Paris Review Daily have just published the fifth in my Écuyères series about the circus and hippodrome horsewomen of nineteenth-century Paris. It’s about Céleste Mogador, who was so many things it was hard to cram it all into the essay, not least because she left so much of her own life writing behind. Please go …
Continue reading “Céleste Mogador: Lioness of the Hippodrome”
The image above shows last year’s July Palio. I spent a week in Siena last August watching the preparations for the famous Palio horse race and have written an account which I hope to get published soon. The Palio is a stunning civic and historic phenomenon that is brutal on horses. This July, after a …
Continue reading “Tornasol – the horse who defied Siena and 384 years of history”
If you’ve come here after reading the Washington Post piece on the revival of sidesaddle in America (now going a little viral on Jezebel.com), here’s a selection from the archives – a little bit of everything from balloonists to tragic heroines, scandalous females and zebras ridden sidesaddle. I also wrote in detail about women and …
Continue reading “Sidesaddle in a Hot Air Balloon (and other adventures)”
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 …
Guardian full story: Sheikh and wife shocked that a crate labelled “horse tack” found on one of their private jets in May by UK Border Guards turned out to be full of veterinary drugs that are potentially toxic and harmful to horses. I wonder how their internal investigation is coming along, five months later.
The American Quarter Horse Association is being sued for not allowing the registration of cloned horses. (ABC News) A New Yorker suggests that the local Boris bike system is replaced by one providing horses. (Gabe Capone) The suspicious death of a racehorse in West Virginia. (Bloodhorse.com) A profile on Marty Irby, a Tennessee Walking Horse …
Of course you do. Thank you, Horse and Country TV.
The Prince of Condé, Louis Henri (also a Duc de Bourbon) was prime minister of France for Louis XI from 1723 to 1726. He was also, according to an old tale I really hope is true, sure he would be reincarnated as a horse. He built the stables by which all other stables are judged …
Continue reading “No Plans for the Weekend? Why Not Pop Over to Chantilly?”
Nice New York Times piece on the family that bred Kentucky Derby winner Orb. Post-and-rail and lush pastures galore. Orb is the seventh generation descendent of a mare the family bought in 1926: truly the breeder’s dream (NYT) A restored cheese barge (they existed!) is the first horse-drawn canal boat to cross the Chirk aqueduct …
The New York Times has a beautiful photo report from Kenya, where jockeys and trainers are fighting to keep horse racing alive. And Karen K introduced me to Jodhpurs and Sons, a tumblr dedicated to images of a certain kind of equestrian style.
