Sport of Kings and Queens-with-Plates to give away, and Leopards oh my!

Man's exploitative use of the horse has been ongoing, in every culture on earth, since 4500 BC.

Ah yes...Exploitative Man (which came immediately after prehistoric man), millennia and horse....
Where would any of us be without the trusty steed to have gallantly brought us to the wincing days of the V8 Mustang GT?

If we look back, it was somewhere in all that evolving of going from nomadic to an agriculturally inclined people...and all that sitting cross legged waiting around for the crops to take root and grow, man found he suddenly had some extra recreational time on his hands....add to that manure mix, annoying neighbours!

Notice how the term never came to be "yeabours"...no? Ever wonder why? Cause they make us whinny, and snort, and scoff, and shake our heads, and neigh at them as soon as we round the corner of our purposely built blocking buildings.

So it wasn't long before aggravated-cultural-neighbour-man-challenged-neighbour, to see who indeed had the stronger steed, who's horse was the most loyal to it's owner and would go the extra mile, or die trying, not to let it's master down.....with the horse knowing full well he'd probably get a thrashing once back in the barn, if it didn't out perform & outrun a comet in front of everyone, when reputations and high stakes are riding on it most.

Thus the horse race of testosterone stetsonhood was likely born.

Don't quote me, I may be having a Farley Mowat moment with my historical info.

But I bet you $20 on a 2-1 I'm not far off.

To gallop through the years at breakneck speed...

Genghis Khan [aka: Temüjin], Alexander-the-debateable-great, Joan of Arc, everyone who ever competed in all those Greek and Roman smash 'em crash em up chariot races, the Knights who say Ni...no wait, they only had coconuts for horses, but there were those who came back from those pillaging crusades with shiny sleek new preowned Arabian horses, which made their dowdy old frumpy lumpy saggy back droopy eyed English horses (who looked that way cause they knew damn well how depressing 364 days of unrelenting rain was) look a bit portly and peely wally, which reminds me...there was also John Wayne.

So, there it is.

Everyone who was anyone rode into history on horseback.

Like the guy who was on Eye Of The Leopard today at the 150th Queen's Plate at Woodbine Race track Toronto.

That horse ought to be eating off the fine china from Queen Elizabeth's very own dining room hutch and sitting at her table, for being at the top of his game today.

All the Kings horses and all the concerted efforts, from prehistoric man right up to today's exploitative man can sit back and simply chew in their feed bag knowing that's one more natural damn-hard-day in the life of a horse done.

Congratulations to Eye of the Leopard for devastating my Milwaukee Appeal choice into a state of on-the-track-ennui which resulted in third place race for him...poor wee colt will get a thrashing tonight even if it's only a tongue lashing thrashing - but not by me!!!!

I just hope these gorgeous animals are treated far better than royalty is. Every single day of the year, throughout their entire lives.

They are utterly regal, elegant and stunning. And humbling to watch go full out.
Nothing like raw natural thunderous power to stir the senses.

The appeal is real.

My only appeal would be that they, along with every animal species that have somehow managed to exist with exploitative man, is appreciated, loved, respected and taken care of.

We hardly deserve the beauty that exists.

But what a sight when we see it !