Huntsmen and Hounds: Bringing Foxy Back

Do you know Arlo, the Rare Red Beach Fox? When he’s not frolicking near the Pacific waves, he makes an appearance on T-shirts for Huntsmen and Hounds, a blossoming equestrian lifestyle clothing line designed by Michele Rozo, a grown up horse-crazy girl. Read on to find out more about how Michele transitioned from barn rat to visual merchandiser for Patagonia to founding her successful brand Huntsmen and Hounds.

I had a chance to interview Michele about her hip, horse-inspired clothes which you can find online and now at the Urban Sundry mobile unit at World Equestrian Center. And if you’re local to Southern California, you might catch a glimpse of the fox and the huntswoman at a horse show vendor booth in 2018.

First tell us about your brand: how did you choose the name Huntsmen and Hounds?

I have designed and art directed T-shirts for many years and it’s fun to do, but when it’s for your passion it’s even more rewarding. My main vision is to provide forms of education. As a child rider we were required to do so much with our horses. Coming back to riding as an adult, I noticed kids don’t do a lot of hands on work with their horses. The grooms tack up for them. Even today I love untacking, cleaning my tack, grooming. This younger generation–a lot of them–don’t know how to do that.

I started doing research on where hunter/jumpers came from and where it all came about. Why are they jumping? Why do they have to jump? It began in the 1700s, in England. Originally people didn’t have fences, but then the government required people to put fences up to define their property. That’s how huntsmen started jumping as people started defining their property. Then it made sense–why they were randomly jumping stuff.

Then I started looking at the jumper aspect and that came from European cavalry. The Italian developed the forward seat.

Huntsmen and Hounds is all about giving back. I want to provide tidbits of education to make it fun and relevant. I’m hunting and I’m always looking for ideas. The reason it’s men “en” and not man (singular). I want to build a collective group of like-minded people who ride.

Finally, the hounds are relevant because there are so many dogs and animals involved in our culture. We’re not hunting for foxes, but we’re hunting for ideas, creative solutions, cool products, and different stories.

How did you first get into horses?

I started when I was ten and got my first horse that I kept at my friend’s house in Placerita Canyon. She was a posse horse–a former sheriff’s horse–and she was bombproof. I grew up in Santa Clarita Valley and I rode through all the canyons and washes and we’d sneak in to the Disney Ranch where they used to film Little House on the Prairie and other Westerns. Someone gave me two saddles, a Western saddle and English. I felt there was too much leather on the Western saddle and I liked the English one better.

We jumped whatever back then–girls out in the hills running around. Crazy! I even have pictures of me washing my horse barefooted!

I have always been really into animals. There was a riding facility nearby that did hunters and jumpers and I watched. Then I started taking lessons on school horses and it exploded from there.

Next, I started doing hunters and rode for a long time at that barn. I got my first OTTB and did the LA and San Fernando Valley, Del Mar, Santa Barbara shows. I moved to different trainer and got my next hunter and then equitation. I rode until I was a young adult and then took a little break–a very sad break–for a while. Figuring out careers and how to make things happen, I hauled my tack trunk around my whole life with all my ribbons to apartments to houses.

I came back into riding and I found someone I rode with way back when and I started riding again about 10 years ago. I then got another horse–an Irish Sport Horse–and rode with Liz Denny for a long time out at Spirit Equestrian. She moved, I stayed there and now ride with Russell Morgan. I retired that horse, Gulliver, he’s 27 and still going strong and he now lives up in Solvang on a private property with a small herd. He is in horse heaven and just a lucky guy. I was so honored to do that for him because when I was a kid I never knew where my horses went. I always wondered, “How did they retire?”

My one hunter Ziggy–he was that one really special horse that I really connected with–he was so upset when I sold him to the girl I sold him to. She was really afraid of him but he was actually really gentle. He was upset about having a different person. I leased horses after him, but had been toying around with the idea of Huntsmen & Hounds for a while and then I decided just to make the jump. I had some big life changes happen and I thought “I’m going to start this and this can be part of my horse fund.” And Russell, my trainer, lets me hop on horses when I need a fix.

Tell us more about this charming fox on your T-shirts.

Arlo the rare red beach fox. It’s intentionally quirky.

As part of building that community, I have a girlfriend who’s a really talented artist and we just started talking. I provided her with a bunch of inspiration sheets and ideas and talked about the history of hunting. Every season we do a cool inspiration board so there’s a lot of imagery and thought about what that season is going to be about and that’s how Arlo came about. It was one of her big images she developed. I have a water color series she did that I’ll be posting as I get this next season out. They’ll be available in limited edition.

