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Fiona Vigar has died in hospital, following a hunting fall last month.

Mrs Vigar, 43, described as a “mainstay of the hunt” by Cattistock joint-master and huntsman Will Bryer, passed away on Sunday (10 February).

She had suffered a head injury when her horse slipped on the road in Loders, Dorset, on 24 January.

Mrs Vigar was a popular and respected former joint-master of the Cattistock and worked for the grain marketing company, Frontier Agriculture.

“It is just a terrific loss for hunting and farming in this area,” said Mr Bryer.

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (14 February 2013)

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

Cattistock field master Fiona Vigar remains critically ill following a hunting fall on 24 January.

Mrs Vigar, 43, was leading joint-master and huntsman Will Bryer’s horse along a road in Loders, Dorset, when her horse slipped. She fell, hitting her head on the newly tarmacked road.

Surgeons at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, operated to remove a blood clot and she is being kept in a medically-induced coma.

Will Bryer said he hoped that Fiona — a former joint-master — would “muster that incredibly strong character that we all know and love to pull herself back to us”. She is, he added, “a mainstay of the hunt”.

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (7 February 2013)

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now

Much-loved H&H hunting correspondent and author David Edelsten died in the early hours of 2 February. He was 78.

Although a Dorset man for most of his life, David was born in Somerset on Friday 13 March 1933 and always regarded 13 as his lucky number, stepdaughter Melanie Cable-Alexander told H&H.

Writing was David’s “third career”, after 20 years of soldiering and then charity work.

David retired as one of H&H’s most prolific hunting reporters a year ago with a glorious account of a “final day” with each of his four local packs – the South Dorset, the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale, the Portman and the Cattistock (6 January 2011).

He claimed to have chalked up “over 120 outings, with 67 different packs, on 64 different horses” – ranging from a 14hh pony to an Aintree veteran.

David’s army career began in the Royal Armoured Corps. He went on to serve in Northern Ireland, to teach at Sandhurst and command his regiment, the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (Queen Mary’s Own). In 1987, he left as a brigadier.

He ran a charity for addiction sufferers until 1992, when he began writing in earnest.

His brilliant, humorous, self-deprecating style, coupled with immense countryside, hunting and equestrian knowledge, soon captivated readers of Country Life, Horse & Hound and The Field.

Few writers could match his ability to craft a cliffhanger from a frozen day’s foot hunting or produce Pulitzer-standard copy on the topic of coppicing.

David also wrote six books, the last of which, Hoof-beats Through My Heart, published last month, celebrated the horses he had owned, ridden and loved.

David leaves his second wife Diana, two sons and two stepdaughters. His funeral takes place on 22 February at Sherborne Abbey.

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (9 February 2012)

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now