Hi Wade,
Just found out the Casselly family is going to Ringling...
Now they're taking our elephants too :P
Hope you are well!
Simon
Simon,
"Taking our elephants too!!!!" You are insane. You owe us big time, and we are just collecting on the debt. We gave you the first White Tiger act in Europe as well as Col. Joe. Sure, you gave us Charly Baumann and Gunther Gebel Williams and I'm the first to admit the White Tigers and Col. Joe were weak repayment, but it was repayment none the less. Your bill is due Simon, and the Casselly's are coming to the Colonies. That's it, live with it.......... If they need any assistance they can contact the esteemed Col. John Milton Herriott. He love's African elephants. All we have left here that can still be called an elephant act, is the fine work the Frisco boys, Joe and Tim have produced, despite the help of that nit wit Joey.
Wade
Simon has a great circus blog. Check out the link below:
www.circusdays.be
Thursday, May 31, 2012
For Simon De Winter--Nut's to you, Pal!!!!! :)
Sacha Houcke's Sr. and Jr.
Sacha Houcke Sr.
Sacha Houcke Jr.
'I went to see the Ringling Show last week in the new building in Mexico City with a well known horse trainer, and as the tickets were comped I don't want to bad mouth it. I will instead quote the horse trainer upon seeing the horse acts, "just awful." An end ring of miniature horse's, which the horse trainer described as "worse then awful," a center ring of 6 former Houcke animals, and an end ring of, this one I will describe as I know Arabians, " four of the scrawniest, most poorly conformed, terrible looking grey horses I have ever seen in a circus ring." Other then that, production wise Nicole and Alana Feld have done an incredible job with the show. I found the large screen tv "distracting" and noted most of the audience looking up at the screen, instead of watching the live performance. Noted the owner of the most famous circus in Mexico, "this is like sitting at home watching a dvd." My favorite part of the show was the music for the high wire act. The elephant act? I prefer to pretend like it wasn't even there, it was that memorable.
GGW and MOG, All Due Respect, Mark
Like Ruth Mix, Monte Montana Jr., Dusty Rogers, and many others, Mark Oliver was given boot's that were impossible to fill. Such is the fate, of being the offspring of great men. None the less, Mark was a good performer and the circus today is lacking without his talent.
1985
Madame Col. Dianne Olds Rossi and Fire Magic(Chewy), the Red Fresian
This photo defines the terms "in the groove" and "locked in," the moment of perfection when the truly skilled become a Centaur.
"Riding forward is the essence of correct training. Just as the sculptor at first chisels the future outlines of his work of art with powerful blows out of the crude block of stone, and then lets it develop in increasingly finer detail in all its beauty, the aids of the rider must also become more and more delicate in the course of the horse's education. Every rider should always keep this strictly in mind and especially avoid destroying with crude aids, out of impatience or other reasons, what he has built in his previous work." Colonel Alois Podhajsky Director of The Spanish Riding School 1965
For Madame Col. The Great "Merlin"
Trust me, this photo of Merlin was not easy to come by. Although a tad "straight shouldered", I suggest the secret to his fabulous success and magic in the bull ring was his "short coupling" and "hip" which most likely came from the quarter horse side of his pedigree.
Win Some, Lose Some--The Great One's Walk On the Edge
Above, my screen saver
Susanna Forrest, link below, has the audacity to question me, when it is a verifiable fact that I have never been wrong in my life!!!! :)
Merlin the Bullfighting Horse « If Wishes Were Horses
Promoting Jacques Bonniers breeding program:
What can anybody tell me about an AZTECA horse?? [Archive ...
Very interesting! I had always thought that Aztecas were just a BYB thing (it's what we see around here) that someone had come up with a registry for. I had no idea it was a purpose-bred crossbreed with an established plan.
Does anyone have any links to GOOD Aztecas? They sound like cool little horses.
http://www.americanazteca.com/id16.htm
http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2008/12/merlin-registered-name-orpheo.html
"Merlin(Orpheo) is a Bullfighting Lusitano stallion 7/8's Lusitano X 1/8th Quarterhorse, bred by former Rejoneador Jacques Bonnier (the tall gray haired gentleman in the video who greets de Mendoza before he returns to the bull).http://www.jbpre.fr/jacques%20bonnier.htm Merlin was initially trained by Rafi Dumond, who is seen in the opening segment schooling Merlin. He is currently owned and ridden in the bullring by Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza. Although a Spaniard, de Mendoza, fights in the Portuguese style in which the horse and rider dispatch the bull rather than merely weakening the bull as the horse mounted picador does for the Matador in classical Spanish Bullfighting. De Mendoza is often called the finest Rejoneador in the world by aficionados and press."
