Yep, yep - it's flat alright, there ain't no waves anywhere... But my imagination was sparked the other day when my Mum sent me a paper clipping that she thought I might be interested in (does anyone elses Mum do that?) - "Horse-riding the waves". If you're bored and got a big horse, then you might want to try this!

The 'horse surfer' sits in 1-2 foot of water in the beach shallows. Probably thinking - "if I catch a front edge and face slap in water this deep it's gonna hurt!". In front of him is a big frisky powerful horse, nostrils flaring, chopping at the bit ready hurtle down the beach. A water ski tow line is attached to a point at the back of the saddle, a kite board is on the feet, and a bloke who knows what he is doing is in the saddle - GO !

It looks like we can claim 'Horse-surfing' to be a British first - the man who invented it Daniel Fowler-Prime is a high calibre stunt horse man, who has appeared in the newly released 'The Da Vinci Code' and other film and TV stuff.

Basically they invented it in the same way as most great and stupid things come about - the 'boys' sitting around bored with a collection of toys, thinking to themselves - hmmm 'no surf, no wind - what can we do today?'. They dug out the mountain board out and did some towing behind a car on the beach, then tried it with a motorbike - then hey! - 'I've got a horse lets give that ago - and it can go fast in shallow water!' - there you have it 'Horse Surfing'.

From the article that I read in the paper Daniel-Fowler and his mates are experimenting with different types of boards at the moment. Wake boards have so far proved to work best, as they are short manoeuvrable, and with tiny fins are perfect for the shallow water. But they are looking to develop a board that is more buoyant, so that at the launch there isn't as much pressure on the horse or the rider.

Little quote from the website - I reckon that it would get your adrenaline going...!!!!

All your training comes to a head as you are taken in to the water by one of the safety crew, asked to sit down with the board on your feet. You will be handed the end of the tow line. Once everyone is in place and the safety crew are happy the horse will be brought in to place and hitched up. You will see the length of the line come out of the water as the tension is taken up. A slight pull and a little bit of water pushes over the top edge of the board. Then the horse is let go he will accelerate from 0mph to mid teens in 1.5 seconds within 3seconds you'll be travelling at somewhere between 20 and 25 mph.

Check out the links below if you want some more information.

Another article in the Guardian.

www.independenthorse.com/horsesurf.html