Mon Pellier: horses

Montpellier received in December 5th, 6th and 7th the famous gala of the Cadre noir from Saumur. 69 € for a correct seat: it looks expensive, but contributing to the expenses of this gorgeous team of splendid horses and riders is a priviledge, the transaction was very fair given the quality of the show, and well, it is less expensive than going to Saumur.

I have, by the past, seen beautiful equestrian shows. Lipizzans in Vienna, Crinières d'Or in Avignon, Bartabas & Zingaro & the Versailles academy of equestrian arts, Jean-François Pignon, Lorenzo... I have an inclination to dressage. It is less spectacular at child's sight, but it is upsetting. I am sooo lucky I could witness lessons given by Lucien Gruss, Catherine Henriquet, and the regretted Michel Henriquet, a maître écuyer who past away a few days ago. Michel Henriquet studied 30 years long with Nuno Oliveira, the portuguese master. He was 90 years old. I was tetanized in front of him. I once rode a stallion at his place, just to see. I was tetanized by the horse too. He was sweet but I was lost, perfectly sure that he expected me to possess a science I didn't have and wished me to ask passage, croupade and all the stuff he did so gracefully.

Seing the Cadre Noir for the first time in reality was quite a treat.

Xmas before Xmas.

The gala is sober on some points: the riders (female and male) are extremely discreet (dark clothes and hats, and this will to focus and let the audience focus on the horses). Military discipline. Old school elegance. All the horses are bay or chestnut, with one or two exceptions. Same size, just as crazy horse dancers, for perfect choregraphies... The orchestra is good enough.

But it is art.

Those horses jump well - military tradition - but they also dance. They know so well Bizet's Carmen that they could certainly play it. They are supernatural. One could easily worship them.

"The creation of the French National Riding School was aimed at organizing the teaching of riding in France; its vocation to prepare for high level teaching diplomas and top level competition. Under the wing of the Minister for Health, Youth and Sport, the National Riding School is founded on the knowledge and experience of the ecuyers (Riding Masters) of the Cadre Noir who have rediscovered their ancestry at Saumur; with a mission to develop horse training, to teach riding for sport, and to teach the equestrian professions.

All the teachers of the National Riding School are members of the Cadre Noir. The principal purpose of the ecuyers, each one a real expert in their own discipline, is to pass on their technical and theoretical knowledge. They also have to train and keep in condition the horses presented in the Reprise de Manège (Musical Ride), and those who perform the airs above the ground, as well as representing the school in national and international competitions. They are also entrusted with the preparation of the horses used in the training of their pupils.

Taught by the great masters and with a great interest in the evolution of riding, the ecuyers of the Cadre Noir actively support and influence French equitation by their public presentations in France and abroad."

Last time I was in California, a friend told me about mexican seasonnal workers while we drove close to some miserable houses. I would have thought that the teams of grape pickers were mixed: professionnals, owners and their family, students, travellers, men and women as strong and tanned as kibboutzim. I thought they would have diner in the evening around bonfires, with people playing guitar and singing, preferably with the voice of Dean Martin, my Rifle, my poney and me.

My american friend had another idea on it. A mix of modern slaves and drug/arm dealers. Students, apparently, had for ambition to work in fast food restaurants or air-conditionned shops/offices.

What a disappointment it was to me!

Working on something essential, usefull, in nature, is necessary. Industrial vineyards might not be natural, nor even have any ecosystem left. Taking part to other kinds of harvests (oranges, olives, etc.) seems less convenient to students as these harvests don't concord with holidays, but it's also interesting. In France, the usual opinion is that grape picking is popular enough. Students consider it is tiring but fun, but there are other points of view. In the movie "Sans toit ni loi" (1985), Sandrine Bonnaire played a homeless teenager befriending a tunisian grape picker. It was a dark, sad movie about homelessness.

The best Summer job is in Summer - Summer taken as a place on Earth.

I hardly understand people can prefer Fall or Winter... There are nice colors and mushrooms at Fall, sparkling whites in Winter, but somehow I define these seasons with subtractions. Less daylight, less songs and sounds, less smells. Do you feel less active in Summer? One is as active, but at other times. The days seem longer, and they are indeed: naps are ok. Southern people are not lazy, but adaptable.

Plants adapt themselves... in a wide way.

Some species of pines need a fire to regenerate themselves, and some human beings, fascinated by regeneration/resurrection, believe they are cleaning angels when they destroy what has been given to them - and to others. Have you ever seen a forest afer a fire? It smells ash - ash from living beings. A doctor told me once that one of his patients, a woman, was obsessed with fire. She poured oil in snails shells, in Summer on dry hills. The Sun could set fire to them, it was her game. This story made me mad. She was a killer. She killed living beings who couldn't fly away - because of their roots, young or old age, constitution, etc. She murdered babies.

My favorite Summer job was horseback riding fireguard.

The department recruits in Summer various seasonnal workers in the fire-fighting section. Bikers are 99% male, riders (much less numerous, though they can go in the woods and forests) are 99% female, but in the watching towers there is more mixity. Working in towers in boring, and computers do as well. Let's be serious, for prevention, there's nothing like horseback riders. They can go everywhere, follow a smoke till its origin in a garden or no-BBQ area, talk to smoking walkers on paths where a spark could set a dealdy fire, give informations to those who wonder what to do if there is a fire - in which direction to walk/drive, for instance. It is a shame people tend to consider horse-riders are there for parade. They should know better. They also should know how not to frighten horses - but some smoking drivers and other intentionnally frighten the horses when the riders witness them throwing away matches, cigarette ends, or lightning a campfire... Some accidents happened. The riders should stay away and call the police and fire-fighting base, but how to distinguish uninformed good-willing people and stubborn/drunk/machist human-shaped dangers...

Male chauvinism is a problem then and there, of course. Mowgli shouldn't have told cousin Louie how to make fire. Sorry, real chimps, you don't deserve such a reputation. You know better. As Uncle Vania said, Back to the trees!

The Evolution man, from Roy Lewis to Jamel Debbouze...

The cities are invading the woods and the roads trap animals on territories too small to eat and mate, but what is left is to be treasured.

A fire close to La Paillade

Have you ever walked in a place after a fire? The landscape is sepia. Trees can still have leaves, but it's all in sepia. All you can heart is crackling noises. Vegetal fragrances are gone, you just smell ashes of life.