A UK horse which is allergic to grass made the national TV news here in the US this week, which is a pretty rare event. I’ll be trying to find out more background from the internet over the weekend and will update this initial post. If anyone knows more about this, please add a comment.

I always miss being at home when the Cheltenham Festival is held. It’s usually the middle of March and one of the main UK horse racing events of the year. This year it is 10 -14 March so it started today.

There is no TV coverage here in the US so it’s a case of checking the BBC website for the results.  When I lived in the UK, I used to try to take at least some days off work but didn’t manage it very often. At least there were usually some evening highlight programmes. If anyone finds any US TV coverage of this event, please let me know.

I recently attended my first volunteer night with Charity Water and hope to attend once a month in the future. Most people in the West are fortunate to have a continuously available source of good quality  water and only experience occasional difficulties if there is a breakage in the mains water supply. Even with temporary water tanks for only a few days, most people quickly come to realise how much they take this vital resource for granted.

I had some limited but first-hand experience of carrying water on a regular basis as a kid when we first started to keep our own ponies and rented a stable with land but without a water supply. Fortunately my Dad did most of the carrying of water for the ponies from the nearby farm to our paddock for a number of years using milk churns. After some years, we did manage to get a water trough in an adjoining field, which halved the distance to carry the water. When we moved the horses to a small farm a few miles away, we did eventually manage to get running water into the stable area which was a great help. Even with this experience,  I can still only imagine how much work is involved in carrying water miles each day for your family.

I can understand the controversy that has arisen from a recent comparison between drug taking and horse riding. On one level it seems ridiculous to compare the illegal use of drugs, in this case Ecstasy, with horses and the much loved pastime of horse-riding. However I am often concerned that some people do seem oblivious to the many risks and dangers associated with horse-riding, particularly eventing and road-related accidents. I was dragged by a pony at a young age and have appreciated the risks ever since.

The figures being used for comparison were 30 drug-related deaths a year compared to 100 horse-related deaths per year.   I would be interested to see these numbers as percentages on the number of people involved in each activity.

If the comparison had been either drinking alcohol, which is legal, or another dangerous hobby such as rugby or motorbike riding, with horse riding, I assume there would have been much less debate.