There are some lovely horses for sale on Jacques Bonnier's website!
The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Jacques Bonnier breeder of Merlin when he was a Rejoneador
Elevage Jacques Bonnier
The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Merlin--registered name Orpheo
http://www.americanazteca.com/id16.htm
http://circusnospin.blogspot.com/2008/12/merlin-registered-name-orpheo.html
"Merlin(Orpheo) is a Bullfighting Lusitano stallion 7/8's Lusitano X 1/8th Quarterhorse, bred by former Rejoneador Jacques Bonnier (the tall gray haired gentleman in the video who greets de Mendoza before he returns to the bull).http://www.jbpre.fr/jacques%20bonnier.htm Merlin was initially trained by Rafi Dumond, who is seen in the opening segment schooling Merlin. He is currently owned and ridden in the bullring by Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza. Although a Spaniard, de Mendoza, fights in the Portuguese style in which the horse and rider dispatch the bull rather than merely weakening the bull as the horse mounted picador does for the Matador in classical Spanish Bullfighting. De Mendoza is often called the finest Rejoneador in the world by aficionados and press."
There are some lovely horses for sale on Jacques Bonnier's website!
Indeed there are. I'm drooling here...
Pablo "augering in", below in 2009. For all you folks who "I have never been hurt", show me something!!!!!
Vintage Long Manes
Percheron in Wisconsin 1800's
The Circus "NO SPIN ZONE": Linus--Bred in Marion, Oregon
Linus the Long-Haired Wonder Horse
For his mane and foretop alone five bags are required..." linus Photo: via Circus No Spin. Sadly Linus died in 1894 at the age of 10, but before he died he sired a ...
For Madame Col.
Dianne, a reader of CircusNoSpin, knowing my admiration of palomino horses sent me this photo asking if I know who it was. Is it your esteemed person?
Zoo Officials Forced to Reenact Sophie's Choice With Endangered Species
By Louis Peitzman
Don't get too attached to the lemurs in this photo.
With their numbers diminishing in the wild, zoos are doing their best to promote breeding and prevent extinction. Unfortunately, the lion-tailed macaques in captivity at the St. Louis zoo just won't get it on. And that's why ('sweet, The Alexander Sea Lion Pool at the St. Louis Zoo cost 18 million dollars!!!!') grab your tissues "American zoos are on the verge of giving up on trying to save them."
I know. It's almost too much to bear. But the more animals near extinction, the more zoos are being asked to take in. And sometimes the resources just aren't there, especially when the species in question span mammals, fish, birds, and even insects.
Unfortunately, the "save the cutest species" plan isn't valid. Instead, some tough choices are made.
To conserve animals effectively, however, zoo officials have concluded that they must winnow species in their care and devote more resources to a chosen few. The result is that zookeepers, usually animal lovers to the core, are increasingly being pressed into making cold calculations about which animals are the most crucial to save.Lest you think my "Sophie's Choice" analogy is unfair, I'll direct you to this questionable line from the New York Times story: "Some days, the burden feels less like Noah building an ark and more like Schindler making a list." (As an animal-lover and a Jew, I'm not sure how to feel.)
For some scientists, tough times mean zoos should adapt faster — instead of merely providing people with entertainment, they should be upping their conservation efforts. Dr. Steven L. Monfort, director of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, believes that the old zoo model is fundamentally flawed.
That's why zoos need to be working harder, Monfort says.
I am comfortable with raising the standards for zoos so that eventually it will be harder and harder to be accredited unless you are doing that. If you can't keep up, then you probably need to be dropped off the bottom.The "putting on a show" aspect becomes secondary to preserving species. I think that's a sacrifice we can all make, right?
In the meantime, somebody please save those lemurs. This is really stressing me out.
Courtesy of Mark Rosenthal
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