Wednesday Whinnies - The "Others"

Vidock: Studly Neighs, EveryFriend. The Big V here. After my big show last week, I got a whole week off and now, Mr. JP is mainly taking me for fun rides in the woods because I was such a good boy. Here is a pic of me setting out yesterday with three of my pals, Diego, Rezhao and Bibou:

And here is Miss Violette in her field, shooing away some flies:

 

That aside, though, I thought I would show you a few photos of some of the other horses that took part in the big event last week.

For a start, here is an outstanding black stud. His name is Urbain de Miraud:

 

Our friends who came from England harrowed the field using eight horses. It was an amazing sight!

 

They also pulled a gun from the First Wold War with six horses, three men riding postillion on three of the horses:

 

Then, there were the "show" turnouts with beautifully decorated horses. The first one was what is called a tandem hitch, with two horses, one in front of the other:

 

The other was a regular pair:

 

There was also an obstacle driving competition with pairs:

 

You can see the difference in the harnesses the two mares have on for the two different occasions. When pulling the turnout, they have an old-fashioned leather work collar with all leather paraphernalia, but for the obstacle driving, they have ultra-light synthetic rope breastcollars and roping.

 

The friends who were driving the pair stayed in France for a few days and, this past weekend, #1 went to see them driving their 1908 horse-drawn steam fire engine at a festival in Normandy:

 We hope you enjoyed these photos, even if they were not of us!