Friday, July 03, 2009

war horse

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Wish I could see the show in person!



16 comments:

Dougie Donk said...

This show will be running till Feb 2010, so it is definitely on my "to do" list!

Know it's only a play, but I just know it will make me cry - there were so many horses conscripted & the ones who made it through the war were just left behind......

billie said...

Oh, I hope when you go you'll take some photos and give us a firsthand report!

I'm sure I would cry too. We were watching Band of Brothers awhile back and there was a scene where some German horses were killed - my husband made the comment that they were probably Hanoverians - it's hard to walk out to the barn and imagine any of mine going into a war.

Grey Horse Matters said...

That looks very cool, wish I could see it too. Maybe someday they will run it here.
It's just such a shame so many horses were killed or left behind in so many wars. How sad some people don't care for their horses the way they deserve.

Mamie said...

Because I'm not a very good listener :) it took me a few seconds to realize that these were puppets. Incredible. I may have to post it over on my blog. Hope you're doing well, Billie.

billie said...

Arlene, I'm glad there's a tribute to all those horses. I'd try to get to NYC to see this one if it came.

billie said...

Hi, Mamie! Hope you're well - these ARE incredible puppets. I believe they capture the essence of "horse" amazingly well.

Buddy said...

At first glance I thought they were horses - not puppets - thats truly amazing.

billie said...

Buddy, I agree - that first few seconds on the video is so realistic it almost seems impossible to tell they are puppets.

Unknown said...

It took me several seconds too. I was thinking they've put some sort of wires all over this horse. Amazing. And I was floored when they said Britain lost "close to a million horses" in WWI. That means many millions were killed by all sides. Horrible.

billie said...

It's terrible to think of all the lives - human and equine - that were lost. The horses who fought deserve to be remembered as much as the men they carried.

Unknown said...

True, true. And I always think about the dogs. I guess we've all read and heard the many stories of soldiers who tried to get the military to let them bring their service dogs back from overseas, but were forced to leave them behind.

billie said...

Interesting - we were just sitting in the back field with the horses while several neighbors (thankfully not the ones right next to us) were setting off fireworks.

We were talking about what the animals - not just the horses and donkeys, but dogs, cats, wild creatures who live here - were thinking. The songbirds sleeping in the trees right where they were going off must have been terrified.

War must be like that exponentially.

Matthew said...

I recently heard a story about dogs in Afghanistan being trained to sniff out IEDs. Apparently one of the big problems is that the people who work with the dogs come to love them so much they don't want to let the dogs risk their lives going up to potential bombs.

The more time I spend with animals, the more I feel them to be beings with the same spiritual reality as people.

billie said...

OMG - I can't believe they use dogs for that!!

Unknown said...

The Marines are using mules and donkeys to haul weapons and stuff in Afghanistan. There was a story in today's LA Times about them training here in California. Call me a pacifist, but I think it's time we humans fought our battles - or learned how not to - without involving other species.

billie said...

Oh no - this is terrible! I'm going to put your comment with the link in a new post. Thanks, Kyle.