MAY 2020 THE RIDER /47 The Rider Recommends… Movies To Help You Escape The Isolation Blues


By Glenda Fordham. There’s nothing like a good


“oater” (western or horsey flick) to take your mind off this soul- sucking quarantine situation. Our entertainment columnist, Glenda Fordham, would like to offer some suggestions for movies to watch that should keep the whole family engaged and take you to another time and another place with lots of horse action.


(2002) animated, featuring the voices of Matt Damon and James Cromwell Beautifully animated fam-


The Black Stallion (1979) star- ring Kelly Reno, Mickey Rooney and Teri Garr While traveling with his fa-


Miracle of the White Stallions (1963) starring Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer and Eddie Albert In WWII Austria, Col.


Alois Podhajsky must protect his beloved Lipizzaner stallions and make sure that they are surren- dered into the right hands to save the breeding line. Thanks to Gen- eral Patton’s love of horses, a team of American soldiers rescue the horses from the oncoming Nazis. Beautifully filmed scenes


ther, young Alec becomes fasci- nated by a mysterious Arabian stallion who is brought on board the steamer. When it tragically sinks, both the boy and the horse survive only to be stranded on a desert island. Alec befriends the horse and their socialization is shown in various scenes where they learn to trust each other. When finally rescued, both return to Alec’s home in the US where they soon meet Henry Dailey, a once-successful horse trainer and together they begin teaching the stallion to race against the fastest horses in the world. There is a stunning musical soundtrack, too.


Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron


The Rider’s COVID-19 Cowboy Quiz


If you’re bored sitting


out in the barn or quarantin- ing with the family, here’s a trivia quiz featuring famous horses to while away the hours!


Match the cowboys,


cowgirls and other legends with their horses


a. Zorro b. Roy Rogers c. Cisco Kid d. Napoleon e. Lone Ranger f.


Tom Mix


g. Gene Autry h. Zena, Warrior Princess i. Dale Evans j. Hopalong Cassidy k. Alexander the Great l. Annie Oakley m. Red Ryder n. Tonto o. p.


Paul Revere Pecos Bill


q. William S. Hart r. Ken Maynard s. Duke of Wellington t.


Pancho


u. Rex Allen v. Lash LaRue w. Sunset Carson x. Don Quixote y. Tex Ritter z. Durango Kid


1. Topper 2. Buttermilk 3. Champion 4.


Scout


5. Target 6. Trigger 7. Thunder 8. Koko 9. Diablo 10. Tony 11. White Flash 12. Silver 13. Argo 14. Tarzan 15. Black Diamond 16. Raider 17. Cactus 18. Fritz 19. Widow Maker 20. Loco 21. Bucephalus 22. Tornado 23. Marengo 24. Brown Betty 25. Rosinante 26. Copenhagen


See Answers on Page 44


ily film produced by Dream- Works Animation, it follows the adventures of a young mustang stallion living in the 19th century wild west who is captured during the American Indian Wars by the United States Cavalry; he is freed by a Native American man named Little Creek who attempts to lead him back into the Lakota village. Multiple award-winning film with a lush musical score by Hans Zimmer and songs from Bryan Adams and Sarah McLachlan.


The Man From Snowy River (1982) starring Tom Burlinson, Sigrid Thornton, Jack Thompson & Kirk Douglas. Based on Australia’s A.B.


“Banjo” Paterson famous poem


of the same name, young Jim Craig has lived all his life in the remote mountains of New South Wales with his lumberjack father whose accidental death forces him to go to the low lands to earn enough money to get the family property back on its feet. Kirk Douglas plays duel roles as twin brothers who haven’t spoken for 20 years, one of whom was Jim’s father’s best friend and the other is the father of the girl Jim wants to marry. The feud comes to a head when Jim is accused of let- ting a prize colt loose with the band of brumbies (Australian wild bush horses). Breath-taking horse chases including a stam- pede straight down a mountain- side as Jim and his own brumby outsmart the lowland riders to capture the colt…and the girl. Death-defying stunts and scenes filmed in the Snowy Mountains with a real brumby herd.


Unbranded (2015) starring Jonny Fitzsimons, Thomas Glover, Ben Masters & Ben Thamer This documentary tells the


story of a group of young men who ride their horses the width of the United States from the Mexi- can border up to the Canadian border. We ride with them and experience all their adventures with wildlife, horses and local folks encountered along the way. The Rider reviewed the film 5 years ago, giving it 4 hooves up!


