Kiss off for the office romance
THE sun sets on a fine career as these Household Cavalry troops celebrate a Major’s retirement with a picturesque seaside canter.
They mounted up on deserted A RESCUE mule that won the right to enter dressage competitions now faces being banned by a “review” of the rules.
Wallace the Great became an internet sensation as his rider Christie Mclean lobbied to compete.
Wallace went on to win his first British Dressage competition last year.
But the 12-year-old – whose father is a donkey and mother a mare – could now be banned by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI).
Christie, 32, said: “Wallace is a unique animal and it would be a real shame if this rule goes through. I think it would cause uproar.”
Wallace was found in a village in Northern Ireland seven years ago and ended up with a friend of Christie’s in Dursley, Gloucestershire. She started to ride him and saw his potential for dressage.
After Wallace showed great promise in local unofficial competitions, Christie approached British Dressage in June last year to ask if he could compete. He was initially turned down, but it relented after the decision triggered a national “Justice for Wallace” campaign.
FEI rules, it declared, defined a horse as being “born from a mare”.
But an FEI spokesman now says the Italian federation has put forward a proposal to amend the definition of horse at the general assembly in Moscow in November to clarify that mules are not considered horses and cannot compete in FEI competitions. “The proposal is supported by the FEI board,” it added. Holkham beach, Norfolk, in honour of Major Richard Chambers, who leaves the regiment after 31 years. Photographer Chris Taylor, 47, from nearby Sheringham, who captured the image, said: “This is the first time they have ever ridden there at sunset.
“Major Chambers has been THE office romance is rapidly becoming a thing of the past amid anti-harassment policies and internet dating.
In the mid-1990s, one in five couples said they met “through or as co-workers” but this has fallen to one in 10, says a study by Stanford University in California.
Meanwhile the proportion of couples who met online has shot up from two per cent to 39 per cent.
A bar or restaurant is the second most likely way to meet, rising some 27 per cent since 1995. Being introduced by pals is the third most likely but is down by 20 per cent.
Steve McKay, professor of social research at Lincoln University, said: “Being accused of chatting someone up in the workplace is seen as more creepy, even if in the past it would be seen as quite normal.” But Susanna Abse, chairwoman of the British Psychoanalytic Council, said: “It is a shame that we have got so prudish about it.”
Prof McKay added that love forged online is likely to survive because people are better matched. “Opposites may attract but they do not stay together,” he said.