See the Calendar of Events
Hunting Notes
Please be sure to check the hunt line Friday evening for any schedule changes. Given the fact that we seem to be experiencing a tad more real winter this year; we have had a few changes of venue and dress. Don't be shy about coming though; the footing has not been as bad as you might think. Just bundle up! Also, if you looked at the calendar above, please note that all the breakfasts except the March 31st are potluck. Potluck breakfasts we are requesting $3.00 per person to help pay for setups. March 31st will be the regular $5.00 per person. Please make reservations with Carol Atwood for the breakfast on March 31st by the Thursday, March 29th.
Rockbridge Hunt Member Passes On
Henry Foresman was one of the founding members of Rockbridge. According to Viola Wise and Wilson Shepard, he started his hunting career when he was still a student at VMI before WWII during the time that VMI had hounds and horses. After serving in the war, he returned to this area and had a big part in organizing the club and writing the bylaws. Huntsman David Conner had been requested in Henry's will to play 'gone away' and did so, in full hunt attire. There was also a 21 gun salute. Henry passed away this past December.
Rockbridge Hunt Ball & Silent Auction
Almost all hunt clubs hold a formal dinner-dance once a year, usually referred to as a hunt ball. According to Viola Wise, honorary Master and a founding member, Rockbridge Hunt has hosted a formal, annual ball almost since the club began. Everyone is welcome to attend the ball, whether they are members of Rockbridge Hunt or not. Several of our landowner members who don't ride or foxhunt do attend every year, as do members of the community. It's a great excuse to get dressed up and party.
The Rockbridge Hunt Ball and Silent Auction are most ably managed by Mr. A. W. Lewis, Jr. (Buster to his friends), owner of The Jefferson, Florist to the Homestead. Buster hosts a magnificent party, always, and it's a wonderful evening with good food, dancing, and friendly people. The ball is being held at Evans Hall at Washington and Lee University.
To support the Ball, a Silent Auction is held at the same time. Members are asked to donate items (well ahead of time) which are then arranged on display at the Ball. There is a "bid sheet" for each item and those interested in purchasing the item write their name and the amount they're willing to pay. The bidding stops shortly before dinner and whoever had the highest bid at that time gets to buy the item. All proceeds go directly to Rockbridge Hunt, to support the Ball and other programs. Bidding can get quite intense for some items; please refrain from flinging yourself over the bid sheets.
Nancy Conner will coordinate donations for the Silent Auction. Don't be surprised if she calls you about a donation, or feel free to call her. She'd like VERY MUCH to have the items in hand by February 17th so she can finish bid sheets and other paperwork. Items related to foxhunting are always a big success but all kinds of things have been "on the block" in the past including lightly used tack, barn hardware, delectable edibles, jewelry and riding clothes.
Following the success of Virginia Hunt Week, and in keeping with our close ties within the foxhunting community of southwestern Virginia, we'd like to encourage area foxhunters to attend the Rockbridge Hunt Ball as well as those hosted by Bedford County Hunt, and Glenmore Hunt Club. Rockbridge Hunt will be hunting early on the day of each ball so that members can hunt in the morning and attend the parties in the evenings. For more information, please see the Calendar of Events.
Many Thanks
I'd like to make sure the membership knows of the outstanding generosity of a few of our members. Dr. Lauren Keating has donated all of the veterinary supplies and her time and labor to care for the entire pack for the entire year. We generally keep 15 to 20 couple of hounds (there are 2 hounds per couple so that's 30 to 40 hounds) in the kennels at all times. Lauren donated all of the vaccines, dewormer, and flea preventive for all the hounds for the entire year. She also donated the materials and express shipping for the blood samples for leishmaniasis testing. The total cost of the supplies for the year 2000 was $953. That figure is for the actual supplies used; she didn't even estimate the time involved or what kind of charges we'd have to pay for these services. One hound also required a hospital stay - no cost to the Hunt! Lauren also sponsored classes at the Rockbridge Hunt Horse Show, bringing her donations for the year to well over a thousand dollars!
It's wonderful to have such a generous donor in our midst. It's also important to realize that she's been doing this for several years without reporting it to the treasurer so it hasn't been showing up in the budget. After several discussions we convinced her that it's important for these expenses to be accounted for. If Lauren stopped donating these materials and services the annual budget would look very different. Her donations over the past several years are one of the reasons the Hunt is currently operating in the black.
