Agricultural centre. With “Fabio”, Élina has several strings to her bow. Sport

Fabio, 7 years old, is a young Auvergne. Calm, posed, sociable, very versatile, he weighs just over 500 kg. This beautiful little mountain horse is a regular at competitions. But he also skids, is often harnessed, enjoys playing football and loves archery. Not him, of course, but his rider Élina, 15, a real Amazon.

samurai

But yes, it is very serious. The French Equestrian Federation created this discipline five years ago. It comes directly from Japan where archers adept at yumi (wakyuthe large traditional Japanese asymmetrical bow) also practice, like their samurai ancestors, the very noble art of mounted shooting, at a gallop.

In France, we make three different courses, with a maximum of arrows in three simultaneous targetsexplains Christelle Gratien, mother of Élina, breeder in Auvergne. The most gifted, like the world champion, a Swede, shoot 30 to 40 arrows, at the rate of one arrow per second! Full target, all at a gallop…

Like her big brother Corentin, 20, Élina loves this discipline which requires total complicity with the mount. We even do mounted archery hunting on 3D targets. No question of hunting at the bow International Agricultural Show, that would be a little messy. Just a little demonstration with foam arrows.

Most Fabio won’t cut national competition for territory horses of the French Society of working equids. On its program four tests: mounted maneuverability, complicity, obstacle jumping course and driving.

Young offenders

Élina started to ride before she could walk… Her mother, Christelle, raises five Auvergne, out of passion, in Maurs-la-Jolie, at the bottom of Cantal. But it also runs an equestrian center with 50 horses, for hiking, equestrian tourism, etc.

A part-time agricultural teacher, Christelle is also an educator. This allows it to accommodate disabled children. But also juvenile delinquents, for their reintegration. Young people who are not always simple, come straight from the difficult neighborhoods of Marseilles or Paris. I glue them directly to the horses. In contact with them, they discover something else in life. They learn etiquette and codes, essential in riding. Short, they recover.