Dreamer (2005) starring Dakota Fanning, Kurt Russell and Elisa- beth Shue This family favourite is the


story of a down-and-out horse trainer who is given an equally broken-down but once great racehorse as severance pay. With the unwavering faith and deter- mination of his daughter, both


her trainer father and the mare persevere in their quest for re- demption by entering the Breeder’s Cup Classic. Lots of racing excitement and cheering for the underdog, or in this case, horse!


Other films for your view-


ing consideration include: Hi- dalgo, racing legend stories Seabiscuit and Secretariat, The Light Horse (the story of WWI’s last calvary charge), classics such as National Velvet, Black Beauty and My Friend Flicka, the com- edy Racing Stripes, and the Robert Redford & Jane Fonda modern western The Electric Horseman. Many of these can be found online or galloping across your TV screens.


from inside the Spanish Riding School, featuring all the spectac- ular dressage and pageantry.


My Barn Swallows of 2017


By Linda Glass-Ward. I had an opportunity to visit a sta-


ble with my best friend Audrey, where we saw barn swallows up close, flit- ting about the barn doors and win- dows, catching insects on the wing. I saw them perched on the edges of their nests, still, momentarily. It was a chance to see a wild bird up close, very close. I was enchanted. This was my introduction to barn


swallows as a child. More recently I have become fascinated with them, and in- terested in their preservation. In the past sev- eral years I have been observing their habits and have tried to establish a colony here on our hundred acres. I wish to encourage other people to assist barn swallows as well. 2017 Was a year of many firsts; First


time we had two nests in our little barn; First time swallows nested in the arena; First time in years we have had more than one nest; First time I observed a second clutch. I had been trying to make nest sites


more attractive to the birds. Although the sta- tistics say, the barn swallow population has drastically declined, in that year we had three nests instead of the usual one. Our horse rid- ing arena had been here for eleven years and for the first time I observed barn swallows in it.


April 25 the barn swallows came back


into our little barn, then disappeared. I thought they weren’t going to stay. Then more appeared, or, they came back. They came and went for about a week and a half. Then, they started to nest in earnest. The day they started to sit on their eggs, became ob- vious, because they stopped fighting over the nesting sites. I wrote on the calendar the day the chicks hatched. On June twentieth they all seemed to hatch at once, even though the West Nest was completed later than the East Nest.


I think the pair that nested in the West


Nest were less experienced than the other pair. They got off to a late start. Then their nest fell down and they had to re build, while ignoring the other pair of birds trying to oust


them. They were persistent! I hoped that at least one or two of their four babies made it! I think the East Nest had five babies.


The West Nest had four, and at first I had no idea what went on in the Arena Nest because I didn’t want to disturb them. They had five. Later on I took pictures of the fledglings. One day the birds were still dive-bomb-


ing the cats in defence of the nest. The next day there was a lone egg. I do not remember the birds ever nesting and fledging so early in the year, but we had a really mild winter, and many birds migrated north to Canada early.


On July seventh, the pair in the East


Nest looked like they were nesting again. The male was chirping so proudly and the fe- male was in the nest on her one egg (so far). I had been looking at that one egg from Sun- day until Friday I was so exited! I hoped. I hoped. Yes they had 3 more babies. I remem- ber!


From April


twenty fifth to July third is about five weeks, so after an- other five weeks I saw the second group of fledglings swooping around. That is just in time to fly south, all the way to South America Barn swal- lows fly south on about August twenty fifth. I look forward to their


return every year. I hope to inspire peo- ple to make habitat available to them. Most of our old barns that housed


them for over a century are disappear- ing. Barns and other human made structures including, boat houses, car ports, verandas, bridges and picnic pavilions are their preferred habitat. The population has declined by ninety percent since the nineteen seventies. Do you have an open shed for


horses or cattle or anything else for that matter? If you don’t want the swallows


inside your buildings they will nest under the eaves on a light fixture, wire, or even a nail if it is the correct distance from the soffit. How can you help? Look up, The Barn Swal- low-Hinterland Who’s Who? or contact Bird Studies Canada or see the Facebook posts of, Linda Marie Glass Ward.


Here is Wesley Bates’ wood engraving. I called it a wood cut, but his work is hand engraved on the end grain of a hard wood block. You can imagine how painstaking his work is. The actual size is 2 1/2” x 5 1/2”.


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