Max And Monty At The Moonrakers

The Wadworth Shires had been a little unlucky with their public appearances recently. A swarm of horseflies had put paid to their showing at Easton Royal a couple of weeks back, and thunderstorms had also prevented their scheduled appointment at the Hadley Bowling Green Inn near Droitwich at the weekend.

Having gone to Easton Royal and not seen them, I was keen to attend the official re-opening of the Moonrakers in Devizes having heard that they would be there, and happily things went far more smoothly.

Although it was in the evening, the light was still very harsh and I had metering problems with the contrasts in light and shade, but had a chance to get close to Max and Monty and chat to the keepers about the two shires and their recent exploits.

I discovered that it was Max, not Monty, who was the show champion, and he who pulls all the single-horse dray deliveries, which made sense as he was the slightly larger horse (at 18 hands and two inches). It was also Max who had the greater fondness for Wadworth's 6X and liked to get hold of Monty's pint when on offer, as Monty was less keen. On the other hand it was Monty who preferred all the attention and fuss, whereas Max was slightly more circumspect.

The Mayor cut the tape after seven o'clock and the shires trotted back to their stables at the brewery, not far away, enjoying a little extra exercise. They would be back at work in the morning delivering barrels of beer and stout to the good pub landlords of Devizes.

I stopped off at the Kennet and Avon at Horton Bridge on the way home when it was a little cooler, and had a picnic beside the towpath before returning home.

L.
30.7.2014 (2100 hr)

Blip #1341
Consecutive Blip #203
Day #1580

Lens: Pentax 35 mm Macro

The Wadworth Shires At The Moonrakers, Devizes, 22 July 2014 (Flickr album)

Shire Horses series

Backblip:
Monday 21 July 2014: Smokey 0856 hr (posted 30.7.2014)

Lozarhythm Of The Day #576:
Arthur Prysock - Good Rockin' Tonight (1960)
Roy Brown recorded this in 1947, and Elvis recorded it for his second single in 1954. Arthur Prysock recorded a lot of showbiz ballads but could also make a decent rock and roll record such as this, a single in 1960.