The Misadventures of Cavman (with pics)

[RoyalTRider]

The University of Virginia is home to many saintly horses. One of those (at least) is among the most saintly horses ever to gallop the earth. Every home football game, a cartoon at the stadium shows a cartoon horse galloping through Charlottesville and the Grounds, and the crowd sees him galloping through a cartoon tunnel lined with cheerleaders and football players. As he gallops on, the actual horse and rider appear, running by the marching band and being followed by the players. Without a second look, this horse gallops into a stadium holding 50,000 (mostly wearing very bright orange and shouting as loud as they can) amongst a two-hundred-person playing marching band, chased by football players, and towards a miniature fireworks display. Meanwhile, Cavman himself (the rider) is wearing a flapping cape and brandishing a costume sword while he circles the arena at full pace. This is called the Adventures of Cavman.

Well, today Cavman's horse decided that the whole tradition is a bit overrated and soundly deposited Cavman onto the grass immediately upon galloping in to the fray. :lol: Cavman was instantly back on his feet, but took several tries to remount.

The whole album (HR pictures only... about 40 photos): http://pets.webshots.com/album/574631089ouwgTB

The sequence
What the horse gallops into (through the flag and smoke):
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2075465580054151892mubhea

What a saint of a horse:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2220012890054151892MiXppF

From a gallop to a dead stop:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2166284210054151892ralDBu

Falling:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2191597130054151892symlwp

Impact:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2872419340054151892AAJLNO

Failed attempt to remount:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2196996800054151892MFzeVq

Let's try this again:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2506772850054151892DfyKXz

Almost:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2607723810054151892aneVaK

Fourth remount attempt:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2667506610054151892fQnGQx

No luck yet:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2872020190054151892KuziqQ

Success:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2755779920054151892dGEOqM

VICTORY!:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2426887940054151892cZGWUA

ETA: Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTjAppTguMY (Pics are mine, video is not)

[Kato]

OMG that is so funny! thanks for posting. Is the rider a student or professor? (looks like he's kind of old to be a student but you never know these days ;) )

[Meredith Clark]

hmmm... me thinks the horse is a TCU fan.. or even better a Terp! (class of '09 represent!) :lol:

[jen-s]

You have no idea how much I enjoyed that. My ex was a two-time UVA grad and hated horses. Hehehehehehehe.

[BuddyRoo]

LOL! Looks like Cavman was no worse for wear...glad no one got hurt and as such, I felt no shame in LMAO!

[BeastieSlave]

:lol: Interesting mounting technique after the fall. Did anyone else notice (in the video) that Cavman jumps up then tries to put his foot in the stirrup? I guess he didn't want to risk be dragged around the field with one foot in the stirrup...

[BuddyRoo]

That's how I was taught to mount from the ground.....by a cavalry gentleman no less. LOL

[nightsong]

It looks like all the horse did was come to a standstill, then stand very quietly.

[BeastieSlave]

Yeah, that depositing Cavman on the ground and galloping into the fray comment made me think things got out of hand. Untimely stop, but I'm impressed that the horse got that far. None of mine would have!

[Darkstar]

OMG that is so funny! thanks for posting. Is the rider a student or professor? (looks like he's kind of old to be a student but you never know these days ;) )

Not a student or Professor ! I know the "real" Cavman and he is awesome. He's an older polo player from the Charlottesville area. The "Cav horse" is actually an older polo pony, who still comes out to VA Polo and referees with Cavman for College Polo game nights.

This post has me desperately missing UVA, Hoo Football, and VA Polo all at once. Why did I have to graduate and move away ????????????

[Reynard Ridge]

I would loooovvveee to see these photos, but youtube and webshots are not available in my locale! Any chance the photos could find their way to flickr??

:winkgrin: <-- where's the pleading emoticon when you need one???

[Tazzie]

What a saint of a horse:
http://pets.webshots.com/photo/2220012890054151892MiXppF

Very funny sequence! And for me, this photo was a good version of Where's Waldo to me. I swear it took me a couple minutes to find the horse!

[see u at x]

Utterly hilarious. :lol: Horse and rider are VERY good sports!!!

[NCdressage]

My favorite picture was when the horse's front end came to a stop but the back end was still in the air. GREAT PHOTOS!!! I'm just amazed any horse would do this.

[KPF]

Out of all of those people standing around on the sidelines, you'd think ONE of them would've offered to hold the horse and/or give him a leg up! Jeez!!!

[twohotponies]

Where was the policeman running off to?

[JLMet]

Well, I was going to say that I'm assuming Caveman is not a Horseman, but I saw the polo comment. Did he never learn to use a stirrup? lol That was way to funny and when I saw the cop and someone else running, I thought for sure the next pic would be them holding the horse, but alas no...no they had somewhere more important to be. ROFL that was truly amusing, thank you.

[halla]

This post has me desperately missing UVA, Hoo Football, and VA Polo all at once.

Me too! Thanks for these, they made my day!

[RoyalTRider]

Glad a couple of my fellow 'Hoos have some good memories! :yes:

This pony was new to the Adventures of Cavman... only his second time out, and last time there was no incident. What a horse. :cool:

[Darkstar]

Glad a couple of my fellow 'Hoos have some good memories! :yes:

Wahoowa!

And a new pony - what happened to the old Cav horse?

[whicker]

My son is in the UVA band. He said that cavman has 2 horses that he is training with the band in rehearsals. I was in the stands, fairly close, and it looked like the space got very narrow at the same time the band moved their instruments toward the horse. The horse's face looked like she thought she was going to get hit in the head by a big instrument.

I was impressed that the horse didn't bolt. It was odd that cavman was having trouble mounting. The saddle had slid over and may have been close to turning turtle. He sure didn't want to use the stirrup to get back on. I also was surprised that no one helped him. I guess that we are horse people so we know what to do and the people on the field had no idea there was a need.

[Darkstar]

I am still on the VA Polo listserv, and Cavman (Kim) has been getting some ribbing from the polo club members. But along with some good natured humor - there was also another photo (close up), so I thought I would share. http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d28/threedaystar/image005.jpg

All I have to say is THAT HAD TO HURT !!!!!

And Cavman almost fell on his sabre. Ouch...