15 July 2016

Horses

 
At Wombwell Ings in the Dearne Valley, I noticed about fifty horses grazing in the rough pastureland or wandering to the edges of the "flashes" - temporary shallow lakes which disappear in especially dry months. The horses are owned by "travellers" or gipsies who have an encampment close by. The animals  are not well-manicured or groomed and like the travellers they spend a lot of time fending for themselves.

In just a few minutes I took more than fifty pictures of these horses but in this blogpost I am sharing just five of those images. I hope you like them.

23 comments:

  1. I love the way you inhabit a day.Did similar - pop over.

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    1. Okay, I am coming over Angela. I will just get my coat.

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  2. I find the black and white horses interesting as we don't have black and whites here.

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    1. For a high price, the gipsies would sell all those horses to Canada. Though balack and white they would be known as The Red Herd.

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    2. Hey let's go ! That sounds like a winner!

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  3. Those are interesting looking horses....black and white with tan manes...I don't think I've ever seen such unusual coloring on horses.

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    1. I think that's just dirt in the manes and tails.

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    2. I agree Jan. I also think it was dirt.

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  4. Piebald horses. You don't see many of those these days.

    Great photos Mr Pudding, especially the big horse leaping in the water. They are a little unkempt. Knots in the manes and the tan colour I suspect, is owed more to filth than natural colouring...

    Alphie

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    1. Are you a gipsy woman Alphie? You seem to know a lot about horses. Do you also sell clothes pegs and read tealeaves?

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  5. I don't know much about horses, but these look rather happy to me, in spite of them not being perfectly groomed and manicured. Great pictures!
    Steve was born in Wath-upon-Dearne (near Barnsley), we went there regularly to see his Mam until she moved to Ripon. There is a Wombwell nearby, but it's not the same Wombwell, is it?

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    1. Yes it is Meike. Just east of Wombwell and just south of Darfield you will find Wombwell Ings. Also nearby there is an RSPB Nature Reserve called Old Moor - a visit costs £5 and there's a cafe there too.You could easily walk there from Wath.

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  6. Horses are such beautiful creatures...well-groomed or not.

    (Some say similar about me...and I don't mean being an "old nag"! I thought I'd get that in before you did)! :)

    I love these photos...they make me feel as happy as those horses appear to be. Perhaps I am an old nag, after all. I don't nag, though!

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    1. You are like a sleek racehorse awaiting the start of the Melbourne Cup, whinnying and prancing with anticipation.

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  7. Beautiful photos. (Cheered me up on a sad day in France.)

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    1. How much more cruel and pointless killing must there be? To the victims of Nice I send my kisses.

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  8. Great shots! I didn't realize travellers moved around with horses in tow. Do they use them for anything -- farm labor, maybe?

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    1. When I was a boy they pulled wooden caravans. Now they race them or simply breed them. Horses are still important to gipsies.

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  9. Some cracking photos there Gromit.

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    1. I salute you Jimmy.

      (Jimmy Edwards hee-hee!)

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  10. They look so happy and carefree - would the world was the same.

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    1. There was a sense of community and wildness... like The Wild West. I guess that many days might pass before their gipsy masters come to round them up.

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  11. Looks like your very own mini Camargue YP. Lovely photos - it looks so peaceful.

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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