Global Horse Culture

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.

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:

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!

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.

May we all still be riding at 100!

This is the trailer for a charming documentary about cowgirls. You have to love the great attitude and life experience of these ladies - one cowgirl featured in the trailer is over 100 years old and still riding!

There's more about the film, including photos, comments from readers, and stories about more cowgirls, at the filmmaker's blog.

The Baroque Horse Store

Some years ago I mentioned The Baroque Horse Store - an interesting online source for unusual tack, especially aimed at owners of Friesians and other baroque breeds. I've since noticed a huge increase in the number of products available there, and got in touch with Melissa, the owner, to ask her more about her business.

Virtual horse shows: no travel, low cost, but with real judges and prizes!

Rod Miller was raised with horses. He's worked with Reiners for nearly 20 years, including spending 6 years as a judge at competitions all over the US.

Judging opened his eyes to something he hadn't really noticed before. "I found that each year when I went back somewhere to judge many of the beginners from the years before were not there. I started to think about why and didn't like the answers I was getting, for example: 'It was to expensive,' 'I can't compete against people who can pay the best trainers, and buy the best horses,' and 'my horse isn't good enough for the new level I have to show at and I can't afford a new horse.'"  When he talked to people who were successful in the sport about the problem, they shrugged. "It's an expensive game," they said. "Not everyone can afford it."

Rod started thinking about a way to solve that problem, and came up with the idea of a Performance Horse Development program. The program would focus on the process of training that leads to a  competitive Reining horse, but would award the process along the way. As a standard, he defined what it means for a horse to be really "broke." A "broke" horse, by PHD definition, will "wait for its rider's cue, then willingly accept and follow that cue." Simple, no?

Trotting (and pacing) races under saddle

In the US we usually think of Standardbreds as harness racing horses. But here and in other parts of the world the Standardbred and similar breeds are also raced under saddle. The US Trotting Association has an interesting article about the hows and whys of under saddle racing here.

Here's a video of such a race in France:

Prix du Cornulier 2006
Uploaded by lucskyturf. - Basketball, baseball, pro wrestling and more sports videos.

One interesting feature of under saddle racing is that many of the riders are women. This has been true historically, too. The famous Standardbred Greyhound broke a record back in 1940 with a woman riding.

And more recently the speedy mare Moni Maker broke that record, with jockey Julie Krone riding.

A nice little 10 minute documentary tells the story of Moni Maker's achievement, with footage of historic races, an interview with Julie Krone, and Moni Makers record breaking trot.

Part 1 is here.

Part 2 is here.

48 horse power!

Nicely done enormous hitch of Belgians. That's a lot of harness to clean!