The Farmington Hunt Club kennels and clubhouse are located in northwestern Albemarle County near Free Union. Our territory encompasses not only the rolling hills and fields at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where we have followed hounds since 1929, but also reaches into historic southern Albemarle along the Hardware and James rivers. Our country’s diverse terrain presents constant opportunity for great sport with a wide variety of riding experiences.
The hunting season is coming to an end but winter has at last released her grip and spring brings excitement. With the joint hunt ball with Oak Ridge, the end of hunting barbecue given by Ellie and Bok Summers, the upcoming Maury River Hunter Trials and the point-to-points finally starting to go there is much to anticipate.
At the March meeting your board voted to recommend a change in the dues structure for 21-36 yr olds. For more detailed information on this and other news regarding membership please see the Members section of the website. We will be discussing these topics at the Annual Meeting in April.
The membership committee, under the direction of Debbie Wright, met recently to develop new strategies to attract new members. We approved their recommendation that there be a cap free day for all prospective members. Next fall we will develop group hunts such as a day for eventers, a day for juniors only, a hunt for Pony Club members for four different pony clubs, and the development of a younger members task force to plan events for the age group 21-36.
Beth Sutton and committee are developing a membership survey to solicit your input as to the activities of FHC and how you would change any of our programs. Look for this by the annual meeting.
At the recent Board meeting the traditional reelection of the Masters was held. We are all very appreciative of all that our four Masters do for this hunt and the many varied skill sets that each bring to the table. Thanks, Carol, Pat, Joy and Bok.
Please do not forget the Maury River Hunter Trials at the
See the Events section on this site to find detailed information on the upcoming Hunt Ball with Oak Ridge and other social activities.FHC’s special events for the upcoming year will include the Benefit golf tournament, a potentially great horse trailer raffle, next year’s hunt ball coupled with a hunt week of full activities, and Joy is working with Kathleen O’Keefe to bring a day of the North American Field Hunter Championships to our hunt. There will be lots of opportunity for participation and all these events will require work so please volunteer wherever you can.
Reynolds Cowles, President, FHC
Hunter's Dinner, 2010
