#i jump on any opportunity to use medieval/classical languages in anything i do so i was pretty happy about that setting ngl
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Zultanekh/Djoseras snippet
(Alright I'm doing it. Since I am showing no signs of recovering from The Twice-Dead King anytime soon, I guess I'm making this into a fic 🤣
This is a snippet of something much longer. Most of it is post-biotransference, but this bit is specifically from their necrontyr years, when the Ithakas-Ogdobekh war had not yet ended and none of them were the people they ended up becoming. The two princes discuss the kingships they will never take. More below cut.)
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Though the orbuculum he sees Djoseras unmoved. "Better to die than to merely live."
"What, better to die like a dog? Are you that afraid of Zultanekh?"
The Crown Prince chuckles. It is a fine quality of Ithakas, their laconicity, but they leave too much room for interpretation. "If this one is so much of a threat, I hate to imagine what you think of Anathrosis! Or perhaps it is not that. Perhaps what you want is a written oath of your safe passage?" He follows this with a wink, for they both know such a document could only be part of a surrender. According to the hekatic past of the Ogdobekh, it is entirely correct for them to demand this of their neighbours, since Ithakas should never have seceded from their kemmeht in the first place. "That could be granted easily. Why, Zultanekh shall commission the finest scribe among the five dynasties, the lead archivist of the Nihilakh, and will have it engraved in gold if Djoseras demands it. Is it the least you deserve? I suspect it is."
"I require nothing from you, Crown Prince."
"But you must, dear Djoseras; moreover, your dynast must, since he has sent you here." He is serious now. Zultanekh leans in closer, his hands steepled in front, oddly nervous. "You require my defeat and my humiliation. You are not likely to receive it, Kynazh Djoseras. What was Unnas's gamble? At best his victory, at worst the stalling of the frontline - but you have fought us for many cycles of the moon, and the best you've done is merely his worst, with the unimaginable worse to come if he does not rein it in. At least, I hope he has not imagined it. It would be sad if he sent away his only heirs wishing they would die."
He allows himself a moment of glumness. Technically Zultanekh comes off worse in a headcount, as he is the sole heir to the throne; he is not worried, for he has the whole of the Ogdobekh war machine behind him, but he has never been very certain whether Anathrosis wishes him to live. Wanting him gone on a paranoid hunch would be exactly the kind of thing the phaeron would do.
"In our tragedies of yore there is a recurring turn of phrase, kynazh: inija spase, ali sebe ne mozhet spasti. Why tragedies? Because we find such a man most pitiful. A fine warrior he might make, the one who saves others but cannot save himself. He is no good as a father, a leader, or a dynast, for to damn himself is to damn the whole." And that is the difference between Zultanekh and the rest of the dynasty: he loves his life, and takes as objective truth that everyone else values their own, while the rest of the Ogdobekh would simply shrug and raise their hammers. None of them would ever think to convince their enemy that being alive is worthwhile. "Unnas has lost one son already. It is irrational you should agree to sever his every remaining limb. You know his demands are wasteful: save him, save yourself and your dynasty, and cease those advances."
Then, just to lighten the mood: "It'd be awfully hard to rule Antikef one-handed."
Djoseras does not dignify this with an answer. He glances to the side instead. "Isn't my brother wonderful?"
Zultanekh cranes his head to look outside. Indeed, Oltyx is magnificent. Zultanekh is genuinely astonished to see how much the boy has grown, easily a hand past his elder's height, his shouts powerful and unwavering in the face of the charge; whether it is war that changes a man, or if it was the simple passage of time, the younger scion has not been done a disservice. As the two princes watch on Oltyx rallies his soldiers on the ground, his sword flashing uncanny silver through the slaughter-mist, and soon they are all vanished out of sight.
When Zultanekh turns again he finds Djoseras is watching him. "Might I ask you a question, Crown Prince?"
"Might you?" Zultanekh repeats. "Ask away."
"What is a king?"
"He is the Creator beyond all." The only king (lord, phaeron, Patriarch, still years away from reinvention) Zultanekh keeps faith to is Anathrosis. Their relationship is complicated but the awe is very real. "He is the one who weaves pure gold from the barest sand. He is the one who imposes unity over the stars. Like us, they are numerous, but faint and weak while scattered; brought together, their collective light powers our foundries, while we are made masters of the universe. As a miner does to the raw vein, the furnace to the ore and the craftsman to the ingot, our king does to our will and more: he is light itself, the passion of movement, the all-consuming fire of the forge."
"Spoken like a true blacksmith." Djoseras says impassively. Clearly he meant it as an insult, but Zultanekh fails to feel offended: rather than the snarling boasts he is used to, the kynazh's words are more like skolopendrae skittering through the reeds, collecting implications like burrs in their hide. "Certainly it is a phaeron's responsibility to do those things and more, but like so many others you mistake the effect for the essence, the appearance as the truth. I dare suggest, Prince Zultanekh, that a king does not comprise a series of phenomena, but rather the foundations upon which they occur."
