Working Horse Welfare, Nineteenth-Century Style

While I’m housebound working on book two, Mum is filling in as our roving reporter on horse history. Here’s a “Dandy Cart”, snapped at the National Railway Museum in York. Working-horse history is intertwined with the history of the railways, so it’s no surprise to see a horse or two in this museum. According to …

Alicia Thornton: A Regency Lady Jockey

This is an out-take from If Wishes Were Horses: A Memoir of Equine Obsession. I’ve just found an image of her in the National Portrait Gallery’s collection: click here and again on the picture to enlarge. Twenty-two year-old Mrs Alicia Thornton, the daughter of a Norwich watchmaker and wife of a Colonel Thornton, pitted her …

Romney’s Trainer is Right: Dressage Can be for Everyone

Yes you can spend €15 million on a horse. Yes you can spend a little less than that but remain comfortably in the six-figure bracket. But you can also spend £2,500 on a three-year-old advertised in the Yorkshire Post small ads and end up with this: Stephanie Croxford and Mr President score 70,750% at the …

Little Red Riding Hood

Bless. The Guardian has published a selection of photographer Gary Carlton’s images of Yorkshire county shows, including this “wolf”, ridden by Red Riding Hood. If you enjoy the spectacle of the pony fancy dress party, please spend a little time on Jane Badger’s blog, because here, here, here and here you can find some truly …