Monday, February 21, 2011

Memories of Virginia Hobby (Stonebridge)

Written By Jon Woodring (Lanbur Beagles)

I am very sorry to hear of Virginia Hobby's passing. She was MOST DEFINITELY a character (meant in a good way).
She was very fun loving and enjoyed her friends, dog shows and breeding Beagles. Wade and I were her handlers for several years and showed many of her dogs to their Championships. Sharon Clark also showed her dogs. Her kennel name was Stonebridge.

Virgina was very generous with her dogs and gave Wade and I several dogs as presents through the years. Basically if Wade or I admired a puppy of hers, she would say "Here it is, it is yours". Virginia lived on a farm and before we had a lot of land (must be around 24 years ago at least), we leased a pasture from her and kept a Minature Horse stallion there with around 12 mares. We drove the 4 hours to her house at least once a month to check on them and we always looked at her dogs and young Beagles then.

Virginia had a definite preference for a bigger bodied, bigger headed, bigger boned Beagle than I was into at the time. I am sure that I would have appreciated them much more now then when I was a less seasoned Beagler.

Her dogs have had a huge impact on the breed as they are behind Ch Shaw's Spirit Of The Chase, Ch Shaw's Kindred Spirit, Ch Lanbur Miss Fleetwood, Ch Lanbur The Company Car, Ch Lanbur The Continental, Ch Lanbur Carson City, Ch Windkist A Walk In The Park, Ch K-Run's Park Me In First, Ch Kahootz Chase Manhattan, the huge winning 13" Ch Kowtown's High Speed Chase, Ch Harnett Lochnaw Aston Martin, Ch Lynstone Lexus and I think the current winner Ch Torquay Midnight Confessions (I am not finding her pedigree).
Her dogs are also behind BIS Winners Ch Shorview's Will, Ch Shoreview's Grace and Ch Shoreview's Mango as well as Best In Show Winners Ch Roirdan's Cabaret, Ch Roirdan's Cruise Control, Ch Roirdan's Cabaret and Ch Stonebridge The Wizard Of Woz.

Virginia's best sire that she owned was probably Ch Craigwood's Murphy. He sired if I remember correctly around 35 Champions and I think he was sire of the year at least once. My favorite Beagle that she bred or owned was Ch Stonebridge Totally Awesome, owned by Judy and Carmine Formisano. It is always a hazard to make a list of influential dogs from the past from memory and hopefully I did her dogs justice and didn't make too many mistakes. If I left out any great Beagles in this list, I offer my apologies.

Thanks for induldging me on my walk down memory lane in regards to Virginia.

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