Zultanekh feels like he needs to say something, but he suddenly feels lost. Inwardly he follows the motion of those same skittering legs, while the kynazh carries on. "You say you do not understand why I should want to die. I hold in contempt your desire to live. Are you not yourself on the battlefield, subject to the same risks as my brother and I? Our presence here was requested to Unnas, and agreed after his deliberation; your speech implies to me you made no such agreement with your sire. Perhaps he has made a plan to lose you already?"
Zultanekh hopes he didn't see how he clenched his fist in that moment. Djoseras smiles thinly. "You wish to know what I think of Anathrosis?"
Do I? "Yes."
"He is inconstant. He struggles to lose the smallest things, lands and bagatelles, in pursuit of his grandiose delusions, yet he feels no remorse sacrificing the greater things which hold his kemmeht aloft - his one heir the greatest of them all." Djoseras tilts up his chin then, his dark eyes aflame with something far from hatred. "I suggest he ought to be honest about wanting to sacrifice everything, if he truly values his dynasty, and not his feelings. A true king is neither the fire nor the forge, but the earth upon which they dance and fall; he is not the weaver nor the gold, but the sand from which it is crushed, at once lower and stronger than any of us will ever be. An all-consuming fire will eventually burn down the foundries, but the stones will always endure, and it will befit Anathrosis to take their example."
Zultanekh lets out a quiet hiss. "You are happy to be slaughtered."
"The flesh is ephemeral. I am ephemeral, as is my brother. Unnas is ephemeral, and so are you, even Anathrosis whom you fear so greatly."
There is a hefty pause. Zultanekh thinks he sees something like pity in the other's expression, which seems contrary to this message of indiscriminate sacrifice he's been espousing. Just the first of many Djoserasian contradictions that will fascinate the Crown Prince in the eternity to come.
"If I should fall, my brother will take my place. You have seen for yourself how much he has learned. Anathrosis nurtured his own foe, poor creature, and he did not even realize it; you are the best among the Ogdobekh, Prince Zultanekh, but you are only one, and you do not understand what you are fighting for." Djoseras smiles. "You are a just man, a reasonable man. It does you no good to assume Unnas's intentions, for Oltyx and I fight not for his person but our legacy, and all of Ithakas stands behind us. I pray you will reassess your intentions swiftly, or else prepare for the ice of eternal night."
All tension leaves Zultanekh like an arrow. He chuckles - first hollowly, then with legitimate mirth, that he is still capable of surprise - and strokes his hand through his coppery beard (a redhead, of course he was a redhead, he forgets this often) as he sits back on his chair. "So that's what it comes down to in the end! In any case, I suppose we must destroy one another, as expected. Yet have you spoken admirably, kynazh? You have. Why, that's the nearest thing to a love-speech that was ever made to Zultanekh."
It is Zultanekh's personal policy to break the ice after frosty words have been exchanged. Officially, it's because he wishes to avoid things escalating at a poor moment's notice; in truth, it's an excuse for absurdity. "Do not be concerned that your judgement falls incongruent with ours. Is your Oltyx a remarkable fighter? Certainly. He strikes me as a worthy scion, and he brings fresh blood to the fight, better equipped than us elders." Soft stone, fluid steel - flyting, or flirting, there need not be much difference. Zultanekh grins. "But your brother, he is too young for me, is he not? Zultanekh will not reckon with him. If you desire to petition a peace-match between ourselves, it is not his praises you should sing - but your own."
He expects Djoseras to ignore him then, or give him that look of insane violence he showed when Zultanekh last threatened Oltyx's life. What he did not expect was for Djoseras to stare at him in silence, neither dismissive nor angry, nor even as if Zultanekh has said anything asnine. The kynazh often keeps a blank face in conflict, but this is not like that, in that it is not deliberate.
The best way to describe his expression is transparent. Regrettably Zultanekh is not given more time to contemplate it, for he is briefly called away to receive a report. When he comes back a mere five minutes later, he finds Djoseras is no longer there, the orbuculum smooth and empty once more.
"The stones will endure," the Ogdobekh prince mutters, resting a hand atop the smooth crystal surface. Djoseras meant bedrock, but Zultanekh ends up thinking about a pebble instead, skipped merrily across the surface of a long and silver lake; leaving wide ripples upon it, then sinking into its heart, its gleam white and secretive under the surface. "Well, then."
He has been at war for too long to hazard this emotion.
