The Mosby Heritage Area Association has organized a fascinating panel discussion on Fox Hunting entitled The History and Future of the Sport in the Piedmont, February 10th from 5-7 p.m. at the National Sporting Library and Museum in Middleburg. Panelists will offer firsthand perspective and experience on the region's fox hunting and equine sports. A question and answer discussion will follow.

Some of the most respected leaders in the fox hunting field will participate in the discussion, including: Robert Ashcom, originally from Charlottesville, Virginia, is the former joint Master and Huntsman to the Tryon Hounds. Mr. Ashcom and his wife, Susie, hunted with the Bradbury Foxhounds in the Quansett country of then-president of the Master of Foxhounds, William Almay, Jr. He also served as Field Master to the Farmington Hunt, while Susie was Whipper-In. He has authored two books on fox hunting, a novel about growing up in rural Virginia in the 1940s, Winter Run, and Lost Hound which examines fox hunting with beautiful images by sporting artist Jane Gaston. Winter Run was the recipient of the 2002 New Writing Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Mr. Ashcom is a retired associate professor of English at Lord Fairfax Community College and lives in Warrenton, Virginia. He hunts in Warrenton and Keswick.

Tommy Lee Jones has served as Huntsman of the Casanova Hunt since 1970. Mr. Jones started fox hunting as a child with the Bull Run Hunt. Mr. Jones manages the Upperville Colt and Horse Show, the Warrenton Pony Show, and the Warrenton Horse Show. He is a member of the Virginia Pointto-Point Council, the Virginia Horse Shows Association Management Committee, and serves on the Board of the Virginia Thoroughbred Association. Mr. Jones, along with his mother, runs and manages New Hope Farm in Warrenton, Virginia, which prepares horses for sale, racing, and hunting. He has written articles for In & Around Horse Country and Loudoun Magazine, among others.

Albert Poe was born in Hume in 1931, one of ten children; one being a fellow legend in the fox hunting world, Melvin. At age 23, Mr. Poe became the youngest professional Huntsman in the whole country, when he was hired by Paul Mellon and Mrs. A.C. Randolph of the Piedmont Hunt in 1954. He has also served as Huntsman for the Fairfax and Middleburg Hunts, and as Whipper-In to the Old Dominion Hounds. Mr. Poe is widely considered the pre-eminent breeder of American Foxhounds of the 20th century. He has trained race horses in Charleston, West Virginia, and has been celebrated as a steeplechase rider and trainer. Mr. Poe's hounds have been absorbed into many other packs, including the Bath County Hounds.

Melvin Poe, 11 years the senior to brother Albert, was huntsman for the Old Dominion and Orange County Hunts in Virginia and has been the subject of a book, Fox hunting With Melvin Poe, by the late Peter Winants, and a documentary film, "Thoughts on Fox hunting". In 1992, Melvin became huntsman of the Bath County Hounds founded that year by George Ohrstrom in Warm Springs, Virginia, to hunt on his 3,000-acre farm. At 92 years old, he maintains, and rides to the pack to this day on his farm in Hume, Virginia.

Please telephone 540 687 6681 for more information or visit info@mosbyheritagearea.org. Tickets for the panel discussion are $25 for MHAA members and $30 for non-members. Please reserve early as space is limited.