Y ou’ve heard of horses for courses – but this is ridiculous. What makes a horse decide to take to the river for a late-autumn swim? Just foaling around? Trying to stirrup some trouble? Or maybe exploring an equine halter ego.
At any rate, when this particular animal took to the waters of the River Liffey near Chapelizod in September 1990, it caused quite a stir.
It took the combined efforts of the Garda, members of the Dublin Fire Brigade, staff from the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, local residents and a man in a boat to effect a rescue.
A tricky business, chucking a rope from a moving rowboat. But this Chapelizod cowboy is an expert; his left hand keeping track of the rope, his right extended after launching his lasso – look at his little finger, poised as delicately as if he’s about to drink tea from a china cup – he’s certainly not planning to join his quarry in the river any time soon.
Is that noose big enough to go over the horse’s head, though? Maybe not this time, which adds to the intrigue of the shot, taking the eye around in circles and back to the boat, then the horse, in an endless . . . well, loop.
What makes the photo really effective, though, is the pattern of light and ripples on the water; an intricate interweaving of movement and stasis which is almost hypnotic, and conveys the action far better than any words. Unless of course you’re James Joyce, and can come up with a description of the Liffey as “a commodius vicus of recirculation”.
We’ll confine ourselves to the observation that the horse survived its ordeal and was successfully extricated. And the river flowed on to the sea. And all was well in Chapelizod.
Arminta Wallace
