Patches the Coolest Horse

Man Jailed After Punching Police Horse's Rear End

TAMPA - Police arrested a Lakeland man early this morning on charges that he punched a police horse in the rear end.
It should be no surprise the incident occurred about 3:15 a.m. in Ybor City.

The Tampa Police Department report said the officer and horse were clearing the street and sidewalks in the 19th Street area of Seventh Avenue.

Carl Coward, 24, of 111 Hodges Road, Lakeland, balled his fist and punched the horse in the right rear hip area, the report states.

Coward was charged with battery of a law enforcement animal and is being held at the Orient Road Jail on $500 bond, jail records show.

The report does not indicate whether the horse suffered any serious injury.

www.msnbc.msn.com

Weight limit eases the load on beach donkeys

LONDON (Reuters) - Relief is in sight for Britain's hard-working beach donkeys -- from now on they won't have to carry anyone weighing over eight stone.
Nor will they have to work more than six days a week or have to show off their foals to tourists, under a new national code of practice unveiled on Friday.
Blackpool, which with 200 animals has the largest number of working donkeys, has become the first resort to adopt the new rules.
The charter from the Donkey Sanctuary charity says anyone over the eight-stone (51 kg) limit will not be able to ride the 850 resort animals -- and that includes overweight children.
The charter, backed by the British Equine Vets' Association, stipulates the animals should always have one full day of rest per week.
They should also get an hour's lunch break if working for long periods.
The rules ban heavily pregnant mares from working and from having to show off their young foals to tourists.
Donkey rides are one of the oldest and most popular attractions on many of the country's beaches and the image of portly riders weighing down the long-suffering beasts have long featured on "Wish You Were Here" cartoon postcards.
The new rules come as the problem of obesity is growing.
A recent government study predicted that half the population could be obese within 25 years while experts believe one million children will be overweight in a decade.
The Sanctuary's head of welfare, Martin Taggart, said the rules were designed to remind people about the laws against animal cruelty.
"There are some people that love to subject the donkey to some ridicule," he told Reuters. "We are trying to protect the donkey from that."
Henry Mitchell, Blackpool council's licensing head, said in a statement he was delighted with the new code of practice.
"We've had a Donkey Charter in place since 1942, which covers the same recommendations and we are delighted to be the first to adopt the code," he said.

(Editing by Stephen Addison)

www.uk.news.yahoo.com

Rider escapes drowning

A West Coast woman had to fight for her life when she fell from her horse and was washed out to sea in a rip.

Jessie Scott, 29, of Greymouth, was riding with a friend on a beach near Greymouth on Saturday when a large wave broke, taking the sand from under the feet of her horse Kisses, dumping her in the water.

"One minute I was sitting on the sand and the next minute I was fighting for my life." She managed to swim past the breakers, then "relaxed and let the waves carry me to shore".

A passerby pulled her in.

www.herald.co.nz

Galloping realism but no horse voices

Opera Australia's new production of Carmen takes its bullfighter star on an unexpected ride.

REALISM takes centre stage in the new production of Bizet's Carmen that opens Opera Australia's Melbourne season today. Not only does Joshua Bloom, who plays the bullfighter Escamillo, wear a matador costume specially made for him in Spain; he makes his entrance riding a horse.
"It's the first time I've ever ridden a horse on stage before," he says. "In fact, it's the first time I've ever ridden."
The opera's tale of a tragic love triangle in which a soldier and a bullfighter vie for the affections of the strong-willed gypsy who epitomises freedom is one of the most popular in the repertoire.
American director Francesco Zambello, who also directed the Disney production of The Little Mermaid on Broadway this year, uses two horses, a donkey and chickens to convey the atmosphere of 19th-century Spain.
The opera's theme of free spirit versus duty and its exploration of class and the social position of women created a furore when the work was first performed in Paris in 1875.
Bloom, who graduated from the University of Melbourne before he joined Opera Australia's young artists program in Sydney in 1999 and is now based in the US, says he found the production very confronting.
"It's incredible to have a horse on stage and my first reaction was, 'they couldn't be serious'," he says.
But he knew the production was a hit when it was first presented at London's Covent Garden in 2006. "Opera is incredibly expensive and it's now rare for a production to be conceived for only one house."
Bloom had extensive training at the stables where the horses are based before beginning rehearsals. "They have to get used to us and we have to get used to them," he says.
Steven Jefferys, who was the Lone Rider who cracked the whip to start the Sydney Olympic Games opening ceremony, is the trainer of the horses, Jamieson and Drummer, used in the show.
He is on stage dressed as a toreador riding the second horse, with Carmen (played by English mezzo-soprano Pamela Helen Stephen) sitting behind him.
He jokes that the extensive training involved for the animals did not extend to teaching them to sing. "But horses are very big animals that can move very quickly, which is why we had to desensitise them to the stage environment," Jefferys says.
"They had to learn to be relaxed in the space and the sudden sounds and lights. They had to become familiar to everything that can happen."
The animals wear special rubber shoes so they do not slip and are exercised at a property near Pakenham to rid them of excess energy before they make their appearances. He says bowel and bladder functions are also encouraged on the property.
"Horses are creatures of habit and we just hope there is nothing left by the time they get on stage. This is work for them, so the urge to go to the toilet would only come up if they became frightened or nervous."
Jefferys says he has become a specialist in training horses for shows. He has worked on a military tattoo in Sydney and Melbourne's Equitana and last year spent six months preparing for the Asian Games in Doha.
But he describes his experience on the opera stage as "pretty special" because audiences are so surprised by the animals' entrances. "Even horse people can't believe how well behaved the animals are."
Learning to ride was not the only skill Bloom had to master for the production. "It has been more physical than most," he says, referring to the choreographed knife fight he has with Rosario La Spina's Don Jose, his rival for Carmen's attentions.
Bloom, who has been based in San Francisco since he joined a young opera program there in 2001, will make his debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera later this year as Masetto in Mozart's Don Giovanni.
Carmen at the State Theatre from tonight until May 10. For bookings go to opera-australia.org.au or call 1300 136 166.