Tuesday 13 August 2013

Day 13 - August Challenge

Challenge - "A moody close up of galloping horse or horses preferably in (B&W) would be great! :-)"

Suggested by - Tony via blog



Today I was being wowed by thousands of horse-power, literally!

From 6 am Monday — Saturday, the heath at Warren Hill in Newmarket becomes the exercise ground for pretty much the whole of the equine population of this Suffolk town, as Newmarket is the home of horseracing.

On this glorious August morning, each yard rode their horses to the gallops in turn. The rhythmic snort and the thundering of the hooves, heralded the arrival of the next wave of racing machines which powered their way up the hill towards the sun, steadily rising from behind the trees. Following this burst of action, horse and lad leisurely made their way back down the hill, returning to the stables, where some were to hop onto the next horse awaiting exercise.

I got chatting to a young heathman, scouting the vast area for anything that might endanger the horses. He told me that currently the grass gallop is out of action as the recent dry spell caused it to be hard going, and a number of horses had suffered bone breakages. So, depending on weather, there are several gallops that can be used, although today, the action was focused on the all weather gallops. He also told me that a counter placed on just one of the gallops clocked over 1100 horses in one session. Quite incredible!
Trying to recall my dim and distant riding knowledge about three beat canter and four beat gallop gait, I was interested to discover that most of the exercise is in the form of a pacy canter, with galloping only actually allowed on two days of the week.

Sadly, Tuesday is not a gallop day! So, Tony, I hope that you will forgive me for the slight non-conformity in your challenge.


The grab shot







My thanks to:
Tony for the suggestion




Tomorrow, Day 14

"Quartz"




2 comments:

  1. Your definitely pulling out all the Stops Celia another Super shot lots of texture and the Blk/Wht gives you a sort of warm feeling nostalgia! Great Stuff. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As long as you are happy with the result, Tony!
      It was a great shot to do.

      Delete

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