The Boys, The Horses And Me

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You may have seen and liked this.

The mini epic video of ‘No Plan’ by street musician Kristin Vollset aka The Musical Slave about life in a Dublin 8 horse yard has already garnered 86,000 views on YouTube or three times the population of the Liberties.

The ‘sheet asked Kirstin, from Bergen, Norway, if she would share her thoughts behind the making of the song.

Kirstin, who is expecting her first child this week, graciously replied:

”No Plan is  about the search for freedom. I left my home town to go on a road trip, because I was sick of my life, and wanted to go on an adventure and get back my feeling of freedom.

And then I ended up finding this community of horses and boys in a laneway in the centre of Dublin.

And it’s hard to explain, but the first time I saw them jockeying horses in the middle of the street, it lit the fire in my heart. It was like the horses and boys reminded me how life used to be when we made our own rules and didn’t need money to survive.

And I think having horses in the middle of the city actually makes a lot of sense. I think people need to feel this contact with nature, and that the horses remind us of our own wild nature, and remind us what it feels like to be free.

And there really is something magical about this laneway in Dublin 8. It’s more than just a group of horse yards, it’s a local meeting place where people catch up on the latest news, and there’s always something going on, with visitors from other horse yards, and always some conflict, or some water fight.

But even though there are problems, these people have so much love for each other, and there is a buzz here that you won’t find anywhere else.

And then there’s this group of 16 year old boys, who appear in the video. It was them who brought me to the Ballinasloe Horse Fair where I found my horse, and it was them who inspired me to write the song. (A few of them have even helped write 2 of the verses in the song).

And they are some of the smartest and funniest people I’ve met in my whole life. And they have this way of always being in the flow, and making crazy things happen in the middle of everyday life.

And it was the boys who taught me how to go “cruising” with the horses and the cars. And the art of cruising is an important part of the video. I want to show how cruising brings you into this zone where you don’t have to think and you can just enjoy being alive.

So the point is that these 16 year olds are actually on the ball, and they have something important to teach the world about life and about freedom.

And basically, we should all go cruising more often…Also I couldn’t have made the film without them, and thanks to these boys, the culture of the Dublin horse community will go down in history.”

Mmf.

The Musical Slave

Thanks Spencer

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45 thoughts on “The Boys, The Horses And Me

    1. Bother Barnabas

      it’s not really about romanticising poverty, though, is it?

      or maybe that’s all you see in it?

      1. No more mr nice guy

        It’s not only that. It also paints an excellent snapshot of backward Paddy still piddling away with his 19th century pastimes at the periphery of modern European life. Just like our pretend government.

  1. Anomanomanom

    So did she show the fellow from that horse yard that rode his horse straight out on the the road just down from the yard and straight into a moving car. He killed the poor horse and wrecked the car. It was not an accident, none of them stop for lights or traffic.

    1. ZeligIsJaded

      They’re free.

      What’s a traffic light only a shackle!

      That car was a dragon, waiting to be slayed!

      1. Anomanomanom

        I know your joking but its ridiculous that there are no real law’s. I worked with horses for years and I can tell you now there is no romanticism in how they treat those horses.

          1. No more mr nice guy

            Who asked you Nigella? Every day you’re on here with a snarky comment or bitter aside against those with whom you disagree. Happy to take you to task on it but how about humanising the kids in the first place by labelling them as impoverished urchins left behind in the recovery and the boom, you may remember the boom, who can only find value in their worthless lives by engaging with other semi intelligent animals?

          2. No more mr nice guy

            No arguments so turn to snarky?
            Look in fairness my beef is not with the kids themselves but I am gimlet-eyed about their life prospects and this sort of soft soap bubble wrap stuff doesn’t have any meaning. Some bored, vacuous millennial Norwegian bird comes over here and appropriates our tinkers to pan out some bizarre fetish she has to make her own meaningless existence more authentic? Not buyin it. Sorry.

          3. Nigel

            a) Argument? Was calling me ‘Nigella’ an argument? I don’t mind, but I’m hardly going to take you seriously.
            b) No their prospects aren’t great, and it’s not because they’re ‘little more than vermin.’
            c) She made friends with them, made a little film, made a little song. These are the things people do. Why begrudge them?

          4. No more mr nice guy

            Yep. You got it now. These are the things that people do, huh? They are little more than a temporary object of curiosity for a bored, jaded, vacuous post-hipster millennial who will up cycle them into their not very interesting but definitively authentic curation. And you talk about dehumanising them? How much lower can they sink?

          5. Nigel

            ‘And you talk about dehumanising them? How much lower can they sink?’

            Lower than being random objects of loathing whose interactions with people from outside their social circle inspires fury and resentment in strangers who regard them as little more than vermin? I’d say they’re not too bad, relatively. You, on the other hand, are sinking fast.

  2. gerry

    Horses aren’t there for our amusement and don’t belong in the city. It’s not what’s best for the animals.

    1. bisted

      …not that long since there were a lot more horses than cars in Dublin…round about the time they ripped out all the trams…

        1. bisted

          …it’s been my experience that people who have animals, especially horses, do not abuse them…there are of course exceptions…in the same way that sometimes humans get abused by those who are supposed to care for them…

    2. Joe

      Lack of space to roam, ran on hard ground, not given vet care, bad diet. Yup those guys really care for their horses. They care about horsing around on them that’s about it. That lass needs to pay a trip to one of the horse rescue centers to get the story of what happens them when they lads are done with them.

  3. newsjustin

    Ok. So there’s some reasons to pick holes in this – horses in traffic, underage kids hanging out of vans, etc…

    ….but you gotta love the epic nature of that song and the joy in the lyrics.

  4. Spaghetti Hoop

    She’s right about the cruising. Piling into who ever had the coolest car, stereo up, windows down. No agenda, no deadlines….

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