Phlegmatic Greys and Woman-Killing Horses – Equine Coat Colour Theory

Some renaissance and early modern horsekeeping manuals get quite carried away about horse colours and what they mean for the temperament and physical qualities of each animal. In 1560, Thomas Blundeville wrote, “A horse for the most part is coloured as he is complexioned” for if he hath more of the Earth than of the …

Polo Pony, Sunny Times Polo Club, China

The game was delayed and this chap was bored – he’d managed to get his lead rope hooked under one leg, and we had to call a groom over to free him. After that I stopped to chat with the pony, who was very amenable to rubs behind the ear and who checked my pockets …

Thematic Variation in the Przewalski’s Horse

Two pieces that turned up in internet searches within minutes of one another. Firstly, a rather gruelling article about the complications involved in trying to breed Przewalskis and return them to a degree of wildness in China. And secondly, as light relief, an entire site full of chocolate moulds, which includes one for a… Przewalski. …

Whole Heap of Little Horse Links

What the what? No, this is not breaking news, but something I discovered today. Lambourn will have the UK’s first “horse monorail” courtesy of Turkish industrialist and racehorse owner, Mehmet Kurt. As far as I can tell it’s a horsewalker from Tron (have a look at the photo here); apparently the “Kurtsystem” will be great …

Taoism and the Nature of Horses

Discovered while reading John Gray’s Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals: an extract from the writings of Chuang Tzu, a Taoist collection believed to be written around the 4th century BC wholly or in part by Zhuangzi/Chuang Tzu – an official in what is now Anhui, China. This is from book nine, Mâ …

Whole Heap of Little Horse Links

Yes, we’re still deep in the horse meat scandal. You can now buy a “horse burger” fancy dress costume (Business Insider) Only 13% of Americans would consider eating horse meat (almost twice the percentage who would eat dog), whereas 34% would consider alligator lasagna (KTAR) Groups in Oklahoma want to build a horse abattoir. (SFGate.com …

Whole Heap of Little Horse Links

A young Scottish showjumper who’s only been riding for three years has been sponsored by Euromillions lottery winners. (Horse and Hound) Meanwhile a nineteen-year-old started a millionaire’s fund of his own when he became the youngest ever winner of the showjumping CN International via Karen K. (Spruce Meadows) Corrective surgery for thoroughbred yearlings before auction. …

Whole Heap of Little Horse Links

Carol sent me a blogpost about a herd of Arizona horses who have been reclassified from “wild” to “feral” and now face a round up, which some suspect will result in their eventual slaughter. The leader of the band, Champ, was an internet hit last year when he was pictured rescuing a filly from the …

Flying on Four Hoofs

Beautiful short story in today’s Guardian by Xu Zechen, translated by Helen Wang: They used to ride past the melon shack on their way to graze the horses by the Wulong River. Afterwards, when the horses were full, they would bring them on to the dirt road to gallop, and race against the cars and …