Rostrucharz

Salve,
a little entry in Polish today
Walery Wielogłowski, obywatel Galicji (zaboru austriackiego), powstaniec listopadowy który krwią i trudem swym wojennym nagrodzony został krzyżem Virtuti Militari, działacz narodowy i popularyzator literatury i sztuki (Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Sztuk Pięknych ), księgarz, wydawca (Księgarnia i Wydawnictwo Dzieł Katolickich, Naukowych i Rolniczych) , propagator rolnictwa nowoczesnego i nauki, był autorem min wielu opowieści i 'relacji' z życia ówczesnych mieszkańców Polski.

Jednym z takich dzieł autorstwa mości Wieloglowskiego jest praca pt 'Jarmark w Dąbrowej',  dziejaca sie w czasie jarmarku w Dabrowej
Tamże znajdujemy scenę handlu końmi na jarmarku, i autor używa staropolskiej nazwy na handlarza koni czyli nazywa tegoż handlarza 'roztrucharzem'. 
'' Rostrucharz, pierwotnie rostuszar (Rostäuscher), z którego (jak mówi Brückner) już w XV wieku rostucharza a później roztrucharza zrobiono – stręczyciel w kupnie koni, rajfur koński a nieraz i ludzki. W Vol. leg. znajdujemy: „Roztrucharze, co końmi kupczą, płacą od osoby po złt. dwa” ((t. II, f. 984). Rostrucharza, który ludźmi kupczył, nazywano: martauz lub ludokrajca (ob.)
 Klonowicz pisze o takim we Flisie: 
 Niecny rostrucharz z uczciwemi ciały
 Kupczy dzień cały.[1]''

Ale oddajmy głos autorowi Jarmarku:

..

...
[1] Zygmunt Gloger, Encyklopedia Staropolska
ps
wywiad z nowoczesnym rostrucharzem

Marche du Roy - Adam Frans van der Meulen

Salve,
I do like the Baroque horse - and with more and more images appearing on the Net, this liking or fondness can be encourage with many period paintings, engravings or drawings.
So a quick look at van der Meulen, Flemish painter who was a pupil of the famous battle painter Peter Snayers (among other, the author of the Kircholm battle epic canvass) and upon moving to France   became one very successful French court (Louis IV) painter. - Wikimedia Commons has a large gallery of his epic works, including many horses and riders.
I found this print - engraved by Jan van Huchtenburg after a drawing by Adam Frans- showing 'Marche du Roy...' (King's march with his guard troops crossing le pont neuf and going to the palace in Paris).
The whole image is large as evidenced here (originally digitalized at Gallica), while there is also a coloured print - also accessible at the Wiki Commons.
So, here are the horses from the original print - most if not all have Roman nosed heads, long tails, and are not very big... they are ridden well and with dexterity, showing the airs above the ground training.
the lower group - fine ecuyers

carriage horses and more riders and horses

 a woman riding sidesaddle, with some cavaliers behind her

a distant soldiers or civilians group group

and men watering horses in the Seine River

enjoy

Uhlan burried - 65 years after death

Salve,
last Sunday  the Polish state, including the President of the Republic, military officials and units, Catholic Church, historical reenactors, football fans, and many thousands of mourners took part in the official funeral of the famous 2nd Łupaszka - colonel  Zygmunt Szendzielarz, uhlan of the 4th regiment of Niemen Uhlans (4 pułk Ułanow Zaniemeńskich) and later commanding officer of a famous Home Army unit ( The 5th Vilnius Home Army Brigade)  in the north-eastern Poland (pre-1939 borders, thanks to the Allied agreement at Yalta 1945 etc). The funeral took place 65 years after the murder and secret burial of Lupaszka by the Communist regime secret police apparatus.

2nd Lupaszka took his pseudonym / nome-de-guerre after the famous Polish cavalryman, hero of the World War I (fought on the Imperial Russian side), Polish-Bolshevik War (at first in the Polish volunteer cavalry not unlike the old gentry national levy) and War of 1939 ( commanding the 110 Rezerwowy Pułk Ułanów, and had under his command famous major 'Hubal' Henryk Dobrzański), colonel Jerzy Dąbrowski/Dąmbrowski - he was murdered by the Soviets crica fall 1940 -winter 1941 and his remains have not been found. They were both members of the Polish minority that currently lives divided into Lithuania and Belarus.

