Emma Massingale posted this lovely video of her adventures with her friends riding across the Moorland of England.  Her friends happen to be a cat, a dog, a baby lamb named Lily, a pony, and a horse.  Periodically, they stop and feed the lamb with a bottle.  Notice Emma is riding bridleless.

The Purrfect Ride

Emma Massingale has trained her pony Comet and cat Louis to go on long rides together.  Emma also took her two Shetlands on a sail back to the Shetland Islands to visit.

So Blessi and his cat Mittens are not unique.  Do notice that the cat, like Mittens, has discovered that the best place to perch is facing forward on the sweet spot where the saddle would normally sit.

Horse Ferry on Lopez Island in the Pacific Northwest

One owner has come up with a unique way to "ferry" her horse from island to island among the San Juans in the Pacific Northwest.  After the first few sails, Blessi would probably be more interested in the hay bag.  Do horses get seasick?

1903 Film of Siberian Ponies in Ziegler Polar Expedition

From 1903 to 1905, Ziegler financed  expeditions to reach the North Pole, all of which failed.  Anthony Fiala, commander of the expeditions, used Siberian ponies, as well as dogs, to haul sledges  The second expedition set off with 26 men, 16 ponies, 16 sledges, 117 dogs, and 9 sledges from Norway. 

As Fiala said about the ponies, " These little creatures behaved so well and proved of such value that I made provision to take more of them this time."  The ponies did a better job than the dogs of pulling the sledges over rough, jagged ice but the dogs were faster on smooth surfaces.  The ponies were considered "meat on the hoof" unlike some of the later expeditions that planned for the ponies to survive. 

Dog Plays Keep Away with MiniHorse

Clever German Shepherd has found a way to get the minihorse to play with him--just steal her ball.

Lonely Little Pony

Blessi wants one of these for Christmas that goes into the people barn.  I wonder if Amazon makes one in XXXXX Large.

Hafflinger Success in Working Equitation

Andalusians and Lusitanos have a natural advantage in Working Equitation because of their slow, collected canter. But many different breeds of horses can be successful in this sport. Here are Chesna Klimek and her Haflinger Pip winning Intermediate Ease of Handling at a Working Equitation clinic in the Pacific Northwest. She and Pip also won the Dressage and Speed trails. And this was only their second competition in Working Equitation!

Chesna and Pip are legends in the Pacific Northwest. They compete and win at Grand Prix dressage (if I remember correctly), speed jumping, extreme trail, trick training, bridleless riding, and more, There is nothing these two can't do and do extremely well.

How to Get your Stall Mate to Remove Your Halter

Here's a great example of the cognitive abilities of horses. One horse has carefully watched how humans take off halters. Plus he is doing this for another horse--not for an immediate reward for himself (or herself).

Shetland Ponies Sailing to Shetlands

Ponies on sailboats....Icelandics on Norse knarrs...same idea just different millennium.  Emma Massingale sails with her two Shetlands Ernie and Albert to learn more about the island of their origin.   Blessi would love to be able to spend the night with his people herd in a tent--not sure about the sweathers.

Lyngshest Horse Herding Sheep

This is a Lyngshest horse from Norway, a close relation to the Icelandic. Here Peter, Neisti, and Tinka the border collie are herding sheep in the mountains of Norway. Tinka works independently at such far distances. And I swear by Neisti's ears that horse is looking for sheep also. On steeper parts of the trail, I had my eyes closed.

I wonder what types of obstacles this would require in a Working Equitation class and how the longer legged horses would do. ;-) Check out the trail maps at the beginning of the video showing the rough, steep, terrain that had to be negotiated.

Chariot Racing Scene from Ben Hur

Here is the famous chariot racing scene from the 1959 version of Ben Hur. Both Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd drove their own teams with very little stunt double substitution. The horses were Andalusians and Lipizzans. Contrary to urban myth, no horses or stuntmen died during the filming although Heston and Boyd accidentally drove the teams through a $100,000 camera. The filming of 1925 silent version of Ben Hur was responsible for multiple horse deaths.

The arena was based on a plan of a Roman circus in Jerusalem. Cost to build the set was $1 million; cost to film the scene was another million. This scene alone accounted for about 14 % of total film budget.

Tonka Walking Assistant Mini

Wow! It is amazing what horses can learn to do. This miniature horse Tonka helps his owner with balance. He had to learn how to ride elevators, get into and out of cars, enter and exit crowded
trams. In addition, he picks up car keys for his owner, positions himself to help her get up from a chair, and remains with her if she falls.

Highlights from a Polo Match

Here are some of the action highlights from 2012 IPC Professional Polo Competition.

Learning Polo from Nacho Figueras

Some friends have ridden my Icelandic horse Blessi and fooled around with a polo mallet. I was interested learning more about the sport. What a wonderful way to learn by watching Ignacio "Nacho" Figueras from Argentina explain the game. Ignacio was rated the second most handsome man in the world several years ago---behind Robert Pattinson but ahead of Brad Pitt. Oh, he rides a horse beautifully also.

Innovative Behavior by Mules

Dr. Kruger and her team are studying innovative behavior among equines. Here is a great example!

New York Equus Film Festival

The New York Equus Film Festival is scheduled in the November time frame in New York City. If you are in the New York area.....

The following link goes to previews of last year's submissions. Films included exposes on Big Lick and slaughter of thoroughbred foals to previews of commercial films to horses from exotic locations to light humor. The ToltVibernation folk could have submitted The Cognitive Horse film. Beware you can spend hours watching these snippets just to see the beautiful horses.

Here's a link to the previous year's films.
http://www.equusfilmfestival.net

Lonely Little Pony in Welsh

What if the horses in the Lonely Little Pony advert spoke with Welsh accents?  Wonder no more.