Winter Closes In: Hibernating With Carriage Driving Fodder

With colder weather on its way and Christmas coming up, I thought I'd alert you to some reading material.  Any carriage driving enthusiast should read the following historical books: A Manual of Coaching by Fairman Rogers, Driving For Pleasure by Francis T. Underhill, Driving by the Duke of Beaufort, The Private Stable by James Albert Garland and Driving As I Found It by Frank Swales.  All are still as relevant as Shakespeare.  Santa might have to dig a little to find them, but Amazon and ebay are enterprising elves.  Original copies will set you back one to several hundred dollars, but they are all worth holding in your hand.  Reprints are he next best thing, but try not to buy the photocopied paperbacks.  The quality is awful and disrespectful to these grand books.  You can find several of them available for download, which is nice but there is nothing like leafing through the pages of these historical tomes.

For the grandkids, Sue Greenall's Animal Lovers' Bed Time Reader or her latest, Animal Lovers' Bedtime Stories.  These are lovely books to encourage and inspire children to have animals as important elements of their lives.

If it is audio visual material that you need to inspire 2011 carriage driving plans, check out anything by Tim Maloy available for purchase online at: http://www.cavewoodproductions.co.uk/store.html If you aren't familiar with Tim's name, do a search on this blog and view some of his excellent video shorts.  World Four In Hand Championships 2002 from Jarez is available on VHS from Driving Essentials and is excellent.  I have not see the Aachen 2006 Championships yet [ehem, Santa], but I'm sure it is equally as thrilling.  You can order that online through: http://www.aachen2006.de/HighlightDVD_e.htm

Search Amazon.com for carriage driving

Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
www.hossbiz.com
Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Precursor to Modern CDEs

CARRIAGE AND HORSES DERBY IN HAMBURG

Things have certainly changed in the last 40 years. This is archival footage from Germany, circa 1965. There are lots of things to spot: How many VWs can you count? Name the vehicles. How many current ADS violations? [Click on the photo to load video.]

It is wonderful footage and my kind of sport. Higherst rregards to British Pathe for preserving it for our viewing pleasure.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Archival Footage from British Pathe

HACKNEY HORSES

A sweet little film about Hackneys...got to love them. [Click the photo to load film.]

An apology about blog fodder: I've been having computer and internet problems recently, so apologize for all the substitute blog entries. I hope to have this corrected soon. thanks for sticking with me.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

A Blog About A Blog

Here is a link to my good friend Todd Frey's blog. Todd inspired me to start this one and I still enjoy all his posts. This particular one is about an outstanding restoration of an important piece of carriage driving history that will be of interest to anyone who likes to see pretty antiques restored to their glory.

Thanks, Todd.

http://americancarriagebuilder.blogspot.com/2010/11/every-time-i-post-new-blog-i-seem-to.html

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipty

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Sex, Clothes and Montana

The addition of the Popular Posts gadget brought me interesting information about my blog and its readers. According to the top 2 posts, you lot like blogs involving any level of sexiness best.

In order to feed your need for sexiness, go visit J.L. Powell's website. They now have a short video that shows the clothing in motion-Mr. Just Luscious [you wondered what the J and the L stood for, yes?] Powell flying, fly fishing, riding a horse, hunting and camping with Montana starring as the view. It is one minute and twenty one seconds of the sexiest, most heavenly, most breathtaking, sighing...

Go:

http://www.jlpowellusa.com/index.html

Enjoy a swig of the Sporting Life from that double hip flask , strap on some English bridle leather, mount your horse and feel the warmth of the cashmere lined J.L. Powell style.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes, indeed.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

That Poem in Tim Maloy's Film

In Praise Of The Horse by Ronald Duncan

Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride, friendship without envy, or beauty without vanity? Here where grace is laced with muscle and strength by gentleness confined. He serves without servility; he has fought without enmity. There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent; there is nothing so quick, nothing more patient. England's past has been borne on his back. All our history is in his industry. We are his heirs; He is our inheritance. Ladies and Gentlemen - I give you the Horse! Kind Regards,Michelle BlacklerSerendipitywww.hossbiz.comSerendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.

Rocking Civilization with Tim Maloy and Carriage Driving

A new film by Serendipity's favorite filmmaker...

Driving Trials - A Time For Change from Tim Maloy on Vimeo.

Thanks, Tim!

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

Serendipity

www.hossbiz.com

Serendipity is an Accidental Sagacity Corporation company.