#warhammer 40k#the twice dead king#necrons#necron#oltyx#zultanekh#djoseras#zultanekh's 'turn of phrase' is in old church slavonic. since the ogdobekh-ithakas relationship seems to be that of medieval russia-greece#like i'm sure that's canon. 'kynazh' connects to князь. they are both concerned with what is 'orthodox'#ogdobekh space literally has a world named 'vorronezh'... like... like 'voronezh'? the real life russian city воронеж? 😳#i jump on any opportunity to use medieval/classical languages in anything i do so i was pretty happy about that setting ngl#i just like being able to write again
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Poisson d'avril
Here, have a half-baked April Fool’s Day fic my brain decided to wake me up for. For context, one of the most popular jokes for April 1st in France is taping paper fish to each other’s backs, the more original the fish the better (my childhood is filled with trying to sneak behind teachers' backs to tape one on them; they were very chill about it, tbh). Poisson d’Avril is also what you say at the end of a joke on that day (think "sike", but festive). More about this great tradition that apparently dates back to at least 1466 here.
Hope you enjoy!
Read on AO3
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Marinette loved April Fool’s Day at Françoise Dupont. The school was always buzzing with little pranks at that time of the year, the blooming spring giving a wonderfully cheerful backdrop to the shenanigans the collégiens were up to.
These were all very light-hearted, if sometimes a little elaborate.
As usual, some students had been found early in the morning in the classrooms, thwarting their attempt to recreate the legendary horizontal fiasco of 20XX, where everything had been set up to look like the rooms had been flipped by 90°. Mr Damoclès had let them go mercifully, thankful that the students hadn’t been tempted to glue everything to the ceiling in an effort to one-up their predecessors. Somehow, he wouldn’t have put it past Kim and Alix to try and coordinate the project, as a last hurrah before heading on to lycée.
There were also seemingly well-meaning classmates offering chouquettes or donuts in the courtyard, which Marinette knew to stay well away from, knowing the former were likely sprinkled with coarse salt, and the latter filled with the likes of mayonnaise instead of jam. She’d been in their shoes a couple of years prior, building her classmates’ trust by bringing them the sweet delicacies every day for a week, and switching on April 1st as a joke.
Heading to class, she heard a lot of laughter, people telling jokes, or trying to see how far they could take a story without it being called out on it (this year, Nino had Kim panicking over a brevet exam part they supposedly had, which was a step down from the previous year, where he’d convinced him that everybody needed to come in dressed up in medieval costumes, and that he’d landed the court jester role; his friend had turned up the next day in a full outfit, complete with bells on his hat and shoes, and upon discovering the deception, had decided to make good use of them and make the joke everybody’s problem).
However much she enjoyed those kinds of pranks, though, Marinette’s favourite remained the classic poisson d’avril: taping paper fish to people’s backs. It was something anyone could take part in, as a predator or a prey, with or without premeditation. You didn’t necessarily need scissors and tape, if you managed to steal some from somebody else’s back.
Marinette liked to take it seriously. Done right, the exercise demanded stealth she’d had even as a little kid, and had honed ever since being chosen to become Ladybug, as well as creativity she had piles of. She’d stayed up the previous night, making plenty of fish varying in size and colour, some tailored to her friends, like the Rena Rouge and Carapace ones that were intended for Alya and Nino respectively. She’d of course also made the rest of the Miraculous team, as well as some other designs based on Kitty section, her classmates, or celebrities.
As always at the end of the day, Rose walked around with a whole school on her back. It wasn’t clear if she was completely oblivious to it, or if she knew what was going on but enjoyed the giddy giggles of the people who managed to add an extra fish in, or take one off.
The only person who’d managed to escape the prank so far was Adrien, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Kim, Alix and Nino had gone to great lengths to get at least one fish on his back, even recruiting Markov to sneak behind him, but the boy seemed to have a sixth sense.
No sooner did he hear the faintest of ruffles, that his head would jerk up, eyes darting around to figure out where the sound had come from, thwarting any efforts, no matter how elaborate they’d been.
Marinette had been reluctant to target Adrien, despite having a special fish for him, complete with his stripes and an orange-tipped tail, but as the day went by and more people joined the challenge to trick him, she felt the urge to compete rise in her chest and started unwillingly tracking his every movement, trying to find a breach in his focus.
It was a fastidious process, even for someone who enjoyed watching Adrien happily live his life, but it paid off around the end of the day, just after the last bell.
Marinette noticed that Adrien’s shirt looked a little rumpled around the back as they were retrieving books from their lockers, and approached him calmly.
“Adrien?” She announced her presence when she was right behind him, surprised that he hadn’t turned around yet. He almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of her voice.
“Marinette!” He yelped, a hand flying to his heart. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you approach.” He chuckled nervously.
