Vienna: The City of Ethereal Horses~

On January 20, 2014March 6, 2014 By cindy knokeIn MY PHOTOGRAPHS, TRAVEL REVIEWS124 Comments

Vienna is full of gorgeous horses, in the flesh and depicted in stunning classical statues all over the city.

There are the famous Lipizzaner stallions housed in the equally famous Spanish Riding School.

And there are beautiful carriage horses working all over the magical city.

The Lipizzaner stallions are one of the oldest breeds in Europe.

I viewed them several times not performing but during their morning exercise.

I prefer seeing horses more naturally.

The stallions are brought to Vienna when they are four year olds and are then trained in classical dressage.

There are only 3,000 Lipizzaner’s registered worldwide.

Vienna is an incredibly beautiful city and horse lovers will find much to admire in addition to the incomparable art, architecture, history, music and culture. And please don’t forget the Viennese pastry! I certainly cannot. I would like to be beamed there right now for some delectable pastry mit schlag (with whipping cream), thank you very much!

Cheers to you from the horse (and schlag) loving Holler!

The Astounding Free Range Horses of Patagonia~

On January 17, 2014March 6, 2014 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, TRAVEL REVIEWS201 Comments

The free ranging wild horses of Patagonia are called criollos. They were brought to Argentina in 1535 by Spanish settlers and were bred from Andalusians. Hundreds now roam wild on the Patagonian Steppe and are considered native to Argentina.

My husband and I were out exploring one day deep into the steppe on a dirt road when we faced a herd of oncoming traffic moving at great speed.

We stopped the car and I got out as the criollos streamed around us and I got these shots. It was a thrilling sight!

The criollos have the best long distance endurance of any breed next to the Arabians.

They are hardy and able to live in harsh conditions and withstand the severe Patagonian winters.

By nature they are said to be tractable, intelligent and sensible.

We saw herds of them all over the steppe, sometimes at great distances. It was wonderful to see such beautiful horses wild and free!

Cheers to you from the horsey Holler!

If Wishes Were Horses……..

On January 14, 2014March 6, 2014 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS175 Comments

these horses would be mine! (Please click to enlarge).

I was one of those young girls who loved horses more than boys……for awhile at least! And they still have the power over me.

Beauty is indeed truth, and truth for me has always been horses.

The Holler has a history of housing some pretty incredible horses. Check out these beauties for example.

Seabiscuit, Seattle Slew and Secretariat all had foals here and the multi-National Champion Khemosabi lived here. Seabiscuit had 108 foals, only one of which had a successful racing career. That thoroughbred was Sea Orbit, nicknamed Baby Biscuit who was a Hollerite. Blanco the Andalusian named Shadowfax in the Lord of the Rings movies lives here too.

Holler town is horse town.

I’ve seen some pretty amazing horses around the world.

The free ranging horses of Patagonia for example and the peerless Lipzzaner stallions in Vienna.

I think though, more than any other, I like this little rescued miniature donkey the best!

He so wanted to come out and play with me and I so wanted to take him home!

Cheers to you from Holler-Horse… and Donkey Town!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place: An Ancient Refuge~

On January 11, 2014June 20, 2022 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, TRAVEL REVIEWS115 Comments

Vasquez Rocks State Park, located in Southern California, was created 25 million years ago by collision and uplift of the North American and Pacific Tectonic Plates. You can see the two people climbing in this shot (Please click to enlarge).

The park was home for thousands of years to the Tatavium Native Americans who left pictographs all over the park, some of which are 9000 years old.

Lying directly above the San Andreas Fault, these rocks were exposed and tilted more recently by movement along The San Andreas. See the person in this shot for scale.

The park is named after Tiburcio Vasquez, an infamous California bandit, who used the rocks to hide from law enforcement from 1873-1874.

The Pacific Crest Trail runs directly through the park.

The park has been filmed in countless movies and TV shows including Star Trek where different areas of the park were used to depict different planets. As a matter of fact filming was occurring at the site when we visited.

The precious ancient pictographs lie all over the park. Concerns have been raised by conservationists about their protection, but the powers that be believe the best protection lies in the fact that most people don’t even know they are there. There is an interpretive center on site and rangers do patrol. Southern California is actually full of ancient pictographs that most people don’t know about. (If you are interested in the pictographs, see the reference at the end of this post).

Cheers to you from the ancient and mostly empty Vasquez Rocks State Park!

http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8gf644rd#page-4

The Ancient Place!

On January 8, 2014March 6, 2014 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, TRAVEL REVIEWS170 Comments

Red Rock Canyon State Park is located in Southern California in the Mojave Desert. The canyon is composed of sandstone cliffs thousand’s of feet high, resting on ancient limestone and topped with volcanic rock. Check out these amazing formations! They reminded me of The Valley of the Kings in Egypt. (Click to enlarge).

The formations are approximately 14 million years old. The park is full of fossilized dinosaurs including elephants, extinct rhinos, three-toed horses, saber-tooth tigers and much more. It contains the richest concentrations of fossilized flora and fauna in Western North America. It is still being excavated by the Museum of Natural History.

Check out the people climbing in one area of the park. I included them so you could how massive these structures are!

The canyon sits on top of what was once an ancient inland lake. It is composed of sedimentary and igneous rock layers.

The vibrant red colors in the rock are from leeching iron oxide.

Red Rock Canyon was lifted by three seismic faults which pushed ancient rock to the surface. Wind, rain and sand erosion carved the beautiful structures in the sandstone.