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Reflections on Riding

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Reflections on Riding

Category Archives: Sunday Photos

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Nobility

11 Sunday Sep 2016

unnamed

Margaret Bourke White

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Posted by Katie | Filed under Sunday Photos, Uncategorized

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Jingle Truck, Jingle Truck, Jingle Truck Horse

17 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

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jingletruckhorsedecorationasdlkfjasldkfjasldkfjasldkfjLavishly adorned, this horse decks out one of Pakistan’s “Jingle Trucks.”

Beginning around 1920, the tradition of lavishly decorating vehicles, from rickshaws to garbage trucks, began in Pakistan.  University of Karachi professor and artist Durriya Kazi believes that the tradition can be traced to Sufism.  Decorating the trucks may be a way to obtain “religious merit,” as one would by embellishing a shrine or religiously significant site.

Decorating a vehicle pays tribute to it.  In the process, the spiritual significance of the truck is transformed, and it will reward the owner or driver by not breaking down.

I’m assuming the same idea is at work with the decoration of the horse.  As a lameness prevention technique, I can’t necessarily endorse it.  But I have to say that I love the exuberance and spirit of this horse and the vehicle it adorns.  I wonder if Ken Kesey’s “Further”…

Ken Kesey's bus

Ken Kesey’s bus “Further.”

was inspired by a Jingle Truck:

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Trust…and mistrust

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

≈ 2 Comments

__WP_dailysanctuary-com_2015_03_2-german-soldiers-horse

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Extra legs

19 Sunday May 2013

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

≈ 8 Comments

ece0e65d24ad40435cd3ba3be0923da3Sometimes you hear talk of a “fifth leg” for a horse.

On his blog, William Miklem talks about the importance of what he calls the “fifth leg” for an event horse, who needs to be able to balance in order to stay safe. It’s important for a jockey’s hand to sometimes act as a “fifth leg” in order to support a horse who is running on empty and needs to make it across the finish line.  The same is true of a young horse learning to balance downhill across open country.

Ultimately and if possible (which excludes fatigued horses) we want the “fifth leg” to belong exclusively to the horse, although we may use our hands initially as a “fifth leg” crutch to assist the horse in finding its own balance.

All too often, unfortunately, we see the use of the hand as a permanent “fifth leg.”  The only job of that “fifth leg” is to support the rider or hold the horse in compression as a substitute for self carriage.  Just as a tight flash noseband acts as a poor stand-in for a quiet mouth, “contact” (that popular synonym for pulling on the horse’s mouth) acts as a stand-in for a true, feeling and sensitive connection between the rider’s hand and the horse’s mouth.

Riders who always provide their hands as a fifth leg for the horse end up at some point like poor Laurel and Hardy — the “third leg” — in today’s picture. Carrying all the weight of the horse, when the horse should instead be carrying them.  If only their horses were as content as the grey on the piano.

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Tam O’Shanter

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

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This sculpture portrays the denouement of the poem Tam O’Shanter by Robert Burns.  Tam is mounted on his grey mare Meg and is being chased by a young witch.  We see that the witch has just caught up with Tam and has grabbed his horse from behind…

Photo courtesy of Mary and Angus Hogg.  Thank you!

Photo courtesy of Mary and Angus Hogg. Thank you!

….Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg,

And win the key-stane o’ the brig;

There at them thou thy tail may toss,

A running stream they dare na cross. [witches and water don’t mix]

Continue reading →

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For Tuvans’ true fans

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

≈ 2 Comments

800px-Tuvans_Horse_riding

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Pack light and ride on

30 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

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800px-Japanese_packhorse_(ni-uma_or_konidauma)

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Merry Christmas

23 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

≈ 1 Comment

The Wroblewski children and a rocking horse, 1924

The Wroblewski children and a rocking horse, 1924

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Long winter’s nap

16 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

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ExmoorponyPose

Exmoors settling their brains for a long winter’s nap

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Grisaille

09 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by Katie in Sunday Photos

≈ 2 Comments

800px-Caballo_y_nieve

Grisaille, noun:  decoration in tones of a single color, especially gray, designed to create a three-dimensional effect.  First known use in 1848.  From the Middle French gris (gray) and grizzle, a gray or roan animal.

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