tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42824847355300459122024-03-14T03:26:11.246-07:00Saddlechariot.Random thoughts on Saddlechariots, ponies, rat poison, pizzas, Xenophon, Socrates, racism, racialism and snobbery. Basically a pretty average horsey blog.
(Copyright Simon Mulholland 2009)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-62677328213909425892012-02-10T11:15:00.000-08:002012-10-26T10:16:37.774-07:00The iBex with a complete beginner indoors
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Please go to <a href="http://ponyaccess.com/">http://ponyaccess.com/</a>
, my new website covering the saddlechariot/iBex and it's uses. This
is where you will also find links to all my articles on training,
safety, vehicle design and even the weird stuff on cooking and
politics.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
My new contact details are
<a href="mailto:ponyaccess@gmail.com">ponyaccess@gmail.com</a>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
and my phone number is +44 7510 736 518</div>
<br />
<br />
This is by me. This is my blog, not Obama's and it is going to stay that way. <br />
<br />
Me being marginally silly decided to take Obama into the <a href="http://www.countrysidemobility.org/latest-news/outdoor-mobility-equipment-showcase-event-10th-february-2012.html" target="_blank">Outdoor Mobility Show at Isca House in Exeter</a>.
Sue bravely decided to have a go driving, but I don't think she really
thought I would ask Obama to go through such a narrow doorway.<br />
<br />
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I was pushing my luck a bit, but Obama rose to the occasion.<br />
Don't try this at home folks.<br />
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<br />
<br />
Other
than that, brilliant really educational day and it was great to see so
many novel solutions to access for those with mobility issues.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-16243467337786142452012-02-09T02:22:00.000-08:002012-10-26T10:17:57.003-07:00
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Please go to <a href="http://ponyaccess.com/">http://ponyaccess.com/</a>
, Simon's new website covering the saddlechariot/iBex and it's uses. This
is where you will also find links to all his articles on training,
safety, vehicle design and even the weird stuff on cooking and
politics.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
His new contact details are
<a href="mailto:ponyaccess@gmail.com">ponyaccess@gmail.com</a>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
and his phone number is +44 7510 736 518</div>
<br />
<br />
Hi there, Obama speaking.<br />
<br />
I thought I ought to make it clear that the assumption people are in charge in pony/human relationships is an error.<br />
<br />
Therefore when sense is being talked it is probably me talking. Simon waffles on endlessly about his bloody iBex, and currently has an absolute fetish about getting me into the sea, and generally behaves in a remarkably human way, ie irrational.<br />
I am trying to discuss the impact of Black Beauty from one of the same species as the author. Therefore any stuff here on the blog about Black Beauty is by me. Simon's latest stuff, not complete nonsense, can be found <a href="http://peoplelikeponies.blogspot.com/p/plphp.html" target="_blank">here</a>. And here's another bloody picture of me in an environment which obviously lacks even the basic essentials. There isn't any bloody grass Simon, can't you understand. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-90345952294550164162011-12-21T13:46:00.000-08:002012-10-26T10:18:34.643-07:00Sex rears its ugly head.
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Please go to <a href="http://ponyaccess.com/">http://ponyaccess.com/</a>
, my new website covering the saddlechariot/iBex and it's uses. This
is where you will also find links to all my articles on training,
safety, vehicle design and even the weird stuff on cooking and
politics.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
My new contact details are
<a href="mailto:ponyaccess@gmail.com">ponyaccess@gmail.com</a>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
and my phone number is +44 7510 736 518</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Sex rears its ugly head.<br />
<br />
</div>
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Now that's a phrase you can only write
in human. Sex doesn't have an ugly head in the horse world. But once
you humans get involved it can get very nasty indeed. I am afraid this next
bit isn't going to be suitable reading for foals, human or horse, but
there's nothing I can do about it.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Black Beauty doesn't mention sex, so
why have I even started on the subject. Black Beauty doesn't mention
defecation either, but you don't get witty reviewers pointing out
that Black Beauty would have had a shit every so often, but every
school kid who reviews Black Beauty points out that he describes
himself as a colt and he would have been a gelding. They cut my balls
off as well. Do you expect me to be pleased, grateful, leap around
the field saying, “I haven't got any balls.”?
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d6wEZFiP3v4" width="420"></iframe>
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<br /></div>
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I can just see one of your modern
journalists coming up to Beauty straight after castration, shoving a
microphone in his face and asking “So how do you feel leaving your
balls in the bin.” They'd have done the same to Duchess wouldn't
they, that day the hunt came through our field, “Hey Duchess, how
does it feel watching your son having his brains blown out. Our
readers really want to know.” Well on the subject of my balls, just
come and ask me, if you have the balls.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Simon quotes his brother on the subject
of Natural Horsemanship saying that there is no natural behaviour
pattern for a gelding. Oh yes there is. You find the bastard who cut
your balls off and you rip his off.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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Anna Sewell was a product of her
generation, writing for her generation. Fornication and defecation
weren't going to get mentioned, not if she wanted Beauty's words
published, which she did. But maybe, if the topics had been allowed,
she might have fought to allow us to have a crap in peace. You do,
thank God, let us piss in peace, but for some reason we are expected
to crap on the move. Why? I don't see people ambling down the street
leaving a trail of shit behind them and all over their legs. Give us
a break, are you really in that much of a hurry?</div>
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<br /></div>
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But back to sex. Leaving my balls on
one side, just like the vet did, you really do your best to make
everything we do, just as nasty as possible. Is that why we have to
walk down the streets crapping on our legs, because it matches the
sexual practices you force on us.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Read the books on mating for horses,
the things you do to us. The twitches you twist round the poor girls
nose, or ear, the way you tie one of of her legs up, and haul her
tail to one side so a complete stranger can rape her. Is this normal
for you lot. It takes about seven of you to screw up what two of us
can do if we are left alone in a field. And you have the nerve to
call the result well bred.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Christmas is coming so I'll just
mention Caslick's in passing. female genital mutilation is one of
those things you are apparently trying to outlaw. Read Simon's rant,<a href="http://saddlechariot.blogspot.com/2008/10/dog-breeders-bad-horse-breeders-good.html" target="_blank">Dog breeders bad, horse breeders good. </a> </div>
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<br /></div>
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There's a lot of money forcing
incest on us. And the breeders are coining it in, but it is a con,
which intelligent people should have noticed, and I, a horse can
prove it.</div>
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In 1933 the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom_Derby" target="_blank">winning time for the EpsomDerby</a> was 2 minutes 33. That was only beaten in 1967 and then again
in 1987. It wasn't beaten in 2011.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So all these incredibly brilliant
breeders forcing the most unnatural practice of incest on the horses
in their care have in 78 years achieved approximately stuff all. How
much have the breeders charged for their expertise over all those
years? And Caslick's has gone from occasional corrective surgery to
normal practice. So the breeders have managed no improvement in speed
but a 10,000% increase in female genital mutilation. What were they
trying to do? On second thoughts, do I really want to know?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Read Steve Jones, “the Language of
the Genes”, or “In the Blood” and try to find one good reason
for inbreeding. And don't say to win races. It is absolutely clear
that incest is doing nothing to improve the speed of the horse. It is
all about selling a sick fantasy about breeds, breeding, well
bred....... it is a desperate attempt to gain social class through
your pet. The Fell Pony foals who die of diarrhoea (labelled Fell
Foal Syndrome until some salesman for Fell ponies got it renamed)
because of this fantasy must really think it is all worth it. The
Thoroughbred mares must love the idea that Caslick's is all about
status. What a tiny sacrifice they make for their owner to be held in
high regard.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In the wild we avoid incest. Check <a href="http://research.vet.upenn.edu/HavemeyerEquineBehaviorLabHomePage/ReferenceLibraryHavemeyerEquineBehaviorLab/Haveme" target="_blank">the research </a>done on Przewalski's, (and I can assure you that isn't how
any horse would spell his name) and you will find that wild herds are
MORE unrelated than random chance would suggest.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Incest is a crime in most of the world.
Put up a comment on this blog to explain to a dumb animal why it is
such a good idea of us.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-11402057009997049212011-12-20T07:11:00.000-08:002011-12-20T07:13:57.778-08:00A Dog's life is a Pony's dream.<title></title>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">A Dog's life is a Pony's dream.</span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Christmas is coming, and the adverts
are going up, “A dog is for life, not just for Christmas.” And
there will be loads of soppy stuff about man's best friend and
suitably glamourous dogs frolicking in the snow. That's one thing
about Broadband, I pick all this stuff up now.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But I also read some of the serious
stuff. Dogs, man's best friends are direct descendants of wolves. I
would say some of my best friends are wolves but it would be a lie.
If there are any wolves in West Country Zoos, some of my best friends
have been eaten by wolves would be more accurate as they fed 700+Dartmoor ponies to the zoo animals for being too common and not
having the right papers..
