WHOBAA COMMUNITY MESSAGE FORUM - By digitalcreations

A thousand horse and none to ride! -
With flowing tail, and flying mane,
Wide nostrils never stretched by pain,
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod,
And flanks unscarred by spur or rod,
A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
Like waves that follow o'er the sea,
Came thickly thundering on,...


Lord Byron XVII, (Mazeppa 1818)

hush little baby don't you cry
Daddy's coming by and by
In the morning he will bring
All the pretty little horses

This is part of an old nursery rhyme, what is the rest? can't remember

Hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
go to sleep my little baby,
when you wake, you'll have cake,
and all the pretty little horses.

Blacks and Bays, Dapples and Greys,
a coach, and six little horses.
hush-a-bye, don't you cry,
go to sleep my little baby.

Lines to a Wild black Mustang.

( A young black colt that had to be put down because of a broken leg.)

Black, but beautiful.... your eyes and your soul;
Your lusterless coat has a likeness to coal,
Pose for me there, before you depart,
And I'll paint your fair picture on my lonely heart.
Beneath your dull hide, the mud, and the flies,
There's the unconquered spirit I see in your eyes
You'd like to be running on your small unkempt hooves
In the hills of the desert that your soul still loves.
Well, run to your haven, it's there you belong,
Where the wind in your long shaggy mane is a song.
Go, my black ugly! your beauty, to me,
and take my heart with you, let me too be free.
To tame you would lame you, so run then, run then!
And, I here will linger........... lonely again.

Daisy KJ

Thanks for the nursery rhyme, jogged the memory (poor thing isn't what it used to be) - this is how I remember it (no doubt several versions)...

Hush little baby don't you cry
Daddy's coming by and by
In the morning he will bring
All the pretty little horses
Blacks and bays, dapple greys
Coach and six o pretty horses

Talk about memory joggers, how about this one!!!!

Horsey Horsey don't you stop
just let the wheels go clippety clop
the tail goes swish and the wheels go round
Giddy up, we're homeward bound.

oops

Now thats OLD!!! old mare!

I know why you don't know Horsey Horsey, its because we got the wrong horse in the cart. Had to swap horses the wheels fell off the other one. ha ha

Horsey Horsey don't you stop
just let YOUR FEET go clippety clop
the tail goes swish and the wheels go round
Giddy-up! we're homeward bound

THE WELLS OF OLD BEERSHEBA

In saga and in story their tale has been told,
As long down the years of madness the battle tides have rolled;
Their drops of crystal water - more precious than gold
The Wells of old Beersheba were battle-scarred of old.

On an Austumn evening that seems so long ago
The war-worn Walers reached them with stately step and slow,
And the guns roared welcome, peal upon thunder peal,
The Wells of old Beersheba were held by Moslem steel.

On barren cactus ridges the British army lay,
All sore in need of water at the burning close of day;
And so the desert riders must charge at evening gloom -
The Wells of old Beersheba - to victory or doom.

A league across the desert, slowly Walers came,
And Turkish schrapnel answered with a burst of flame
That flashed among the smoke clouds, deep in the murky haze,
The Wells of old Beersheba with trench-lines all ablaze.

...the first 4 verses (of 10)....

by that good old "Trooper Gerady" - Gerard, Palestine, 1917.Found in the book From Gallipoli to Gaza, The Desert Poets of World War One,
by Jill, Duchess of Hamilton, published 2003 SImon & Schuster NSW

THE GRANDEST HORSE
by Stanley Watson

If I were a rider with desert to cross,
I would seek the Grandest Horse----
To carry me through the roughest terrain----
The heat in the south, the freeze and the rain--
Through drifts of white ice in treacherous passes,
Perilous cliffs and valley grasses-----
Through rattlesnake canyons and flooded gorge,
Gouged out mesa and tables of stone----
To a land beyond the blues of heaven----
To highest peaks of external existence----
To the place of my friend, my Saviour and Lord----
I'd ride up to heaven on the Grandest Horse----
No bridle, no saddle, His Spirit of course!

Beyond the horizon, you strut with such pride...
Gracefully dance in the land open wide,
Causing echoes of music to linger behind...
A creature of beauty like no other kind,
You gallop through fields with your body of strength...
You've travelled your life a journey of length,
Eyes of tranquility reflect no remorse...
For your a free spirit
... You are the horse.


Shannon Renee Apelt

Check these out...
"It's as if he knew" by Eric Bogle,
"The old brigade" by Norma Murphy - on "The vanishing horsemen" cassette.