Polish Cavalry Trumpeters - interwar period I

 Salvete Omnes,

a short summer entry - Polish cavalry trumpeters from 1930 in the lenses of Narcyz Witczak-Witaczynski, nota bene tortured by German gestapo at Pawiak German prison and eventually murdered by the Germans at the KL Majdanek  (concentration camp) in March 1943.

Today the cavalry trumpeters of the 1st szwolezer (chevau-leger ) regiment - famous for the 1918-20 wars for independence, and for bravery and heroism during the 1939 campaign.

note that the Polish cavalry arm of the Polish army, organized from nothing in 1918, developed training, uniforms, weapons, and especially for this blog theme their own saddles for soldiers and officers and horse tack during the 1920s and 1930s, encouraged  horse breeding and remount service(my great grandfathers bred horses for Polish cavalry)  and training centers (Grudziadz) for the cavalry regiments and horse artillery etc - it was all short of miraculous, I think.
The invasion of Nazi Germany with allies along along the Soviet Union occupation after 17th September 1939, and the partition of occupied Poland between Germany and Soviet Union 1939-41, and the later war in the east 1941-45 ended Polish equestrian & cavalry traditions in Polish lands. And the Communist goverment extinguished any cavalry regiments and traditions within the Polish Army 1949-89, in the late 1940s, after the end of World War II.  

Valete.

West African pre-colonial equestrianism

 Salvete Omnes,

a short summer entry - as Niger is in the news and Sahel could be engulfed in a new war, apart from the Tuareg and Arab Islamic groups and bands already in vicious battles with their Hausa, Fulani etc neighbors and tribal groups of Sahel black Africa. 

I finally got a copy of a book by Robin Law - The Horse in West African History. I have started reading it slowly, every page containing some interesting material and quoted primary sources. So this will be a journey into the African equestrian & pre-colonial history. 

Meantime a little entry on the Dongola Horse - or the horse of ancient Nubia and Sudan.

enjoy 

Valete

Felipe V - the beginning of the Bourbon kings' era in Spain

 Salvete Omnes,

king Felipe V as Santiago

let us 'canter' to Spain during the early to mid XVIII century - when Spain was still a mighty empire where sun never set across the imperial land holdings. 

The early XVIII century brought a change of dynasty in the Spanish realm, the old Hapsburg dynasty male line died out, and a quest for the imperial throne ensued,  finally the French Bourbons won the Spanish throne in the Pan-European  armed conflict known as the War of Spanish Succession. (fought during the same time period as the Great Northern War in the central, eastern and northern Europe).

  But my post is not about the warfare and military exploits of the Bourbon king Felipe (Philip ) V, but rather about his equestrian imagery, of which we have a few examples via Wiki Commons. Perhaps one day we are going to revisit some of the canvasses of  the battles fought in Spain and other theaters of this conflict, like Almansa etc. A view on this war from Andalucia. 

Spanish style stirrup ? on this period print

So here  comes Felipe V, grandson of Louis XIV of Bourbon dynasty, apparently a lover of good singing and music - the famous period 'castrato' singer Farinelli comes to mind.

a period stirrup with  rowel spur attached to the riding boot heel, and the cavalry combat in the background 

a period curb-bit and bridle en face, a great view of pistol holster

breastcollar and part of the pistol holster 

curb-bit with a clearly visible curb-chain

portrait by Jean Ranc at the museo nacional Del Prado

portrait by Michel-Louis van Loo at the Palace of La Granja

Felipe V was a hunter and there is a surviving rifle attributed to this king

Equestrian portraits on Felipe V

nota bene a scholarly study of the economic and social reforms introduced during the reign of the first Spanish Bourbon king. 
Valete

Horses - Mammalia AD 1870

 Salvete Omnes,

Today is August 1, and on this day Polish people commemorate the tragedy of the Warsaw Uprising 1944 - Powstanie Warszawskie 1944.

I wrote  my thoughts about this tragic historic event in some posts eg this one in 2019.
Pacem Aeternam to all those fallen.

Ad rem, back to horsing around - :) 

Mammalia - is a tittle of this book published in 1870 in NY.  It is an  'olden' book, but many horse 'facts & factoids' contianed therein stand firm still today . The book, authored by Louis Figuier  , was illustrated by French artists of the period -  Edouard Riou, De Neville and Mesnel.

The illustrations are interesting and well done, while the text is both entertaining and informative , eg about the Camarque horse (and other French breeds of the period).

colors - 

..

..

enjoy

Valete