Costume update!

-
You might remember I posted about this entry in the Ponies of Britain Summer Show of 1976, and wondered "Could Humpty actually see? What would have happened if the soldier had dropped the lead rope and the Shetland wall had been left to his own devices?"



Aha! Now I know. We had a bit of a clear up trying to find OH's driving licence - not the bit you carry round, the other bit, whose name temporarily escapes me - but clearing out a basket in the kitchen I found a load of 1970s Pony Magazines I had completely forgotten I had. Thanks to Caroline Akrill's report on the show, I now know exactly what happened:

"Humpty Dumpty was in second place. Half-way through the judging, he did actually part company with his "wall" (a Shetland pony), who decided he didn't want to play any more. Humpty's head was a miracle of construction; and even though the child inside couldn't have filled more than the chin, you still had to flinch when they hooked the rosettes into the eyes."

I knew it. I knew that Shetland was up to no good.

Comments

Christina Wilsdon said…
Oh my goodness. I had to go back following links to see older posts and photos. I do wish we had a magazine like "Pony" in the USA! But there are still costume parades fortunately (at my kid's riding stable they have one once a year, and every camp ends with a mini 'decorated pony' event--not costuming so much as just decking them out with fake flowers, wraps etc). These costumes are amazing and weird though. I have to ask, however, in looking back at one picture where you joke about an author named Caroline Akrill who was banned from (Pony, I think...)? I must ask...why? Inquiring minds want to know :)
20 April 2010 at 14:50
Jane Badger said…
Caroline Akrill was banned from the Ponies of Britain Show. This was run by a very big noise in the pony world, Glenda Spooner. Caroline did show reports for Pony Magazine, and her reports were often funny, but perhaps not always tactful. In one, she said one exhibitor's pony, when clipped out, was the colour of cheese. I don't know exactly what she said to make Glenda Spooner ban her, but they did eventually make it up, and GS invited her to tea.
20 April 2010 at 17:10
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rollkur and the blue tongue

-
I've been meaning to write about this all week, but reading the exclusive in Horse and Hound about the controversy tipped me over the edge. For my non-horsy readers, rollkur is a training/warming up technique used by some dressage riders. It basically involves riding the horse with its jaw pulled in virtually to its chest, in order to increase suppleness. Patrik Kittel , a Swedish competitor in Odense was videoed riding his horse in this way. If you watch the video , you'll see the horse's tongue hanging out - blue. It takes a while before the rider notices this. When he does, he stops, puts the horse's tongue back in, and carries on. There are two things which bother me about this. Firstly, I am fully aware large sections of the dressage world, and some of its brighest stars, consider rollkur perfectly ok, but the FEI guidelines state this practice should only be for short periods, allowing the horse to rest. Patrick Kittel apparently rode the horse for two hou
Read more

Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes

-
Image
My friend Louise sent me this picture today. It's from a children's book with the rather wince-making title For The Wee Ones. I thought, when I read that (because I read the message before I looked at the picture) that the picture was going to be a typical winsome production from the school of artists who think (or who are paid to think) that the child is a thing sent from God and a blissful thing. They had obviously never met a child, and certainly not mine. I should have known Louise better. The artist responsible for Archibald, don't eat the bedclothes slipped this one past the editors. Just look at the poor, broken Mother Rabbit. She knows she has not the faintest chance of being listened to, and poor thing, she is stooped in the way of a mother to whom this is just the lastest in a long line of horror; with nothing good to come. And Archibald is obviously the spawn of the Devil. Just look at those eyes. He'll have the bed after he's finished the bedclothes
Read more

Dick Sparrow - 40 Horse Hitch, and Neil Dimmock's 46 Percherons

-
Image
Here's a clip of Dick Sparrow driving 40 horses. It's an amazing sight, particularly when the shot changes to show the team from the rear and you get the great incongruity of modern American corporate architecture as a background to the wagon and horses. I love the anticipation in the video: the sense of something amazing being just round the corner is palpable. Thanks to Christina Wilsdon for telling me about this world record 46 Percheron hitch (alas just stills) but you get the idea.
Read more