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
So all these children are playing with
all these baby wolf descendants, and these adult wolf descendants,
and where is the protective clothing. Where are the weapons, the
control systems. There aren't any. You teach your protowolves not to
bite the kids, not to bite adults and you do it with body language
and treats and rewards.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I watch Cesar Milan, now Simon doesn't
entirely agree with some of the things Cesar does, and some of the
reasons he does them, and Cesar gets a pretty hard time on the
internet for kicking dogs.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Kicking dogs, don't make me bloody cry.
He touches them with his foot, and he is doing it to dogs that want
to rip the throat out of another dog. He isn't kicking them because
he wants to turn to the left, or go a bit faster, or jump some
monstrous bloody stripey construction. He kicks dogs that are about to
rip the shit out of another dog.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Feel free to kick me if I attack
another horse, or if I am trying to rip the postman's throat out. Now
that is a training system I could live with. Just calculate how often
you have to kick your horse to stop it viciously attacking another
horse, or attempting to savage a human being. Total up all the times
you have kicked a horse for those reasons. And then count up all the
times you have used your boot on a horse's ribs. Now get your Clever
Hans counting horse to work out what percentage of the times you
kicked your horse were for things for which Cesar Milan gets
criticised when he kicks dogs. And then work out the proportion that
would get him arrested if he tried it on a dog.
</div>
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<br /></div>
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“Cesar Milan kicks dog because he
wants it to go faster.” How long would his career survive a
headline like that. “Cesar Milan puts metal spikes on his boots
before kicking dog in ribs to make it go faster.” There goes Cesar
Milan's career.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I was there when Simon was asked by a
lady why she couldn't build the same relationship with her horse that
she had with her dog. Simon asked, “when you got the dog, did you
climb on top of it and kick it in the ribs?” I thought it was a
pretty good answer, she stomped off.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
You don't tie your wolves up, you don't
give your kids weapons, you criticse trainers who nudge a dog with
their foot to stop rabid aggression, you say a dog is for life.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And you give horsey kids a whip for
Christmas.
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-48996452098350066072011-12-19T08:46:00.000-08:002011-12-19T08:47:42.278-08:00Obama again. Learned helplessness this time.<title></title>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I wish we
had a better communication system, between horses I mean. It's no
problem in a field, when there is a group of us, and no interfereing
humans, but on the road, I can't communicate to the others I meet.
Partly Simon seems to think I'm not allowed to just set off wherever
I might wan to go, and more importantly, most of the horses we meet,
ie Simon and I when we are out in one of his weirdo vehicles, seem
totally terrified of me.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm; page-break-before: always;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That's why I want to communicate, to
reassure them, that we won't hurt them. But with somone sitting on
top, kicking them, and a lump of metal clogging up their mouths,
communication isn't easy, and of course the big problem is the person
on top. I watch them. The minute one of us, a horse I mean, gets
startled, or scared, we put our head up, its natural. And we stop,
because who wants to walk into trouble, and if it looks scary, we
turn round and go the other way because we have brains and that is
the sensible reaction.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But these idiots on top, the first
thing they do is jab the poor sod in the mouth, kick him in the ribs
and hit him with a whip. I watch it. Today a horse came past with a
bloke on top, and the horse had never seen me before, and certainly
hadn't seen the iBex, and Simon looks weird at the best of times, but
he went past, nervous, but coping, but he was still stressed. Fifty
yards further on something worried him, and the guy hit him, and they
went along the road for another couple of hundred yards. Flinch, hit,
Flinch hit. From stuff I've seen up on the Broadband, and comments
Simon makes, this is normal. This is what you are meant to do.
Luckily Simon is weird and doesn't.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But you would think the people could
see themselves from our point of view.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">We see something strange, we raise our
head, stop and assess things, lining up a good escape route at the
same time. It's sense. If running is what you do, getting ready to
run is vital, and in a narrow lane, if the threat is in front,
running forward is silly. So you get tready to turn. But you only do
this if you are scared.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So something spooks one of us. We get
hit in the mouth, and with a bit, that hurts. The kick and the whip
follow fast. So what does a horse learn? that if something new or
scary or dangerous appears, we get hit. Mouth sides buttocks. Bit
boots and whip. Just pray the shit isn't wearing spurs. So anything
new is going to hurt, anything different is going to hurt.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There's a magic phrase I learned from
Broadband. “Learned helplessness.” It's got to be the most
depressing concept going. If everything you do is wrong, every sign
of individuality, every sign you have a brain of your own gets you
hit. Flinching gets you hit, stopping gets you hit. Starting when not
kicked gets you hit. Not starting when you are kicked gets you hit,
too fast too slow, too high, too low, you get hit, that's how you
learn helplessness, and you learn to just go with the flow. Shut your
eyes, shut your ears, shut your brain, let the bang in the gums, or
the kick in the ribs feed straight through to your legs, do what he
says, become and extension of his brain, let him become a parasite,
controlling you, your every step, your every move...... You will
still get hit, but it becomes random, impersonal, you can't move to
this beat, you just get beaten and ignore it. As you shut down you
learn to do what the parasite wants, let his eyes guide you, his
brain, think for you and maybe he won't hurt you as much, but he will
hurt you anyway, you have learned that you are helpless.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But it takes time, and skill, of a
sort, and courage of a sort, from the human this is, from the
parasite, to get you to this learned helplessness. You have to be
beaten down into it. Most riders can't do it, so you get frightened,
your head comes up, they bang you in the teeth, you stop, they kick
you in the ribs and you turn to safety, they hit you with a whip, and
you run for safety. Because you haven't learned helplessness, you've
learned that something new means pain, that anything new, you get
hit, so you learn to fear the new, and after a few times of spinning
and running for safety, your rider gives up, and you get sold to
another one, who takes you out into new and scary surroundings, and
when you raise your head................
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">So what has this to do with a literary
review of one of the most popular works of fiction ever. Well it was
never fiction, it was true. Here is Beauty's new partner, after Rory
got the shaft through his chest, talking about his nervousness.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>"Well, I hardly know,"</i> he
said. <i>"I was timid when I was young, and was a</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>good deal frightened several times, and
if I saw anything strange I</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>used to turn and look at it—you see,
with our blinkers one can't see</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>or understand what a thing is unless
one looks round—and then my master</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>always gave me a whipping, which of
course made me start on, and did not</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>make me less afraid. I think if he
would have let me just look at things</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>quietly, and see that there was nothing
to hurt me, it would have been</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>all right, and I should have got used
to them. One day an old gentleman</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>was riding with him, and a large piece
of white paper or rag blew across</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>just on one side of me. I shied and
started forward. My master as usual</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>whipped me smartly, but the old man
cried out, 'You're wrong! you're</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>wrong! You should never whip a horse
for shying; he shies because he is</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>frightened, and you only frighten him
more and make the habit worse.'</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>So I suppose all men don't do so. I am
sure I don't want to shy for the</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>sake of it; but how should one know
what is dangerous and what is not,</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>if one is never allowed to get used to
anything? I am never afraid of</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>what I know. Now I was brought up in a
park where there were deer; of</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>course I knew them as well as I did a
sheep or a cow, but they are not</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>common, and I know many sensible horses
who are frightened at them, and</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>who kick up quite a shindy before they
will pass a paddock where there</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>are deer.</i>"</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>I knew what my companion said was true,
and I wished that every young</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>horse had as good masters as Farmer
Grey and Squire.
</i></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">That was written down for Beauty by Anna Sewell
about 140 years ago. 50 million copies of those words have been
published. Can't you human's read?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-16038871958367322492011-12-18T09:27:00.000-08:002011-12-18T09:33:28.867-08:00Obama textual analysis of Black Beauty<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm meant to be reviewing Black Beauty, not rabitting on about the things that matter to me, and that I have taught Simon to respect. So you have to go back to the text. And it is good English Exam practice , according to Simon, for whom exams are back in the dim and murky past, to quote from the text.
But maybe he knows what he is talking about. He still remembers that whips hurt, and he learned that at school.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What matters to Black Beauty? Bearing reins, you all remember that, Ginger's descriptions of the horrors inflicted in the name of fashion from forcing a horse to hold its head in an unnatural position. Bearing reins are a recurring theme throughout Beauty's book. Beauty and Ginger's “good” master sold them to a man, sorry an Earl, and therefore a man wortthy of respect, whose wife insisted on cranking up their heads with the bearing rein. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This was the start of the slippery slope for both of them.
