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My first horse
When I saw Canada on a photograph, I was intrigued by his jet black color and big height (17hh). When I met him just before the beginning of my second year in my MA course, I realized that he’s an intelligent and sensitive four-legged gentleman. Yannis offered him for part-ownership and suggested that I should consider becoming one of the four owners. With one more year to go in Britain -and the costs going with it- my circumstances were not the right ones at that moment, and when I returned to Greece all Canada’s parts had been bought. It was not until last February when Yannis announced in the last…
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Book review – “Thoroughbred Breeders: New Blood”, by Christine Meunier
I read Christine Meunier’s romance novel “Thoroughbred Breeders: New Blood”. The story unfolds in a large stud in Victoria, Australia. Savannah, having a degree in equine breeding, has only worked for a year in Nev’s large stud, looking after mares, stallions and foals. Of course, a business of this size requires the right partners and, in the equine world, this includes responsible farriers. Rick and Jay have a number of apprentices, whom they bring with them every Tuesday, to look after the feet of Nev’s precious horses. Tuesday had been a boring day for Savannah, who had to spend all day holding equine feet for the farrier and his…
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Equestrian in the Ancient Olympics: Did you know?
Today I read Xenophon’s On Horsemanship and Hipparchus and, looking at the introduction of each book, I found interesting information about the add of equestrian to the classical Olympic Games, and I would like to share it with you. Besides, as a Greek and equestrian, I couldn’t fail to write about equestrian and the Olympics, right? 🙂 Equestrian was introduced to the Olympics in the 33rd registered Olympiad, that is about 644 BC (I say “about” because the games took place alternatively every 49 and 50 months, as a period of eight years comprises of 99 moths, which is 96 stable months plus 3 intercalary months). It remained an Olympic sport until the abolition…
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Touching videos on Valegro’s retirement
I bet the biggest news for equestrians in 2016 is Valegro’s official retirement from competition. Having won four Olympic gold medals for Britain and loads in top European and world shows with his rider, Charlotte Dujardin, the legendary gelding was decided to be withdrawn from competition at the very peak of his international dressage career. Valegro, a KWPN foaled in the Netherlands in 2002 and shipped to Britain as a three-year-old to Carl Hester’s yard, did not look very promising at the beginning, due to his small height and over-active motion, making Hester unsuccessfully pursue his sale. In the end, Valegro was proven to be a big star, as he…
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War and Civilization, Episode 3: Horse Warriors
As you might know, except for an equestrian, I study to become a warfare expert, so when I found out about the 1997 documentary series “War and Civilization”, I got excited and the episodes are already in my playlist. The documentary is based on the lifetime study of military historian John Keegan and is narrated by Walter Cronkite. It is based on a 5,000-year history of war and explains how warfare has shaped our way of living today. It’s a big project filmed in Mongolia, Japan, Europe and the Americas, in order to reproduce the battle scenes and the environment in which civilizations grew through the centuries. You know, we always…
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Braiding and decorating the mane of a shire horse
Hi! I admire some people’s patience when it comes to heavy braiding! In some cultures there are events where heavy decoration is the norm. I watched this video of a lady braiding the mane of a shire horse for an event and, indeed, I can say that this requires high skill and yeap, big patience!