Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Monster Max


For those of you that have seen the new Bond movie, "Casino Royale," you may recognize "Max." He is the horse that gallops down the beach with Caterina Murino on his back. He is very memorable in the movie because he is just gorgeous and it is shot just beautifully. I was fortunate to meet him while down in the Bahamas. He is an 18 year old Holstiener gelding from Germany. Sue Smith owns and manages the Windsor Equestrian Center where he lives along with thirty some horses. She says that "Max is so well trained, he is the type of horse that takes care of his riders." He had a regal presence and would just rest his head in your hands. For those of you who board...just when you get depressed about how much you pay, think of this: In the Bahamas, hay is $39 a bale! The boarders at Windsor pay about $1200 a month on average. Can you say ouch! Everything has to be imported so the cost goes up. Most of the horses at Windsor are rescued or donated from people in the States. Some of the horses have pretty amazing resumes. There are Grand Prix jumpers and horses with track careers. If you get to the Bahamas, they do beach rides and it is great just to walk around and meet the horses.

4 comments:

Rising Rainbow said...

$39 a bale and I'd have to start giving my horses away. At that price rental horses to ride down the beach must be pretty spendy too.

Lori Schmidt (LoriProPhoto) said...

Sheesh I only pay $3 a bale for alfalfa at the moment but expect it to go up this year because of the gas prices so really need to cut down on my herd.

I love Max he is very regal. I havent seen the movie but will look out for it. Nice shots.

Lori

Anonymous said...

I have met him before! I jsut recently went to the Bahams and stood exactly where that picture was taken, right infront of his stall. Gorgeous man. He does nip a little thought, not much.

Anonymous said...

I have met him before! I jsut recently went to the Bahams and stood exactly where that picture was taken, right infront of his stall. Gorgeous man. He does nip a little thought, not much.