Bearing reins crop up four or five times and never with a good word said about them. But nobody insists today that horses carry their heads in a particular unnatural position while performing arduous tasks. That would be cruel. Dressage horses CHOOSE to hold their noses against their breastbones while poncing around to music. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What else does Beauty mention? Bits are described in detail, and anyone who thinks Beauty liked having a lump of metal jammed in his mouth can try reading his book. Cruppers are difficult to explain to those poor creatures without a tail, but just imagine your backbone continued a bit, and that you had stiff noose put round it and pulled up towards your head whenever you were trying to slow down. If you haven't got a tail, it's just too difficult to describe, but Beauty's position was clear. he didn't like them. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Shoes, heavy, restricting and nasty. Blinkers are another recurring theme, pointless dangerous fashion accessories, and Anna Sewell suggested that training as other countries do, without them, would be a good idea. Now that takes courage. In England, in the middle of the Victorian era, at the top of the Empire building phase, when the English went everywhere to show the natives how to do it, for a respectable, middle class woman to suggest that foreigners can do something better, that is braver than charging with Captain to the guns at Balaclava. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Hunting gets a brief mention, and since it kills Beauty's brother in front of him and Duchess, their Mum, and kills the Squire's son and probably also the hare, one of their hares, from the plantation, all in the space of two pages, we can assume that hunting wasn't Beauty's or Duchess's idea of a fun pastime. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Docking tails gets a well deserved savaging. It was a savage practice, but had stopped by the time Sir Oliver explains his pathetic stump of a tail to Beauty. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So does Anna Sewell mention whips when translating Beauty's thoughts. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Penguin Popular Classics edition published 1994 has a biography of Anna Sewell on the inside front page. It states that <i><b>“Characteristically she never used a whip o her own horses.”</b></i> So maybe Beauty will have something to say on whips. He does.
Out of 210 pages, 35 mention whips. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Three of the mentions of whips are neutral. The squire <i><b>“never uses a whip if a horse acts right.”</b></i> John Manly, the Squire's groom, when first riding Beauty <i><b>“gave me a light touch with his whip and we had a splendid gallop.”</b></i> When Beauty is a job horse, he describes one good driver who removes his curb, shifted the reins on the bit to the gentle setting <i><b>“and then with a light feel of the rein, and drawing the whip gently across my back, we were off.” </b></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You can find the rest yourself. I have quoted the nice ones, the ones I feel like writing down. Read Beauty's comments, he doesn't use the sort of language I would like to use to decribe what is done, not only the pain and suffering, but the sheer pointlessness of it.
If there is one theme that runs through Beauty's story in a way that nothing else does, it is the pointlessness of cruelty, and the whip is the favourite example of this. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first 20 pages don't mention whips in a bad way. But they then feature in 10 of the next thirty pages. From page 50 to 96 you only get one mention, but in the next 107 pages, 23 mention whips, only one in a neutral way.
From the time Beauty is lying almost dead in the street, having been flogged uphill with an excessive load, till the end of the book, no more whips. Neither Farmer Thoroughgood, nor Little Joe at the Blomefields, saw any point in whips. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It would take an impressive mathematician to say that either Black Beauty, or Anna Sewell saw any virtue in whips, and the more obvious conclusion is that whips are vicious, pointless and stupid. And you accuse Simon of being obsessed about the subject. The author and translator of the biggest selling horse book ever, are just as rabid on the subject, though their language is rather more moderate. I keep coming back to whips because in a review of a book where over 15% of the pages mention the subject, avoiding whips would look very odd indeed.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">No other negative topic comes close, alcohol gets its mentions, bearing reins, and savage bits, ie any bit in a horses' mouth, but none of them come close to the subject of whips. Kindness, loyalty, honesty, gentleness, love, they all come well up in the ranking and together probably outnumber whips, but it is close. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Can I make one very gentle suggestion, read the bloody book and read the bits about whips. Then argue. If you still feel like it. Beauty was frighteningly honest, and Anna Sewell did a remarkable job getting his thoughts on paper.
But don't let your kids read it and then clamber on your horse, booted and spurred, whip in your hand, and expect them to respect you. Whips and spurs produce fear, they don't produce respect. That's something you have to do for yourself. Anna Sewell earned respect. Drop the whip and you can do the same.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-75773555495871226482011-12-03T15:08:00.001-08:002011-12-03T15:13:15.683-08:00Obama reviews Black Beauty<h3 class="post-title entry-title">
Obama reviews Black Beauty
</h3>
<div class="post-header">
</div>
<div class="ii gt" id=":nb">
<div id=":nm">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VgJDWiHOxcg/TqiHPHlJUaI/AAAAAAAAMkM/w241KzpWEcg/s1600/DSCF5212.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VgJDWiHOxcg/TqiHPHlJUaI/AAAAAAAAMkM/w241KzpWEcg/s400/DSCF5212.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I feel it's time I had my say. Simon
has been rabitting on about what I feel, what I like and what I think
for nearly three years now, and it's my turn.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I am following in distinguished hoof
prints, Black Beauty's work, translated by Anna Sewell is well up in
the all time best seller lists, but after nearly a century and a
half, it's time for another of us to make a few waves.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Simon has been doing what he does
best, upsetting people, with his comments on whips and Tesco's. I
can't comment much about Tesco's, they won't let me in, but I can
comment on whips, and Simon is right. I hate them. Just out of
interest, who, among the people, horse or human, that they are USED
on, likes them?</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
But backtracking a bit, I apppear to
be a pony, and I appear to be writing stuff on a computer. I can see
where the confusion comes, but you are forgetting the magic of
Broadband. Now I know it is an article of faith with you humans that
you created Broadband. We all have our creation myths, but it is
obvious to me that humans don't understand it, or know how to use it.
Just ask the next human you see how Broadband works. Listen to their
answer and then try saying sincerely, “well if that's how it works,
it must have been invented and built by humans.”
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
When I first realised I could sense
Broadband, it opened up a whole new, and very weird world. But just
recently I have discovered I can put stuff, words in particular, up
on Broadband. The main problem is getting access to an account.
Without an address, you can put stuff up, but nobody human can see
it. So I am using Simon's account.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Simon is odd. The intelligent ones
among you will have sussed this out already. He likes writing, and
reading, but won't read what he has written. Which explains a lot of
typos. But it means I can put stuff up in his name and he will never
notice, or if he does, will just assume he has gone mental.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Black Beauty was lucky, Anna Sewell
was incredibly sensitive, for a human, and allowed Black Beauty to
get his story up pretty accurately. With Broadband, and a weirdo like
Simon, I can achieve something, nothing to rival Black Beauty's
story, but a review of the impact Black Beauty should have had, and
hasn't. A story of journeys, physical and spiritual, of pain and some
pleasure.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Yes, it's a savage journey to the
heart of the equestrian dream.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
And we'll get into the whips soo
enough. You all know I'm going to, Simon's written enough about me
and whips. I think most people know Simon's opinion. And he's pretty
accurate. Maybe his language is too restrained, maybe he doesn't
focus enough attention on the subject, but on the whole he's right.
They bloody hurt.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Extension of my arm, yes, and when a
horse kicks you with some lump of metal that you have had nailed to
his foot, do you just say it's an extension of his foot, and he's
just tapping you, it's just a signal. No you bloody don't. You
proabably lay in with the bloody whip to teach him a lesson. A whip's
a weapon.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Black Beauty didn't like them, but
then who does. Black Beauty didn't like lots of things, but you
humans have forgotten. You remember the fire scene, and the bearing
reins, and maybe the trains in Black Beauty's first field. You forget
the whips. Go back and read Beauty's book. Where does he say, “Thank
God, a man with a whip, at last I will get a clear signal.” Where
does he say, "and the man brought out an extension to his arm because
I couldn't see his proper arm?"
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Whips, bits, blinkers, cruppers,
shoes, stables, hunting........ Black Beauty didn't like any of them.
The bearing rein was horrible, sorry<b> is </b>horrible. At Anna Sewell's
funeral, the horses were in bearing reins until her mother
complained. Go to a miniature horse driving event today and they will
use bearing reins on pnies so small they would fit in your pocket.
Maybe they are right. A bigger animal might kick their teeth in.
These miniatures would struggle to kick much higher than the ankle.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Side reins, bearing reins, chiffneys,
gags, martingales, there are more bloody devices to hold our heads in
the position YOU want them in than ever before. But try asking whose
head is it? You fill our mouths with lumps of metal. Read Toni
Morrison's “Beloved” and when you get to the relevant bit, (oh
what an exquisite pun, and created by a mere pony) go out to your
pony, or horse, and stick a bit in its mouth.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This isn't a catalogue of the bits of
Black Beauty's book that have been ignored, though it's quite an
achievement for the most popular horse book in history by such a
massive margin, to be so comprehensively ignored. But humans pretend
Black Beauty as a children's book, like Animal Farm, and Gulliver's
Travels and Uncle Tom's Cabin. Few remember that in the USA Beauty's
book was sold as “The Uncle Tom's Cabin for horses.”