“No, I’m sorry I scared you!” Marinette looked down, apparently sheepish. In truth, she was cursing inwardly at the missed easy opportunity. Adrien had been at ease with her coming closer, which she assumed was because it was the end of the day and he’d started letting his guard down; she could have gone about her business and he would’ve been none the wiser. She shook her head; it didn’t matter, she’d just go on with her original plan. “It’s just that… well, it’s stupid, but the back of your shirt is a little creased, and I know how important your appearance is to your family so… Do you mind if I fix it?”
“Thanks Marinette, that’d be awesome.” He smiled at her in a way that would have made her lose her cool, had it been any other day. But she was on a mission, and there was no way she was letting the opportunity of pranking Adrien when nobody else had managed the feat go by.
“Okay, let me just…” Marinette reached into her purse and took the first piece of paper she felt, before gently taping it to Adrien’s shirt, making sure to smooth the fabric at the same time so he wouldn’t realise what she was doing.
“There, all done!” She smiled when she was satisfied the tape had adhered well enough.
He smiled back at her, but was interrupted in his thanks by Nino and Alya calling for them to hurry up.
“Today was really fun, I’m so glad I got to experience it first hand,” Adrien beamed as the group walked out of the building, Nino and Adrien a little ahead of the girls. “And I’m really proud that I survived it without getting pranked!”
Marinette bit back a laugh, eyes darting to his back.
“I wouldn’t be so confident, Sunshine,” Alya replied, untaping the fish from his back and handing it to him.
“What…” Adrien stopped in his tracks, looking at it, and particularly Marinette’s signature on the back of the piece of paper, in disbelief. He turned around with a look of mock betrayal. “I can’t believe you’d do this to me!” He pouted.
“I couldn’t just let you off the hook,” she shrugged with a small smile, making a mental note to reuse the phrase with Chat Noir when she saw him later. He’d enjoy the pun.
Adrien let out a small chuckle as he turned the fish around, but the sound died as he saw the pattern. The colour drained from his face and he froze as he took in the black and green colour scheme and the fish’s whiskers.
“Adrien? Is everything okay?” Marinette frowned, noticing his change in body language.
“Yeah, um… Can I talk to you for a second?” He looked up at her.
“What a great idea!” Alya pushed Marinette towards Adrien before hooking her arm through Nino’s and starting to go down the stairs. “We’ll see you guys tomorrow!”
Marinette thought she heard her add “Can you believe they might get together over an April Fool’s joke?”, as she waved them off absentmindedly, but her gaze met Adrien’s troubled one and she decided she’d deal with her best friend later.
“What’s up?” She asked, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks; the adrenaline from succeeding her challenge was evidently starting to wear off.
“What’s this?” Adrien asked cautiously, handing her the fish.
Marinette took it cautiously, saw the pattern, and smiled. “It’s a poisson-chat noir,” she said proudly. It was a bit of a shame she’d picked that one for Adrien, but she guessed she couldn’t have kept it for her partner anyway, given that she’d signed it. Still, she thought he would have liked the joke. Especially if it came from Ladybug.
“How did you know?” he murmured, looking at her incredulously. She tilted her head, raising her eyebrows at his cryptidness. He explicited his thoughts. “I saw the fish you gave Alya and Nino, and the one you managed to pin on Chloé; they were all references to their superhero selves. And now you get this one right as well… How did you know?”
It was Marinette’s turn to freeze and feel the colour draining from her cheeks. “I… I didn’t. I picked one randomly when I saw an opening.”
“Oh.” She saw the cogs turning in Adrien’s brain while she felt her own shut down, still processing one important piece of information.
“Adrien… Are you Chat Noir?”
“Um… Poisson d’avril?” He ventured.
“Adrien.” She repeated sternly.
“Okay, fine, you got me.” Adrien huffed, raking a hand through his hair. “Please, don’t tell Ladybug.” He pleaded.
“Too late, I’m afraid.” She dug out her poisson-Ladybug and taped it to herself. She saw Adrien’s eyes grow as wide as his smile before being engulfed in a hug and feeling his lips on her forehead. “Kwami, we really might get together over an April Fool’s joke,” she muttered against his chest. If the heat she felt at the tip of her ears said anything, she probably was as red as Ladybug’s costume, and it probably wouldn’t go unnoticed.
“What was that?” Adrien pulled out a little from their hug to look at her.
“Nothing.” She smiled, and took his hand. “Now come on Chaton, we have some things to discuss, and we should probably go somewhere more private.”
“You know I’d follow you anywhere, my Lady.” He picked their entwined hands and kissed hers.
Really, she thought as they made their way towards her parents’ boulangerie, she loved poissons d’avril.
