Oxers

My work on my new playground equipment has me feeling fit and as sleek as can be.

We have gymnastic grids where first, I trot through poles, and then...

...we bounce out.  (I like to bounce)

The cross rails keep me aimed in the right spot.  These are easy.  We trot up to them to keep me from getting over eager.

But there is something more complicated ahead.  And it is sporting fresh, new, bright lumber...  I give it the "stink eye".

It's an "oxer".  Back in Merry Olde England, where fields are fenced with hedges, they would put a rail on one side to keep the cattle (oxen) from rubbing and pushing through the hedge.  This rail was called an oxer.  So, and hedge with a rail was an "oxer" .  A rail on each side made the hedge that much more formidable for the hunters to jump.  They could not just brush through the tops of the hedge. They had to jump the full height.

So, two jumps side by side, just as wide as they are tall, are called an "oxer".  I am getting used to oxers gradually.  Mine has a rail down but I still look at it funny because it is bright and new.  Brita threatens to paint all our equipment white next year....

But still I have fun!  I am the Horse with the flying tail!