I went to see Cheval this weekend. Oh, my.It was AWESOME!!!! I
absolutely loved it. We were at the hospital before and after, but we
did break away to go do that. Our whole
family (including Jean -- mother of my niece who is in the hospital)
were encouraging us to go, so I didn't even feel a bit guilty about it.
I want to go again. About 4 more times! Unfortunately,
for $125, we won't be doing that! But it was really great.
The arena is about a 75' diameter round pen. All the seats I think were good
seats. We were 5 rows back. I was able to see everything...at least as fast
as my eyes would move. :)
There is a Hispano-Arabian in the show. He was very awesome! Very pretty,
VERY well trained. He had a more dished face than the pure blooded Arabian.
His handler only was in that one act as a horse handler. The handler was a
clown of sorts. Goofy guy that followed the pretty ladies and made an idiot
of himself. So of course his act with Bohemio (the horse) was comedic.
It was just the two of them in the ring. The horse was put in loose. The guy
tried everything to get Bohemio to move. The horse stood there and almost
went to sleep. Until the guy put his leg over the horse (bareback) and
hooked his foot over the backbone. Then the horse started cantering around
with the guy hopping on one foot to keep up. I about split a gut. It was SO
funny. Then the horse stopped and they had a bit more interaction with the
guy trying to get Bohemio to move.
Then the guy decided he was going to try to get on again. So he went over to
Bohemio and the horse immediately dropped to both knees and laid his chin
flat on the ground. Butt way in the air! So funny. I had never seen a horse
do that. The guy tried to get on him anyway and the horse just fell to the
ground. So the guy grabbed his tail and tried to drag him around. Then
pulled on his legs and finally tried to roll Bohemio over. As the horse
started to roll over, the guy SAT ON HIS STOMACH and stopped the horse from
rolling over. So here this horse is, on his back, guy sitting on his
stomach, playing with his front legs! Bohemio's back legs were relaxed
totally and tucked down. It was absolutely amazing.
And Dansk, the other Arabian. Very nice animal! He was worked loose, too. Up
on his hind legs most of the time. He acted very mean and stallionish, but
he wasn't. He was working his mouth and licking and when he and his handler
left the arena, Dansk had his head resting on the shoulder of his handler.
Oh, and the people behind me were making the most wrong comments about the
horses. "Wow, that stallion is MEAN." Not mean, trained really well. "They
froth at the mouth like that because of roller bits." Not a roller bit in
the barn. Mostly full cheek snaffles and a few low port curbs. There were a
few other comments, but they were irritating me to death.
Before the show, we spent 30-40 minutes looking at all the horses. Some were
being groomed. Each horse had its own stall, with its tack displayed in
front of them. And the saddles. Very cool to see vaulting saddles.
Oh, and there was one Friesian. GORGEOUS. Oh, my goodness! Drool, drool,
drool. Straight black, nice confirmation, seemed mild-mannered. One girl
rode him in about 4 different acts. She may have been acting, but she seemed
absolutely thrilled whenever she was around him. She worked a couple of
other horses, but mainly the Friesian. He did some wonderful dressage moves
in an act by himself. Then danced with a grey Andalusian.
And there was the CUTEST little mini! Right before he was to go on, he
rolled in his stall. Wood shavings everywhere. HEHEHE. Took 3 grooms
furiously grooming to get him re-ready for the ring. As a result, his mane
was really frizzy. The same girl that worked the Friesian worked the mini.
He jumped around on his back legs, and chased people around the ring, and
got running really fast since he had tons more room in the same arena than
the larger horses. And at the end of his act, he didn't want to leave! His
handler had to grab his mane and almost drag him out.
There was a lot of vaulting. Very cool stuff. The finale was 3 guys
balancing side by side on the backs of 4 huge Percherons. And 5 ladies. They
were doing pyramids and other gymnastics while the horses trotted around the
arena. All of the vaulting was amazing.
I loved the whole experience. Well worth the money, in my opinion. If they
had a video, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Not the same, but really cool.
Talking about Cheval makes me want to go back. :)
April
Nashville, TN
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