I know what you are thinking, didn’t three-times Grand National winner Red Rum used to gallop in the sea at Southport Beach. His wise, old trainer, Ginger McCain realised that salt water was like the elixir of life when it come to healing tired legs and aching bones. He went on to win the ‘greatest race in the world’ three times in 1973, 1974 & 1977.
Perhaps you’ve seen horses galloping on the beach. It looks so natural and a beautiful sight.
Another location where racing takes place on the beach is Laytown, Strand Road, Ninch, County Meath, in Ireland. This spectacle has taken place since 1868. Racing takes place on just one day each year in September. This seven-furlong straight course sees all races run over six or seven furlongs and watched by a crowd in excess of 5,000.
I don’t know if you have enjoyed a holiday or a day out in Norfolk. It’s a lovely location with a beautiful coastline and villages of flint-stone buildings and thatched roofs. Wells-next-the-sea is a port town a stone’s throw from Burham Market and Holkham Hall. I’ve been to Wells-next-the-sea on a number of occasions but the last time I went there for a day out I notice something in the sea. It was a horse standing on the sand looking proudly out to sea. As the tide turned it remained in situ and the water rose until it lapped against its neck. Still it stood motionless. The Lifeboat Horse as it’s known is a sculpture made from steel bars and whisky barrels and created by Rachael Long as a tribute to the horses that once pulled the town’s lifeboat more than two miles from the quay to Holkham Gap. The Lifeboat Horse had a brief spell at Wells-next-the-sea in 2018. However, locals and visitors missed the horse so much that £15,000 was raised to make it a permanent feature of this beautiful location in 2019.
To protect the horse from winter weather it is kept in storage from October to May. Thankfully the harbour commissioners have agreed to cover all future maintenance costs.
Harbour Master Robert Smith MBE said: ‘It was important to buy the sculpture because ‘so many people loved it. People have already come from ll over the country to see the horse – it’s good for tourism, it’s good for Wells and it’s good for Norfolk.
The next time you visit Norfolk, go to see this beautiful sculpture.
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