Someone asked what’s his name and we hadn’t thought about that so we just named him Arlo. He’s evolving and growing. I did an animation series on Instagram with him doing different beach activities. 

You have an interesting day job. Please enlighten us with details.

I work for Patagonia as a Regional Visual Design Manager and I work with a team of visual merchandisers. We do all the store interiors. It’s definitely an art form as well, people don’t realize that. I now manage a team of six on the West Coast from Colorado to Hawaii to San Diego and Vancouver.

So that must be nice–going to Hawaii for work.

I come in in the morning and leave when it’s dark. Usually I’ll throw a weekend day in there.

What’s the greatest challenge and joy you face with either your horse life or your brand Huntsmen and Hounds or both?

My greatest challenge right now is how to do it all at the same time. I have to really organize and be strategic in how I utilize my time. Planning out my whole year, but I get a point where I need a break. I’m just going to go for two hours and it ends up being an all day thing. Balancing the time. But I also look at it as very rewarding. If I spend 10 minutes today on it and maybe tomorrow I’ll get a half hour. Or the next day my husband will cook dinner to free me up to work on Huntsmen & Hounds.

What are the joys? When I get feedback from people it melts my heart. I really do care about my community. It’s a balancing act of working full time and being a sidepreneur and wanting to do Huntsmen and Hounds full time.

What is it like to live in Ventura, California? Were you born there? Have you lived other places?

I grew up in Southern California not far from Ventura (Valencia) and then I moved to Washington state to one of the San Juan Islands. I had my own freelance business up there. I’m a graphic designer by trade. I worked in publishing and did freelance graphic design.

My husband, who I knew from high school, found me up north and brought me back here to California. Before I moved to the Northwest I went to the beach all the time–sometimes all day long– and had rocks in my car from the beach in California the whole 10 years I lived in Washington. I came back to California in ’99 and worked for myself again. Then I started looking at the impact of things we make as designers. There’s a lot of throwaway things in life and it was starting to weigh on me. So I decided either I’m going to support companies that were more sustainable or I would try to get a job at Patagonia. I applied and I got the job.

Living in Ventura. It’s a blue collar town, small town beach town with a really great community. We’re settled between two rivers the Santa Clara and Ventura. We get the heat from the deserts. The beach has always been a part of my life since I was a young adult. I even have pictures of me on my horse on the beeach. There are parts of the beach where people can still take their horses. The beach is really important to me. I do my morning coffee at the beach–throw on sweats and go for a walk.

Spirit is in Somis, about a half hour from my home. It’s small and quaint. I can go to Ojai and Santa Barbara.

Whom do you regard as a hero or look to for inspiration in the horse world?

I’m a really big fan of Mandy Porter. I love watching her ride. She has a beautiful seat and for me, the hand is so important. She has a beautiful feel over the jumps. Whenever Mandy’s in the ring my mouth opens and I’m studying her style. And I love my trainer Russell Morgan who is an up and coming Grand Prix rider. He is really vocal in rewarding his horses. I like George Morris too. All my trainers were like him in that era. I grew up with Joey Williams, Hap Hansen, Jimmy Williams. They really taught the fundamentals.

When you’re not working for Patagonia or working on Huntsmen and Hounds, what other interests do you pursue?

I love designing in general. I really enjoy landscaping. I have done a lot of landscape projects. I do “wogs” at the beach–it’s a walk and jog. Every morning I have to drink coffee outside. My husband surfs and he’s at the beach a lot. Right now I have three cats that have found me. I had a big dog but he passed away. I love music, and I’m always listening to it.

Do you have any horse-related bucket list items you’d like to cross off?

I haven’t done foxhunting and I never would–for a real fox, although there’s a group in Santa Ynez Valley that hunts a coyote scent and I would try that. I don’t want to hunt animals, because I get upset when I kill a spider.

I want to go to England really badly.

I would like to show my product on the East Coast and I would love to buy another horse and do a couple shows a year. I would like to go to AETA.

Huntsmen & Hound products will expand beyond T-shirts and sweatshirts. There will be some limited edition pieces handmade items. More everyday riding clothes. And try new things with fabrics. More fits, like V-neck and long sleeve crew too.

Chime In! Have you shopped Huntsmen and Hounds yet? What part of Michele’s story resonated with you the most? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

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