The Grand National (probably the biggest horse-racing event in the UK) was held last weekend. This weekend the Scottish Grand National is being held at Ayr, near Glasgow. Both events are very famous and people often like to have parties over these weekends. Many people who don’t usually bet on horse racing will bet on these races. One very fun way of betting is to have a ‘sweepstake’.
All this talk about horses means I want to tell you about 3 completely different reasons why horses are important to Scotland:
1) ‘Point-to-points’ are amateur horse races that take place all over the UK and Ireland. They are very sociable events because people come from all over the countryside to go to them. They are a great opportunity to meet people, to drink and to gamble. I highly recommend going to one if you come to Scotland in the spring!
2) Clydesdale horses are a special breed of horse from...Clydesdale! (Clydesdale is a district in south-central Scotland). They are very big horses as you can see in the photograph. They were bred to pull heavy loads but became less important when people started to use vehicles.
3) Cavalry (soldiers who fight on horses): The Scots are generally quite proud of their military history and Scottish regiments have fought in many wars. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (formerly The Royal Scots Greys) are the oldest cavalry regiment in the British Army (over 350 years old). This is a photograph of a monument in Edinburgh that honours the regiment and, I think, is a good symbol of Scottish pride.
Glossary
Racing: a race is a competition of speed between two or more people or things
Bet: when you bet, you tell someone that [something] will happen. If it doesn’t happen, you give them money; if it does happen they give you money.
Sweepstake: is when everybody chooses a different horse (for example) and pays a fixed amount of money. The person who chose the winning horse wins all the money.
Amateur: is the opposite of professional (in other words, not for money)
Sociable: friendly
Gamble: similar to ‘bet’
Breed: is a group of animals- Cocker Spaniels are a breed of dog, Persians are a breed of cat etc.
District: region
Regiment: is a section of the army (they usually have their own traditions and clothes)
Photographs
Photos 1 & 2 were taken by Paolo Camera
The Clydesdale horse was taken by Just Chaos
The Royal Scots Greys Memorial was taken by Richard Milnes
All are available on Flickr and are reproduced here under a Creative Commons Attribution License
