Chronicle of the Horse | November December 2018

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2018

SABLE ISLAND’S HORSES Images By Drew Doggett

Celebrating 60 Years Of A Big-City Show HOLIDAY

MUST-HAVES

A SUPPLEMENT TO THE CHRONICLE OF THE HORSE

LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS

Seeing The World WITH LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS

Contributors to the “Life Between The Ears” social media accounts transport us to the world’s most interesting and beautiful places—all viewed from the saddle.

Each issue, we share a few of their images.

WINDSOR, ENGLAND The Copper Horse, a bronze monument to King George III that was erected in 1831, graces Snow Hill in Windsor Great Park, on the grounds of Windsor Castle, which is barely visible in the background of the photo at the end of what is called the Long Walk.

Windsor. She hacks out in Windsor Great Park on her mount Rock daily and started taking photos of their adventures and sharing them on Instagram at the @Life_Through_The_Ears account. They see Windsor Castle, herds of deer, ancient oak trees and various statues on their jaunts. The park, most of which is open to the public, spans 5,000 acres and dates from the mid-13th century.

Rock, Harker’s mount for the last six years, is a retired military horse.

“He was part of the Light Cavalry HAC,” said Harker. “He’s now 20 years old, and due to some hock issues and navicular, I’ve had to slow his pace of life down a little. Hence the hacking! We used to do some tent pegging—a military sport [involving] an 8-foot lance, galloping in a straight line, and hoping to be able to hit and carry a peg on the ground! I’ve also been lucky enough to do all sorts of displays and events with him through the military, such as the British Military Tournament.”

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Claire Harker/@Life_Through_The_Ears Photo

Claire Harker, who works as a senior account manager in video games sales, lives in

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JUNEAU, ALASKA Evie Walker took this photo on one of her rides in the wetlands of Juneau in the early spring.

She notes that as the summer progresses, this landscape becomes a vivid green. This area is just behind the barn where Walker’s horse Lacey lives, so she enjoys visiting the spot whenever the weather allows.

“She’s an 18-year-old Canadian special (Morgan-Arabian-Quarter Horse in various unknown quantities.) She’s built like a very squishy propane tank, no bareback pad necessary,” said Walker. “So far we’ve spent 12 years together. I’m so lucky to have a horse who’s always game to amble down a familiar trail or explore a new area.”

Walker is 24 and works as a candy-maker in a tourist-oriented shop in Juneau, the capital city of Alaska. Juneau is located at the base of Mount Juneau and is a popular destination for cruise ships.

“The tourist season runs from May to September, and over a million tourists will visit this season! Pretty good for a town of 32,000,” she said.

The extremely rugged terrain around Juneau means there is no road network connecting it to the rest of the state; all travel in and out of the city by boat or airplane.

“During the tourist months our rides are my escape from the hustle and bustle of the daily deluge of people,” said Walker. “Horses live in you can stop and appreciate everything that is happening on a second-by-second basis; nothing is rushed. I believe that Lacey is that once-in-a-lifetime horse—never easy but always willing. I hope to have her for another 12 years, minimum! We have more to learn and more trails to ride.”

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Evie Walker/@squirrelchild

the moment, and if you slow down with them

Charlotte Frérot/@_cha Photo

PATAGONIA, CHILE Charlotte Frérot had a previous life in Paris, working as a

park is one of the most visited in Chile. The park is named

leader of the French network of the United Nations Global

for three distinctive granite peaks that are part of the Paine

Compact program in the area of sustainable development

mountain range.

and business. “I left everything to finally reconnect with nature and my whole life passion: horses,” Frérot said.

This photo was taken as Frérot was helping to separate a herd of sheep into different groups for the winter season.

“I found my home in Patagonia where horses are at the

“The mare in the picture is called Chorizo because of

very core of the culture,” she said. “So for a year now, I live in

her morphology,” said Frérot. “She is a Chilean breed and

Chilean Patagonia, where I feel like I am truly alive. I traveled

working horse from the Estancia Dos Elianas, where I

the world but can’t imagine a better place to ride horses all

worked. We ride her to quarter the estancia, look for and

day long, and we always have a good excuse to do it.”

gathering the sheep, and to do horseback riding with

This year, Frérot is working as a guide at the Hotel Las

tourists. But she has too much personality to be ridden by

Torres in the Torres del Paine National Park. The Torres del

beginners, so she is just for the guides. She is very smart,

Paine National Park encompasses more than 500,000 acres

obstinate and sometimes lazy, but I like her anyway.”

and altitudes between 50 and 10,000 feet. Its landscape includes glaciers, lakes, mountain lakes and rivers, and the

This photo is also part of Life Between The Ears’ fourth collection of notecards.

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it constructed to keep the local population employed. He would roll stones from the top of the hill back to the bottom to prolong the project, thereby keeping the laborers working and paid.

Ross lives in nearby Ardvannie Croft, Susan Ross/@ambernectarsoo Photo

Edderton, where her family keeps a flock of Suffolk sheep and four horses. Ross has a dog grooming business that she runs out of the family farm, allowing her a flexible work schedule to ride.

She bred, broke and trained Amber herself.

“It’s been a long road with her,” Ross

FYRISH, SCOTLAND

said. “She broke her

Susan Ross took this photo through the ears of Amber, a

leg in a field accident when she was 4 and spent most

Hanoverian-Thoroughbred cross, on Amber and Ross’ first

of that year on box rest recovering. I backed her when

hack up to the famous Fyrish monument.

she was 6 and have done lots of hillwork and hacking up

“It’s been on my bucket list for a long time to do it on

until this year when we’ve started more schooling and jumping. She won her first dressage competition this

horseback,” Ross said.

The Fyrish monument was built in 1782 on Fyrish Hill near Alness in Scotland. Supposedly Sir Hector Munro ordered

year, which was such a proud moment for me after all she’s been through.”

S

ince 2008, Life Between The Ears founder Kristine Dahms has posted stunning photos shot by riders in all corners of the world with one hand on the reins and the other on the shutter.

Dahms mines photos with the hashtag #lifebetweentheears, contacts the original poster of the image, then features the photo, complete with educational details about the place that’s portrayed.

Life Between The Ears photos appear on a LBTE Facebook page, an Instagram feed, a dedicated website (lifebetweentheears.com), a Twitter feed and a Pinterest page (all under @lifebetweentheears account names).

Dahms—who lives in Vashon, Washington, with her Welsh Cob,

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mini horse, pygmy goats, two dogs and two cats—rides dressage and takes quite a few photos herself on the picturesque Vashon-Maury Island.

Dahms has taken some of the Life Between The Ears images from cyberspace to print, creating three lines of greeting cards with selected photos from her social media pages. A portion of the proceeds from the card sales goes to the Equine Land Conservation Resource (elcr.org). Cards are available at lifebetweentheears.com/retail.

Rick Dahms Photo

SHARING LIFE BETWEEN THE EARS