Eurovision 2017: Chevaux, deux points

Folks, I know you thought that the Montenegrin entry for Eurovision, a man with a six-foot ponytail – think top Friesian stud Frederick the Great or Khal Drogo with extensions – was the horsiest entry for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, but you were wrong. Wrong! Here’s Slavko Kalezic in action: But here, my friends …

Bring on the Dancing Horses

And from a pas de cheval to a ballet à cheval: this is music composed and performed for a grand pageant to celebrate the marriage of King Louis XIII of France to Anne of Austria in 1615. At 5.33 is, I think, music composed for the first formal “ballet à cheval” – the predecessor to …

Sing Me the Workhorse

“Bring Me the Workhorse” by My Brightest Diamond is part of the soundtrack I used while working on If Wishes Were Horses: atmospheric and escapist, with the bonus of actually being about horses. Bat for Lashes’ Two Suns goes with the Hunters and Amazons chapter. Somehow it was just weird enough to conjure up the …

A Horse Runs Through It #1

Part one in an irregular series in which we find examples of videos, films or advertisements that feature a random loose horse that just happens to be galloping by, no matter how incongruous the setting. It’s all so symbolic! This one is Kylie Minogue’s video for All the Lovers, which stars a handsome cremello. All …

It’s Not Unusual [To Turn Out Your Horse]

British rider Carl Hester and Uthopia perform their last freestyle to Tom Jones at the World Dressage Masters at Hickstead earlier this summer. Sadly the fuddy-duddies complained, and now the pair are accompanied by something a wee bit more classical. Carl and Uthopia just led a British team to gold at the European Dressage Championships …

Today in Kitsch Pony News

Thanks to Ed for alerting me to this controversy, in which Selena Gomez, apparently a popstar with the temerity to date another popstar, Justin Bieber, made a video featuring a white horse painted pink. A third popstar, actually called Pink, objected to this, with back up from the idiotic PETA. Because lots of girls hate …

The Silver Pony

Silver Pony is an album filled with nostalgia. The cover photo comes from a formative childhood experience for Wilson. “A man came around my neighbourhood in Jackson with a pony and camera, and you could pay to get your picture taken.” Her brothers declined, but the young Wilson longed to have a go and her …