It’s not a super exciting picture, but there is something sweet & tranquil about it. This resting pinto beauty is a Chincoteague pony. The ancestors of these ponies were brought over from Spain during settling of the new world. Their geographical isolation makes them a fairly pure strain of the original Spanish animals. They are left to run wild for most of the year & strictly managed by the local authorities to encourage their success.
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One day, while our cab and many others were waiting outside one of the parks where music was playing, a shabby old cab drove up beside ours. The horse was an old worn-out chestnut, with an ill-kept coat, and bones that showed plainly through it, the knees knuckled over, and the fore-legs were very unsteady. I had been eating some hay, and the wind rolled a little lock of it that way, and the poor creature put out her long thin neck and picked it up, and then turned and looked about for more. There was a hopeless look in the dull eye that I could not help noticing, and then, as I was thinking where I had seen that horse before, she looked full at me and said, “Black Beauty, is that you?” Read more
There is just something really cute about a close up of a horse nose, especially one with a bright lovely white blaze. This is another soft horse nose that we just want to cover with kisses! We also really have a thing for shots that convey the equine personality, which is a lot more refined & humorous than non-horse people will ever understand.
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I should say that for a cab-horse I was very well off indeed; my driver was my owner, and it was his interest to treat me well and not overwork me, even had he not been so good a man as he was; but there were a great many horses which belonged to the large cab-owners, who let them out to their drivers for so much money a day. As the horses did not belong to these men the only thing they thought of was how to get their money out of them, first, to pay the master, and then to provide for their own living; and a dreadful time some of these horses had of it. Of course, I understood but little, but it was often talked over on the stand, and the governor, who was a kind-hearted man and fond of horses, would sometimes speak up if one came in very much jaded or ill-used. Read more
This is just an all around excellent shot. Not just for the extreme close up of the eye, but also for the interesting depth of field that is created as you look down the horse’s body. We think it is a pinto (with a big white spot on the shoulder), or perhaps we simply have no idea what we are actually seeing here. Anyone see a clearer picture than we do?
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Winter came in early, with a great deal of cold and wet. There was snow, or sleet, or rain almost every day for weeks, changing only for keen driving winds or sharp frosts. The horses all felt it very much. When it is a dry cold a couple of good thick rugs will keep the warmth in us; but when it is soaking rain they soon get wet through and are no good. Some of the drivers had a waterproof cover to throw over, which was a fine thing; but some of the men were so poor that they could not protect either themselves or their horses, and many of them suffered very much that winter. When we horses had worked half the day we went to our dry stables, and could rest, while they had to sit on their boxes, sometimes staying out as late as one or two o’clock in the morning if they had a party to wait for. Read more
While we don’t generally like sepia toned horse shots, this one is subtle & on a bay coat it actually works. The animal has a far away look in its eyes & a slight breeze ruffling its forelock. There is a slightly dreamy, old west quality about this image that we really like.
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Two or three weeks after this, as we came into the yard rather late in the evening, Polly came running across the road with the lantern (she always brought it to him if it was not very wet).
“It has all come right, Jerry; Mrs. Briggs sent her servant this afternoon to ask you to take her out to-morrow at eleven o’clock. I said, `Yes, I thought so, but we supposed she employed some one else now.'” Read more
We aren’t quite sure what strikes us about this image, but there is something serene-at-sunset about it that appeals. They are all flaxen blonde & could be Haflingers (we just aren’t sure), but whatever they are, the golden glow of the sun makes those blonde manes shine!
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One morning, as Jerry had just put me into the shafts and was fastening the traces, a gentleman walked into the yard. “Your servant, sir,” said Jerry.
“Good-morning, Mr. Barker,” said the gentleman. “I should be glad to make some arrangements with you for taking Mrs. Briggs regularly to church on Sunday mornings. We go to the New Church now, and that is rather further than she can walk.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Jerry, “but I have only taken out a six-days’ license,* and therefore I could not take a fare on a Sunday; it would not be legal.” Read more
Simply put, this image has character, we can see the horse’s personality shining through. We also like its lovely dun coat – honestly we just want to give him a big kiss on the nose. Our fave part has to be on the far left of the image. You can see his pal is yawning, doubtless bored with his hogging all the camera time.
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I never knew a better man than my new master. He was kind and good, and as strong for the right as John Manly; and so good-tempered and merry that very few people could pick a quarrel with him. He was very fond of making little songs, and singing them to himself. One he was very fond of was this:
“Come, father and mother,
And sister and brother,
Come, all of you, turn to
And help one another.” Read more