Zara Phillips Turned Away from Horse Event
This was the headline on a report in the Daily Telegraph.
I wonder what Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells thinks of it all.
When Was The Last Time the Met Police Commissioner Patrolled on a Horse?
At Tuesday night’s football at White Hart Lane, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe was part of the mounted force policing the match. It’s here in the Metro.
It’s not the first time though that Hogan-Howe has been at a high-profile event on a horse in uniform. This is an extract from a report in the Guardian.
One of Bernard Hogan-Howe’s greatest pleasures as chief constable of Merseyside police was riding through the crowds on horseback at the Grand National. It gave him the chance to pursue his passion for horse-riding while also soaking up the very particular atmosphere of Aintree.
I’ve always felt that horses are an interesting part of a Police Force’s tools. If of course they are used properly.
But I do wonder who was the previous high-ranking Police Officer who patrolled on horse in London?
Why The Queen Doesn’t Wear a Hard Hat when Riding
The Sunday Times discloses today ewhy the Queen doesn’t wear a hard hat when she rides a horse, despite the fact that various organisations are always telling her to set an example.
She was once took to task by the racehorse trainer, Ian Balding, when he was hacking with her in Windsor Home. ‘I really think it is ridiculous that you above all others, do not wear a crash helmet.’ She never does, as this piece shows
The Queen replied: ‘I never have and you don’t have to have your hair done like I do’ As it says in the article in The Sunday Times, this is an expression less of vanity than of the practical need to be ready for her appointments.
Some Horse
An old horse-coper in Suffolk, once told me that if you think you’ve got a good horse, you should ask if it could charge guns and tanks.
Brough Scott in today’s Telegraph, tells the story of Warrior, his grandfather, General Jack Seely‘s horse. Warrior led one of the last cavalry charges in the First World War at Moreuil Wood, was painted by Sir Alfred Munnings and took part in the victory parade in 1918. For an encore he won a race at the Isle of Wight point-to-point in 1921. In the end he lived until he was 33 and was only put down in 1941, because of a shortage of feed.
With all the hype going on about War Horse, let us not forget that others played their part. But perhaps not as bravely as Warrior.
Hyperion Gets a Few Friends
Newmarket has a lot of statues to horses. One of the most famous is the one of Hyperion by John Skeaping outside the Jockey Club Rooms.
Hyperion by John Skeaping
When I was driven through the town yesterday, I noticed that he had a few multi-coloured friends scattered around him. Here’s one outside of the Post Office.
A Multi-Coloured Horse Outside Newmarket Post Office
One of my earliest memories is my father changimg a puncture in probably his Y-Type MG saloon, outside this Post Office or the Jockey Club Rooms. I also remember driving through the town from Felixstowe to Liverpool in the mid-1960s to get to University.
Greenwich Park Eventing Invitational CIC2
I would have liked to go to this event, but it is exclusive and the general public are not allowed, even if they pay for a ticket.
I would have liked to go to the eventing at the Olympics, but failed like many to get a ticket.
As I pointed out on this blog, Greenwich Park is just too small for the eventing.
I hope that this exclusivity doesn’t apply to all the preview events!
Boadicea Stands Guard
Standing guard opposite the Houses of Parliament is Boadicea, or as she is more normally spelled these days, Boudica.
Boadicea Stands Guard
She may or may not have defeated the Romans, as whatever happened they remained in Britain.
Her spirit lives on, especially in East Anglia. She probably came from that region, although no-one is sure quite where! I have heard several people say, including my father, that if the Germans had landed in Suffolk in the Second World War, they would have got similar treatment to that meted out by Boadicea and her ragbag army of upwards of 100,000 men. When questioned as to the legitimacy of this treatment under the Geneva Convention, a common reply was “What would Boadicea have done?” I don’t know the truth of all these reports, but I know Suffolk people well and they wouldn’t have taken an invasion lightly.
Some also say that her tribe, the Iceni, were the supreme horsemen, who when their horses were suffering from horse sickness, looked for a new and healthier place to raise them. They found this valley in the chalk downs and moved there, calling the place New Horse Market. In time this was corrupted to Newmarket. The town is the world centre of horse racing and breeding, known amongst racing people as Headquarters. Every thoroughbred can trace their ancestry back to this small town in Suffolk.
Travelling With a Horse
Well not really, as the pony wasn’t allowed on the train.
I do remember a news story many years ago, where someone took a billy goat to a Scottish Island, by train from London. It travelled as a dog.
The Queen’s In Control
The Queen has released a photograph of herself and her two youngest grandchildren riding together in Windsor Great Park.
It’s here on the BBC.
I’m glad to see The Queen is not wearing a hard hat!
Where is Shergar?
I just heard this on Radio 5.
Now that we’ve found Osama Bin Laden, by a Pakistani military base, should we look for Shergar in Aldershot?
The Anonymous Widower 