L'hiver viendra, les gars, l'hiver viendra

Le jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira...

Right now, Bubba the Round is on turnout. Jean-Leo over at Percheron-International recently published a post about Breton draft horses. I think they look an awful lot like Bubba. (Or, rather, Bubba looks a lot like a Breton draft horse, particularly the rounder specimens.)

You can be the judge of Bubba's parentage. I found this lovely video of Bretons on youtube (you will also note the large numbers of people wearing white shirts and black vests):



The music in the video is a traditional Breton song called "Le Jument de Michao."

Here are the lyrics:

Et dans dix ans je m'en irai
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter
Et dans dix ans je m'en irai
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter
J'entends le loup, le renard et la belette
J'entends le loup et le renard chanter

Et dans dix ans je m'en irai
Et dans dix ans je m'en irai

La jument de Michao et son petit poulain
Sont passés dans le pré, ont mangé tout le foin
La jument de Michao et son petit poulain
Sont passés dans le pré, ont mangé tout le foin

L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra
La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira
L'hiver viendra les gars, l'hiver viendra
La jument de Michao, elle s'en repentira

Translation:

In ten years I'm going to leave
I hear the wolf and the fox singing
In ten years I'm going to leave
I hear the wolf and the fox singing.

I hear the wolf, the fox, and the weasel
I hear the wolf and the fox singing
I hear the wolf, the fox, and the weasel
I hear the wolf and the fox singing

In ten years I'm going to leave
In ten years I'm going to leave

The mare of Michao and her little foal
Passed through the pasture and ate up all the hay
The mare of Michao and her little foal
Passed through the pasture and ate up all the hay

Winter is coming, boys, winter is coming
The mare of Michao is going to be sorry for it
Winter is coming, boys, winter is coming
The mare of Michao is going to be sorry for it.



Bubba spends all of his waking hours attempting to eat all the hay wherever he is.

This is the time of year when bad weather forces the carriage horses to either go on turnout or to stay in the barn. And it's when metaphorically we regret all the hay we ate in the field and didn't leave for the winter. A snow storm is coming in the next couple of days, so it looks like it's going to be at least Thursday before anyone does any work.

(Meanwhile, Bubba is out in Lancaster County eating so much hay that, if it's anything like last year, he won't be able to fit in the shafts come spring. If there's anything Bubba will repent for, it will be for getting so fat he'll have to go on a diet.)

On a tangentially related note:

We heard our own "wolf" Rinnie the German Shepherd singing yesterday afternoon when Noodle locked him in one of the stalls outside. I think Noodle was tired of Rinnie chasing him all the time.


Rinnie last year.

Some pics of Bubba from this summer:

Arctic Exercize

Tom trots 'round...


...and 'round...


...and 'round...


...and 'round...

It was 18 degrees yesterday in Philadelphia, so all of the carriage horses at 76 were tucked snugly in their nice, warm stalls inside the barn. It was so cold outside that there was ice on the insides of the wooden barn doors where the condensation from the horses' breath had frozen to it. And the horses put off enough heat that my glasses steamed up when I went in from the mid-teens temperatures after having free-longued Tom.

Regardless of the weather, though, the horses must get their exercize rather than being cooped up all the time, so I spent yesterday walking and longuing the 11 horses that aren't on turnout right now. It frigid enough, though, that even the most enthusiastic of yard-goers was ready to return to the warmth after only 10 to 15 minutes of exercize.

All this frozen tundra-cize must have worked up an appetite, though, because the boys were more than ready for their feed, supplemented by a nice warm bran mash. (Or maybe they're all just hungry as a, um, horse.)



Trump, Rex, Tom and Bill eagerly await their hot dinners.

This was the kind of happy day with the horses that reaffirms my belief that I have the coolest (and at times the coldest) job in the world.

Tomorrow we'll be back downtown, after being confined to the barn since Tuesday, because it shall be a balmy 35.

What's black and white and red all over?

This photo of BB at his morning toilette, that's what! Even the tourists dressed to match his spiffy red lead rope.

You're invited to Ben and Betsy's wedding

Yes, it's true: Betsy Ross is moving on to husband #4, none other than Ben Franklin.


Photo from nbc10.com

Ralph Archbold, who IS Ben Franklin in Philadelphia, is marrying Linda Wilde, who portrays Betsy Ross. Ben and Betsy are getting married July 3rd in front of Independence Hall in a public ceremony at 8 PM. You can read more here, here and here.

Mayor Michael Nutter will be officiating.

Peter Nero and the Philadelphia Pops will be providing the wedding music.

And 76 Carriage Company will be providing the horse-drawn carriage for transportation from the Omni hotel to the ceremony and then afterwards to the reception at the City Tavern.

