Blackjack Polo Pony Animals at Work

I'm John Barrowman. Welcome to Animals At Work, the show where... animals work.

All over the planet there are millions of animals that have jobs.

Whuuh!

This is the show that brings you the funniest, coolest and most bizarre...

animals at work.

Here's what we got for ya.

Blackjack the gelding needs to calm down

if he's going to make the polo dream team.

Charlie the cat is a secret superhero!

He's very different to most normal cats.

Go fetch!

And the Fanimals struggle to teach an old dog a new trick.

But now it's...

Showtime!

Hey, everybody, I'm so excited, because I'm about to get

my first lesson in the royal sport of horse riding. Whoo-hoo!

I've got my helmet, I've got my crop.

Now all I need is a really big horse, and a strong one!

This is ridiculous!

First we're off to Oahu in Hawaii.

On the gorgeous shores of Hawaii

lives a horse with dreams of sporting glory.

This is Blackjack, a seven-year-old thoroughbred gelding

and wannabe polo star.

Training with his rider Tiamo,

he's desperate to break into one of the best polo teams in Hawaii.

Blackjack and I, we work as a team.

He really tries hard at everything he does.

But polo's a tough sport and just trying hard isn't enough.

Blackjack has to prove that he's good enough to make the championship team.

During a polo game, two teams of four horses compete against each other.

They have riders on their backs

who try and hit the ball into goals with long-handled mallets.

Get behind!

The horses in the team are called polo ponies.

Though they're not really ponies. They're highly-trained horses

which have been carefully selected for their bursts of speed,

stamina

and agility.

To play this game, they must be at their physical peak,

with the keenest eyesight and sharpest hearing.

Make no mistake, these are elite horses.

Blackjack's eager to join their ranks by making the star team.

The good news is that he's halfway there.

As a polo pony, Blackjack, he has a lot of energy.

He's always ready to go and do whatever you need.

Whether stopping really quickly or speeding up really fast, he's on it.

He'll give you everything he has. He has a lot of heart.

The bad news? Polo ponies must be calm under pressure

and never become over-excited.

And, well, this one is feisty!

Blackjack can be highly strung and over-excited,

which could lead to mistakes on the polo field.

It's really important for a polo horse to be focused on the rider,

cos if they're not... I mean, it's a dangerous sport.

You can be going out there 30mph and having to stop,

because if you don't you might hit someone or injure you or your horse.

So Blackjack's got his work cut out

if he's going to stand any chance of joining the star team,

because this is one elite team.

Da Vinci,

Charm,

Popeye, Paco,

Halloween,

Shakira,

Daisy.

And, most important of all,

the super-athletic and dazzling team leader, Riptide.

Riptide is the best polo horse in Hawaii.

Riptide's a magnificent horse - strong, fast and sure of foot.

He's the star horse on the team and Blackjack worships him.

Blackjack looks up to Riptide, but I don't think he lets him know it.

I think it's his secret!

Today is a monumental day.

Blackjack and Riptide will be facing off

to see if our up-and-comer has what it takes.

If Blackjack impresses, then he's in the team.

But if Riptide doesn't think he has the skills

then Blackjack's polo-playing dream is over.

SNIFFLING

Later on, we reveal Blackjack's secret weapon.

But will it be enough to get him into the elite team?

We've been searching the Internet

to see what animals get up to on their days off.

Check out this hot-dogger.

Not bad for a furrrrrst-time driver.

"Hey, I'm driving here. Get out of my way!

"This sure beats walkies."

It's not just today that animals have had jobs.

In fact, history reveals that in the past

they've had even more amazing jobs than today.

And here are those History's Heroes!

Oh, hello there. I'm the world-famous animal historian,

fashionista and trendsetter Professor John Bumbleman.

Oh, do you like my new tie? It's a tie-dye tie all the way from Hawaii.

Aloha-eeeee!

It's the latest in high fashion.

PHONE RINGS

Hello? What's that? Tie-dyes have fallen out of style?

-Tie-dye is so last week, you say?!

-HE SQUEALS

My, my. Fashion is a fickle business.

I've seen this in the animal kingdom too.

Let me try to talk you through the working animals from history

who have found themselves back in fashion.

Our first working hero to go back to the future is the humble maggot.

As long ago as the 19th century, during the American Civil War,

a certain doctor JF Zacharias employed maggots

to care for his injured soldiers.

If a patient had a particularly bad wound,

the good doctor sent the maggots in.

The maggots would jump into the wound

and gobble up nasty, rotten flesh,

leaving the wound perfectly clean

and free from the risk of deadly infection.