#i miss the simpler times where we'd get up to this kind of stuff#it's just not the same during a lockdown :')#miraculous ladybug#the miraculous tales of ladybug and cat noir#miraculous fanfiction#miraculous fanfic#adrienette#adrinette#adrien agreste#marinette dupain-cheng#miracuclass#april fool's day#april 1st#elle writes#i'm sorry if you clicked the link#you're allowed to yell at me
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Book Read: Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo @lbardugo
Beer Paired: Bound By Time, Enchantment Under the Sea, and Viridi Rex by Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company
What We Love Abut the Book
This trilogy was has been waiting on my TBR list for a long time. It’s the type of series that is right up my alley, and sometimes those books sit on my shelf the longest. I say that because, especially Leigh Bardugo’s books are so highly praised that I’m afraid they won’t live up to my expectations. So, by sitting on my shelf they can stay highly praised and highly anticipated. (I learned this when I read the Hunger Games Series and was thoroughly disappointed…sorry!)
But, I bit the bullet. I couldn’t let The Grisha Trilogy stare at me from my shelf any longer. So, down the rabbit hole I jumped, and I was not disappointed. I really enjoy these books. I won’t say they are my favorite series or even that they are flawless, but I did love being able to jump into a world and follow it through all three books.
There is something so wonderful about a fantasy series that opens a new world to you and engulfs you in it. I love when I am able to binge read a series and totally immerse myself in the world and atmosphere of the book. And, that is exactly what happened in The Grisha Trilogy. It was a lovely escape into an awesome world. It was not a perfect series. The plot has holes, the characters are interesting but somewhat predictable, and the story itself is very troupe-like in the fantasy genre. However, even with all this Leigh Bardugo has created one of those marvelous universes that wraps you up like a cozy blanket on a cold day.
I don’t think these books stand among the fantasy greats like Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, Lord of the Rings, and the Shades of Magic Trilogy , but it is only a step down from those. Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising are great reads. The series is easy to read, engaging, unique, and thoughtful. Although they may not the best, The Grisha Trilogy is totally worth the read. Not every book should sit amongst the greats, because then, what makes them great? But, this trilogy by Leigh Bardugo has certainly earned its place on our shelf!
Quick side note: I wasn’t aware before that Bardugo’s other books (Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom, and Language of Thorns) are connected or continue in the same world! Any many readers speak highest of the Six of Crows duology, so I am now super excited to continue reading within the Grishaverse.
Anyway, what I loved the most about these books was the setting. Leigh Bardugo has taken the familiar fantasy story and set it in a world inspired by 1800 Tsarist Russian instead of the usual medieval (or really anytime) Western Europe. This was so refreshing and interesting. I’ll admit I LOVE, I repeat, I LOVE Russian folklore and fairytales. Anything based in that world, immediately has my heart. But, Bardugo was also able to make it her own, and use the 1800 Russia to inform her world, her story, and her characters. I though she was so successful and effective! This aspect of the trilogy was glorious.
Another aspect of the books that I thought was really interesting were the conflicts that Bardugo wrote in. Of course, there’s the usual love triangle story, the story of the ordinary becoming extraordinary, there are quests and fellowships, but there is also class and race conflicts, and even religion plays a role in this book. Bardugo is able to layer many dynamic aspects into the plot, which only makes her books more interesting. On the other hand, I didn’t find her characters to be so dynamic. Most were pretty average, and although relatable, not super interesting. However a few did stand out – Nikolai (Bardugo is writing a book about him as well – King of Scars) and Baghra. Both of these characters felt dynamic and unique beyond the normal.
Like I said before, I really enjoyed this series. It was everything I want in a fantasy series – an amazing world, an interesting, fantastic story, and characters that are easy to fall in love with. And, for those of you not so fond of fantasy, don’t fret! This is not a series about dragons and elves and elves and magic spells (although there is nothing wrong with that). It is a political fantasy about power and social division, about good intentions gone wrong, and what it means to do the right thing. It is the story a meek, overlooked girl, who finds within herself the power to change her war-torn world, for the good or the bad. If you haven’t already read this, check it out! The Grisha Trilogy is an easy-to-read, enjoyable romp in a marvelous fantasy world. Enjoy!
What We Love About the Beer
Okay, first of all, these beers by Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company are awesome. We have been saving them for a long time, looking for the perfect book to pair each of them with, and when we read Leigh Bardugo’s trilogy Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin and Rising, was the perfect opportunity. They fit so perfectly because both are out-of-this world, inventive, a worth a try.
The art alone on these beer works perfectly with The Grisha Trilogy. The artwork on these cans is something straight out of a fairytale with a little something sinister, just like within the Girshaverse. The art evokes Alina, the main character of the series, and her struggle with her new place in the world. Her whole life changes and she must come to understand a new relationship with time and power. It also connects to the quests she goes on to master her power. She ventures into frozen forests, onto a cursed ocean, and a waterfall made of fire. And finally, the artwork used in Viridi Rex reminds us of the dark, evil creatures called Volcra that live with in The Fold, and were created by an immoral mutation of science and magic.