I was telling my guests during a carriage ride recently about how "Ben" and "Betsy" were getting married. A cabbie with his window down must have only caught the "blah blab Ben Franklin [...] marrying Betsy Ross blah blah" part, because he stuck his whole upper body out of the window and practically shrieked in disbelief:

"Wait--Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross were MARRIED?!?!?!?!"

"No, they're GETTING married." I reassured him that his history was correct.

Only in Philadelphia, eh?

----------

This is not the first time, however, that 76 Carriage Company will have carted around Ben. Noodle and I took Ben Franklin, aka Ralph, on a ride to his 302nd birthday celebration back on January 17.

Photo from ushistory.org. It makes me cold just looking at it. (A good way to forget about the 90 degree weather.)

On a roll...

Pete's end of the day ritual. (It kinda negates the bath, but, hey, if it makes him feel good, I can groom a little more in the morning.)

The next great American Spotted Draft

Spot has a protegé. His name is Speck Tomahawk.

Maybe it was the big fancy truck...

Teddy in his sleek gooseneck trailer.


What makes us so blind that we cannot see what is right in front of us? Why do we let our prejudices and our past color that which stands before us, bright as day, bright as a white horse whose ancestors carried knights and kings?

I know that I spend an awful lot of time on this blog complaining about stupid things people say about me and the carriage horses, but sometimes they're just so unbelievably, entertainingly stupid they deserve to be retold here.

A couple of weekends ago, 76 Carriage horse Mike, fellow driver Kelly, Uncle Bill and I had a wedding to do in extreme South Philly. The job was too far for Mike to walk with the carriage, so he walked downtown to work, did a nice half hour tour for a lovely woman from Australia, and then was loaded on the gooseneck trailer for a short ride down to Oregon Avenue. Anyone who has ever been to South Philly knows that finding a place to park is no easy task, and it is even more difficult with a 30-foot horse trailer. So, we finally found a place near 10th and Bigler, right near Citizen's Bank Park (the Phillies were in town that afternoon).

We had the rear doors and tailgate down once the carriage had been unloaded and were re-harnessing Mike inside.

A couple of guys from the neighborhood pull up in a pick-up truck and strike up a conversation with Uncle Bill.

"That's a beautiful horse," they say, pausing to appropriately admire Mike's 2000 pounds of Percheron perfection. "So beautiful. Gorgeous. Very well taken care of."

Uncle Bill agrees. "Oh, very well taken care of."

They continue. "Yeah, not like those carriage horses you see downtown."

Oh, the look on their faces when they were told that Mike, the consumate carriage horse, had just come from work at 5th and Chestnut. Disbelief. Shock. And then, embarrassment. Humility.

And then they hit the accelerator.

Re-mark your calendars...

OK, so according to the New Amsterdam fan site, apparently they switched around their episodes on us (or didn't include the pilot in their episode numbering, or added another episode). So, Teddy and Noodle and Trump will not be in tonight's episode (103), but rather in next week's episode (104) on Monday, March 17th.

Ah, well--the horses will all get their day in the spotlight... On Saint Patrick's Day!

A BRUTAL MURDER IS REMINISCENT OF
ONE FROM THE PAST ON "NEW AMSTERDAM"
MONDAY, MARCH 17, ON FOX

The brutal rape and murder of a nun and similar attack on a photographer’s assistant who escapes death leads Amsterdam (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to remember similar crimes he witnessed in the 1800s when he was a coachman for a wealthy landowner. Meanwhile, Amsterdam and Sara get better acquainted on the “Honor” episode of NEW AMSTERDAM airing Monday, March 17 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (NAM-104) (TV-14 D, L, S, V)

Mark your calendars...

Teddy and Noodle are going to be on TV. On FOX primetime, no less.

Yes, that's right. At long last, Teddy and Noodle (and Trump the Movie Star, of course) are going to make their debut in episode 103 of New Amsterdam on Monday night (March 10) at 9 PM. Keep an eye out for them, along with our restored Brougham carriage, carriage #8, and its stunt double, carriage #17.

I watched the pilot episode last night (101). The show's really not that bad. In fact, it's at least half good. It may even be very good. So maybe New Amsterdam will get renewed and Trump can have his hoped-for on-going appearances as a New York City carriage horse.

You can catch episode 102 on Thursday night at 9, too.

And, no, you don't need to write Fox and tell them that the scene with Teddy and Noodle is historically inaccurate, because it's set in 1816 or thereabouts, and Percherons weren't imported into this country until 1839. We did our best! Teddy and Noodle were the only ones for the job. (Buzz did not appreciate his understudy role to Trump in Manhattan.)