The Horse Guards. The Blues and Royals. The Changing of the Horse Guards. Buckingham Palace. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. That’s a fair bit of history and heritage right there, just in those words.
My Great Uncle, my Grandfather, and my Uncle were all in the Guards. My Uncle rode in the Trooping of the Color for many years. When I was about eight years old I was taken to see the Trooping. It is a lengthy spectacular and I was getting a bit weary but then my Aunt pointed out my Uncle Tim riding , in full regalia, behind the Queen. Well! I was pretty impressed.
My photos in response to the Word Press Photo Challenge for this week , Heritage, are of the Horse Guards, lined up at the Changing of the Horse Guard. The first photo is a close up of the boot, spurs, the trumpet and the Standard. I have to say I am in no doubt that those boots may not be the most comfortable and a good deal of work has gone into the cleaning and polishing of the boots and the horse’s tack. Apparently the saddles are made to fit the horse with no regard to the comfort of the rider. Hence the sheepskin pad the rider is sitting on. And the spurs…they may look big but there is not a single spur mark on the side of the grey horse so the spurs are more for show than anything else.
The horses all know their job and stand patiently for the Changing of the Horse Guards ceremony before they move off. This group was finishing their time “on guard’ and were heading back to the barracks and stables as soon as the ceremony was over.
To see the other responses to this week’s challenge click here:
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