Fred Burks has also made substantial donations to the Hunt this year. Without his considerable time and talents we wouldn't have the new territory in the Poague Run area and it definitely wouldn't be ready for hunting yet. Fred and his neighbor, David (DD) Hinty have built 20 coops and put in 21 gates. The area that we hunted on Saturday, January 13th is not all of the area they've opened up, and there's potentially just as much more land still to be explored. All the coops we jumped that day, and a lot of the gates we used, were built and installed in the past six months by Fred and DD. Now Fred has plans in the works for running the course for this year's Rockbridge Hunt Spring Hunter Pace through the new territory (weather permitting and with the permission of our landowner members). He has also volunteered to host the Rockbridge/Glenmore Hound Show and Kentucky Derby Party at his farm, Montafon.
It's only through the generosity of outstanding members like this that we are able to enjoy some of the most reasonable dues of any foxhunting club. And there are plenty of other members who make all kinds of donations. We need to make sure we don't take this kind of effort and outlay for granted. Cindy Morton
Hunt whips and the Field Member
Many hunting seasons ago I took a friend of mine and we tooled off to attend a gigantic joint hunt at Bedford. Besides the size of the field, and hunting my buddy's horse whom I had never ridden before, what I remember best is getting handed a hunt whip to carry.
Some spiffily attired young lady on way too much horse bounded up to me moments before the hunt started and pretty much forced me to carry her hunt whip. Although she seemed loath to admit it, her mount was looking a tad, well, fresh, and apparently she thought less might be more. As she bounded off again the comment floated across the meet, "don't loose it, it was expensive!". Oh joy.
The only use I found for that whip that day was to confuse this long, confusing mass of leather with my curb rein which resulted in a distinctive and somewhat panicky lack of braking. After that less than impressive introduction I avoided them for a good number of years.
Recently I thought it might be time to become reacquainted. Hunt whips can be carried by any field member wishing to do so, according to Rockbridge tradition. Uses for a field member are by the nature of being a field member, somewhat limited. You can dangle them alongside you steed to encourage hounds not to amble underneath (this really does work). Less official uses include helping to open and shut gates and poking one's spouse (this works too).
Recently we discovered an even better unofficial use for them - that is discouraging the neighbors dog. This sure is quieter than the rat shot alternative; I just could not figure how we were going to pull off without being noticed. Doggie discouragement apparently does not even require much 'cracking' but just flinging in the direction of the snarling teeth.
Whips actually come in three parts. If you ever want to purchase one you might want to know you actually need three separate items. The crop or handle is traditionally made of an antler (stag in one catalog) and they come in "men's" and "women's" and "children's". The men's is certainly a stout beast so if you have small hands you might be advised to consider the "ladies". The thong is the middle part. These come in various lengths; the moral equivalent of short, medium and long (about 41" to 2 yards). Then there is the lash or popper. Without some sort of short, flexible part at the end you will have problems making much noise with it (which, for most folks, is the fun part of owning one of these things). You can purchase poppers, or material such as shoe strings and baling twine work fine, too.
The usual suggested whip cracking practice spots are on a fence or pickup truck. It can be quite helpful if you practice around your trusty equine friend if you ever intend to make noise with it while mounted so they can go act silly without you on their backs. Erica Jones
New Territory (Fixture at Montafon)
Last Saturday the 13th a smallish field of approximately 14 assembled at Montafon (the 'new' Poague Run territory) in an enormous frosty hayfield with a wonderful view. By the time we were tacked up the frost had risen from the sunny side of the trailers but the shaded sides were still slick as ice.
Fred Burks has been doing an enormous amount of work; and an enormous amount it takes to open a totally new territory like this. Fred has gotten in about 20, very user friendly coops. The biggest drawback I can see to the territory is that it is a good number or fairly small pieces (i.e., requiring a good number of panels). Fred is to be congratulated on the work he has done so far; the coops we jumped rode extremely well and the new gates were workable by horseback. The staff is particularly appreciative of gates that actually swing, not drag.
The territory we saw on Saturday during our 3 hour tour (Fred said we saw about 1/3 of it) consisted of a lot of hay fields, pastures with good grass cover, and wooded coverts scattered between. We also did some of the tradition woodsy trail riding (and sometimes no-trail riding) through some really nice woods. We got to wave at two different landowners to boot.
David Conner brought a reduced collection of hounds with him but I did get to practice up on some of the N's - Norman, Noodle and Nuisance. The idea behind a morning hunt in a new or far away territory like this or West Airslie is to give him more daylight to retrieve any hounds that might get lost after the hunt. I have heard some unofficial rumors that we might meet over there again before the end of the season. You folks who didn't make it, I'd suggest you try to make it the next time. The views are fabulous and the footing is fine. Erica Jones
Elections 2001
Amazing as it might seem, it is time to start thinking about the 2001-02 executive committee who will be voted on at the annual May membership meeting. A nominating committee has been appointed. Members are strongly encouraged to contact any members of the committee before the meeting if they wish to nominate anyone for any of these positions: president, treasurer, secretary, two stewards and MFH(s). Nominations will be taken from the floor, too. The meeting will be (as specified in the bylaws) the second Wednesday of the month which is May 9th, 2001. If you need more details on what each job involves contact Viola Wise. Three people stay on the board this year - Viola, Fred and Carol.
