Horses

 

Horses

                                            Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

A colleague of Barry’s wanted to leave work early one Friday afternoon, because he was expecting delivery of a pile of horse manure and intended to spend the weekend working it into his garden soil. On the following Monday, Barry enquired how the work had gone. His colleague looked a little sheepish and said, ‘Well, it wasn’t there when I got home and when I ‘phoned the supplier (presumably the local stables) to ask where it was, he said it had definitely been delivered. We decided not to pursue the matter. I just hope the lucky recipient was pleased with his unexpected gift.’

There are a number of horse riders in our area and sometimes they have to access public roads, which always seems incredibly dangerous to me. Most car drivers know that they should pass wide and slowly. Sometimes it is impossible, without resorting to a horse box, to reach ground where horse and rider can exercise, without travelling on roads, even for a short distance.

From time to time there are spats on the local community Facebook page.

Today’s made me laugh. It concerned a complaint from a local resident that a horse had dropped dung outside her house. She had suggested that it would be courteous for the rider to knock on the door to alert the householder about the pile. She had posted a photograph of the offending article(s).

The initial sharp reaction was as follows: If you’re happy to stand by the path ready to hold a horse for a rider whilst they dismount so they can kick the poo to the side then I’m sure they’ll take you up on that offer. You’ll also need to give them a leg up to get back on the horse of course (or have a mounting block on standby). The law doesn't require equestrians to collect poo, partly because there's no practical way for them to do it, but also because it is just grass and water. It's just not realistic to expect a rider to dismount mid ride to clear it up, unless there is somewhere safe for them to tie their horse up and to mount again from.

 This was followed by someone commenting, ‘Hey! Get off your high horse!😊'

 The next person said, ‘Surely an inspiration for a local firm to start selling horse nappies?😉'

 The final reaction was, ‘Bloody horse riders don’t pay no road tax, slow us down when we’re trying to get somewhere and shit all over our roads.’😂😂😂'

There is always the voice of reason in these instances and sure enough someone posted a screenshot of the section of the Highway Code that refers to equestrians. Specifically, horses are not allowed on footpaths.   

I looked again at the householder’s photograph and lo and behold, the no longer steaming pile of dung was on the path outside her house. The thing is that I didn’t see the suggestion or complaint until after I’d seen the responses to it – a quirk of Facebook, perhaps - and initially I had thought the complaint was about dung on the road.

Years ago, on my way home from work, I regularly passed an elderly chap who lived in a ramshackle house near the road. I saw him many times with his bucket and shovel ‘clearing’ the road. Very good for roses, I believe. 

28,000

 

28,000

"Thank heavens we've got a navy". 

Less than three months before the start of the First World War, on 28^th July, 1914, the popular perception of Great Britain’s ability to defend itself against invasion was neatly summed up in this ‘Punch’ cartoon by Leonard Raven-Hill (1867-1942)

‘Punch or The London Charivari’ was a weekly British magazine established in 1841. Its content was humorous and satirical. It was published for 150 years, closing in 1992. Four years later it was revived, but finally closed for good in 2002.

Great Britain had no conscription (state-ordered enlistment to a national, usually military service) until 1916, two years after the commencement of war, while all the other belligerents had conscription from the start. Thus, Great Britain was always under strength and had great difficulty replacing casualties. By the end of the war the land force numbered just over 2 million. However, nearly 5½ million served in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in total, of whom around 880,000 perished. Thousands of others suffered life-altering injuries.

The British Army had 28,000 veterinary staff serving in France alone. There were huge animal hospitals to care for sick animals which had often been damaged due to neglect and overwork as much as injury.

Pack mules carrying ammunition

Two million horses, mules and donkeys were used during the First World War In addition to carrying cavalry troops, they moved heavy artillery, transported stores and ammunition and drew ambulances. War dogs were used as messenger dogs and to carry medical supplies and water to injured soldiers in no-man’s land. Pigeons were also used to carry military messages.

A poisonous beauty

I took these photographs to capture the butterfly in my ongoing attempt to add to my ability to identify lepidoptera - currently I am confident of correctly naming two! At the same time I thought I would increase my botanical knowledge. So, instead of giving you 'a plant with flowers like yellow daisies' I would like to introduce you to Senecio jacobaea, otherwise known as Common ragwort. It was believed mistakenly that an infusion made from the plant would cure staggers, a disease affecting the brain and spinal cord of horses. Because of its supposed power it was named for Saint James, the patron saint of horses. It was also said to start flowering on 25th July, Saint James' Day.

In fact, its leaves contain an alkaloid poison. The poison also stays in plants that have been dried with hay. In this state it can be eaten by farm stock and will destroy their livers over a period of months.

'Ragwort' refers to the ragged leaves. The Scots call this plant 'stinking Billy' because it smells unpleasant when bruised. 'Billy' was William, Duke of Cumberland, who was victorious at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and vicious in his reprisals against the Jacobites. Sweet Williams (Dianthus barbatus) are also known as 'stinking Billy'.

The butterfly is a Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) I think but feel free to correct me if you know better. There is also a bee on the ragwort.