected two two-lane roads with no apparent purpose. But N. Frank Neer, a farmer living only two miles from Delaplane and the author's grandfather, knew what was up.

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• Months earlier, Neer had taped a blueprint of the VDOT road plan for Interstate 66 next to his basement television, literally seeing the writing on the wall from his office desk. His was not just an idle fear: he also witnessed the construction from his church pew each Sunday morning. After each service he would go home to rant and rave about the danger Interstate 66 posed to the countryside.

   

  I recall his thundering. "They are going to build the rest of that damn road over my dead body!" Unfortunately for the crusty old farmer, VDOT almost did just that - by 1983, the highway stretched from The Theodore Roosevelt Bridge on the Potomac to beyond the Shenandoah River, running just a hundred yards from where he was eventually buried at historic Piedmont Parish just up the road from Delaplane.

   

  Despite Neer's concerns, the destruction of his cherished rural environment has not materialized, though no one says it's quite as pristine as it once was. Thanks to the Piedmont Environmental Council, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, legions of landowners willing to protect their property against the encroachments of Walt Disney theme parks, and county officials and state legislators who appreciate the beauty of the Commonwealth, a historic portion of the Virginia countryside was saved. Farm after contiguous farm will remain so forever.

  Over the past two decades, perhaps one man and one decision best illustrate the struggle and commitment 10 what Rudy Abramson describes in his classic, Hallowed Ground: Preserving America Forever - a man standing ankle-deep in a bog just nine months before the final section of Interstate 66 was completed, a man surveying an abandoned 640-acre farm at the corner of Route 17 and Old Tavern Road just two miles from the newly completed Interstate. A man named Arthur W. "Nick" Arundel.

   

  Arundel was on a practical mission: to find a new venue for The Virginia Gold Cup. Since 1924, the Gold Cup had leased its course at Broadview near an increasingly busy intersection in Warrenton, but the property owners' reluctance to renew and the rapid escalation in property values forced the organizers of the historic steeplechase to find another long-term lease or to buy a permanent venue somewhere else.

   

  An even more urgent matter con¬cerned Arundel himself, who lived nearby. He had learned that the abandoned Fleming Farm had become slated for development.

  An ardent conservationist, founding member of the Piedmont Environmental Council, and publisher of the local community newspaper, Arundel was horrified by the thought of 500 houses jammed betwixt the historic little village of the Plains and Warrenton.

   

  He knew what a massive development could mean to the entire Northern Piedmont, well before Disney challenged the hearts and souls of residents, indeed the nation, more than a decade later.

   

  Even the casual acquaintance knows that Nick Arundel, an ex-Marine, is always prepared to go into battle alone. At age 77, he still reports to his editorial offices everyday. But they also know him to be a visionary who would have realized that the future of the Gold Cup required a community solution with a mission that extended beyond the race itself. Yet nothing quite prepared anyone (except perhaps his wife Peggy) for the passion and commitment he displayed in responding to this challenge. Nor were they prepared for the result.

   

  Arundel immediately purchased the Fleming property for $2 million, rallied his friends, and established the Meadow Outdoors Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable organization dedicated to preserving open space and making it available to the public. Then he personally set about to turn what was locally known as "the old crayfish field" into the most modern race course in the world. He studied courses in Europe and America, incorporating the latest advances in course design, soil technology, water drainage, and sound systems.

   

  Asked why he was giving so much of his time and effort to the undertaking, Arundel - a former amateur steeplechase rider - said, "I just want to give something back to this sport and further open space, visual order, and the spirit of volunteerism here. In the first third of your life you learn, in the second you earn, and then finally you give it all back." In 1983 Arundel deeded the core land of 100 acres to the foundation, and seven years later he completed transfer of ah additional 70 acres to complete the facility.

   

  The outcome of all this is nothing short of magnificent. The Great Meadow racecourse is the only combination timber and hurdle course in Virginia where all of the jumps can be seen from the rail. The beautifully maintained course ensures sure footing, true athleticism, and outstanding racing. The infrastructure allows for a crowd of almost 50.000. The buildings are handsome and functional. At a typical race, over 170 tents dot the countryside.

   

  George Strawbridge, president of The National Steeplechase Association, calls the Great Meadow racecourse, "the crown jewel of American steeplechasing."

  Contested on the first Saturday of each May, The Gold Cup today is also without question the crown jewel of the National Steeplechase Circuit.

   

  The non-profit Foundation has struggled to overcome the misconception of Great Meadow as nothing more than a fancy jockey club - not too surprising because the two premier events, the Gold Cup and its sister race in the fall. The International Gold Cup at first appears to be expensive. The Gold Cup costs $75 for genera! admission, and access to the Members Hill is sold out well in advance. But the $75 pays for six passengers and parking, so the price of admission for the general public can be as low as $12.50 per person, about the cost of parking in downtown Washington for a day.