Beyond their outward image, these beers were also an awesome pair for the books based on the beer itself. Bound By Time is Edmund’s Oast’s take on a classic IPA, and it is an absolute success. It is full to the brim with awesome, fruity, hop-flavor. Just like Shadow and Bone, this beer is an awesome start. Enchantment Under the Sea is another awesome IPA, but it takes it to another level. It has an amazing mango and pineapple flavor, and a nice creamy, lactose texture. Although it has a delicious complexity, it also has a great light feel. It’s a totally special, and will hopelessly hook you, just like Siege and Storm. Finally, Viridi Rex, like Ruin and Rising, was so good; I had to go out get another one. It is a great dry hopped double IPA that brings a refreshing warmness to your soul. It is well balanced, has tons of lacing, and the perfect mouth-feel for this style. The coloration is an amazing deep gold (like Alina’s kefta?!) with vibrant papaya and orange. This beer is so good, you can’t have just one!
These beers prove that South Carolina and Edmund’s Oast Brewing Company know what they are doing, just like Leigh Bardugo! These three beers and this Trilogy are awesome. They are the reason we love beer and books. They are enjoyable, thoughtful, masterful, and so darn good! No, neither are the next holy grail of books or beer, but boy are they worth a try! So, check them out! We certainly will keep reading Leigh Bardugo’s Grishaverse books, and can’t wait to try more Edmund’s Oast beers… once we can get our hands on them, or even better, visit the brewery! Enjoy!
THANKS AS ALWAYS FOR STOPPING BY, FELLOW BOOKWORM AND BEER LOVER! THIS WAS A SUPER FUN PAIRING FOR US TO WRITE, DID YOU ENJOY IT? HAVE YOU READ ANY OF LEIGH BARDUGO’S BOOK’S? DRANK ANY OF EDMUND’S OAST BREWING COMPANY’S BEERS? WANT TO TRY THIS PARING? WE CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK! REMEMBER TO SUBSCRIBE HERE, AND FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM, TUMBLR, AND FACEBOOK! HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!
CHEERS, ALEXANDRA & CHRIS
#book review#beer review#ya fiction#ipa#the grisha trilogy#grishaverse#leigh bardugo#book blog#beer blog#double ipa#bookblr
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WORLD CUP DRESSAGE – A POTENT WORKOUT !
I recently had the good fortune to attend the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping and FEI World Cup Dressage Finals in Paris – which was RIGHT up my street! My formative years were spent living on a farm in the rural south of Sweden, and as a young child (then into my teens) I was a so-called ‘stable girl’, as my friends and I would spend all of our free time in the stables, combing the horses hair, cleaning their boxes and of course riding freely across the rolling fields. My walls were plastered with pictures of ponies – alongside the occasional Mariah Carey and kitten poster. Back in Paris, the FEI World Cup event is the pinnacle of equestrian competitions, their ‘Wimbledon’ or ‘America’s Cup’ equivalent if you like, so it was a real honor to have been invited the 10-year-old girl in me was overjoyed; watching the most decorated equestrian athlete of all time, Isabell Werth, dispatch a masterclass was a thing of beauty! This post is a behind-the-scenes account of the weekend, along with interviews with three riders, who reveal just how much of a physically and mentally demanding discipline this is. Click MORE to take a look at the fitness angle of world-class Horse Riding…
PREAMBLE:
Now, I realise that not everyone has ridden a horse, and I’ve encountered the misconception surrounding the sport, that horse riding is ‘easy’ and female-oriented. I would challenge any seasoned gym-goer to mount one of these huge beasts and control its power – it takes more than just brute strength, but also technique and the ability to communicate more subtly with the horse. It’s a ‘new’ meta-language that bridges the communication gap between human and animal. Once you’re able to ‘converse’ with your horse, you work as a team. The partnerships these world-class riders have with their horses is truly fascinating – it represents mutual respect, understanding and unconstrained drive to accomplish victory and be the best.
In an age of virtual reality, smartphones and social media, with most of our hours spent indoors, horse riding is more relevant that ever before, as a reactionary and liberating escape into nature. Getting on a wild animal and riding outdoors delivers a thrill unlike anything else. It’s a great way to truly switch off and be present.
BACKGROUND INTO THIS ANCIENT SPORT
The roots go deeper than almost any other sport which comes to mind. Renaissance Europe is the birthplace of the modern classical equitation (riding in harmony with the horse), though scientific and artisitic accounts of horse riding date back to about the 4th century B.C. with Xenophon, the masterful Greek general, whos treatises On Horsemanship show the concept of Parade Horses, and how to care for them. The Hittite civilisation, over a thousand years before even that, were participating too.
More recently, horses were the mainstay of the medieval battlefield, with an obedient and well-trained cavalry horse making the difference between life and death. They were trained in kicks, leaps and tears, to counteract any footsoldiers who were too close when the knight had been un-horsed. By the Victorian era, riding was a fully-fledged art; times have changed again, but today’s Dressage discipline still makes use of the ceremonial movements practised by the Ancient Greeks and the Medieval Knights – piaffe, passage, the half-pass and the pirouette.