The state and various TV stations transmitted the ceremonies, and I found some videos on youtube showing the preparation and actual funerary procession.
Preparations of the procession - [1 ]
The funerary procession - [  2 ]
and another video  [ 3 ]
In the second video you can see first the uhlans  on horseback wearing the colors of the 4th Uhlan regiment and various other military and reenactor units, while in the 12 minute or so - a saddled horse covered with black mourning cape being lead along the hearse with the casket covered with the Poland's National Colors.

Pacem Aeternam to this uhlan.

Bronc breakin'

Salve,
time has come to revisit the Old West - I miss it badly, don't you ?
so archive.org gives us access to hundreds of thousands of books, and my favorites are the XIX century books, full of life and stories.

In this instance let us turn to a bronco's breaking (there was little gentling as you will read shortly) as described by an American officer John G. Bourke then serving with the 3rd US Cavalry in the Arizona and New Mexico Territory during the Apache wars. - the book is titled "On the Border with Crook" - and it is freely available for reading or downloading here.

At first, our author introduces Fort Grant to us:

''There would be very little use in attempting to describe Old Fort Grant, Arizona, partly because there was really no fort to describe, and partly because few of my readers would be sufficiently interested in the matter to follow me to the end. It was, as I have already said, recognized from the tide-waters of the Hudson to those of the Columbia as the most thoroughly God forsaken post of all those supposed to be included in the annual Congressional appropriations. Beauty of situation or of construction it had none ; its site was the supposed junction of the sand-bed of the Aravaypa with the sand-bed of the San Pedro, which complacently figured on the topographical charts of the time as creek and river respectively, but generally were dry as a lime-burner's hat excepting during the "rainy season." Let the reader figure to himself a rectangle whose four sides were the row of officers' "quarters,' the adjutant's office, post bakery, and guard house, the commissary and quartermaster's storehouses, and the men's quarters and sutler's store, and the "plan," if there was any "plan," can be at once understood. Back of the quartermaster's and commissary storehouses, some little distance, were the blacksmith's forge, the butcher's “corral,” and the cavalry stables,"

then he move onto the bronco's breaking:

     

[..] while in the rear of the men's quarters, on the banks of the San Pedro, and not far from the traces of the ruins of a prehistoric village or pueblo of stone, was the loose, sandy spot upon which the bucking "bronco" horses were broken to the saddle. Such squealing and struggling and biting and kicking, and rolling in the dust and getting up again, only to introduce some entirely original combination of a hop, skip, and jump, and a double back somersault, never could be seen outside of a herd of California "broncos." The animal was first thrown, blind folded, and then the bridle and saddle were put on, the latter girthed so tightly that the horse's eyes would start from their sockets. Then, armed with a pair of spurs of the diameter of a soup-plate and a mesquite club big enough to fell an ox, the Mexican " vaquero " would get into the saddle, the blinds would be cast off, and the circus begin. 

There would be one moment of sweet doubt as to what the "bronco " was going to do, and now and then there would be aroused expectancy that a really mild- mannered steed had been sent to the post by some mistake of the quartermaster's department. But this doubt never lasted very long ; the genuine " bronco " can always be known from the spurious one by the fact that when he makes up his mind to " buck " he sets out upon his work without delay, and with a vim that means business. If there were many horses arriving in a " bunch/' there would be lots of fun and no little danger and excitement. The men would mount, and amid the encouraging comments of the on-lookers begin the task of subjugation. The bronco, as I have said, or should have said, nearly always looked around and up at his rider with an expression of countenance that was really benignant, and then he would roach his back, get his four feet bunched together, and await developments. These always came in a way productive of the best results ; if the rider foolishly listened to the suggestions of his critics, he would almost always mistake this temporary paroxysm of docility for fear or lack of spirit. And then would come the counsel, inspired by the Evil One himself : “Arrah, thin, shtick yer sphurs int' him, Moriarty.” This was just the kind of advice that best suited the " bronco's " feelings, because no sooner would the rowels strike his flanks than the air would seem to be filled with a mass of mane and tail rapidly revolving, and of hoofs flying out in defiance of all the laws of gravity, while a descendant of the kings of Ireland, describing a parabolic orbit through space, would shoot like a meteor into the sand, and plough it up with his chin and the usual elocutionary effects to be looked for under such circumstances.

