Global Horse Culture

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.

Riding the Canterbury pilgrimage route

A group in Great Britain which is trying to raise funds and awareness to create an official Museum of the Horse in that nation is undertaking a special ride. According to their announcement "Caroline Baldock and her two companions will be riding some of the ancient Canterbury pilgrim's road" at the end of September. The three day journey will be used to raise funds towards the Museum of the Horse, a project they have been promoting for some time.

Link roundup

Here are a few interesting links and blog posts I've come across recently:

For those interested in details of ornamental tack, here is an academic article (with many illustrations) about the different styles of tack found in various Central Asian and Siberian ethnic groups. It's quite fascinating! 

Our friend Dario has a post with extensive links to images of Neo-Assyrian horses, tack and horsemanship, as depicted in ancient art.

Bunny Ain't No Kind of Rider has an intriguing book review and a cute post about William Shatner (horse related!)...

And heartfelt good wishes to Julie at Riding Aside, who is sadly forced to cease blogging for the time being. Send good thoughts her way!

Angela Swedberg, artist and horsewoman

I posted briefly before about Angela Swedberg, an artist who makes beautiful Plains and Plateau Indian clothing, horse gear, and other items using historically accurate methods and materials. To my delight, Angela is featured in the September 2010 issue of Cowboys & Indians, one of my favorite magazines. The article is from an interview I did with her about her work. Copies are in the stores now: get one if you can, it's a beautiful 2-page spread with lots of photos!

In talking to her for that article I discovered that she is not only an artist, but also a horsewoman. I asked her to tell me about her personal experience with horses, and more about the meaning and function of the fantastic horse masks, such as the horse in the photo above is wearing.

Horses of Heaven

My friend Angela Swedberg introduced me to fellow beadworker Al Zammataro, who recently attended the annual festival of Sant'Alfio in Sicily. The story and photos he shared with me are unbelievable and should be quite an eyeful for those of you interested in unusual horse adornment!! The full set of photos follows in the rest of the post.

Ancient long ears

At the Art Institute of Chicago I saw two lovely depictions of donkeys. The first was this fragment from an Egyptian tomb with several donkeys on it. From an artistic perspective I thought this was one of the most beautifully rendered depictions of an animal I've ever seen.

The Sporting Collection now has a blog

I've mentioned this The Sporting Collection before, as it features a wonderful array of antique horse gear.

And now there's a blog, too! Take a look, and find out fascinating details about all kinds of old bits, whips, stirrups, and other gear.

Web provides more access to museum collections

These days more and more museums have wonderful online access to parts of their collections - even items not on display in the regular exhibition halls. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a lovely searchable set of horse-related items you can view online.

Browse the whole set of horse trappings here. Or take a look at this spectacular 16th century Italian saddle. It is described in part as "a rare example of a complete European war saddle" with "vividly hued silk velvet covering, highlighted with glistening gold thread." (Source: Saddle [Italian (Milan)] (04.3.252) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art )

Recreating a Historic Russian Hunt

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