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
None of these books are children's
books. Beauty's story, like Eliza's in Uncle Tom's Cabin, is one of
betrayal. Betrayal by those we are taught are worthy of respect. They
are tales of class war, and gross inequality, where the light of
humanity shines brighter, the lower you go. They are great books, and
should be read by everyone, not stuffed in the children's shelves to
be ignored by those with the power to improve things.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Look who wants the whips, is it the
poor and the downtrodden who teach ten year old children to be
comfortable holding a whip in either hand, and then test them on this
ability before they allow them to progress further in horsemanship.
Maybe where slavery is the norm, rich children are tested on their
handling of the whip, before they can join the ranks of the great and
the good..</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Simon dug out a lovely bit on
horsemanship from an old book on coal mining.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">"Half a dozen laden waggons"</span> says Sir George Head <span style="font-style: italic;">"are
dragged along the railroad to the particular drop then at work, by a
stout cob, which is then ridden carelessly back again, barebacked by a
small boy, at a shambling trot; notwithstanding that the interstices
between the planks below admit, here and there, full two inches of
daylight. However the pony proceeeds, clattering on unconcernedly,
otherwise than by holding his snout close to the floor, the better and
more cautiously to observe where to place his feet at every step.<br />.............The
beast when I witnessed his performance, had only a halter on his head,
without winkers, or any harness except collar and light rope traces. As
soon as the boy had fastened the lock of the trace to the foremost
waggon, the pony invariably turned round his head, as if to enquire
whether all was ready,and then, exactly at the proper moment, commenced
his march, the load, meanwhile, rumbling after him: arrived at the drop,
the carriages being detached, he here stood jammed close to the wall;
shewing perfect cognizance as the carriages passed him, of the degree of
attention due to the various noises and manoevres going forward, and
not only being aware when it was proper to step out of the way, but how
long precisely it was safe to stand still."</span> </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I could work with that boy. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I will be back with more when Simon isn't concentrating, or maybe when he is. It is hard sometimes to tell the difference.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Obama.</div>
</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-53491314670377414552011-12-02T12:49:00.001-08:002011-12-02T13:02:22.842-08:00Tesco Whips Update.No response from Tesco, about their <a href="http://saddlechariot.blogspot.com/2011/12/tescos-christmas-whips.html" target="_blank">heavy duty crops</a>, but I have been approached on Google Plus with a request to join my circles by a firm who say their company was<i> "was founded by horse lovers for horse lovers. Horses have been in our
families for several generations, and our passion for these gentle and
noble animals only grows with the passage of time." </i><br />
<br />
Which presumably explains why they sell whips and advertise <a href="http://meisterider.com/helmets-apparel-childs-hammer-head-spurs-12-p-510.html" target="_blank">child's hammer head spurs</a>. Apparently "<i> Lots of people love these spurs because they are angled so they don't
squash your foot when you wear them. Stainless steel. Size: Childs 1/2"
Neck</i>."<br />
<br />
Well on that basis I'm off to get some. I spend the long winter evenings worrying that my foot might get squashed by the spur when I kick a pony in the ribs with the nice hammer headed metal tip. At last I can kick the pony in the ribs with absolutely no risk of hurting myself, and even more important I can teach children to do the same thing. With health and safety regulations you wouldn't want to be sued because some kid had hurt his foot putting a metal tipped boot into his pony's ribs.<br />
<br />
Yes, like the owners of the firm, I share a passion for these gentle and noble animals, <br />
hang on, that last sentence seems just slightly stupid. Gentle, noble animals........... sell metal spikes so kids can kick them in the ribs safely,....... sell an enormous variety of whips none of which will squash your hand, stuff the pony, your hand will be all right..........something just a little bit out of whack here.<br />
<br />
I'll think about this and update you tomorrow. <br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-60012199736309111802011-12-01T12:22:00.001-08:002011-12-02T12:48:19.828-08:00Tesco's Christmas Whips.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1nK1mIbzqqo/TtaIQuRM6tI/AAAAAAAAMzU/ZhI6-H8trqg/s1600/DSCF4025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1nK1mIbzqqo/TtaIQuRM6tI/AAAAAAAAMzU/ZhI6-H8trqg/s1600/DSCF4025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1nK1mIbzqqo/TtaIQuRM6tI/AAAAAAAAMzU/ZhI6-H8trqg/s1600/DSCF4025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1nK1mIbzqqo/TtaIQuRM6tI/AAAAAAAAMzU/ZhI6-H8trqg/s400/DSCF4025.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Tesco's Christmas Whips.<br />
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I don't spend a lot of time thanking Tesco's for anything, but this is Christmas and they have provided me with two Christmas presents.<br />
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The first has nothing to do with whips, ponies, <a href="http://saddlechariot-ruralridesagain.blogspot.com/p/ibex-home-page.html" target="_blank">chariots</a> or any of the topics that normally occupy my mind. Tesco chose "The Fairytale of NewYork" <br />
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<a href="http://www.lyricsfreak.com/">Lyrics</a> | <a href="http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pogues/">Pogues lyrics</a> - <a href="http://www.lyricsfreak.com/p/pogues/fairytale+of+new+york_20109730.html">Fairytale Of New York lyrics</a><br />
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But Tesco's have chosen to play just the music which gives us all the perfect Christmas Game of pin the lyric on the donkey. Which lyric, from Fairytale of New York, in your opinion, best describes Tesco?<br />
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But the second present is back to an old Christmas theme of mine, <a href="http://saddlechariot.blogspot.com/2008/12/all-i-want-for-christmas-is-whip.html" target="_blank">All I want for Christmas is a whip.</a> I wrote this in December 2008 just before I got Obama, and put the principles into practice.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gq0L0VChcqE/TtfmTNmStOI/AAAAAAAAM0I/FUNq1eT7eDA/s1600/DSCF3831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gq0L0VChcqE/TtfmTNmStOI/AAAAAAAAM0I/FUNq1eT7eDA/s400/DSCF3831.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
Since then I have received some vitriolic abuse for saying anything against whips. Whips are just a signalling system, you only need a tap, it's just a reminder, it's an extension of my arm, he loves it really, I only use it to scratch him.<br />
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Thanks to Tesco I can safely say this is crap. <br />
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Tescos have three whips available, basically you can have hats, gloves, jodhpurs to keep your kids safe and warm, and whips for them to hit the pony.<br />
There is the standard riding crop for £4, which every pony will see as stunning value, the Harry Hall Glitter crop which makes being hit a real visual experience as the glitter whistles through the air, and the<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">TESCO HEAVY DUTY RIDING CROP BLACK.</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">OK, this is the other Christmas game. If the crop is just for signalling, why do you need a heavy duty version? This isn't Tesco's fault, they aren't a horsey operation, they just got in a "professional horse person" who told them this is what you need. So WHY do you need the HEAVY DUTY WHIP???</span><br />
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I will be back to this issue until Tesco get rid of whips, and the equestrian establishment stop pretending the whip is a signalling system. It is for hitting horses. That is why you need the heavy duty version, because the standard one is only capable of signalling, not of doing its job, flagellation.<br />
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Tesco. Please do the decent thing. Let some ponies and horses enjoy a civilised relationship. Try asking yourselves, not some "equestrian expert" what other animals you would sell whips for, and then ask what ponies have done to deserve this unique status. And Obama will be visiting your Exeter store to find out if the whips are still on the shelves.<br />
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Update.<br />
