Old Virginia Blog
Verbatim Post
Steven Spielberg's latest film, War Horse, is getting lots of rave reviews. From the trailer and the reviews, it does look to be the kind of film that I'd enjoy. I'll watch it when it comes out on DVD. But I was reminded of a documentary Ron Maxwell did about the horses of Gettysburg a while back. Here's a clip:
Verbatim Post
Steven Spielberg's latest film, War Horse, is getting lots of rave reviews. From the trailer and the reviews, it does look to be the kind of film that I'd enjoy. I'll watch it when it comes out on DVD. But I was reminded of a documentary Ron Maxwell did about the horses of Gettysburg a while back. Here's a clip:
"There hangs a sabre, and there a rein,
With a rusty buckle and green curb chain;
A pair of spurs on the old gray wall,
And a moldy saddle—well, that is all.
"Come out to the stable—it is not far;
The moss-grown door is hanging ajar.
Look within! There's an empty stall,
Where once stood a charger, and that is all.
"The good black horse came riderless home,
Flecked with blood drops as well as foam;
See yonder hillock where dead leaves fall;
The good black horse dropped dead—that is all.
"All? O, God! it is all I can speak.
Question me not, I am old and weak;
His sabre and his saddle hang on the wall,
And his horse is dead—I have told you all."
With a rusty buckle and green curb chain;
A pair of spurs on the old gray wall,
And a moldy saddle—well, that is all.
"Come out to the stable—it is not far;
The moss-grown door is hanging ajar.
Look within! There's an empty stall,
Where once stood a charger, and that is all.
"The good black horse came riderless home,
Flecked with blood drops as well as foam;
See yonder hillock where dead leaves fall;
The good black horse dropped dead—that is all.
"All? O, God! it is all I can speak.
Question me not, I am old and weak;
His sabre and his saddle hang on the wall,
And his horse is dead—I have told you all."
~ Francis Alexander Durivage
We have Shire horses; 8 stallions, two mares. As a former fighter pilot, I took up mounted combat for fun, first on a mare, then moving to stallions with spear and sword. The mare was like the horses in the movies, where you could ride them past a target and fight, but not the stallion. Weighing a ton, flown over from England on a 747, my first gallop at a man shaped target on my oldest Shire stallion featured the stud charging straight for it head down, taking no input from my reigns (hence the biblical term 'like a horse charing into battle'); as soon as he got close he launched his one ton frame airborne and hit it in the chest; he had no intention of letting me hit it with my sword. He smashed it to the ground, and of course I was laughing hard for quite some time. Secure saddles are a must! The English great horses still have the blood lust. Unfortunately, I had to give up the target runs, as the stud enjoyed combat and asked politely to take out a jogger on our afternoon run, which I had to grudgingly turn down....
ReplyDeleteDov
ReplyDeletePriceless! We still have these in Markham, Virginia trying to spear round loops.