Yes, those were happy, happy days - for the " broncos" and the by-standers.''

**

and some more on the pleasures of living quarters at this Army installation:

''There were three kinds of quarters at Old Camp Grant, and he who was reckless enough to make a choice of one passed the rest of his existence while at the post in growling at the better luck of the comrades who had selected either one of the others. There was the adobe house, built originally for the kitchens of the post at the date of its first establishment, some time in 1857 ; there were the "jacal" sheds, built of upright logs, chinked with mud and roofed with smaller branches and more mud; and the tents, long since "condemned" and forgotten by the quartermaster to whom they had originally been invoiced. Each and all of these examples of the Renaissance style of architecture, as it found expression in the valley of the Gila, was provided with a "ramada" in front, which, at a small expenditure of labor in erecting a few additional upright saplings and cross-pieces, and a covering of cotton wood foliage, secured a modicum of shelter from the fierce shafts of a sun which shone not to warm and enlighten, but to enervate and kill.''

more to come from this book in the future

enjoy

O tkaninach i siodlach

Salve,
another short entry - this time in Polish.

Polecam, via youtube,  bardzo ciekawy wykład mosci pani Ireny Pogorzelskiej z Kijowa, Ukraina, o tkaninach i szyciu a noszeniu strojów Rzeczpospolitej XVII wieku, a także  jej syna Stanisława krótki wstęp do studiów nad siodłem zwłaszcza jarczakiem[1] w XVII wieku.  Pani Irena podkreśla wspólnotę ubiorów terenów dawnej Rzeczpospolitej i Węgier, zapożyczania z od Tatarów i Imperium Osmańskiego, fuzje tych zapożyczeń i powstawanie nowych własnych form, tutaj bardzo ciekawym przykładem są obszerne, luźne spodnie pokazywane na wykładzie. 
Dodam, ze obydwoje są przedstawicielami Polonii ukraińskiej - ergo, vivat  przyjaźń polsko-kozacka :)

w nagraniu 'występują' min takie elementy stroju jak żupan, spodnie wąskie (husarskie) spodnie turecko-'polskie',  guzy pasmanteryjne,  baczmagi etc.

Wykład odbył się w zeszłym roku, chyba w czasie wspólnej konferencji polsko-ukraińskiej o Hodowie AD 1694.

Zachęcam do obejrzenia i przestudiowania nagrania.

Przy okazji artykuł prof. Anny Drążkowskiej (autorka min  tej książki czy tej ) 'Jedwabna odzież grobowa z XVII i XVIII wieku wydobyta w kościele p.w. Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Marii Panny w Dubnie (Ukraina)'. Również załączam link do pani profesor artykułu o odzieży wydobytej z krypt kościoła Sw. Mikołaja w Toruniu.

pozdrawiam
[1] ''Jarczak, z języka tatarskiego, w którym jarczak oznacza gatunek lekkiej kulbaki. Była to terlica albo łęk gładki, skórą pokryty bez wierzchniej poduszki, na którym chłopcy, ciurowie i towarzystwo rękodajni do twardego siedzenia na koniu bywali przyuczani. (Kitowicz. „Opis obyczajów“).

Interesting videos on bosal etc

Salve,
a short entry today -
 Jeff Sanders, who is tirelessly working to reintroduce the vaquero and californio traditions, has published a video on the bosal, mecate and hackamore types and selections - link here.
The web has more videos on the subject - links below.
I would always favor reading the books by Ed Connell (eg this one) - here is his daughter's site in order to get better acquainted with practice of hackamore lore, training and use.
Myself - I like using hackamore on any given horse, and whenever I can I will work with the horse using this type of bitless bridle.  