   

  Further, Arundel's vision from the very beginning extended well beyond one race: since 1988 the Foundation has hosted the Family 4tn of July Celebration, a huge fireworks display. In 1990, the Fauquier Youth Soccer league began to hold practices and games, the first of many large community activities to call Great Meadow home. In 1993, a stadium was completed to provide a new home for events such as polo, horse shows, and pony club games. In 1994, Great Meadow inaugurated Friday Twilight Polo, held under the lights at the Great Meadow Stadium. Founded by Nick Arundel's son Peter, the Great Meadow Polo Club draws huge crows weekly and gives lessons at the area's only polo school. In 1995, the Steeplethon Course, designed to lest horses over obstacles found while foxhunting, was added to the Spring Gold Cup race card. The Middleburg Classic Morse Show has called Great Meadow home since 1995, and each spring and fall, three-day event riders compete in horse trials. New this year, Great Meadow will host a Hunter and Sport Horse Breeding Show featuring event, dressage, and hunter horses together for the first time.

   

  In addition to "horses for courses," Great Meadow hosts bike tours, dog agility trials, cross country meets, and a rodeo. Thousands high-school cross country athletes compete each November at Great Meadow for the State Championship meet. In May, the world's largest model rocket and scholarship contest. Team America Rocket Contest, will take place for the second lime, when learns of students from across the country compete for prizes and scholarships. These budding scientists aren't just launching ordinary toy rockets: rockets must be able to reach heights of over 1,250 feet and safely return to earth a raw egg.

   

  Perhaps the least known fact is that the grounds are open daily to the public when not in use for other scheduled events, a haven for paint easels or just a stroll. This past winter, Great Meadow launched a new volunteer program, the FROGS—Friends of Great Meadow to assist in such events as Children's Field Day, the Riders Up!

   

  Reading Days at the Fauquier County Public Library and the Great Meadow Gallop 5K Fun Run. The Foundation is supported by public contributions, which in addition to income earned from race day activities and other paid events, are used to support the staff, grounds, and programs.

  So a jockey club Great Meadow is most definitely not. From its humble origins, this great meadow has become synonymous with the other names that are such a cherished part of the historic countryside. In Nick Arundel's own words:

  I cannot imagine a reason for being in these Virginia foothills without pastures, woodlands, and streams. Something will have gone out of us as a people if in our times we let the remaining open countryside near our Nation's Capital be destroyed....

  We need available to us forever these fields, marshlands, and streams now bearing names like Bull Run, Paris Mountain, Goose Creek and Great Meadow, even if the families of the future can never do more than drive past the edge, look in, and return home better and stronger of spirit. William Semple Fox Hunter/Virginia realtor

  History of Fox Hunting in America

  Fox hunting is one of the hallowed sports, which was imported from England when the first settlers arrived here. The English settlers brought with them the sport way back in the 1600’s. As per old data records, Colonel Robert Brooke owned the first hunt pack in 1650. The English Settlers were thus responsible for the spread of the sport throughout the America’s. In fact by 1700’s, there was a steep rise in the number fox hunting clubs especially in the colonies of Virginia and Maryland.

  There are in fact two fox hunting clubs that are very old. They are the Montreal Hunt established in 1926 and the First US Foxhound club, which started as the Piedmont Foxhound Club in Virginia. These clubs survive to this day and are considered as very prestigious Foxhound clubs.

  George Washington was also an avid hunter and kept his own horses and hounds for foxhunting. Even then, most politicians were avid foxhunters as many are today. George Washington had made countless entries in his diaries about the various foxhunts that he was a part of. There is mention of one occasion when a Congressman ran outside to watch the foxhunters and all this while the Congress was still in session. (Some had even mounted their horses for a chase).

  The biggest difference between fox hunting in the Europe and the America’s is the purpose or the goal of fox hunting. While in England, the purpose of fox hunting is to chase the fox and kill it. In the America’s, the emphasis is more on the chase and not the kill.

  The fox is seldom killed in the America’s. In addition to that, coyotes are hunted in large number in America, as the population of the coyotes has increased tremendously in the United States. Moreover they are much bigger, faster and stronger than the foxes. In British Isles and Ireland, foxes are considered a nuisance since they kill sheep of the farmers. Thus fox hunting is a matter of economics more than a matter of sport. One can learn more about the sport of fox hunting in Virginia at www.mfha.com

• www.freedomfields.net

  www.foxhunting.freeservers.com

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