Shire horses racing…to the brink?

The Express (UK) reports that Shire horse numbers have dropped to an alarming low in their native Britain. While the Shire Horse Society takes steps to preserve the breed, a comment at the bottom of the article caught my eye:

The revelation comes ahead of a shire horse race to be held at Lingfield Park racecourse in Surrey.

On June 15, eight shires will take to the track in Britain’s first professional race over two furlongs.

The Showerking Flying Feathers Maiden Stakes was won by Joey; video here: http://www.lingfieldpark.co.uk/news/racing-shires-to-appear-on-bbcs-the-one-show/

 

Equine blog roundup

Procession, originally uploaded by MaiKoh.

A quick look at what’s happening in the equine blogosphere:

Kimberly at I Gallop On shares a horsewoman’s secret…

Barn Goddess has some great photos (bonus: palomino!)…

Rising Rainbow at MiKael’s Mania reveals five things we didn’t know about her…

Jerri at Learning Horses offers five reasons to watch someone else ride your horse…

Jane Savoie has twelve things you must know about putting your horse on the bit…

petArtistWithPeaches muses on the joys of peastone gravel…

Deanna at Improving Communication Between Horse and Rider schools us on relative space…

Fran Jurga reports on what (or who) might be behind the latest outbreak of equine influenza in Australia…

Fugly Horse of the Day has some sobering auction results (take the polls while you’re there, too!)…

Two contests at Karen’s EasyCare blog: Name the new EasyCare boot and a video competition…

Transylvanian Horseman has some tips for spotting princesses in your midst…

There are plenty more great blogs in my sidebar; check ’em out! If you’ve got a site you’d like to see on Bridlepath, I’m all ears…

Documentary on the pony-doping case

Remember last year’s horse show mom from hell? She was accused of feeding sedatives to competitors’ ponies at a show her child was participating in. Apparently Channel 4 in the UK will be airing a documentary called Sports’ Dirtiest Secrets, in which the pony-doping case will feature, May 28 at 11:30 p.m. Some of their programming is available online, though I’m not sure if that doc will be among the offerings or even if it will work with a non-UK IP address. Linda Corby has written an article about the case; looks like her daughter’s pony was one of the mounts affected? (Linda, if you’re out there, feel free to leave a comment!)

Five fives

Muscles of that Strawberry Roan, originally uploaded by mveaches.

How’s that for a metapost?

1. Top five reasons not to buy your first horse at auction

2. Five steps to a great horse pasture

3. Top five myths about cutting horses

4. Around the world in five horse races

5. Five True Horse Stories by Margaret Davidson

Related posts:

Fourteen ways to sneak another horse home

Murphy’s horse laws

The Ten Commandments for show ring parents

Things you probably shouldn’t say around non-horse people

16 reasons to date a horseback rider

Five Things You Don’t Know About Me

The truth about horse people

Five famous black horses

Five breeds you’ve (probably) never heard of

Five competitive equine world records

Five memorable mares

Three of a kind

These three lovelies could be seen during the annual international horse cart show in Crepaja, some 30km (18 miles) north of Belgrade April 9, 2007. Link

Five competitive equine world records

1. Highest official jump: 8 feet, 2 inches

The red line marks the top of the obstacle. Image source

Officially, the highest jump achieved is eight feet, two inches (2.47 metres, or about 18 inches over Radar‘s withers) by Huaso and Captain Alberton Larraguibel Morales of Chile. The record was at Vina Del Mar, Chile, on February 5th, 1949.

Here they are on the other side:

The highest unofficial jump is eight feet, three and a half inches:

Fred (Freddie) Wettach, Jr. riding his horse King’s Own. They jumped in front of 25 people with motion picture photographers capturing the occasion. The record was not considered official because it was not made in front of a public gathering. Source

This page has lots more background information, and has a great animation of Morales and Huaso clearing the jump. As for me, I’ve always been a nervous jumper, and if I’m going to be that high in the air there’d damn well better be a flight attendant nearby.

Fighting gender discrimination in Yemen

While women seem to make up a slight majority of the horse-obsessed in the western world, they don’t always have the same access elsewhere. The Middle East has one of the oldest equestrian cultures in the world, and one which often excludes women. The Yemen Observer reports that one woman is trying to change that: Ahlam al-Sayaghi has long dreamed of becoming a professional horserider. Yet it has been a struggle to realize these dreams in Yemen, where women have been banned from many equestrian contests. “Why does a sport like horseback riding have to be reserved to men in Yemen?” she said.

“It cannot be that it is so hard that only men can practice it. It is an easy sport, in which you only deal with the horse. People in Yemen believe it to be a males’ sport. ‘Riders are only men,’ they say.” But al-Sayaghi is trying to change this idea, by becoming the first competitive horsewoman in Yemen. She was allowed to compete in the Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussein al-Ahmer Championship held in 2005, in which she was the only horsewoman and won the second prize. She expected to compete in the recent Presidential Championship competition, but she was excluded three days before it on account of her gender. Link

Related posts:

Moroccan women riders steal men’s glory

Buzkashi

Afghan riders play buzkashi during a competition between Parwan and Panshir provinces in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, March 22,2007. Buzkashi is the national sport of Afghanistan in which players fight to place a goat carcass into a circle goal. That’ll liven up your next gymkhana. Link

Riding is more dangerous than car racing?

A report commisioned by the New Zealand Accident Compensation Corporation suggests that the risk of serious injury is even higher for riders than it is for racing drivers. Full story

Related posts:

Girl killed during rodeo parade

“Whoa Nellie”, indeed

You still have to get right back on, though

Duane Latimer – World Equestrian Games 2006 Reining

I don’t post enough western stuff, do I? Duane Latimer and Han Ten Surprize brought the gold home from Aachen.

Btw, when I say “home” I mean they’re CANADIAN. 😉

Andreas Helgstrand – World Equestrian Games 2006 Freestyle Final

*sigh*

Horse festival in the Philippines

This seems to have been a good weekend for horse festivals. Horse carriages and their drivers race to the finish line during the annual Festival of Horses in Cebu city, central Philippines February 24, 2007. The Festival of Horses is a tourist promotion activity in the island resort of Cebu. The winner of the event will get 3,000 pesos (US$62). (Link)

Horse Easter

A Bulgarian prepares his horse for a race during the Todorov Den, also known as Horse Easter, in the Bulgarian village of Mramor near the capital Sofia, Saturday, Feb. 24, 2007. By tradition, the first week of the Long Lent is called Theodors week in Bulgaria. St. Theodors Day, also known as Horse Easter is celebrated with horse competitions and horse races testing the animals’ strength. (Link)

On this stagecoach, finish is hard to see

How’s that for an awkward headline? Today’s New York Times has a feature on the “obscure” sport of carriage driving; use BugMeNot if it asks you to register. Meanwhile, at the Ventura County fairgrounds in California, about 140 horse-drawn carriages will be auctioned today — some for tens of thousands of dollars — along with saddles, harnesses and other Western tools and memorabilia.

Wendy Bailey of Juniper Hills, CA peruses harnesses at the sale

Santa Fe Trail endurance race

Rob Phillips walks his horse, Apache, while his wife Beverly is seen in the background at their home near Lawrence, Kansas. The couple (Rob and Beverly, not Rob and Apache) are organizing an endurance race on horseback along the Santa Fe trail from Santa Fe, N.M. to Independence, Mo. Link