After the invention of antibiotics at the start of the 20th century

the maggots were out of a job,

as the wiggly fellas were deemed to have no place

in a shiny, clean modern hospital.

However, in the 21st century, everything's changed again.

In 2004, the maggots returned to work.

Today, you can even get treated by maggots on the British NHS.

Nice comeback, Mr Maggot!

The next return to vogue worthy of celebration involves

a South American dog with a distinct look.

It is the Xolo, who is completely bald!

In the past, their baldness worked very well for them.

The ancient Aztec people thought that Xolos were so special

they considered them sacred and that these holy hounds' job was to guide them into heaven.

But over the years they fell out of favour in place of hairier hounds,

and by the early 1950s the Xolo was almost extinct in Mexico.

A breeding program was launched to save the breed and today the Xolo

has once again become popular, both in Mexico and around the world. Hurrah!

Oh! You know, I've got a hairless dog.

He wants me to buy him a wig, but I don't want TOUPEE for it.

Get it? Hair? Toupee?

Never mind.

So now the working animal that has made the most dramatic return to popularity.

It's the wo-o-o-olf!

Yes, that old fairytale villain is making a comeback across the world.

Due to the reputation of being dangerous to man, wolves were hunted to extinction almost everywhere.

In Scotland, all the wolves were gone by the 1700s.

And by 1926 in Yellowstone National Park, there were also no wolves to be found.

But, with no more wolves, the food chain was in serious trouble.

The elk in Yellowstone were very happy there were no wolves left to eat them.

This was great for the elk, but bad for the trees.

As the elk numbers grew, they needed more elk food,

so they ate more young trees, which meant few new trees could grow.

So, to fix this problem, wolves from Canada were brought to Yellowstone.

Their job? To get the elk numbers down and the tree numbers up.

The wolves were successful and are now living happily

back at home in the park with plenty of trees and elks.

The food chain is once again balanced. Well done, Mr Wo-o-o-olf.

And thus concludes this week's back-in-fashion-tastic History's Heroes. Thank you.

And now we're off to Falkirk, in Scotland.

This is Charlie, a seven-and-a-half-year-old moggy

who's a little bit, um...different.

He's definitely not normal. Charlie has hidden super powers.

Yes, you wouldn't believe it to look at him, but Charlie is a superhero.

And just like Batman and Superman, Charlie keeps his secret identity hidden.

In his daily life, he acts like an ordinary housecat.

He hangs out with his friends, cuddles with owner Hannah...

Charlie is my little sweetheart.

..and enjoys the view from the fridge.

Yes, Charlie may seem like most cats but, when the time is right, something happens.

Charlie can do something that other cats aren't able to do.

He's very different to most normal cats.

Charlie revealed his secret powers on a very ordinary day.

Hannah came home from shopping.

She went through her building's large wooden doors

and then through the revolving door.

She passed Charlie, went into her flat and shut the door.

Nothing unusual there. Charlie didn't go into the flat with Hannah.

He seemed happy to stay in the corridor.

Hannah unloaded her shopping, thinking about what she and Charlie were going to have for dinner,

when suddenly Charlie materialised behind her!

Charlie had somehow got into the flat! Hannah was pretty shocked.

I was thinking, how is this cat doing this?

How does Charlie all of a sudden appear as if from nowhere

when I've shut the door, and Charlie hasn't followed me?

I was beginning to think my cat was an invisible cat.

He was able to walk through walls.

Clearly, Charlie had a superpower. But what sort of power?

Hannah racked her brains.

Could he be a super-strong cat able to open doors?

Was he able to fly through an open window?

Hannah was baffled, but it wasn't for another two weeks before Charlie revealed his power.

One day, I was actually out on the balcony hanging up some washing

and all of a sudden, over the balcony wall, here comes Charlie.

But what was Charlie doing up there?

The balcony's five metres above the ground!

It was then that all became clear.

Charlie's indeed no normal moggy.

Charlie is...

Amazing! Let's see that again.

Hannah had finally discovered how Charlie got from the corridor into the kitchen.

It was all so obvious. He'd gone through the revolving door...

Er, that's pretty cool.

..opened the front door...

and then used his spidey-powers!

One last door...and into the flat.

Am-ah-zing!

Charlie now does this all the time as if it's easy-peasy.

Spider-cat Charlie.

Needless to say, Spider-cat has become quite the celebrity.

A lot of newspapers are wanting the story of my superhero cat.

It's been all over the Internet.

I've had people in Japan, posting on websites.

It's just been absolutely amazing.

So Scotland, Japan - who knows where Charlie's powers will take him next?

But one thing's for sure - this is one special cat!

Charlie's definitely one of a kind.

