Appleby Fair

 

equiculture

developing responsible horse ownership

 

 

Appleby Fair

The official website for the fair is www.applebyfair.org Here is some information about the fair from the website just to give you the general idea (in italics) followed by my words (not in italics) - Appleby Fair is unique in Europe and as well as attracting around 10,000 Gypsies and Travellers, over 30,000 other visitors attend the Fair with Sunday being the traditional main visitors’ day. It transforms the town of Appleby for the week, as it normally has a population of around 2,500.

It is probably the best known of the horse fairs attended by Romany families travelling to meet up with old friends and conduct business. It is world famous, the largest of its kind in the world, and attracts a huge gypsy gathering. It has existed as a fair for horse trading since 1685, under the protection of a charter granted by James II.

The field on the outskirts of Appleby originally known as Gallows Hill, due to its usage in earlier times is now called Fair Hill and looks over the town of Appleby. During the Fair, horses may be found everywhere - in the river, on its banks, along the roadsides or tethered outside hotels and shops.

Young people wash the horses in the River Eden and are then ready to show them off. The tradition of racing and trotting the horses along Flashing Lane takes place throughout the day.

The fair itself has attracted a fair amount of controversy over the years (from conventional horse people and the general public alike) with regard to the perception on how the horses are treated but it gives one a lot of food for thought. The horses were all in great condition. Gypsy horses often work for a living and are therefore fit (unlike many paddock ornaments belonging to non gypsy folk the world over!). You do do see a certain amount of whip usage and rough handling at the fair however in general there was no more cruelty going on than one sees at any horse show anywhere - dressage, show jumping etc included. It is all about perception. Some of the things that conventional horse folk do to their horses would be seen as ‘cruel’ by gypsies - such as locking them up in cages and piling lots of rugs on them. Gypsies have a very long tradition of horse keeping and therefore horses are very much a part of their culture. Horses are seen as a valuable asset, a status symbol, and a working animal, so are prized as such. The fair is their opportunity to show off their status symbols and do some trading.

It was very refreshing to attend an event that is not sanitised and commercialised as so much is these days. This means the fair can be unsafe at times but you could say the same for any event where you have large crowds and large animals together. There is a large police and RSPCA presence however the feeling that you are attending something very ‘real’ shines through. The horses put up with an amazing amount of pressure in the form of hustle, bustle and noise and for this reason horses that have been through this fair and similar situations are pretty much habituated to anything. One of the sights that amazed me in particular was that rows of horses were tied to the barricades that line the roads. The kind of barricades that just sit on the pavement (not fastened down)! Image several horses getting into a panic and running through the crowds tied to a barricade!.

We had a great day out and I would recommend it to anyone. It does not cost anything to attend. This was my second visit (Stuart's‘ first), last time for me was about 20 years ago. The horse side of things was pretty much the same which is great. The main differences being more RSPCA/police and better toilets. Hopefully events such as this will carry on for many years to come so if ever you are in the UK in June make sure you put it on your to do list.

 

To view the photos click on each one once to enlarge and once to reduce again or go to the wiz bang slide show button at the bottom of this page.