Arab thoroughbreds
the natural side
The weather forecast was bad for almost the whole week, cloudy, rainy and snow. Quite normal in the beginning of January 2008. Today, Sunday, there was to be some sun, just for a day. Tomorrow, Monday, rain and snow throughout the southeast and the Pre-Alps of Haute-Provence. A bit risky for a rendezvous for a photo reportage, but as I like taking risks I set off for the eco-farm of the Ricoux at Montfroc, an isolated spot bled of about 60 souls at the end of the valley of the Jabron, to the west of Sisteron.
I have no idea what time it is when I awake in the chalet where Delphine and Dominique invited me to stay the night. I say to myself that it can't be that early. I draw the curtains. It is still dark, and some rays of light are starting to appear in the east. Bu the sky is full of stars. Thank you, Mr Weatherman !
Outside, spread over 60 hectares, live Arab thoroughbreds divided into groups, all of them barefoot. And what an ideal space for horses in the natural state ! Spacious meadows where all kinds of plants and wild flowers mingle with the grasses; mountain parks, forests of oaks, springs whose crystalline water flows the whole year round... and on the other side of the hill, a real equine family - the stallion Talisman de Gion with his harem - that are expecting to give birth in the spring.
These are horses that don't need to be conditioned to have good muscles, they already have them naturally. In winter, the morning is the hardest time of day, when the sun rises, that's when it's the coldest. To warm themselves up the horses gallop, move and play around ; then they calm down, and in the afternoon they generally have a siesta. The siesta hour varies according to the season.
What a contrast with the horses of the World Championship for Arab horses in Paris ! Groomed, roused by long whips of their presenters and by the stamping of the public on the metal terraces, in the large presentation hall 4.
At my side, Delphine and Dominique Lopez, the owners of the farm, explain to me how they came to be there.