Just sent this email to Tesco Corporate responsibility.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Dear Sir,<br />I have just posted this comment on my blog. <a href="http://saddlechariot.blogspot.com/2011/12/tescos-christmas-whips.html" style="color: #0000cc;" target="_blank">http://saddlechariot.blogspot.<wbr></wbr>com/2011/12/tescos-christmas-<wbr></wbr>whips.html</a><br />I hope you will remove whips from sale. There is no good reason to hit horses with whips (there are plenty of bad ones) and I feel selling whips does nothing to improve your image.<br />My name is Simon Mulholland, I can be contacted on 07929524260.<br />Yours<br /><span style="color: #888888;">Simon.</span>ps the display is at Tesco's Exeter. I will be visiting the store soon with Obama the pony and hope to be informed that whips are no longer for sale. Obama hopes the same.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10px;">Just in case anyone still thinks whips are necessary, I drove Obama up here, or he pulled me up here, whichever you prefer, without a whip, bit or spurs. So why does anyone need them?</span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-91723913344139647772011-10-14T08:24:00.000-07:002011-10-14T08:27:57.430-07:00Whips, soft gentle things used for gently stroking racehorses.Trying to persuade the public that horses need to be hit is back <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/8825969/Jockey-Richard-Hughes-to-hand-in-licence-after-second-ban-under-new-whip-rules.html">in the news.</a> And it is worth reading not just the article but the comments by readers. One quote is a classic<br />
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<i>Moreover, the modern whip is so light and cushy that it is painless for
the horse - and indeed it is just as much used in being shown to the
horse as it is in hitting its quarters.</i></div>
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Of course the reason for showing it to the horse is that the modern race whip looks remarkably similar to the <a href="http://www.ejwicks.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=0161">Race Exercise Whip.</a><br />
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<h5>
Racing and Hunting Saddlers - Country Clothing - All Stable Requisites<br />
E J Wicks, Lambourn, Berkshire, RG17 8PB <a href="mailto:sales@ejwicks.co.uk">Email E J Wicks</a><br />
Tel: 01488 71766 Fax: 01488 71707<br />
Monday to Friday 8am to 5.30pm / Saturday 8.30am to 12.30pm <br />
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The
Tuff Whip is a very well priced race exercise whip. These are supplied
to us by the same people who supply our official race riding whips.</div>
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Of course if you used one of these little beauties on the race track, you would be banned, but when you are at home, out of sight of all the whingeing do gooders you can use one of these to teach the horse what a real whip feels like. Then, when you show it the race whip, it expects the same degree of blinding pain that being hit with plastic, not foam, plastic wrapped glassfibre, generates.</div>
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If I hit you regularly with nice heavy weight brass knuckles, on social occasions I will only have to put my hand into my pocket to persuade you to say, "<i>Yes Sir"</i> Of course I wouldn't dream of using brass knuckles in public. What a disgusting idea, and if you were to suggest I did such a thing, it would be libel.</div>
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Horses die more often in races after whipping. It is about the only known result that whips produce. If nobody carried a whip, what would be unfair?</div>
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Unfortunately I know the answer to that one. Some horses like to race, some horses need to be "persuaded". Some very rich and very influential people own horses that without persuasion, are dogmeat, but with persuasion, are worth millions. I am afraid banning the whip would be grossly unfair to some very rich and very influential people, so the horses will just have to carry on suffering. It's only fair. <i><br /></i></div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-87136242287400758232011-09-20T13:09:00.001-07:002011-09-20T15:23:56.470-07:00Squatter's rights.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ypY6kS15vmk/Tnjvv7bQNSI/AAAAAAAAMT0/xHdYXY6W7Ks/s1600/DSCF3663.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ypY6kS15vmk/Tnjvv7bQNSI/AAAAAAAAMT0/xHdYXY6W7Ks/s400/DSCF3663.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
The Dale Farm evictions are the final stages of a process begun in the Eighteenth century, to separate people from land. <br />
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In this history book, the destruction of the "squatters" is shown to be ethnic cleansing to justify taking land from the poor to give to the rich.<br />
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Where are the last remnants of a group that was wiped out to justify the enclosures?<br />
At Dale Farm.<br />
Were the original Enclosures legal?<br />
Is the desperate desire to eradicate any groups of free moving people necessary to ensure nobody is in a position to question modern land ownership?<br />
Just read these pages and ask where the squatters are now. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-75840574292915965002011-09-04T12:40:00.000-07:002011-09-04T12:42:18.558-07:00Saddlechariot update.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been concentrating on the iBex of late, mostly because it amuses me, but also so that everyone who wants, can enjoy the feeling of exploring.<br />
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To keep an eye on my latest activities this <a href="http://sadedlechariotibex.blogspot.com/p/ibex-saddlechariot.html">link</a> should get you to what I am doing. Since I tend to use Blogger as a website more than a blog, it is worth using the tabs at the top of the page.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VMb1f5TeeS5Z7G2dJXcgHXG5eY8oq4wuSqrUkJ2GfkjdYf6qcuuRH5w7Fuo1c1wK_CKvOMoe-mrqVaeX3Po7lQAzvWvl965EfWq-_SIIcJNCUCGDZdV7doJsQqgEM5Ju_oD56_pCIVs/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VMb1f5TeeS5Z7G2dJXcgHXG5eY8oq4wuSqrUkJ2GfkjdYf6qcuuRH5w7Fuo1c1wK_CKvOMoe-mrqVaeX3Po7lQAzvWvl965EfWq-_SIIcJNCUCGDZdV7doJsQqgEM5Ju_oD56_pCIVs/s400/DSCF5317.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I have also been mucking around with training ideas, mostly based on not using force, and on a pretty random sequence of rewards. The randomness is because I can't concentrate on anything for very long, so I tend to forget whatever system I start the day with, and have to invent a new one to finish the day.<br />
Luckily Obama, like all ponies, is quite capable of working out what the moronic human actually wants. That doesn't mean I get it, just that Obama is well aware what I want.<br />
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My system is mostly based on belief that ponies work better if there is a purpose. So I originally trained Obama to take me and my Saddlechariot from Brecon to Birmingham.<br />
Why? I hear you cry. Because I wanted to go to Birmingham, I would have thought that was obvious.<br />
To achieve this Obama had to get used to roads, fields, canals, industrial estates, cows (terrifying) and anything else we might meet en route. The system is simple. I walk in front of him towards anything that frightens him. This is called leadership. It can only be done from in front. If I go first, Obama knows that whatever threatens him, will eat me first, which gives Obama time to run.<br />
Now we can go most places, and we can take wheelchairs most places. I am trying to increase the places that the iBex can go. Some serious work on Dartmoor is called for.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-58013338092050024172011-07-31T11:30:00.000-07:002011-07-31T11:35:11.028-07:00Blogger working again I sincerely hope.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aD-EcyBQJI8/TjRJrC5923I/AAAAAAAAMDk/d5R4BE2q_2o/s512/DSCF5317.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 512px; height: 384px;" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aD-EcyBQJI8/TjRJrC5923I/AAAAAAAAMDk/d5R4BE2q_2o/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Can I write what I want and actually get published? Can I put up pretty pictures? Can I stop asking fatuous questions?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />My current blog is<br /><a href="http://sadedlechariotibex.blogspot.com/">http://sadedlechariotibex.blogspot.com/</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-87169765325773595442011-07-31T11:21:00.000-07:002011-07-31T11:21:18.130-07:00posting problems<a href="http://sadedlechariotibex.blogspot.com/"><a href="http://sadedlechariotibex.blogspot.com/"></a></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-24802921604831623402011-07-31T09:40:00.000-07:002012-10-22T06:20:07.983-07:00New new blog, and why Blogger won't let me do what I want.
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Please go to <a href="http://ponyaccess.com/">http://ponyaccess.com/</a>
, my new website covering the saddlechariot/iBex and it's uses. This
is where you will also find links to all my articles on training,
safety, vehicle design and even the weird stuff on cooking and
politics.