eg
Laryy Trocha - Horse Training with a Hackamore (Bosal)
Jeff Mundell - Starting a horse in the Hackamore
Martin Black - The Hackamore
Carson James - Explaining The Hackamore And Bosal

enjoy

the 1050th Anniversary

Salve,
 they say that today, on April 14, but 1050 years earlier or in 966AD a Polish ruler Mieszko (Dagome) and his court were baptized and became members of the Christian community. This ceremony occurred perhaps  in one of the strongholds these Piast rulers had built in Wielkopolska (Greater Poland), either in Ostrow Lednicki or Poznan. He was a ''Rex Barbarorum'', and his state quickly arose to prominence on the eastern flank of the Holy Roman Empire, at odds with the fellow Slavic and Christian Bohemian state, and poised to take more lands and tribes in all directions.

As the records are scant we can but speculate about the extend of his state so by the 990AD

Since the very beginnings of Christian Poland are mostly shrouded in myth, legend and hearsay, other than written records have to provide some more detailed info about the early medieval Poland.

Archeology has provided some answers about the Piast state. It appears now from dendro-chronological analyses undertaken in 1990s that the early medieval Polish state begun at the turn of the IX century, while the huge building projects peaked in the 930s through early 940sAD, thus it can be said with certainty that our Piast Poland rose to prominence in 940AD.

Y. A. Lansere Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Лансере́

Salve,
Spring has come - thanks God, we need lots of sun - vitamin D and little bit of smile.
today I came across the art of Евге́ний Алекса́ндрович Лансере́ [Yevgeniy Alexandrovich Lansere (or Lanceray)].
Russian sculptor of the Imperial era, with a very interesting lineage, since his own grandfather was a soldier in the Napoleonic army before becoming a Russian subject (sort of like one famous French actor couple years ago). He was then from a French Russian family and was born near St. Petersburg, then the capital of Russia. He studied there, first he had finished the St. Petersburg 2nd Highschool and then he studied and finished the law faculty at the university there.
Then comes the amazing - perhaps a sign of time eg our Polish painter Juliusz Kossak also finished law faculty before turning to professional art, our young lawyer became a full-time artist.
He never received any formal art education, but was self-taught, however, generously using advice from various artists residing at the imperial capital. we should remember that the imperial city was full of international and national artists and teachers and thinkers, was full of amazing art collections and thus artworks abounded.  Yevgeniy went several times to Paris, France. His aim was to study bronze casting, while art studying at the French capital must have come naturally and with ease.
He had loved horses since childhood and working in clay and bronze, with pencil and paints he thus become one of the greatest  sculptors of horses ... and riders.
What he did differently was that he studied and observed his subjects form life, observation must have been the key to his understating of horse form, anatomy, movement and ultimately beauty.
He did plenty of historical pieces - eg Kievan Rus' prince Sviatoslav, , and contemporary ones too - Ukrainian chumaks . We should remember that  the Russian Empire was growing fast during his life always expanding east and south-east )of course but for sale of Alaska to the Americans in 1867), hence many nations of Eurasian entered Russian service, by force or voluntarily. Lansere observed Bashkirs, Caucasian mountaineers, imperial Cossaks, Kirgiz nomads and many others, and in his style of taking a closer look at his subjects, he travelled into the newly conquered lands in Central Asia and in Caucassus.
He also went to Africa, visiting the Maghreb where war horse had been bread since Antiquity and Lansere had a chance to observe  the famous horse-riding peoples in Algeria etc.
Yevgeniy got involved in bronze casting, and cooperated with many Russian bronze manufacturers, like Chopin Foundries etc, selling rights and/or giving permissions to multiple casting of his pieces. Thus in not too long time his castings became very popular and widespread with the Russian empire. Perhaps this is also why many of his works survived the destruction art objects caused by the Revolution, Civil War and later cultural purges and the visit of the Western Soviet Empire by the good people from Germany, nazi Germany to be precise - 1941-44. Nowadays many museums in Russian and the former Soviet republics have amongst their collections Lansere's works.
Outside Russia, Ukraine, Belarus etc  Lansere's art can be seen in France - eg monument in a French city of Menton.
well, enough of my short 'write up' on this great artist's work. I have seen a book or two on his works - here or here.

Some pieces from the Wiki Commons collection - many can be seen here.

enjoy