Global Horse Culture

Hope these guys have health insurance!!!

This is some of the most hardcore trick riding I've ever seen! Check out the video of trick riders Guido Louis and Sophia Sandow Alvarez, and the Omani cavalry, doing insane stunts at high speed in open country and on the race track. What good horses and amazing riding!

Tip of the hat as usual to Mike Matson for digging up this gem!

Fantastic Cristiani Family circus footage

Intrepid YouTube prowler Mike Matson uncovered this spectacular gem, showing the famous Cristiani circus family demonstrating some of their amazing vaulting. I'd seen still photos of this before, but never video. It's truly spectacular! Take a look:

Circuses in American History

The Circus Historical Society is a great organization for those interested in the details of circus history. Their website has excellent research resources, and the organization holds an annual convention. Many members specialize in particular areas of circus history, and some are active in modern circuses. 

There are some interesting articles on the site (about all aspects of circus history, not just horses). One discusses earlier styles of horse act, including dramas acted out by people on horseback, or "scenic" riders who posed in costume to depict famous characters or well-known scenes from myth and legend while standing on horseback. Later, fast-paced action became more appealing to audiences than these earlier forms.

This Wiki page has a small collection of photos of circus horse acts, both modern and historic. Many of the photos are old ones from the German federal archive.

The poster shown above is from the New York Public library digital archives. Click on it to visit the original page and see a larger version.

A rather scary historic circus act

Equine Ink posted this a while ago, but I just discovered it: a fascinating post about the diving horse acts of years gone by. Read all about it here. Really incredible that they could teach the horses to do that, and that there weren't more deaths along the way!!!

Trick Riding, Korean Style

Stewils on flickr has a nice photostream of images from a folk museum in South Korea, showing a demonstration of trick riding.

Liberty Work

Here's a neat example of liberty work, in this case performed by Rex Peterson and one of his horses, Tuff, who is used in a lot of movies. Rex uses whips to cue the horse, because on film sets he often needs to be at some distance from the horse, out of sight of the cameras. Tuff, and other movie horses, are trained in particular to go to and stand on certain "marks" (in this case a raised box, but it can be something small on the ground, too), and then go from one mark to another, or from the mark to the trainer. In a movie that would make it look like the horse was standing somewhere by himself and then came running towards the camera. Or, if the actor cannot ride well, the same technique can be used to make it look like the rider is galloping down the road under control of the rider, when in fact the trainer called the horse to come to him and the actor just hangs on and smiles!

You can read more about Rex's work training movie horses at this site. He's recently come out with some trick training videos, which yours truly was involved in producing.

Horses in Russian Art

Horses in Russian Art is a fantastic book - one of my favorite horse art books. It is pretty much nothing but pictures. The wide variety of paintings, sculptures, and even old photos include scenes from battle, horses in harness, rural and farm horses, and even a whole set of illustrations of the finest horses at the old stud farms. The art includes a lot from the 19th century, but also some more modern paintings.

It's really neat to see the Russian breeds, traditional tack, and old riding costumes. I'd highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Russian or old Soviet breeds, historic tack and costumes, or horse art in general.

Beto Carrero and Faísca

Beto Carrero was a tremendously popular personality in Brazil. He was a cowboy, showman, singer, and entertainer. He died just last year,(site in Portuguese) in February 2008, and Brazilian audiences - who turned out by the thousands for the funeral procession - were transfixed by the story that followed. Faísca, Carrero's most famous show horse,  fell into a deep depression when Carrero passed away. This television program has the details of the  heartbreaking story (news video in Portuguese, but includes footage of Faísca performing), with park visitors, Faísca's trainer, and animal psychologists all weighing in on the tragedy.

Carrero's life  was an inspiration to many, as he rose from a poor, rural childhood  to build his entertainment empire, which includes the Beto Carrero World theme park (the largest in Latin America, fifth largest in the world) and many circus troupes. He was lauded as an true gentleman and role model, promoting hard work, honesty and kindness to animals.

Beto Carrero (a show name chosen later in life) was fascinated by American cowboys and the circus from an early age. Faísca, a gray Mangalarga stallion, was his famous constant companion in every show that he performed. Faísca, actually, has been two horses. The elder Faísca, sire of the current one, lives in retirement on a rural farm. As of 2008 he was 32 years old. After Carrero's death, Faísca Junior, then eight years old, was also retired (site in Portuguese), and it was promised that no one else would ever ride him. Today he continues to live in a special stable at Beto Carrero World, cared for by his trainer (who worked with Carrero for the last 15 years), who said that although initially he was very depressed, having the public around to see him has raised his spirits. He is one of the most popular exhibits at the park.

This article has some classic pictures of Beto and Faísca performing.

Photo: Faísca in his special stable, surrounded by photos of his stardom, by [lucas.gomes] on flickr.

Thanks to William & Edher for telling me about Faísca!

All About Cowgirls

I was reading a nifty book called Cowgirl Legends the other day, which has short biographies of dozens of women who performed in rodeos in the early 1900s. Back then there were touring rodeo companies featuring trick riding, bronc riding, steer wrestling and so forth that toured the big cities in the US, drawing huge crowds. Some of them even toured overseas, putting on shows across Europe and Asia. There were  a lot of well known female trick riders, but also a fair number of cowgirls who rode broncs and competed in more typically male sports like steer wrestling.

The traveling rodeo seemed to be the kind of thing one ran off to join, like the circus, although a few of the women grew up in rodeo or show families, and carried on the tradition from there. The most fascinating story for me was that of Gene Krieg, who grew up with the call of the rodeo in her heart, scaring her neighbors by standing on her horse and galloping down the street. When she was sixteen she was sent off to take care of her sister. A newspaper announcement about the Cheyenne Frontier Days caught her eye, and she switched trains to join the rodeo show. She was a hit in bronc riding and trick riding. She traveled around the world. Her career ended tragically with an accident at Madison Square Garden. She lived another 50 years, but never performed again.

The stories of the women in "Cowgirl Legends" are collected from  The Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. The museum website has an overview of the exhibits, past and present, and some photos of items from the collections. There's a small online gift shop, too. It looks like a great place to visit!

Another fun read is Cowgirls of the Rodeo, free excerpts from which are available on Google Books. 

And my favorite is Cowgirls: Women of the Wild West, which is chock full of photos of the clothing, saddles, boots, guns, and other gear used by cowgirls. It doesn't focus just on cowgirls in the rodeo shows, but looks at the daily life of women on ranches, on the frontier, outlaw cowgirls, and depictions of cowgirls in Hollywood movies and novels, too.

Photo: vintage postcard from Moffat on flickr.

Possibly the Wackiest Driving Video Ever

This troupe in Germany has a really...unique...talent! I don't know what else to say, just watch and marvel:

Thanks for the tip, Katja!