Totally chill horses attend a church service because, why wouldn't they?
LONDON -- A church service just isn't a church service unless a horse is present.
And St. John's Church in Hyde Park, London, just hosted an entire church service for more than 60 horses.
The event is hosted annually to raise awareness of working horses in central London and to celebrate horse riding in the city.
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On Sept. 18, the vicar of St. John's Church -- the Reverend Stephen Mason -- led a cavalcade of horses and their riders through the streets before gathering outside the church for the 49th Horseman's Sunday.
The horses congregated on the church's forecourt for a blessing before being awarded rosettes.
Young riders, members of the public, MPs and community leaders were in attendance. Naturally, cloaked members of the clergy were also on horseback.
The annual Horseman's Sunday event began in 1968 to "highlight the need to maintain stables along the north of Hyde Park".
"This occasion is one of the most colourful events in the Hyde Park calendar. After all, how often do you get to see a cloaked member of the clergy on horseback these days?" the Reverend said in statement.
How often indeed!
Topics Animals
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.