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[beboots]

Remember this? And this sneak preview?


So we'll continue! Now, as you may all know, Canada is the True North Strong and Free, right? Right. And it's peace was kept by the North West Mounted Police, now called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police AKA the RCMP AKA the Mounties.

This is a mountie horse. It's sponsor chose to call it "Canadian, Eh?", so it was probably, ironically, sponsored by an American, but whatever. Isn't that the story of our country? Blah. :P

Anyway, the RCMP horse is awesome. Check out this full shot: 

  (Sorry for the fail!angle. I had to take all of these photos in between two rides really, really quickly.)

You'll notice both the "MP" with the crown, a symbol of the RCMP... as well as the real horsehair tail. That tail was donated to us by the RCMP (or so I am told) and so belonged to an actual mountie horse. Badass. Also, the insignia on the breast strap on the front of the horse (see first photo) is a part of a 1920s RCMP uniform, found by the carver at an army surplus store, and thus also belonged to an actual Mountie.

Continuing on along the Canadian theme...
  Blink has interesting symbolism on his romance side: a paddle, a sextant and a gold pan. These symbols are meant to refer to David Thompson, who was an explorer in this (the Edmonton) region in the late 1700s. He would have been the first white man this far west. He was a cartographer and map maker for the Hudson's Bay Company (appropriate, because this carousel is at Fort Edmonton Park.) He "discovered" the Athabasca river system (hence the paddle). Ironically enough, he also jumped ship and abandoned the HBC for their direct compeditors, the North West Company. The Nor'westers agreed to fund more of his travels than the HBC was willing to. Yay for adventurous French Canadians!

 This horse's name is Pelt. Can you guess why? Anyway, sorry for the lack of head-shot, but really, this is all of the important stuff. Philidelphia Tobaggan Company horses traditionally had at least one "Indian" (Native American) horse on their carousel, frequently with a pelt for a saddle (this one is a cougar AKA mountain lion). Pelt is one of three horses on our carousel who don't have horse shoes (the others being Low-Down-Trick and Draws-Much-Blood).

 Here's Draws-Much-Blood's head. He is one of the coolest horses on this carousel. ONe of the reasons for this is because the carver's eight-year-old daughter carved his tail. I don't have a shot of it, but it's very well-carved. Seriously. Take it from someone who stares at these things all day. Also, he's cool because of his name. First of all, it "sounds like" a traditional "Indian" name, and like those "traditional indian names", it of course has a story behind it. The carver had some experience with carving with power tools, but wasn't used to hand-held ones, and so kept knicking himself during the carving process. Hence... "draws much blood". :)

And I'm afraid that I once again have to leave you guys hanging... so please stay tuned in next time for more carousel horses!

Here's a shot of Low-Down-Trick to tide you over. Notice anything different about him, compared to the other horses you've seen so far...?
 

Heigh-ho Silver, away...! :D