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;">My new contact details are
<a href="mailto:ponyaccess@gmail.com">ponyaccess@gmail.com</a></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-size: large;">and my phone number is +44 7510 736 518</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<strike><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aD-EcyBQJI8/TjRJrC5923I/AAAAAAAAMDk/d5R4BE2q_2o/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="384" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aD-EcyBQJI8/TjRJrC5923I/AAAAAAAAMDk/d5R4BE2q_2o/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" width="512" /></a></strike></div>
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</strike>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-49209818246545047832011-07-30T23:59:00.000-07:002011-07-31T00:02:55.299-07:00New BlogTo see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.php<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VMb1f5TeeS5Z7G2dJXcgHXG5eY8oq4wuSqrUkJ2GfkjdYf6qcuuRH5w7Fuo1c1wK_CKvOMoe-mrqVaeX3Po7lQAzvWvl965EfWq-_SIIcJNCUCGDZdV7doJsQqgEM5Ju_oD56_pCIVs/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="384" width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VMb1f5TeeS5Z7G2dJXcgHXG5eY8oq4wuSqrUkJ2GfkjdYf6qcuuRH5w7Fuo1c1wK_CKvOMoe-mrqVaeX3Po7lQAzvWvl965EfWq-_SIIcJNCUCGDZdV7doJsQqgEM5Ju_oD56_pCIVs/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VMb1f5TeeS5Z7G2dJXcgHXG5eY8oq4wuSqrUkJ2GfkjdYf6qcuuRH5w7Fuo1c1wK_CKvOMoe-mrqVaeX3Po7lQAzvWvl965EfWq-_SIIcJNCUCGDZdV7doJsQqgEM5Ju_oD56_pCIVs/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear:right; float:right; margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="384" width="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3VMb1f5TeeS5Z7G2dJXcgHXG5eY8oq4wuSqrUkJ2GfkjdYf6qcuuRH5w7Fuo1c1wK_CKvOMoe-mrqVaeX3Po7lQAzvWvl965EfWq-_SIIcJNCUCGDZdV7doJsQqgEM5Ju_oD56_pCIVs/s512/DSCF5317.JPG" /></a></div><br />
<a href="http://sadedlechariotibex.blogspot.com/p/ibex-saddlechariot.html"><a href="http://sadedlechariotibex.blogspot.com/p/ibex-saddlechariot.html"></a></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-74358132869065474742010-10-19T14:05:00.000-07:002010-10-19T14:05:19.362-07:00Driving the Bannedwaggon round West Town FarmHere are Obama and I having fun.<br />
<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="400" height="267" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.co.uk&captions=1&hl=en_GB&feat=flashalbum&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.co.uk%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fsaddlechariots%2Falbumid%2F5529862403615001073%3Falt%3Drss%26kind%3Dphoto%26hl%3Den_GB" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed><br />
Enjoy<br />
<br />
and here is where I am doing most of my writing at present <a href="http://thinkingoutsidethehorsebox.wordpress.com/">http://thinkingoutsidethehorsebox.wordpress.com/</a><br />
<br />
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<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />
To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.phpAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-86838028373511614432010-10-18T15:16:00.001-07:002010-10-18T15:16:52.840-07:00New site, Thinking Outside the HorseboxHi there, a new site as I try to rearrange my confused thoughts about the new vehicle, the Bannedwaggon.<br />
Have a look and enjoy.<br />
<a href="http://thinkingoutsidethehorsebox.wordpress.com/about/"><br />
http://thinkingoutsidethehorsebox.wordpress.com/about/</a><br />
<br />
To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.phpAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-29059462673936079472010-10-09T11:37:00.000-07:002012-12-06T05:25:03.274-08:00Safety shoes?<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Please go to <a href="http://ponyaccess.com/">http://ponyaccess.com/</a>
, my new website covering the saddlechariot/iBex and it's uses. This
is where you will also find links to all my articles on training,
safety, vehicle design and even the weird stuff on cooking and
politics.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
My new contact details are
<a href="mailto:ponyaccess@gmail.com">ponyaccess@gmail.com</a>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
and my phone number is +44 7510 736 518</div>
<br />
<br />
Saddlechariots, Safety. The S words crop up throughout everything I have written in the ten years the Saddlechariot has existed. From day one I wanted a Safe, one man, pony drawn vehicle. Today, I want a safe one man pony or horse drawn vehicle, and it exists, the Mark10 Saddlechariot is about as good as you are going to get.<br />
<div style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px 10px 0pt 0pt;">
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/saddlechariots/RyanSrydynonXrated1#5513726264529785138"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_JXuh89vF8JM/TISw0xoKETI/AAAAAAAAJmM/BSCoXf8i3rY/s400/DSCF7792.JPG" /></a></div>
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But almost from day one, I wanted to build a wheelchair friendly version. Safety was just as important for the disability market. It would be pointless to say it was more important, as I have always made it clear that safety was the number one priority on the Saddlechariot. If Safety is number one priority, you cannot make it more important.</div>
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The Bannedwaggon is the result of all those years of trying to provide Saddlechariot levels of safety to those with limited mobility. But the Bannedwaggon has a major problem with safety. The problem is the Equestrian Establishment whose attitude to safety is, to put it mildly, complex.</div>
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In essence, the Equestrian Establishment don't do safety. They hardly even pay it lip service, and consequently, equestrianism kills a lot of people. With this background, it is impossible to get any rational safety assessment of any product that might be used around ponies or horses. In ten years, nobody from the Equestrian Establishment has EVER been prepared to look at the safety features I have put in the Saddlechariot. The Equestrian Establishment deliberately ignore safety.</div>
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The Equestrian Establishment is obviously going to be haring off to their lawyers so I will produce my evidence. I have actually done a Health and Safety course, and wish I had done it years ago. I have been told about all the nonsense, the nanny state, the idiot rules, and the course was a total eye opener, it is simple, it is logical, it makes sense, and it means that employees tend to return from work with the same number of limbs etc, as when they left home.</div>
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<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/saddlechariots/3mobilesarah#5456363929914234002"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_JXuh89vF8JM/S7jmFc_K1JI/AAAAAAAAIsA/WEPuCC7dukE/s400/DSCF5550.JPG" /></a></div>
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The Equestrian Establishment ignores the most basic principles of the Health and Safety Executive. By the Equestrian Establishment, I mean The British Horse Society, The Pony Club, The British Driving Society, The Jockey Club and depressingly, Riding for the Disabled. I also include all the various Breed Societies, and those Societies that promote Dressage, Polo, Eventing, Show Jumping etc.</div>
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Horse shoes provide a simple example of the Equestrian Establishment's contempt for safety. Riding Helmets are tested to ensure they can survive the impact of a horseshoe shaped anvil. Motorcycle helmets don't have to go through this, so the impact of a horseshoe on a head is clearly a hazard, and <a href="http://horses.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=horses&cdn=homegarden&tm=80&f=00&su=p284.9.336.ip_&tt=3&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//asci.uvm.edu/equine/law/amea/feb96nws.htm%23bike" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">clearly specific to horses</a>, and not a problem if you fall off, for example, a motorbike.</div>
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It is a basic principle of the HSE that a hazard is subject to a hierarchy of controls. The shoe is clearly such a hazard or they would not test riding helmets on <a href="http://www.smf.org/articles/helmet_development.html#Intro" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">horseshoe shaped anvils.</a> The very last resort in the hierarchy of controls, is PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, for example, a Riding Helmet. Therefore we would expect that the Equestrian Establishment would have tried all the controls in the hierarchy that come before the last resort, PPE.</div>
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<a href="http://www.liv.ac.uk/safety/safety_issues/risk_assessment/hierarchy_of_control.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The first control in the hierarchy is elimination</a>. "This should always be the first consideration as it results in the hazard no longer existing." So what happens if you take the horseshoes off? The BHS manual says that "an unshod horse has a more secure grip on every type of surface. In addition, injury from a kick by an unshod horse is likely to be considerably less severe."</div>
<div style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 5px 10px 0pt 0pt;">
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/saddlechariots/RyanSrydynonXrated1#5513863716743259650"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_JXuh89vF8JM/TIUt1jBlpgI/AAAAAAAAJqE/dyiG9lL2F_Y/s400/DSCF7690.JPG" /></a></div>
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Sounds like the answer is simple. Don't use shoes. The animal is less likely to fall, and less likely to injure you if it kicks, a win win situation. But obviously the shoes can't be removed, or the Equestrian establishment would have done so.</div>
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The second solution is substitution. Is it possible that an alternative to nailing a lump of metal to the horse's foot might exist? Maybe something that is lighter and has more give than steel and possibly more grip underfoot. Obviously not, or the Equestrian establishment would comply with the laws on Health and Safety like the rest of Industry has to.</div>
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I have driven Obama from Exeter to London testing the Bannedwaggon. Obama wore no shoes on his hind feet for the entire journey, and had no problems with his hindfeet at all. He did the first stage of the journey barefoot in front but I was concerned that his left front foot is prone to bruising on the sole, so used a pair of Old Mac hoofboots for the last 10 days of the 16. He never slipped in the Old Mac's, and had no problems with them.</div>
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I can eliminate shoes on the rear and substitute shoes on the front. The Equestrian Establishment can't. Shoes are still the norm, as are injuries to horses and to people. Why does basic Health and Safety not apply? How can an organisation that ignores, or condones, such flagrant abuses of Health and Safety exist and operate openly in 2010?</div>
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The answer is obvious. The Equestrian Establishment is the pinnacle of society, and as such, above the law. </div>
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Should a concerned citizen report what seems such a flagrant abuse of the law, and if they should, who on earth do they report it to.? </div>