Committee members: Viola Wise, Chairperson, Blair Jones (abjones@vt.edu), Kevin Baird (kbbaird@rev.net).
Bits and Pieces
Green Creek Hounds in Landrum, SC is hosting Hunt the Carolinas on Wed., Feb. 7th through Sat., Feb. 10th. All foxhunters are invited. There will be a capping fee of $35 for each day. The weekday hunts take place in the afternoon and attire will be "informal" (presumably that means ratcatcher). On Saturday they'll hunt in the morning and attire will be formal. A Masked Ball is scheduled for Saturday night (the fee is not specified). Jt-MFH Tot Goodwin hunts the hounds at Green Creek and I'm sure there will be some great hunting and a lot of fun. For more information call Cindy Morton (W 463-8109, H 463-6025).
Executive Committee Meeting, January 21, 2001
Meeting called to order 1:10 pm.
Present: Lauren Keating, Pete Whitlock, Fred Burks, Cindy Morton, David Bolen, Katharine Conner, Erica Jones, Carol Atwood, Viola Wise.Treasurers Report (Katharine):
Checking $4873, huntsman's fund $340. We have heard from approximately 37 [not landowner] members. Paid approximately $1600 for pressure treated wood for the 20 coops and gates, and gate posts in the new territory. This is not counting any labor. D. D. Hinty (landowner) also helped quite a bit - driving posts for gates. Fred has been getting 10% off at the CO-OP (Southern States).David: no progress on gutters cleaned; digging up potentially leaking underground pipe which is what is hoped is flooding the stall in the barn.
Calendar for year (Cindy): Glenmore Hunt Spring Hunter Pace, April 1st. Oak Ridge Hunter Trials, probably April 8th. Rumor has it Jeannie Jeffer will organize ours at Montafon; date possibly April 22nd?? (with Fred as co-chair). Cindy will research conflicts with show dates which are probably impossible to avoid. Bedford County Hunter Pace, May 13th (Mother's Day). Rockbridge Hunter Show, June 2nd; location to be announced. Joan Alberti is organizing (again this year!). Fred will look into an overall sponsor.
Nomination Committee: Blair Jones, Viola Wise (chair), and Kevin Baird. Newsletter will remind members to contact committee to take suggestions. Jobs available: President, Secretary, Treasurer, two stewards (although we were not sure which two) and MFH(s).
Future (grass) maintenance (Cindy):
We need to talk to someone about mowing. Also we probably need to mow kennels and barn, and ring, maybe all of that once a month. Also need to mow the trails through clear cuts in Hunt, Inc. Lauren will talk to one person who might be available. David will talk to Peggy Russell about Hunt, Inc trails. Fred has potential fall back person.Hunt ball.
Carol put 450 invitations in the mail today and has another 50 leftovers. Bev Bowring and Buster Lewis doing meal, decorations, seating, Silent Auction setup, etc.PC and juniors (Carol): No report.
Katharine volunteered to attend the rumored meeting for a foot/horse trail connecting VA Horse Center and The Homestead.
Next work sessions are Feb 18th, March 18th.
We might schedule another hunt at Montafon; maybe a morning at 10:30 am.
Hound show (Cindy): Maybe have a hound race this year? (Ask Glenmore). Hounds follow a drag line in an open field. First in, wins. Usually about 50 humans come. Need TV. Not sure what we would do if it rained. We should request reservations from RH members and maybe charge nominal fee? Fred Burks volunteered his farm for a location and better TV reception. We usually invite Farmington and Oak Ridge to bring hounds and humans, too. Cindy volunteered to be the contact.
Hunt pins (Cindy): Screen printed approx. $2.50 apiece and minimum 200, and the cloisonné probably more although she did not know how much. Also they can be had in stamped steel. Cindy promised to get more prices.
Adjourned 2:30 pm
Respectfully submitted, Erica Jones
Executive Committee:
Jt-MFH: David Bolen
Jt-MFH: Cindy Morton
President: W. A. Whitlock
Treasurer: Katharine Conner
Honorary Secretary: Erica Jones
Steward: Carol Atwood
Steward: Fred Burks
Steward: Kathy Eichelberger
Steward: Lauren Keating
Newsletter Committee:
Blair Jones, Abjones@vt.edu
Erica Jones, Emjones@vt.edu
Cindy Morton, mortonc@wlu.edu