the horses (and mules!) of Nola

Just got home last night from a few days spent in New Orleans' French Quarter for a conference. Fun times! I'm pretty exhausted, but rather than catch up on sleep like a normal person I'm off to a horse trial today with B and Wick (I'm just playing chauffeur, not competing). 

So more interesting updates will come later (and I'll hopefully get caught up with everyone else's posts too!!!), but in the meantime here are all the horse-related pics I snapped in the Big Easy. Enjoy!

Jackson Square contains probably the most recognizable horse statue in the city. This iconic combo of statue + backdrop shows up all over the place on signs and t-shirts etc

this guy was a little less fanciful - but still pretty cool. and of course the Mississippi lies just beyond.

horses and beignets - what a perfect combo!

there's a lot of civil war history in the area too - and these neat statuettes were displayed in an antique gun shop

but of course there were actual living breathing equines too - mostly of the carriage-pulling mule variety. this particular guy was spotted making his was across bourbon street, and didn't exactly look thrilled about it. his driver said he's pretty new to the job

this true white mule was really striking and i was super disappointed that my snapshots didn't come out any clearer. as it was, i nearly knocked a few ppl off the balcony running to catch this picture haha (no, i'm NOT crazy, why are you asking?!?). 

these horse head posts lined many of the streets in the French Quarter. most were pretty plain but this one appears to have been painted (at some point) and was covered in glitter

and of course i thought Izzy would approve since he appears to be noshing on a candy cane lol

the French Quarter was kind of all over the place, with high end art and antique galleries interspersed with chintzy t-shirt and souvenir shops  

and, um, yea there were police horses tied near the station on bourbon street each evening. obviously i had to say hi (and yes all my fellow conference attendees thought I was freaking nuts...). this horse was super friendly - nearly aggressively friendly and almost bit my face off, but in a nice kind of way? lol i guess i'm just 'that girl' that probably drives all the mounted police crazy haha

then of course there are all the carriages on Decatur. they had some really interestingly colored mules out here - and i wish the pictures were better!!

these guys were all super quiet - except for one wearing a metal grill over his muzzle. presumably that one bites?

i could NOT get over how huge their ears were. for the most part these were BIG mules, with even bigger ears!

just look at those things!?! who could resist haha

and here was the white mule again. i kinda want to think this was the same one from the prior evening bc it seems unlikely that there would be more than one pure white mule around town... but who knows!

Anyway it was a super fun trip but I am GLAD to be home. Will hopefully get back into the swing of things with at least a quick ride this afternoon :)