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To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.phpAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-64317113047061737782010-10-02T01:50:00.000-07:002010-10-02T01:50:02.479-07:00Safety tyres.<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">One of the Lancaster University engineers who worked on the Saddlechariot design came up with the fascinating theory that British Driving Society members make their horses wear blinkers so they would have the same restricted view as their owners. It is either that, or a new form of equestrian dyslexia, which means that BDS members are incapable of reading their own website.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">This is the BDS on the subject of long distance driving.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1433108106"><i>PNEUMATIC TYRED VEHICLES with their greater tyre friction and often heavy axles have been proved to create considerable extra stress for horses/ponies over the longer distances in the above Awards and are therefore not permitted.</i></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.britishdrivingsociety.co.uk/index.htm"><i>Likewise the LIGHTWEIGHT pneumatic tyres vehicles are deemed unsafe and unable to withstand the stress and wear of the longer distances of LDD Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards and are also banned.</i></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Just read this through. Pneumatic vehicles are banned because they are too heavy. Lightweight versions are banned because they aren't.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Someone should get to the next committee meeting and find out what these guys are putting in the tyres of the cars they drive, because they are clearly inhaling it, and wow, it is potent stuff.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Their analysis of pneumatic tyres is, by any standards, a total lie. I have just driven the Bannedwaggon across England, from Exeter to London on ultralight pneumatic tyres, running 22x12x8 slicks on the front and 16x6.50x8 puncture proof on the rear. Obama and I did 200 plus miles of incredibly variable terrain, carrying the thick edge of 250kg without any problems at all.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">But the site starts with a lie. Sorry it starts with the BDS, after sniffing whatever goes in their tyres, version of reality.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><a href="http://www.britishdrivingsociety.co.uk/index.htm">The British Driving Society. To Encourage and Assist those interested in Equine Driving Patron: H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh K.G. K.T.</a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I would have thought 10 years of designing vehicles to go behind ponies and horses would vaguely fit in the category of "those interested in Equine driving." In that time the BDS have allowed, and probably encouraged their members to attack me, and denigrate my vehicles and ban me from any participation.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Is this really their idea of Encourage and assist?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Yes, but only if you are so far out of the loop that you can ban pneumatic tyres with the sort of meaningless, lying twaddle, the BDS use.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Actually, that is unfair. I know exactly what they mean. Gyppos use car tyres and axles and we don't want gyppos, travellers and common people. So lets ban the preumatic tyres.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">OK so they are a private society, shouldn't they be allowed to get on with their own ideas in their own way? Maybe, but that defence also applies to the Ku Klux Klan. Much more damaging is their claim to be devoted to safety. If they are banning pneumatic tyres for the reasons they claim, and not just to exclude Gypsies, are they capable of making any rational assessment of safety.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Their objection to me, is that I build safe vehicles. If I am right, they are in deep animal byproducts, but rather than make their setup safer, they prefer to destroy me. Hardly the action of a safety conscious society, to ignore the guy who has been building safe vehicles for 10 years.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">But they are the establishment, so they must be right, and more importantly, nobody is going to take the risk of challenging them.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.phpAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-89643430166644134202010-10-01T13:05:00.001-07:002010-10-08T17:21:08.639-07:00Time for a new training system.<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Having very publicly stated that my training system for Obama is the dog's dangly bits, it is clearly time to redesign it. Improvement is the name of the game, if you aren't improving, you're dead.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Obama coped with an unbelievable level of stress, for which I feel guilty, but I could see no other way to demonstrate the Bannedwaggon, and to a lesser extent, my training system.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Now I am back home, the bones have nearly stopped aching, and I am pretty sure the modifications to the Bannedwaggon are sorted, it is time to look again at Obama's training, or more to the point, to start again.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Yes he coped, but he didn't enjoy the last bits, but then I was terrified, knackered and at the end, in considerable pain, which may have been a factor. He was also frighteningly dependent on me, and hated to be separated, even for a minute. This didn't help my state as shopping for food with a pony in Central London isn't easy, so hunger was added to my woes. Three days, one shop.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I could get Obama through, I could get him to pretty much anywhere, but I couldn't get him to just chill out and relax. But nor could I. Looking back, I can see the need for a time we could interact that wasn't travelling, that wasn't grazing.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Before I do anymore stupid journeys, I need a way to calm Obama down, a sort of horse/human yoga. That I should even consider this says loads about the trip. Normally my opinion of yoga is low, and the thought of me doing it is a complete non starter. My joints don't work at those angles, I'm not getting involved in eastern mysticism, etc etc.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">But Adele has taught Obama to enjoy being scratched in a completely different way over the few days he has been chilling out with her and Winston the Mule. She has also taught him that sticks aren't terrifying. What Adele has done, is take an animal I have spent 20 months with, and teach him things I never taught him, and they are things I should have taught him.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The sticks issue, I knew about, and left, because Obama provided a classic demonstration of the evil effects whips produce. As Obama is about to start chariot archery lessons, i was going to deal with the whips issue anyway, I just suspect Adele did it quicker and better than I could have.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The scratching issue is much more important. It would have given me a way to chill Obama out, to bring down the adrenalin levels, even in extreme situations. I used treats, which work, but don't provide the disconnect from reality which a good scratch seems to achieve. The main risk is being crushed as Obama goes into total zombie mode and topples over with an inane grin pasted across his face.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I need to sort out his fear of bridges, going over heavy traffic, echoing high rise urban spaces, and flocks of birds, especially pigeons round his head. If I can do this with scratches, and induce that total disconnect in a high stress location, I have a really stunning training tool. Though Adele provided another very effective tool. Getting someone else to work with your animal.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I am almost convinced that two trainers are more than twice as effective as one. And they don't need to be brilliant. I am going to let everyone else train Obama as the next stage in his development. Obviously under certain rules,</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">No Weapons</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">You mustn't deliberately frighten him.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">That's it. If scratches work, or singing, or poetry, or dance.............. great. If I can let Obama interact with lots of other people, and learn from them, and enjoy himself, he will be calmer, happier, better trained, and a whole load of novices will have learned about ponies, learned about training, while training my pony and themselves. how cool is that?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Starts tomorrow, keep you posted.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">He'll be logging and working round the farm, and delivering books for Bookcycle, and providing a Pony Drawn Birthday Present Delivery service in Exeter, and working on the row crop system, and getting scratched and learning to tow archers round at high speed, and he won't see a whip, or a bit, or blinkers, or a crupper, or steel shoes, or a groom.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.php<br />
<a href="http://saddlechariot.wordpress.com/">http://saddlechariot.wordpress.com/</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-37557958193334782512010-09-30T15:38:00.000-07:002010-09-30T15:38:34.638-07:00British Driving Society moronic comment<a class="actorName" href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000177258968">Christopher Berry</a> <br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd">Ide have a guess that it was you? Driving ponies/horses are in the main cool calm and collected. There are some that are a little more exciting. This is to do with the nature of the beast that we drive. Ideas about harness types, vehicle co<span class="text_exposed_hide">...</span><span class="text_exposed_show">nfigurations etc are all reliant on understanding not only by the horse but also by the driver. I am a country smallholding reader and have read with interest the articles about the saddle chariott which I understand is one of your designs. You claim that any pony/horse will drive in the saddle chariott within two hours! You claim that the pony need not be broken to harness! Or at least that is my understanding of your claim? I think that you are incorrect with these statements as the horse must first understand what is going on behind him. As we have recently proved, not all horses allow something behind them. The saddle chariott is something that you stand on, probably the most unstable position to drive from! on two wheels? Not only can the horse kick your teath out before you can release the release cord, but he can also put you off ballance, and if you go forwards? God help you???? I hate to think about it! I drive to what I consider a good standard having been well taught, so think I understand the way that driving ponies work. I dont understand how you can market something like this, with a web site like <a href="http://www.naturaldriving.co.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.naturaldriving.co.uk</a> which indicates that 'this is the way it is done NATURALLY'. What by the horse or the driver? It's certainly the naturall way to loose your teath if thats any good! Give it up before you kill somebody.</span></div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span><span class="text_exposed_hide"></span></div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd"><span class="text_exposed_hide"></span></div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd">The RDA do an amazing job under the conditions and restrictions that are imposed on them. If you can do better, get on with it and stop bloody moaning about it!</div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd"> </div>just putting this up to kleep track of the insults.<br />
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd"> </div><div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_4ca50f2e7131b5dd419cd"> </div><abbr class="timestamp" title="Thursday, 30 September 2010 at 23:28"></abbr><br />
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To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.phpAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-81572856174184157182010-09-28T14:55:00.001-07:002012-10-22T06:26:19.761-07:00Forced incest<h3 align="left" dir="ltr" id="sites-page-title-header">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Please go to <a href="http://ponyaccess.com/">http://ponyaccess.com/</a>
, my new website covering the saddlechariot/iBex and it's uses. This
is where you will also find links to all my articles on training,
safety, vehicle design and even the weird stuff on cooking and
politics.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">My new contact details are
<a href="mailto:ponyaccess@gmail.com">ponyaccess@gmail.com</a></span>
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<span style="font-size: large;">and my phone number is +44 7510 736 518</span></div>
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<span id="sites-page-title">Forced incest</span></h3>
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Incest is not an easy topic to write about. When discussing most sports which involve children, incest isn't anywhere on the agenda. Nor is cannibalism, ritual sacrifice.... loads of topics just don't get mentioned because they have no possible bearing on the sport concerned.</div>
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But incest is an integral part of Equestrian activities. <a href="http://www.sporthorse-data.com/help.htm?z=97p73G" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The weird world of horsebreeding still discusses the virtues and benefits of mating father to daughter, mother to son, brother and sister. In the pursuit of breed purity, </a>they will force horses to mate on lines that are illegal in every jurisdiction in the world, that are offensive to every religious group in the world,and that go against the natural behaviour of the animals concerned.</div>
