Bonfire (horse)

Bonfire (March 21, 1983 – October 28, 2013), full name Gestion Bonfire, was an Oldenburg gelding that competed in dressage with Dutch rider Anky van Grunsven. Between 1991 and 2000, the pair competed in multiple national and international championships, including three Olympic Games and two World Equestrian Games. They won one gold medal and four silver medals at the Olympics and one gold and three silvers at the World Equestrian Games. Although known for having a hot temperament, Bonfire mellowed as he aged, becoming one of Van Grunsven's best horses – until she found his replacement, Salinero, she did not think she would ever find a horse to match Bonfire's talent. A statue of Bonfire stands in Van Grunsven's home town of Erp.

Early life

The brown Oldenburg gelding was born March 21, 1983, bred by Karl Bernd Westerholt of Lemwerder, Germany. His sire was Welt As and his dam was Warine (his dam's sire was Praefectus xx).

Van Grunsven first met Bonfire when he was two and a half years old, having been under saddle for only a week. He was later purchased by Van Grunsven's father. At first it appeared that the young horse would be a poor prospect, as his hot temperament led to poor gaits. However, he did well at learning advanced dressage moves such as the piaffe and passage, and so Van Grunsven continued to work with him. He improved, and by the time he was seven years old, he was competing at the Grand Prix level. His temperament continued to lead to difficult rides, and he had a tendency to spook at small items near the ring; these tendencies decreased as he grew older.

Horse

The horse (Equus ferus caballus) is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. It is an odd-toed ungulate mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, Hyracotherium, into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began to domesticate horses around 4000 BC, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BC. Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, as this term is used to describe horses that have never been domesticated, such as the endangered Przewalski's horse, a separate subspecies, and the only remaining true wild horse. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior.

Horses' anatomy enables them to make use of speed to escape predators and they have a well-developed sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight response. Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait: horses are able to sleep both standing up and lying down. Female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months, and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under saddle or in harness between the ages of two and four. They reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

Horse (disambiguation)

A horse is a hoofed mammal of the species Equus ferus caballus.

Horse or Horses may also refer to:

Animals

Arts and entertainment

Horse (1941 film)

Uma (馬, also known as Horse) is a 1941 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kajiro Yamamoto and starring Hideko Takamine, whom Yamamoto had directed in his film Composition Class (Tsuzurikata Kyōshitsu) three years before. Uma was actually completed by assistant director Akira Kurosawa. It follows the story of Ine Onoda, the eldest daughter of a poor family of farmers, who raises a colt from birth and comes to love the horse dearly. When the horse is grown, the government orders it auctioned and sold to the army. Ine struggles to prevent the sale.

Overview

The film is a tale about a young girl and the colt she raises from its birth. But it is also about the struggle of farmers existing on the edge of poverty. Akira Kurosawa is credited as the film's production coordinator, which is equivalent to first assistant director. But Kurosawa's signature is all over this work and is the last film he was to work on as an assistant before starting his own directing career. The film took three years to plan and a year to film. Kajiro Yamamoto had to commute to the far mountainous location but had to turn his attention to his money making comedies in Tokyo and so he left production in the hands of his assistant, Kurosawa.

Bonfire (song)

"Bonfire" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Craig Morgan. It was released in May 2009 as the third single from his album That's Why. It is only available on later presses of the album. The song entered the top 40 on the U.S. country charts in June 2009. It is his sixteenth single release. A Christmas version with new lyrics was released on November 24, 2009. Morgan wrote the song with Kevin Denney, Tom Botkin and Mike Rogers.

Content

"Bonfire" is an up-tempo with electric guitar accompaniment. In it, the narrator describes a summertime party around a bonfire. The partiers are described in the first verse, while the second verse tells of a police officer showing up, causing the partiers to hide their beers. The officer then takes a beer himself and states that he "came to hang out / at the bonfire, out in the sticks[…]".

Reception

The song received mixed reviews. Andrew Lacy of Engine 145 gave the song a thumbs-down rating. He described it as an "annual summer ritual of artists and labels competing to see who can release the most popular anthem by attempting to recapture the fun and flavor of [Morgan's 2005 single] 'Redneck Yacht Club'." Lacy also said that the lyrics, melody and production were "forgettable", and that the heavy production made Morgan shout instead of sing. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock gave a more favorable review. Although he also said that the song was similar in theme to "Redneck Yacht Club", he said that its heavier production made it stand out on the re-released album, and gave it an "exciting" sound.