Editorial: Hoorah! The cavalry has arrived

The horses are in town and you'd be remiss if you hadn't seen the signs.

Whether you're a horsey person or not is immaterial.

In fact, whether you care at all isn't an option.

Why?

Because they're everywhere.

I'm talking horses, and the cavalry that descends on Hastings this time every year. You'd be remiss if you hadn't seen the signs.

I mean, if I had a dollar for every Range Rover I've given way to in the past four days I'd have enough to buy a Range Rover. The same goes for the number of pairs of cream-coloured jodhpurs strutting a tight line through the local supermarket.

Then of course there's the gigantic motorised stables struggling to negotiate Hastings' roundabouts.

The 2016 incarnation of the Horse of the Year show would work well as an urban documentary in David Attenborough's current Natural Curiosities series.

That is, an expose on a mysterious herd of wild horses whose migratory patterns see them trek for weeks before descending on the Heretaunga Plains every spring to feed. Like Cape Kidnappers is to the gannet, the A&P Showgrounds is to the horse.

For those of us who feel intimidated by these beasts, it's easy to talk it down. But the sheer muster of horse and horse enthusiast make this gathering impossible to ignore.

Besides, if you head along to any one of these events, it's rather tough to be apathetic. The thunder of the hooves, the ridiculous whinny they make, their majesty and their riders' mastery.

The equine ilk and the art of horsemanship is more than likely foreign to most in this region, yet the annual migration to the grassy paddocks of the showgrounds ensures their place as a proud piece of Hawke's Bay's furniture.