A 15-year-old girl denied a horse from her parents has turned to a cow to fulfil her riding dreams. Teenager Regina Mayer, from southern Germany, is able to ride her cow, Luna. She has even trained her bovine pet to soar over a beer-crate hurdle like a regular show jumper. Why, you may well ask, when most cow-owners are surely content to let the creatures chew and lactate and sit down to indicate the imminent arrival of rain? Well, Regina's parents wouldn't let her have a horse.

Only the most intrepid urban explorers cross the tattered ruins of the old Iron Curtain to endure the excessive bureaucracy, military paranoia and freezing winds of the East to hunt for the ghosts of an empire. Rebecca Litchfield is one who couldn’t resist the haunting allure of the ruins of the Soviet Union.

Armed with only paper, graphite and coloured pencils – plus his vivid imagination – the artist creates remarkable drawings that leap from the page when photographed. The 32-year-old, from Alkmaar in Holland, began experimenting with anamorphic 3D drawing five years ago. Photo: Ramon Bruin’s 3D illustration of two twins drawing each other. (Photo by Ramon Bruin/Medavia)

A work by Chinese artist ROBBBB is seen on a wall in the ruins of a building in Beijing September 27, 2015. The 25-year-old artist in Beijing prefers to display his work on the walls of abandoned buildings, rather than a gallery. His artwork is mostly derived from photos of people he sees in the Chinese capital, anyone ranging from elderly people to construction workers. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

Israeli mounted policemen move crowds of Palestinian protestors during a demonstration marking Land Day in the east of the city on March 30, 2012 outside the old city of Jerusalem, Israel. Land Day, which began in 1976, marks the day Israeli forces killed six Palestinians during a protest against Israeli occupation of what Palestinians consider to be their land. Palestinians around the world will commemorate Land Day with protests and demonstrations. (Photo by Lior MizrahiGetty Images)

Dema and Manis, the 26-day-old endangered Sumatran Tiger cubs play together at the “Taman Safari Indonesia” Animal Hospital, on February 26, 2007 in Cisarua, Bogor Regency, West Java, Indonesia. The two Sumatran tiger-cubs recently born at the hospital have been rejected by their mother Cicis, while baby Orangutans, Irma and Nia have also been rejected by their mothers. All babies are being looked after by staff at the Animal Hospital. (Photo by: Dimas Ardian/Getty Images)

A five-month-old female slender loris waits to be given her first health check by the veterinary team at London Zoo on July 21, 2011 in London, England. Two female baby slender lorises, who are yet to be named, were given health checks, their s*x determined and micro-chipped. Slender Loris is the common name for the strepsirrhine primates who are nocturnal and originate from India, Sri Lanka, and southeast Asia. London Zoo supports conservation of lorises in Sri Lanka, where populations are thought to be under threat from deforestation. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Paramasivan points to the statue of sun god Surya at a temple outside the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, India, February 5, 2017. In the early morning darkness, Devendran P. walks up a hill to a solar observatory in India's southern hill town of Kodaikanal, trudging the same path his father and grandfather walked in a century-old family tradition of studying the sun. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)