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Recreating a Historic Russian Hunt

With fabulous costumes and Borzoi hounds! What a scene. Thanks to Mike for the tip!

Showmanship

Showmanship is a judged presentation of livestock in hand. You'll see showmanship classes at 4-H shows, involving cattle, horses, goats and other animals. You'll see showmanship judged at dog and cat shows, too. Participants are judged on the clean and breed-appropriate appearance of the animal and themselves and  the quality of their formal presentation, such as standing the animal nicely, walking or jogging the animal for the judge and so forth.

In the horse world, particularly with popular "western" breeds such as Paints, Quarter Horses and Arabians, showmanship competitions have gotten quite fancy. Handlers dress up in fancy attire, and the horses are presented in complex patterns, that include walking, jogging, halting, pivots and circles. You can read more about the details of horse showmanship here and here.

Take a look at this video for an example of the type of patterns and presentation required:

US breeds around the world

If you live in the US you're familiar with imported horses - breeds rarely found here a few decades ago that are now popular or exotic breeds still rarely seen outside their homelands. From Friesians to Gypsy Vanners, Hanoverians and Holsteiners to Akhal Tekes, foreign breeds can be found around the US. For that matter the Arab and Thoroughbred were brought here centuries ago and have left their mark on many US breeds. (ETA: of course you could go further with this, as all the modern horses in the US originated at some point from imported horses!)

But what about the other way? Did you know that many US breeds can be found around the world? Take a look at a few international fans of some of our homegrown horse breeds:

Saddlebreds in South Africa - the first Saddlebreds were taken to South Africa in 1916 (read more about the history here). In fact some bloodlines that are now scarce in the US can still be found there, and US breeders have been known to bring back stock from South Africa's breeders.

Quarter Horses in Brazil - Brazilians love the American West, and Quarter Horses are popular for barrel racing, reining, cutting and other traditional cowboy sports.The linked page says there are over 300,000 registered Quarter Horses in Brazil!

Moreover there are:

Tennessee Walkers in Germany

Appaloosas in France

Morgans in the UK

Of course there are a few Rocky Mountain Horses in the UK, too, as I wrote about a while ago.

Know of others? Mention them in the comments!

Cab Stand

A photographer friend of mine sent me these shots of dozing taxi horses in Cuba. Her specialty is people, and you can see some of her super portraits from the Caribbean, China and other far-flung places at her website, SelahPhoto. Thanks for the contribution, Suzanne!

 

Breton Show Harness

Just another quick photo: a Breton horse in a fantastic show harness, with elaborate metalwork all over and bells around his neck. Just lovely!

Romanian Wedding Procession

This brief article about a traditional village wedding ceremony in Romania includes several photos of the amazingly decorated horses used in the procession. Take a look at the Winter Wedding in Valen.

There are more photos of Romanian rural life, (though not of horses) at photographer Kathleen McLaughlin's other website, here.

Sorraia horses in action

This short video shows two Sorraia horses in a carriage driving event in Portugal. The Sorraia is an ancient breed thought to have been influential in the development of the Lusitano horse. The Portuguese breed association page is here. You can find English information here. 

A Song for the Horse Nation

I had a wonderful visit yesterday to the incredible "Song for the Horse Nation" exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City.

Better yet, I had the pleasure of meeting the woman behind the blog Horse Pollen. We enjoyed the fascinating exhibit together, and additional brainstorming about blogging, horses and social media.

Keep an eye on Horse Pollen for her upcoming post about it. Update: Here it is!

The exhibit continues through July 7, 2011. It is well worth a visit if you are in the area. The exhibit fills several rooms and the workmanship and creativity in the pieces is inspiring. If you are a beadworker, it is not to be missed! The museum building itself is beautiful and contains several other excellent exhibits and a great gift shop.

If you can't get to the exhibit you can buy the book, which is illustrated with tons of beautiful photos.

Puerto Rican Criollos...for racing!

The Puerto Rican Criollo is a gaited breed of mixed ancestry* (that's what "criollo" means) with a variety of gaits. The slowest gait is a short-stepping fast walk, called the paso fino (which can be seen in this video). The paso largo is a lengthened, faster running walk. Like the speed rackers of the United States and the Icelandic Horse, some Puerto Rican Criollos can do a singlefoot gait (called andadura) at tremendous speeds. Some may pace at high speeds. Racers, called Caballos de Andadura, are often raced drag-race style in short sprint heats, two-by-two.

Gaited Mule in Brazil

This is a short video of a gaited mule on a country road in Brazil, in São Paulo state. This is a show-quality mule, out for a training ride. Mules are quite popular in Brazil, and this one is bred from a Mangalarga Marchador horse (one of the most popular breeds in Brazil).