The word Dressage originates from the French word dresser, which in this context, pertains to training or dressing a horse. It’s a super-organised discipline with strict etiquette, perhaps stemming from military heritage. Riders enter the 20 x 60m arena and perform a suite of manouevres with increasing levels of difficulty; they’re marked on their execution of these ‘tests’, as well as their horse’s gait, submission, impulsion and the rider performance. From what I can tell, the performance has to look gentle, quiet, harmonious, supple, loose, confident and attentive, all at once!
But don’t take my word for it; here follows an account of my discussions with three celebrated equestrians; Ellesse Jordan Tzinberg, Carl Hedin, and Mattia Harnacke.
FIRST UP: MY INTERVIEW WITH ELLESSE JORDAN TZINBERG, MODEL AND FEI WORLD CUP DRESSAGE FINALIST!
F.O.T: What got you into Dressage?
EJT: I started off as a show jumper but about three years ago I really committed to Dressage – it’s always something that I’ve done especially in Asia, you only have so many shows that you can do a year and so if you only do one it’s quite limiting to your opportunities. So I’d always done both and been pretty good at both, and then three years ago I wanted to fully commit to one. I’d never been in a program for Dressage so I wanted to at least try it, so I could say I tried it, it failed!
F.O.T: Have you ever been interested in any other types of sports?
EJT: I used to play basketball quite a lot, both in college and high school. We have university sports in America but then you also have intercollegiate, which is not as competitive as NCA but it’s still quite competitive. So I played basketball a lot, and also was into fitness. I box a lot still. I’ve been boxing since I was really young so it’s something that’s always been in me. If I was younger maybe I would’ve committed to that instead of riding but it’s something that’s also been a big, big part of me.
F.O.T: What sort of sport specific fitness training do you do to complement your riding pursuits?
EJT: For Dressage, I love Pilates and I think it’s really great for all riders. Yoga is, of course really great for riders but I know that maybe not all riders like the pace of yoga. It’s quite slow, and we work with horses so we tend to like fast pace. For me Pilates is a bit more mentally my pace, I do that a lot and that really helps with posture. Dressage is so much about the core working, and so much so that you don’t really want to be seen moving very greatly, everything is about very minuscule movements – very strong small movements so Pilates in my experience really trains those muscles. Then I always thought boxing was great for all riders just because you’re using your entire body, you’re using you balance, you’re using coordination, hand eye coordination, speed, controlled movement, and there’s a lot of rhythm. You have to stick with the rhythm and there’s a lot of combinations – it’s the same with riding where you always have a rhythm whether your jumping or sound Dressage, you have a rhythm that you keep to and you don’t want to break that constant rhythm. It’s quite musical as well.
F.O.T: Why do you love yoga so much?
EJT: As riders we’re in the same position for hours each day. A lot of riders aren’t very flexible. They get quite used to using the same muscles every day, all day. And we sit in that same position. You talk to a rider and most of the time it’s always like their hamstrings and hip flexors are super tight as well as lower back. I like slower, more meditative yoga, as it also works on opening the hips up. It calls for a lot of mental strength too and the same goes for riding – mental patience, and mental strength. Yoga is practical for that.
F.O.T: How do you structure your training week?
EJT: A lot of professionals ride five-to-eight hours a day so that’s quite draining. It varies depending on the horse but normally you’d ride one horse for 30 minutes to an hour. Some days, you do end up really exhausted. You and the horse will always have a day off so I think it’s really essential to do something that’s going to change which muscles you’re using, to do something else with your body. Then I think it’s really important even if you’re riding 8 hours a day, to take care of your body so you’re training those other muscles that support the muscles you use whilst riding. So whether you do some plank work or core exercises, stretches, I think any little bit helps.
F.O.T: A lot of people who’ve never ridden may not realise the immense amount of strength required for horse riding…
EJT: I can definitely tell when I ride more horses or not. It does take a lot of strength, they’re such giant animals first of all; also, of course you immediately think you have to be so strong to handle these big animals but also because I’m like 56/57 kilos I’m never going to match up to a horse head to head so you have to find ways to use your muscles in a more practical way and being able to have your core strength and being able to be quick and hold, let go very fast… so it’s about being able to use what we have most efficiently also.
F.O.T: What do you do to really chill out and recover from training?
EJT: Massage!!! In Wellington which is where I live in Florida, I’m very lucky that there’s a wonderful massage lady there who I try and see every week. I think it’s so important for your body. Also someone with that profession feel things that you don’t know. They might notice that your hip flexor or spine is a bit crooked, so you need to have that expertise. Besides, getting a massage is just really relaxing too!
