by Penelope Miller

The equine world has a lot of jargon; from racing to pleasure riding, horse people often use common words in colloquial ways, and that can be very confusing if you find yourself in a conversation with horse lovers! Here are 15 words that mean something different to horse people.

1. Bay

To most people: A body of water indenting a shoreline.

To horse people: A brown horse with a black mane and tail.

Read more: Fifteen Words That Mean Something Different to Horse Lovers

It's easy to find great movies for horse lovers. The movies include both those films that are based on the adventures of horses and even more that have to do with training and utilizing horses. These movies include beloved classics, big-budget action movies and epics, and great horse racing movies as well. What the best had in common was treating the horses with respect.

The next best thing to people riding and loving their horses is to watch movies about the beloved horses in their spare time. With Oscar nominees, documentaries, new classics, dramas, and family pictures, here is a look at the best horse movies of all-time.

10. WAR HORSE

Based on the 1982 novel by Michael Morpurgo, Steven Spielberg directed War Horse in 2011 about a thoroughbred horse named Joey. The story starts with Joey's birth and then his training by a boy named Albert. However, when Albert's dad sells Joey to the army when they need money to pay rent after a downpour destroys their crops, Albert watches as his horse is sent off to serve in the war.

War Horse then shows Joey's work in the war, with Albert eventually enlisting when he reaches legal age. As expected, Albert is reunited with Joey. Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Eddie Marsan lead the cast with Jeremy Irvine as Albert. This horse movie received six Oscar nominations.

Read more: 10 Best Horse Movies Of All Time

There’s nothing better than being able to go on holiday and still do the thing you love most, especially if that thing is horse riding. Luckily, there are some incredible riding holidays that you can experience that will take you to far-flung destinations and exotic locations. Here’s a roundup of some of the most exciting horse-riding holidays and holiday destinations in the world.

Explore the Beauty of the Camargue

The Camargue region in the South of France is renowned for being a place of natural beauty and one of the most popular European destinations for equestrians, no doubt due to the wild horses that roam through the heather here. Riding holiday specialists In the Saddle (www.inthesaddle.com) run a marvelous seven-night trail-riding holiday, which begins in Marseille before heading to the ancient village of Lauris where you’ll meet your equine companion. The trail itself takes you across the delta with its pink flamingos, through plenty of fortified medieval villages, traverses the Alpilles mountains and ends deep in Provence and the Rhône Valley.

Experience Rural Rajasthan

Whether as a riding holiday or not, India is one of the most exotic destinations that we are lucky enough to be able to visit, but the experience is even more special when done so on horseback. Exploring the deserts of Rajasthan from the saddle sounds like a dream come true for any rider with an adventurous spirit, and thanks to Wix Squared (www.wixsquared.com), it can be a reality.

The company runs a seven-night itinerary, which is tailor-made to suit different riding abilities. You can expect to spend at least three days on a riding safari in Rajasthan, traveling via the local horse breed Marwari and discovering this fascinating part of the country.

Read more: The World’s Most Exciting Horse-Riding Holidays

by SoaringRaven

No one really knows how these old hobby horses got here, but the herd keeps growing.

On a small slice of wide-open pasture in the town of Lincoln, Massachusetts, broken-down rocking horses, plastic ponies and other assorted horse toys have been holding court. As if by magic, ponies have been proliferating along this winding country road, resulting in the peculiar “Ponyhenge”.

The plastic and metal horses started arriving anonymously sometime in 2010, with the placement of a lone hobby horse along picturesque Old Sudbury Road, about 15 miles west of Boston. How and why the rusty little fellow appeared is a mystery, even to Lincolnites who’ve been around a while. One story has the first horse hanging around after a kids’ short-lived lemonade stand, another that he was left over from a Christmas display.

Read more: Ponyhenge

by Kurt Schlosser

We’ve seen his lucky cowboy boots kicked up against the side of a Blue Origin crew capsule, and now Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has actually hopped aboard another mode of transportation to show off his Western chops.

Bezos was captured on New Year’s Eve in Aspen, Colo., riding a horse into a Western apparel store called Kemo Sabe. In a short video on Instagram, the shop said, “Now that’s how you make an entrance!” before adding that the world’s richest person “looked pretty damn good on a horse.”

Read more: Buckaroo Bezos: Amazon CEO Looks Giddy as He Rides Horse into Western Store in Colorado

by J. Keeler Johnson

The letter was dated Aug. 29, 1919, and signed with a plain, unassuming signature. No mention was made of the writer’s rank as a colonel in the U.S. Army, or of his decorated service during World War I. To the contrary, on that day, the man who would eventually gain lasting fame as Gen. George S. Patton was unconcerned with his own status and more concerned with that of the five young Thoroughbreds he was seeking to register with The Jockey Club.

