Global Horse Culture

Global Horse Culture update

Global Horse Culture was a project I maintained for several years. It features articles, observations and links to a wide variety of content about horse culture around the world. You can be a fan of Global Horse Culture on Facebook. You can also follow Global Horse Culture on Twitter.

I have since moved on to other projects; occasionally I will continue to add new content here.

My more recent work has been co-authoring books on horse training and other subjects. The first book, Training for Safety (pictured at left) is now available in print! It is a series of exercises for training the driving horse. Check it out at Mischka Press.

Fiction: Zoom

"This is Zoom," said Raoul, handing me the reins of a too-pretty bay gelding. I sighed inwardly. Never ride a horse named Zoom or Devil or Lightning if you want a leisurely ride in the countryside. "You've ridden before, right?" he added.  We nodded. He seemed relieved, and another yellow flag went up in my head. "The horses are a little excited when we leave the yard," he said. "But you know how to control them?" He made a gesture of holding hard on the reins of a runaway horse. I threw in two more mental yellow flags. "They'll settle down after a couple kilometers." I sighed to myself again. I really did want a leisurely amble through the countryside, with plenty of energy for conversation and taking in the flora and fauna. I didn't want to spend it trying to keep a badly trained horse under control.

The plumes of St. Alfio

I must admit my favorite part of the ornate harnesses of the horses at the St. Alfio festival in Sicily is the plumage. The plumes on these horses reach epic proportions, and are unlike anything I've seen elsewhere. They are simply spectacular!

Beautiful harnesses at the St. Alfio festival

This post features details of the bridles and harnesses of the horses at the St. Alfio festival in Sicily, which reader Al Zammataro was kind enough to send me.

St. Alfio: the puppets

Sicily has a strong tradition of puppet theater, featuring legends of ancient battles and heroic deeds. You can read much more about the fascinating tradition in this article and this one.

St. Alfio: the battle scenes

The harnesses worn by the horses at the St. Alfio festival often include elaborate embroidered, painted or beaded battle scenes.

The carts of the St. Alfio festival

Elaborately decorated carts are part of the tradition at the St. Alfio festival in Sicily.

The return of the amazing St. Alfio festival

 Al Zammataro wins the award for biggest fan of Global Horse Culture! Last year he sent me some snapshots from an incredible festival in Sicily, where spectacularly-adorned horses and carts are paraded in celebration of St. Alfio's festival day.

This year, he sent me more photos - taken by a friend of his - with even more detail of the costumes, harnesses, plumes and elaborate carts. There are even puppets acting out legendary battle scenes mounted on the horses!

"The Equine Nude"

Take a moment to go see a really beautiful slideshow of photos by Juliet Harrison,  posted at the StableWoman Gazette. It's done for Valentine's Day, and entitled "The Sensual Equine Nude II." Funny how easily I recognize a few of those horses just from glimpses of their necks and manes!

Roman Noses

A reader named Corujalinda made an interesting comment on the post about the Campolina horse. She said that technically they don't call the distinctive nose of the Campolina a "Roman nose."

Freio de Ouro 2010

The Freio de Ouro (Golden Bit) is a huge annual competition for the Crioulo breed in Brazil. Competitors and breeders from throughout southern Latin America come together in Esteio, a city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, for a best of breed competition and associated auctions and expositions. The Crioulo is the main breed found in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, and is also bred in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile (in those Spanish-speaking countries it is called the Criollo). Argentina and Uruguay in particular share a strong horse culture and breed bloodlines with Rio Grande do Sul.