Paso Fino

Early yesterday afternoon we drove to visit friends we met on the Turkish gullet holiday last year. They live in the stockbroker belt, in the well to do village of Cobham. They are a short walk from The Chelsea training ground and quite a few well known football players live in the area.

This morning, on the way to the stables we went to her sisters house through the The Crown Estate. The massive detached manorial houses are surrounded by greenery and all have electric gates. What's unusual is that there are only grass verges and no pavements. I can't imagine that owners there bump into their neighbours for a chat. It's a massive estate and there was another similar one a mile or two down the road called 'Fair Mile'.  The semi detached houses in the old village start off about £600K+ I remember the same sort of scenario when we have been to Alderley Edge, Manchester, again the haunt of famous footballers - but nothing like Cobham!

Last night was memorable (don't ask!) but the best part was after we collected her sisters dog, Julie, took Mrs Bobs Blip horse riding. Her horse is a Paso Fino and the blip photo shows the fine horse. The two dogs ran with the horse who didn't seem to bothered by it. The trot it has makes an unusual sound as they always have three legs in contact with the ground and have a higher leg action.

The Paso Fino is a naturally gaited light horse breed dating back to horses imported to the Caribbean from Spain. Pasos are prized for their smooth, natural, four-beat, lateral ambling gait; they are used in many disciplines, but are especially popular for trail riding. In the United States two main groups of horses are popularly called "Paso Fino:" One, also known as the Pure Puerto Rican Paso Fino (PPR), originated in Puerto Rico. There's a load more information on them on wilipedia for those interested.

After riding we went to the village pub (The Running Mare). I liked the rear bar as it was absolutely filled with old black and white photo's of famous racing drivers like Fangio, James Hunt, Mansell, etc. The photo's were fabulous. They're something to do with The landlords brother, Julian Bailey who was a racing driver and The Stig from BBC's Top Gear.