Friday, September 12, 2008

I'm No. 1!

Besides having the dubious distinction of being the No. 1 Google hit for "squash porn" (though I see I've now been bumped down to No. 3), I'm now the top hit for "equine riot gear" after I posted about the plexiglass face shields I saw on the horses of the mounted police during the DNC.

Which reminds me of something else I ran across while looking up that gear: crowd-control balls. These giant balls run about $250 and are used to train horses not to back down from large objects but to push against them and move them around.

Training also includes walking horses through fluttering curtains and over piles of trash. They have pompoms fluttered in their faces and trash bags full of cans rattled at them. If you've ever wondered why police horses are so unflappable, now you know.

Another accessory I found that amused me is for any horse that is excessively bothered by flies on its ears: a crocheted snood.

Kind of cute!

I can't mock it, being someone who puts a hot pink sweater on her poodle when the old girl starts shivering. (It's one of my old sweaters, not something I bought for her.)

The Internets are great for picking odd bits of interesting information that you didn't know you wanted to know.

7 comments:

  1. Squash Porn? Awesome.
    Horse hats - we put straw hats on our horses, they look ridiculous but the flies are off their faces.
    Horse training - we also need a way to overcome the horse's innate belief that mailboxes, storm drains and small garden gnomes are representatives of the root of all evil and must be run from at all costs - preferably after a good amount of dramatic head tossing, bucking, rearing and mouth frothing.

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  2. I recently found out that a dog run friend of mine, whom I always thought was just a casual rider because she'd mention the stables and her horse every once in a while, is actually a mounted police officer. I am a little starstruck now.

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  3. Congratz on your ... uh... victories? XD This made me chuckle.

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  4. I rather love the giant horse beach balls. Oh, the internet, we would be so productive without you, but shamefully bereft of pictures of horses in crocheted bonnets.

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  5. Alecto, I guess it really does take a lot of training for some horses, especially the more nervous ones. I remember Sophie as a puppy being freaked out by garbage bags and skateboards. Now she doesn't blink.

    Lisa, that's so cool! You should interview her.

    Thanks, mimi and Wendi! It does make me feel special.

    Rach, the internet is indeed a mixed blessing. It makes my job way easier, but it's exceedingly distracting sometimes!

    Peggy, the comments make it all worthwhile.

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