FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
SIDELINES OCTOBER 2012 97
Heather has the ability to make her driftwood sculptures come to
life, including this driftwood sculpture called “Apollo.”
Heather with Ra Ra and Riverdance
their long suffering partners. I take everything offered. It becomes
a sculpture, fuel or compost.
You have an unusual surname Jansch, the same as the
legendary guitarist Bert Jansch who you speak of. I have
to ask was he your husband or your father? (Sorry if I am
intruding.)
Bert was the love of my life, my husband, father of my child
and one of my greatest teachers. We married in his heyday and
separated amicably. I survived our separation by turning my
attention to developing my own career. He was always interested
in seeing how it developed and I continued to do the odd album
cover for him. In due course I will publish my personal tribute
to him, which will contain some of his previously unpublished
material.
Everyone has a Top Ten List of Hates. What are yours? (I
have a total loathing for polyester, footballers, so-called
reality stars and wire coat hangers.)
You are surely not serious? Ten? Slack grammar and spelling,
duplicity, bigotry, people who can’t be bothered to look up the
difference in the dictionary despite the miracle of the Internet and
spell checks. Waste. Greed.
Fast food. Self-regard. Trashy
television. Dumming down of all
sorts. Adverts.
What would your best friend
say about you? (I have to say
that my best friends are my
four year old son and a small
dog called Oscar. Neither of
them are that great at stringing
sentences together.)
I am really lucky in that I have
a good number of very close
long term friends. Having taken
a census, the answer is that I
listen, keep confdence, shoot
from the hip, am always ready to
apologize and cannot keep from
laughing at myself.
And how would your enemy describe you?
I can only guess since I am not sure who they are; but let’s
say poorly educated, arrogant, selfsh, intolerant, deranged,
unpredictable…my friends might agree with some of those
descriptions.
Finally, I love that you are so direct and have followed your
own path so I can ask you this question. What do you think
of the young arm of equestrian society that identifes itself by
the identical clothes and essential labels/uniform that they
wear?
If you think about it most societies identify themselves by
some sort of fashion, people that stand out from the crowd are a
rarity and seldom popular. I have no idea what the young arm of
equestrian society wears or gets up to, I guess most of them are
usually active and therefore not given to obesity. I hope they love
their horses, hope they place them before themselves, hope they
are not cruel or neglectful, hope they enjoy their youth and riding
and are truly aware of their privileges.
Photos: All photos courtesy of Heather Jansch
The sweetness of a mare and a foal: Heather named this
driftwood piece “Nightmare and Daydream.”