Hey! Just thought I'd take a break from filming.

I stopped for one of my trusty vitamin shakes.

It is delicious, nutritious and...delicious.

Argh!

A banana. It's got to be that cheeky monkey.

Ugh! He keeps pranking me.

Look what he did to my T-shirt!

My favourite T-shirt!

I can't believe it.

I'm going to get you, you cheeky monkey!

Take my vitamin drink.

Urgh!

Donkey bathwater?!

And now we're off to Sarchi in Costa Rica.

Way up high in the mountains of Costa Rica, school is starting for the day.

But this is no normal school. It doesn't have classrooms or books.

It doesn't even have teachers you don't like!

Instead it has hooves, horns and carts.

This is a school for oxen!

Here are the most unusual teachers you'll ever come across.

They're both two-year-old Brahman oxen.

Their job is to teach the young oxen...

..on the farms and in the town.

Oxen were once an important part of working life in Costa Rica,

essential to farming and transportation.

Today, though, most Costa Ricans rely on cars, lorries and modern machinery.

So it's important to Mapache and Chino that their traditions are kept alive

and passed on to younger generations of both oxen and humans.

Brahman oxen are distinct because of the hump over their shoulders,

the loose skin on their throat and their large, droopy ears.

But it's their incredible strength that makes them great workers.

They can pull up to three times their own weight. That is strong!

One of the most important ox traditions are their yokes and carts.

No, not jokes, dodo!

It's YOKES and carts.

Yokes are carefully fitted wooden headpieces, which go into position between the two oxen.

And the headband? No, it's not some crazy ox fashion.

It's a flap to keep the flies away.

Carts, or carretas, are then attached to the yokes.

Carretas have been pulled by oxen in Costa Rica since the early 19th century.

The colour of the cart indicates what work is being done.

Pretty-coloured ones are used for parades and trips into town.

This morning, though, the oxen will need a blue cart, because their first lesson is farm work.

Today, Mapache and Chino are teaching Oso and Capulin.

They'll also be handing out some tips to Steven.

He may be young, but he knows exactly what he wants.

Some Costa Rican farms still use oxen to plough fields,

so it's an important skill for the pupils to learn.

The teachers give a demonstration.

Some pretty good skills there.

Before the pupils are allowed anywhere near the ploughs...

they first have to learn to go where they're told.

But it's not as easy as it looks. No! No!

Not that way!

Where you going now?

After a lot of practice, the students have finally got it...

or have they?

Farming class is over, so it's a bite of lunch before the afternoon lesson -

pulling a carreta around town.

Carretas are at the heart of...

Before the arrival of motor vehicles,

oxen-led carretas were one of the main forms of transport in Costa Rica

and it's a tradition Mapache and Chino are determined to keep alive.

Pulling a fancy carretas around town

is about as big an honour as an ox can have.

This is what all the pupils at the oxen school aspire to.

So they watch their teachers with a keen eye, taking note of

the pride, style and grace which Mapache and Chino demonstrate.

Pretty impressive, eh?

If I were an ox, this is just what I'd want to do.

In the meantime, though, the pupils will have to be happy with their blue carts.

They've got their work cut out, but you can be guaranteed that soon enough the pupils will be top oxen

and that's all thanks to Mapache and Chino -

the best oxen teachers in the world.

And now those kids who love animals.

-It's the...

-Fanimals. Yes!

Let's meet the Fanimals - our animal detectives.

Today, the Fanimals will be finding out who'll make the better Frisbee player...

The candidates for the job are...

Before the Fanimals get to work, some facts.

Poodles and shepherds are among the top three clever-dog breeds.

Zephyr and Pixel need to use all that intelligence

to become Frisbee players today, as neither has ever learnt to fetch.

So who can learn the new trick?

Let's find out.

Fanimals Teo and Isaac will try to teach the old dog,

whilst Zoe and Keira will work with the puppy. Let the experiment begin!

Straight-off, Teo and Isaac have a cunning plan.

Maybe we should rub the smell of this on it.

OK. We could do that.

Dogs love treats, so surely this is going to work.

Go fetch, Zephyr!

Zephyr! Zephyr!

Er, maybe not.

Over with the young dog, Zoe and Keira also have a plan.

You throw the Frisbee, I'll go after it and then we throw the Frisbee

without me going after it and get Pixel to get it.

They're going to show the puppy what to do. Makes sense. Let's see how it goes.

Oh! The Fanimals might be onto something.

-Drop it! Drop it! Drop it!

-Oh, no, hang on.

Things aren't going much better with the old dog.

Zephyr isn't really interested in the Frisbee.

Every time we throw it, he'll either not go for it,

or he'll look like he is, and then just run away.

