Horses in London

While in London we had the opportunity to visit the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace - sounds better than it was.  But, it involved horses and hubby was sweet enough to humor me and in we went.  We saw LOTS of coaches, but not so many horses.  When you visit the royal stables, somehow you should see horses actually stabled.  We got a quick peak at three. The website, actually very interesting, does point out that the horses aren't always on view as they travel and are occasionally out of the city resting. Well, darn!  In any case, we actually preferred watching the mounted pair that were patrolling the park in front of Buckingham Palace.

Here's a quick video of what we saw ...

The official website of the British Monarchy says that only Windsor Greys and Cleveland Bays are kept at the Royal Mews. This pair certainly seemed to fit that description, but the website of the Metropolitan Police - Mounted Unit says, "a half or three-quarter-bred animal has been found to be the best suited to police work."  Check out the MPS site, it's pretty interesting.  
The black on the right appeared to be the "junior" horse.  While waiting for a light to change, a loud motorcycle came up from behind and he danced around a little as the officer on the big gray motioned for the traffic to wait as he and his partner advanced forward.  When we saw them walking through the park, the black horse was definitely hanging back a half-a-length. He just had that look that said, "where's my buddy?"

I really loved the turn-out of both horses and was impressed with how clean and well-maintained their tack appeared to be. Wouldn't expect anything different ...