How to French braid a long mane

It’s a bit early for show season, but that just gives you more time to practice, right? Great instructions and pics at Exhibitor Labs.

Lorenzo and his Camargue horses

Unfortunately, I can’t embed it here, but please check it out anyway:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xqvvn_lorenzo

Update Jan 3/07: it’s shown up on YouTube, so here we are.

Brindle horses

FRS Reckless Dan, 1997 AQHA stallion

Some horses eschew spots and go straight for the striped look instead. According to Sharon Batteate, The Brindle pattern consists of a watery or drippy looking striping (sometimes just partial striping) over the body of an animal. It is more commonly seen in dogs or cattle. In horses, the pattern is extremely rare. Brindle has occurred in such diverse breeds as Arabians, Thoroughbreds, Mustangs, Quarter Horses, Tennessee Walking Horses, German and Bavarian Warmbloods, Russian Horses, Spanish Horses, and also in Donkeys and Mules.

Regardless of where it comes from, it’s unique and gorgeous.

Dunbar’s Gold, 1996 AQHA stallion

Further reading

Sharon Batteate’s Brindle Horses website got the ball rolling several years ago, and still contains the most up-to-date information; lots of great photos too.

Brindle and Striped Equine International is a registry aiming to protect and promote these horses.

Article by Don Blazer at Equiworld.

Article by Jayne Pedigo at Equisearch.

Jumping zebra

This photo of a man and zebra was taken in East Africa in 1890; doesn’t look like it was a pleasant experience for either of them! Link (via Neatorama)

Something for that New Year’s party

Yes, it’s real, although it only contains water, malt and the usual beery things rather than any actual equine, er, contributions. A percentage of the sales of the beer and merchandise will be donated to help disabled jockeys and thoroughbred adoption programs. Make up your own joke about American beer. 😉 (Link via Strange New Products)

Birth announcement

Yep, I’ve got another blog and it just went live tonight. Uncanny Canada is a little side project of mine, a repository for Canadian Forteana, general weirdness, and whatever shiny things catch my eye. If this intrigues you, pop on over! More stories will be added soon — oof, it’s hard to get a new blog off the ground. We now return you to your regularly scheduled equine-ness.

Dappled things

Starry Night Sky, originally uploaded by MaiKoh.

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89). Poems. 1918.

Draft-horse racing: Hokkaido’s vanishing tradition

From today’s New York Times. More photos at the end of this post.

By NORIMITSU ONISHI

OBIHIRO, Japan, Dec. 18 — It was one of the last contests of the day at the draft-horse racetrack in this rural corner of Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island. The spotlights glimmered in the snow-streaked evening sky as the gamblers, who had been inside huddling around strategically placed portable kerosene heaters, took their spots alongside the track.

The gates opened. Ten huge draft horses, each weighing about a ton and pulling an iron sled just as heavy, rumbled forward as the jockeys urged them on with cries and whips. After easily clearing the first mound, No. 10 took the lead and waited for the others to catch up before trying the second, higher mound.

Christmas songs with a horsey twist

horse sleigh, originally uploaded by Amsterdamned!.

Readers of Horse & Rider magazine sent in their own versions of popular Christmas songs:

Twelve Days of Christmas
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
12 John Deeres shining
11 feedmills milling
10 tons of coastal
9 broodmares foaling
8 roans a-cutting
7 buckskins sliding
6 colts by Sun Frost
5 Scamper clones
4 harnessed Belgians
3 ranchhands
2 big housebarns
and a pasture lined with shade trees
–Jennifer Rogers

More at Equisearch.

Christmas eve

Christmas horse, originally uploaded by bogray.

Kimberly at I Gallop On has gifted us with another poetic, thoughtful post about horses and life and Christmas and everything. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Good Festivus to my lovely readers. I’m so grateful for everything we have shared. May all your dreams come true in 2007.

Bridlepath gets reviewed!

You can read the review at Bloggeries. I thought the comment about too many links in the blogroll was a fair one; I’ve turfed out a fair few already. Does it really look that funky in Internet Explorer? Usually I blog from my Mac, and when I’m on the PC I use Firefox. (Seriously, what the hell? Are people still using IE?!)

Rodney

Rodney needs a sponsor, and I’d say he deserves one, considering he’s 43 years old. Meet Rodney and his friends at Horse Rescue Ramblings.

Hoof Hearted

I’ve always wondered if someone’s young son named this horse.

Horsefeathers

I am a complete and utter word geek, and as such I am a huge fan of Michael Quinion’s site World Wide Words (the weekly newsletter just popped into my inbox, as a matter of fact). He can tell us, among other things, where the word “horsefeathers” comes from; did you know that its first recorded use was in 1927?

Image source

Order Perissodactyla

Tommie Turvey and Poker Joe, originally uploaded by Ride n’ Fast &Take n’ Chances.

The members of the order of Perissodactyla all have an odd number of toes on their hooves, which make them ideal hatstands. Learn more about horses’ relatives at Animal of the Day. Don’t say I never tried to teach ya nuthin’.

(Btw, is anyone else dying to run over and give that horse a belly rub? Check out the look on his face; he certainly seems as if he deserves one, doesn’t he?)