Are you all tired of videos?  I know I’ve done three in a row now.  Sorry.  I just writes ’em as I feels ’em.  And, this week I’ve been into my videos.

Today, I am bringing to you the opening to a previous Fiesta of the Spanish Horse.  I was manning the camera so you have to take it all with a grain of salt.  But anyway, there were several Andalusians, Paso Finos and Peruvian Pasos in attendance plus others breeds that I could not decipher (oops).   I have no idea if these are notable horses or infamous horses or trainers… I’m not in that world.  So, if I am offending anyone by putting these people on the video, sorry.

For ignorant me, these Andalusians, Paso Finos and Peruvian Pasos were groomed very nicely.  All of the traditional garb would have made me faint from heat exhaustion and they all had the patience of saints.  I’ll tell you, nothing was happening on time (as usual) and everyone was lined up for what seemed like hours outside.  My horses would have said, “Forget this, I’m outta here” hours ago…  I was totally impressed that these horses were just chillin’ outside before they went in and turned it on!

OK, so the first video is of everyone’s name being called as they hold flags on their perfectly groomed mounts (again being patient).  Then, they all leave in whatever gait they should show.  The Paso Fino in the end just killed me!  I am so impatient, if I rode that horse I’d have a migraine by the time he got anywhere!  Of course, I would guess that he is probably a spectacular specimen of the breed or he wouldn’t be there but, holy moly, I gotta move faster than that!

The second video is of a group of Peruvians who were practicing their drill outside the arena.  I loved watching them.  Truth to tell, all the horses seemed happy and weren’t so hyper they were about to blow, even though the wind was whipping and the conditions were not great (and there was a human with a camera crouched real low…).  I also loved that the team messed up several times…  ;)  We are all human here, even outside the Fiesta of the Horse!  I don’t speak Spanish but I’m pretty sure I know what the leader was saying…

Well, since I know nothing, really, about the training of these horses, I’m leaving the forum open.  I, of course, always feel sorry for horses in extreme bits.  But, I also hear the argument that these horses are so well trained that they never feel the bit.  Dunno.  All I do know is that I hope you enjoy these videos.  And, if you can educate me, please do!

Oh, and if you cannot open these embedded videos, these You Tube links will work.  Video 1.  Video 2.

HORSE AND MAN is a blog in growth… if you like this, please pass it around!