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<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W9W-4K3KBJT-Y&_user=10&_coverDate=05%2F31%2F1984&_alid=1477423901&_rdoc=6&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_zone=rslt_list_item&_cdi=6693&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=134&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=52e9f05d25b9a41003fab5ca408839e2&searchtype=a" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Horses avoid incest as carefully as we do.</a> The incest taboo operates across the animal kingdom which makes it truly sick to force an animal to mate with it's daughter. To then boast about it is extraordinary. Should organisations with such very strange beliefs be allowed to work with children.</div>
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Breed organisations aren't just riddled with illegal and offensive sexual practices, the reasons they encourage such revolting practices are just as nasty. Breed purity, aristocratic bloodlines, separation of groups on the basis of appearance, an obsession with colour, hair type, facial shape........... does it ring a bell.</div>
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Racism, combined with snobbery, based on incest. Not a pretty mix. and the results aren't good animals. Yes the best of breed look pretty flashy, but the ever increasing numbers of congenital abnormalities and the ever increasing number of foals with those congenital abnormalities is a frightening cost to pay, for what is at best, snobbery and racism.</div>
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Horses are Equus caballus. Ponies are equus caballus. The progeny of any pony or horse and any other pony or horse, is Equus caballus. The same is true with Homo sapiens. The progeny is Homo sapiens. The parents may differ in skin colour, or blood group, or height or body mass index, or all of them, or none of them, and the child will be Homo sapiens.</div>
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Equus caballus produces equus caballus. Yet children are taught about the breeds, and how to identify them, by their colour, or by the way their hair grows, or the shape of the eye. And they are taught that incest is worth while if it produces these marvellous animals that are well bred.</div>
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This is the most absurd concept. Do the hereditary peers in the House of lords provide videos to show how well they were bred. It might enliven proceedings. Does well bred really mean that you have forced a father to mate with his daughter. Do we want people with these beliefs anywhere near our children, or our animals.</div>
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To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.phpAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-34301683925913520182010-09-28T03:18:00.000-07:002010-09-28T03:18:37.108-07:00Safety versus traditional cruelty <br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Animal training has come on in leaps and bounds, predominantly as the old negative reinforcement systems have been swept away in a tide of positive reinforcement. To the traditionalists, this is bribery, but then people don't complain at the end of the week, or month, that their employer has bribed them. Lawyers don't haul you off to the police station when you give them money and press charges of bribery, they thank you for paying their bill.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So animals are entitled to rewards, just like people, unless of course they are horses. Horses need whips, spurs, bits and a level of discipline that Guantanamo Bay would find excessive. You take your dog for a walk, and it can pretty much choose where it puts its head, feet, whatever. But a horse needs to be directed exactly how to hold its body, at what angle its head is carried, which order its feet touch the ground.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">And the reward is that they don't get hit with a whip, the spurs stop digging into them, the pressure of the bit on the mouth is reduced slightly. Walk a dog down the street, the way a horse is walked across a dressage arena, and you would be arrested. Racehorses are hit, repeatedly, and the Jockey Club claim this is in the interests of safety. Dogs race without whips. So do people. We hit horses with sticks, we kick them in the ribs, we stick metal spikes on our boots so we don't have to kick them in the ribs so hard, we tie their mouths shut on bars of metal so we can haul their heads around. The violence of horse training is endemic, and as such, nobody sees it any more.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">I wanted to take animals into inner cities, and into the nice areas where the rich people don't live. To do this I needed a training system that I was happy to introduce to kids from a tough background, in what is considered to be a tough area, though I have only ever experienced kindness and consideration in what are termed the tough areas of cities. Just avoid the smart bits is my tip.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">But my preconceptions meant I was worried about introducing more weapons into the area, and also finding a way to control the use of weapons. Schools don't try to get kids to use knives gently on each other. They don't have lessons on gently spraying nightlclubs with Uzi's. They ban weapons.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So I developed a training system to take into inner cities.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">No weapons. No sticks, no bits, no spurs, no knives, no guns.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Nobody is allowed to deliberately frighten the pony.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">That is all you need.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">There are hundreds of things ponies like, being scratched in different places, being brushed, different foods, going to new places, and it is fun for the kids to find out what the pony likes.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">When you know what the pony likes, you have a reward, and can persuade it to do what you want.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">That's training without violence.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The most important advantage is that the animal will turn to its handler when frightened, for security, for reassurance, for safety. But if you are the the creep with the whip, the guy who boots me in the ribs with spurs, the girl who hauls my head around with a bits and curb chains, I won't see you as security, as safety, you are the problem, and I will run away.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Kindness is safer. In times of trouble do you run to those who hit you, or to those who give you a cuddle. If you seek comfort when you are scared, what logic dictates that a horse will do the opposite.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">All the horse organisations, starting from the Pony Club teaching ten year olds, insist on carrying a whip. The Jockey Club say it is there for safety. I have mentioned this before, and I will mention it again and again, until the Jockey Club produce one shred of evidence to back up their claim. I have driven a wheelchair enabled pony drawn vehicle across England, Exeter to London, without whip, bit, spurs or any of the traditional nonsense and NEVER felt the least need for a whip. On two occasions, Obama the pony, was terrified, and on both occasions turned to me for safety.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Would he have turned to me if I was armed?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Weapons don't make you safer. Even Lion trainers have given up the whip. Why do the horse world retain it?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Because it is in their interests to keep horsemanship dangerous. It keeps the common people out.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Access to legal risk is one of the great class divides of the modern age. If you have your own land, you can teach your kid to ride a pony pretty much how you like. If you don't have land, or friends with land, you have to do it the way the establishment tell you to, and the businesses providing it, have to pay ruinous insurance because the risks are so high, thus keeping out common people. If you let common people do it, would the children of the rich and famous get to the top?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">So the dangers make it elitist, but the elite make it dangerous. They insist on attaching lumps of metal to the horse's feet. They aren't necessary, and they are clearly dangerous. They insist on children carrying whips, yet there is no evidence anywhere that they make horses safer. There is clear evidence they make horses dangerous.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">Every dangerous animal, ie innately dangerous, killer whales, lions, etc is now trained with positive reinforcement to make it safer. The horse, a placid herd living vegetarian, bred for thousands of years to get on with people, is trained with weapons that would be illegal if used on lions, and surprise, surprise, it is dangerous.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The danger is deliberate. Look at me, aren't I brave controlling this fiery steed, this mettlesome animal, this high couraged horse, and all the other euphemisms that say, I had a nice animal and I have turned it nasty and I can still control it.How sick is that.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">The general public will never be able too enjoy ponies while the elite are allowed to make them dangerous. If you did to any other animal, what is done to horses, you would be arrested. What has the horse done to deserve this status?</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"><br />
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To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? http://sites.google.com/site/wehithorsesdontwe/ http://saddlechariot.comlu.com/index.phpAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4282484735530045912.post-45045156573996708362010-09-27T09:56:00.000-07:002010-09-27T09:56:00.549-07:00The end of an era.<div style="text-align: left;"> For two years, ish, I have kept a fairly low profile, trying to see if there was any nice way to get the saddlechariot safety concept into the wider world. World Horse Welfare's well timed and vicious attack on me stymied last year's attempt, and I realise there is just no point expecting the Equestrian Establishment to treat me like a human being.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I have been helped by bikers, travellers, scrap dealers and engineers, hippies, Big Issue sales people, drug dealers and addicts, alcoholics and dropouts. The lunatic fringe of the horse world accept me, but I don't want them to go through what I have been through so I am mentioning no names.</div><br />
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I am not going to waste any more time pretnding to myself I might be acceptable to the Horse world if the saddlechariot works. It is depressingly clear I can only succeed if I destroy the people who are blocking me. Since this won't win me any friends, and means my friends are taking a serious risk associating with me, I am switching to Revolutionary Mode.<br />
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<a href="https://sites.google.com/site/revolutionarypony/home">Revolutionary Pony Access is my new website</a>. It will offend many, but it wasn't written for that purpose. It is tragically, the truth.<br />
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The Horse world is snobbish, arrogant, vindictive, racist, elitist and cruel. Their contempt for safety is why they loathe the saddlechariot and have done their best to destroy me. (Good try chaps, just not quite good enough.)<br />
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The damage they have done to me over the last 10 years is going to be repaid with totally honest expose of their stupidity and arrogance.<br />
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So to all those who thought I was a nice guy, bye bye folks.<br />
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A friend some 5 years ago tried to get the BHS to look at my saddlechariot. He told them that if they weren't talking to me seriously, the BHS wouldn't last 10 years. I hope to beat his timescale.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;">To see some of my marginally more organised rants, try these links. If all else fails, try hitting them with whips. It works with horses, doesn't it? <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/revolutionarypony/home">https://sites.google.com/site/revolutionarypony/home</a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11932637931994448561noreply@blogger.com0