I LOVE YOU
COLUMN
“There is no sport more beautiful as ours. The beauty is more than just a clear jump. It is respect and confidence between the horse and rider. Horses sincerely love people. They all mark that love but are still different from each other. That is what makes our world so beautiful. The fact we have the honour to work with those majestic creatures, those tempers, slow or powerful, it is a privilege. The horse is never from you, but it is completely with you.” Once I note those words of Edwina Alexander, probably one of the best female show jumping riders in the world. Luckily she is not alone in this sincere love for horses. Listen: “Nights I couldn’t sleep, thinking of him. He really loved me. He was merry when I was at the stable, enjoying my presence. Our feelings were mutual. I haven’t seen him for months, but there’s not a single day I’m thinking of him. If that sounds silly, then so be it.” A simple declaration of love with power. Also a divorce, leaving marks. Dirk Demeersman after his parting of Clinton, a true star. Also a charmer, with his beautiful white manes, sensual tail and muscular body that flawlessly bent over the fences. Through gratitude, trust, respect for ‘Love’, ‘‘Love, it’s often nothing special, it’s not a miracle, but no man can do without, I hear a troubadour of the past. A rider who declares his love for a horse, it exists. Existence in the silence of a stable. In riding school ‘silent sorrow’. We know it from the child stories of Anna Sewell. Horse abused, adopted, cuddled, loved. A familiar scenario. As referenced in ‘My little pony’ or ‘Young black stallion’. But a (top) rider, a man who earned his stripes in a career facing the biggest obstacles, a tough guy, molded out of Flemish clay, who unabashedly lets his emotions free, it is refreshing. I know riders from their quotes honouring their horses. They speak of their ‘jumping gods’, of power and explosiveness. Sometimes they speak of exclusive material. It will be good and fair but ‘I love him?’ I just wanted to say, I love the sentiment in the equestrian sport; Stallions are praised for their breeding performances, their wonderful sperm, their prestigious results. Mares are named a ‘star’ for their beauty and gracious body. We are creative with our superlatives to praise a horse and commercialize. But who ever says, like to his loved ones, I love you? Just sometimes the miracle happens. I know there are multiple ways to pet: I love you, Lover, April Love, You only, Venus, Eros, Fleur d’Amor, Diva Royal, Pretty Darling but good old Shakespeare knew it all: “What’s in a name ?” There’s so much more as a beautiful name, Or not?
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