Young dog seems to be getting somewhere.

But when he gets hold of the Frisbee, he's not letting go.

How are we going to get it away?

Time's up. Let's see if either of the dogs has learnt the new trick.

This will be the final Frisbee toss.

Ready, steady, go!

The young dog's on the move. Old dog's going nowhere.

Young dog picks up the Frisbee.

Good so far.

Old dog's still not moved

and the young dog returns it to the Fanimals! He's done it!

He's learnt the new trick and is now qualified to become a Frisbee player.

Old dog? Well, looks like the saying's right -

you can't teach old dog new tricks.

Well done, Fanimals and well done, dogs.

Yes, even you, Zephyr.

We've been searching the Internet to find out what your animals get up to on their days off.

Check out this crazy cat getting into a tight spot.

Ouch!

Oh, there's no stopping this guy.

Ooh!

Ah, gotcha!

And now we're back to Oahu in Hawaii.

Seven-year-old Blackjack is desperate to make it into the elite polo team.

The problem is that polo ponies need excellent temperaments,

but Blackjack has a reputation for getting overexcited.

BLACKJACK WHINNIES

He must control this if he's to do well in today's trial polo game.

If he impresses everyone - in particular team captain Riptide -

then Blackjack will make the team and his dream will have come true.

There's no doubt about it. This is the biggest day of Blackjack's life.

Blackjack's challenge is to keep his cool, but I'm sure he'll be ready.

And this is where Blackjack's secret weapon comes in,

and what a secret weapon it is! It's his girlfriend, Cheyenne.

# Why do birds suddenly appear? #

Yeah, they go on dates, share feed with each other out of the bucket

and give each other back massages.

Cheyenne's been helping Blackjack with his temperament.

She's a big fan of polo and an even bigger fan of her boyfriend,

so is desperate to see him pull it off.

Cheyenne's helped Blackjack get into the zone this morning.

With his trial match only a few hours away, Tiamo starts getting Blackjack in the zone physically...

Make sure that he's perfectly tuned-up and ready for the match.

..and mentally.

Blackjack's challenge today is to keep his cool and not get too excited about things.

And there's no question where Blackjack's thoughts are.

Riptide might be in his head a little bit.

I'm sure he's thinking about it.

Even the star team's arrival can't break Blackjack's focus.

Here they come.

Looks like Blackjack's trying to psyche them out.

Finally, it's game time.

Polo is a bit like football

but with horses and sticks.

Two teams of four try to score against

each other by hitting a ball through goals with a long-handled mallet.

-The team with the largest score wins!

-Thanks, Mr Umpire!

Blackjack is on the blue team, which means

he'll be going head-to-head against Riptide, who's leading the whites.

Yeah? Yeah!

I'll take Riptide with Blackjack.

We're just going to go for the man and be tough.

It's no retreat, no surrender for this horse.

The tension couldn't be higher.

It's show time for Blackjack.

The game gets underway and Blackjack immediately puts himself in the thick of the action.

He sticks as close as possible to Riptide.

Go behind!

It's a tactic that fails - Riptide pulls away from Blackjack

and lays it off to a team-mate to score. 1-0 whites.

Things quickly get worse.

Blackjack's nowhere to be seen as Riptide shows why he's the star player

by scoring the perfect solo goal. 2-0 whites.

The score line gets to Blackjack.

A mistake sees him collide with one of the posts.

Finally, half time and Blackjack and the blues are seemingly out of the game.

But Blackjack's determined this is his day. His head's not going down.

Cometh the hour, cometh the horse!

The second half sees a Blackjack-led blues playing like a different team.

Blackjack's everywhere, making the game his.

Finally he unlocks the white's defence with a pin-point pass

and the blues pull one back!

But it seems like too little, too late, until in the final seconds,

Blackjack puts through a ball

which has all the whites flummoxed! Unbelievable scenes!

It's 2-2 and one of the biggest comebacks in Hawaii polo history!

And all thanks to Blackjack - the horse who's been pulling the strings in the second half.

I'm really happy with how Blackjack went. He was really good.

Just tried his hardest and played really well for me.

Blackjack's played the game of his life.

He's toast of the team, and the horse of the match.

-It's time to celebrate!

-And Blackjack's girlfriend, Cheyenne?

She deserves some credit, too.

She couldn't be happier.

So, congratulations, Blackjack.

You've made the team, and after today's performance, what d'ya know?

It looks like you've made a new best friend, too.

There's no doubt about it - Blackjack's got a glorious career ahead.

You know, you really are a good-looking animal.

Very strong, nice ears, good fur and strong teeth, but they're not as white as mine!

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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