This beautiful Friesian was one of the horses attending yesterday's Blessing of the Animals in the village of Gorbio. He's a horse trained in dressage but had great difficulty yesterday walking on the cobbles - slipping all the time. He (and a friend below) are taking a drink out of fountain, constructed in 1902 for the use of mules and donkeys. It's made in the form of a packsaddle, with the water containers - one on each side - reminding one of large paniers (baskets). You can see the entire fountain HERE.
The photo below shows the entrance to the Medieval village.
The photo below shows the entrance to the Medieval village.
oh wow what a beautiful horse this is. I never heard of such kind of Blessings, but then again they are god's creatures after all. Maybe a blessing for the pigeons too ;)
ReplyDeleteJilly, gorgeous horse.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of the kid looking under the fountain. Kids will be kids.
--steve buser
New Orleans Daily Photo
I do hope the horse didn't fall. How frightening it must have been to slip, slip, slip.
ReplyDeleteJilly, I enjoy all your street photos. Cool!
ReplyDeleteSo you can bring a horse to water and you can make him drink ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat's a clever fountain - would the middle of the panier be reserved for the Homo Erectus?
those are gorgeous horses
ReplyDeleteSome churches in Baton Rouge have Blessings of the Animals in October, on the feast day of St Francis. It's nice that there are fountains to provide a refreshing drink for the horses!
ReplyDeleteVery nice photo. I love horses as you know and I can imagine they would have problems walking on the pavement there as their iron shoes offer no gripping edges.
ReplyDeleteNice to see them having their drinks. Nice to see the benediction.
ReplyDeleteTks for visting and "having a laugh"...I need some humour!!! (send it off for "reset to factory settings"...another week!!)
What a cool fountain! And I love these pictures of the horses.
ReplyDeleteIt was great to find your blog. Stop by and see more about horse blessings (and other pet blessings) at my blog located in the website http://www.blessingoftheanimals.com and let me know if I can snatch a pic and post a link for my readers.
ReplyDeleteLovely to see the fountains being used to good purpose. In my childhood village there is a place called the "Watering Trough" which is where horses used to stop for water when stagecoaches were around. The trough is no longer there but the name has stuck -- it was used to label the bus-stop!
ReplyDeleteThere is a church not far from us that has an annual service for animals.