Harryâs Ride....This one is alive though
I havenât had the opportunity to post about the other side of horsepower (not cars) since Liam bought Titanium Z. But, thanks to Harryâs âDaylightâ video, a whole new opportunity has opened.
First off, I am trying NOT to pop @twopoppies balloon here, but Harry is not the greatest rider. His posture and overall riding âseatâ is too forward at times, and then he overcompensates and looks like he is going to roll off the back end. He isnât using his legs, making them flop around at the sitting trot. I am a bit surprised at this, given the folklore of him wrapping his legs around certain people (Louis). A sitting trot, by the by, is where the horse is trotting but the rider is sitting and not posting, the up/down motion that is commonly seen with English riders.
Which brings up the next part. The tack on this horse is Western, which is... odd. Western tack in England is not common, as in VERY not common. I saw a post, somewhere, which was about the markings on the saddle, the â28âł or âZBâ or whatever it is, stating that the saddle HAD to be a choice. I whole heartedly concur for several reasons. Perhaps the choice for a Western saddle was because there would be a saddle horn for Harry to hold onto while the horse reared up:
English saddles donât have a saddle horn.
The stirrups are Western, the saddle is Western, the bridle is a Western show bridle, the reins are Western (the ends are hanging down on the opposite side as opposed to being looped together like English reins).
This saddle is also too small for Harry. You canât see the cantle on the back of the saddle, which could be because of the trousers, but the trousers arenât THAT big. There should also be some space between his leg and the swell, which is the raised part in the front of the saddle where the saddle horn is.
You can see the difference between the two photos here. So using this saddle was a choice, possibly because of necessity for the reasons mentioned above, but a choice nonetheless.
Iâm going to nitpick a bit on the tack here, so please bear with me. The saddle does NOT go with the bridle. That bridle has conchos and silver pieces, not to mention is a dark colour, possibly black, and is a very nice show bridle. That bridle belongs TO that horse, it fits the horse, the bit fits the horse. The saddle, however is NOT a show saddle. It isnât even the same colour as the bridle, and thats unusual. Typically, a show saddle is sold with a matching bridle, so somewhere, there is a saddle that matches that bridle, but it isnât the saddle here. Below is a show saddle with all the pieces, including the headstall of the bridle, and reins and they all MATCH. Harryâs does not.
The saddle in the mv appears to be a round skirt saddle
This can be a trail saddle or a barrel riding saddle, but again, not a show saddle that matches the bridle. It looks rather odd to have a mismatched saddle and bridle, especially if the colours donât match, which here they donât. So again, a choice.
As for the markings on the saddle, this post has a possible source for the horse used in the video, Z B Equestrian Services, which is a boarding stable that also offers schooling, possibly lessons as well. If so, having the initials of the stable branded onto saddles used for lessons isn't a far fetched idea. But I am a bit skeptical that this horse came from such a boarding stable, unless its the personal horse of the owner.
Now, the actual horse. There are a couple of breeds that this horse could be. It could be a Fresian or an Irish Draft, those are my two top picks. This horse has feathered feet and clearly has some amount of draft horse in its breeding, which both the Fresian and Irish Draft horse do. Fresians tend to have extremely long flowy manes and tails, which this one doesnât particularly have, but its still a possibility. Either way, gorgeous specimen of an animal here and well trained. Getting a horse to rear like that on cue takes a good deal of training, which makes me lean more towards the Fresian as they are used for such stunts more commonly. If you have even been to a Renaissance Faire and seen jousting and there was a stunning black horse being ridden, that was probably a Fresian.
Am I impressed that Harry stayed seated on a rearing horse? Yes, yes I am. Although I imagine there might have been a slip or two along the way. But he looks very composed doing what is a scary maneuver, any way you look at it. So take heart in that, @twopoppiesâ .