For the majority of Americans, Patton is most recognizable as a key commander of the U.S. Army throughout World War II, where he played a major role in leading troops to reclaim France and Germany. But among horse people, Patton is equally recognized for his lifelong love of equines. Besides playing polo, Patton spent much of his military career in the cavalry branch of the U.S. Army and played a key role in the famous rescue of the Lipizzaner breed during World War II, an event detailed in the bestselling book “The Perfect Horse” by Elizabeth Letts and featured in the 1963 Walt Disney film “Miracle of the White Stallions.”

Patton’s love for horses literally extended to the end of his life. When the general fractured his spine in an ultimately fatal car collision at the end of 1945, “The Perfect Horse” details that Patton’s initial concern was whether he would recover sufficiently to ride again. When he passed away less than two weeks later, his funeral honored him with a ceremonial riderless horse carrying Patton’s saddle and boots.

Read more: Gen. George S. Patton: Thoroughbred Breeder?

Get ready to saddle up, Westchester and Fairfield. With the Old Salem Farm Spring Horse Shows having taken place this May in North Salem, horse enthusiasts and local residents alike had the chance to experience one of the region's premier equestrian events.

Equally as exciting as the on-field competition was the host venue; Old Salem Farm sits on 120 manicured riding acres and contains a 67-stall barn, complete with luxury accommodations. Old Salem Farm hosts shows throughout the year, including the American Gold Cup in September, which is also sponsored by Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The shows offer a uniquely Westchester viewing experience.

Looking for your own home on the range, but prefer to stay in the New York area? Elliman is currently showcasing several equestrian properties that allow owners the chance to kick up dirt during the day without sacrificing magnificence at night.

Read more: Head To The Country With These Equestrian Estates

by Melinda Folse

No matter how much we “Battle of the Bulge” veterans lament the extra pounds that plague us, the flip side of this problem is also one that has also been around for as long as anyone can remember. I know it’s hard to imagine for those of us who tend to fret about excess ballast, but there is another extreme of body image woes that are just as destructive to self-concept, both in and out of the saddle.

Despite the alarming statistics on obesity brought to us by our friends at the Center for Disease Control, an equally legitimate concern comes from society’s superficial obsession with being thin. Ironically, this extreme of body image issues—the obsession with “lightness”—is also a longtime resident in the horse world among jockeys whose livelihoods depend on a tiny profile, as well in show rings in disciplines whose traditions demand a willowy build. Eating disorders, starvation, and all the health-related illnesses that tend to arise from long-term deprivation of essential nutrients are not news to those in these worlds.

And now, even as obesity has continued its upward spiral for more than three consecutive decades, this mentality has filtered down to prey upon a growing number of girls and women feeling an ugly new pressure to be “show thin.” The barn, which for most of us is a no-makeup, bad-hair-day safety zone, has become, for some, a place of socially-driven body scrutiny, negative comparisons, and body angst that is spawning self-loathing, eating disorders, and self-esteem issues that can last a lifetime. Beyond the anxieties we all share over whether our riding breeches make our buttocks look like, as my grandmother used to say, “two pigs fighting under a blanket” (just try to get that dressing room image out of your mind. I challenge you), this is a real problem, and it’s hurting people.

Read more: “Show Thin”: Battling Sizism in the Horse Industry

By Dominique Barbier and Keron Psillas, Photographs by Keron Psillas.

I heard the name Mestre Nuno Oliveira in 1991, when I rode in my first clinic with Dominique Barbier. As the years passed and the clinics became more or less frequent, my knowledge of French classical dressage expanded, as did the mystique around the name Nuno Oliveira.

I read Reflections on Equestrian Art and then moved on to texts from de La Guérinière, The Duke of Newcastle, Baucher, and others. All the time I was working to understand how to apply these principles to my limited ability with my own horses.

In my mind’s eye I would even try to envision what it must have been like to be tucked away in Portugal, at the edge of the European continent, and yet, have the world coming to you to watch, to ride, to learn. I was imagining and dreaming of a Lusitano that would make my struggles to achieve lightness disappear.

Many years would pass until a fairytale-brought-to-life had me living in Portugal. I was still a dedicated student of Dominique and Debra Barbier’s teaching, visiting them often in California, and by this time (2011), I was also traveling to Brazil, Europe, and all over the United States to photograph (and sometimes even ride!) Lusitanos.

Living in Portugal has given me a much more nuanced understanding of the impact of Mestre Oliveira’s teaching. He is discussed, of course, around the lunch and dinner tables of riders, breeders, and aficionados of dressage and the Lusitano horse. These discussions go on for hours!

As the years pass there are fewer students alive, but I am lucky to be able to hear the stories first-hand. A few will argue that Oliveira’s legacy is being lost. And then the majority will speak up and disagree. My voice is added at that time.

Read more: Nuno Oliveira: A Man Possessed