F.O.T: In terms of nutrition, so you want to stick to a certain weight?
EJT: For the benefit of the horse, it’s nicer to be a lighter rider. I also think that there are some riders who are light but they ride very heavy, and there are some riders who are a little heavier but they ride very light. Of course you want to be your fittest self whatever weight that may be – the fitter you are the better you are for your horse I think. I know that for the jumpers, it’s a little more essential for them to be lighter. For me, when I first got the horse that I have right now, I felt very weak compared to him because he’s a bit of a different ride. So for me I focussed a lot on getting strong in creating parts of my body – like my core, being able to have good balance whilst still being able to use my core and my upper body. It really varies on the type of horse and it’s personality.
F.O.T: I’m Swedish; I know you spent some time there too…
EJT: Yes! I lived in Skåne for two years, and that’s where I moved to from California, but it was a huge culture shock. One winter there and I thought ‘I need to find somewhere else warmer’ and that’s why I went to Florida – warmest place to do it! I moved there and that’s where I really immersed myself in Dressage. The horse I have now is from Sweden it’s from a Swedish rider. I still have a special place in my heart for Sweden.
F.O.T: Is there a benefit between switching horse?
EJT: I think so because really the horses are just so different. Personally if I look at the Grand Prix horse I have now, compared to my last one, they are completely different rides. The last one was very nice in the sense that he was so soft and light, I really didn’t have to be very physically strong, however I had to be a little bit stronger in my legs and I had to ride him in a more forward aggressive way. Whereas with this one I have to be very strong to control his energy. His energy is already there, so it benefits me to be able to swap from different horses and be able to change in that situation or adjust the way your style is.
F.O.T: What would you say makes Dressage so special?
EJT: I think as far as fitness goes, it’s an amazing workout. I’ve had friends who are huge fitness buffs, soccer players, tennis players, and when they’ve gotten on a horse, the next day they literally can’t walk. So it’s definitely a great workout in terms of strength, but I also think it’s so special compared to other sports because it’s really the only Olympic sport where you work with an animal, so that brings this whole other element to it. You’re not only training yourself you’re training a horse and then you’re training yourselves together. I’d say if you like mental games and mental sports it’s definitely one of them but from a little bit of a different aspect.
I have my own horse with whom I compete and then I work for a show jumping rider and I train his horses in Dressage. A lot of jumpers will tell me ‘oh you still go to the gym but you do dressage’ – they think it’s so much more of a physically intense discipline. You do have to be enormously strong to compete in Dressage.
SECONDLY, MY INTERVIEW WITH CARL HEDIN, DRESSAGE RIDER & INSTAGRAM PERSONALITY!
F.O.T: What got you in to Dressage?
CH: I started riding at riding school, when I was 7 years old in Sweden. I’m not from a horse background. My parents have always been very clear though, this is my passion, they’ve always supported me, and said that it was my ‘thing’. At first at riding school I just wanted to be like a cowboy riding out in the woods and doing three day eventing and all of that. So I started off doing eventing and then when I was 16, I realised I wasn’t any good to be honest! I was always very good in Dressage though – I’ve always been a perfectionist and I loved training with horses, and understanding how you can teach them, and just the whole behavioural aspect of riding really. Then when I was 16 I did some two star shows at eventing and hadn’t really caught a break for eventing so then I said to my Mum, ‘I think I want to do Dressage full time’, because somehow whatever horse I would get on, whether it would be an Irish pony or anything, it would just end up as a Dressage horse so I thought ‘why fight against it, just go for it’. That’s when and how I started Dressage!
F.O.T: What goes in to training a horse?
CH: I think there’s different aspects of that. The easiest way I would divide it up is into three parts. You have the rider and the horse as two singular units, and then you have the partnership between those two. These three aspects all need to collaborate in order for it to just work. So if you have a really good rider but not such a good horse, that won’t be a fit and you can have a really good horse but not such a talented rider that wouldn’t work either. Sometimes you might have a good horse and a good rider but it s still not working because you don’t have the chemistry, and the third factor isn’t really there. I think those are really the three aspects you need to look at.
F.O.T: You mentioned ‘the behavioural aspect’ – what do you mean by that?
CH: I think it’s important that when we work with live animals, that we can never expect animals to understand our language. Instead, we can just try to adapt to their way of communicating with each other. Therefore I think it’s amazing – it’s a new language that you understand little by little, how to read a horse, and how you build that trust and relationship, for you both to do these amazing things.
F.O.T: Have you always been an animal person?
CH: Yes, absolutely! I can do all the lines from National Geographic, I’ve always been so into animals since I was really really young. It falls naturally for me to work with horses.
F.O.T: Can you read the horse emotions, for instance can you tell if and when your horse really enjoyed a ride together?
CH: Yes I think that’s a very important part of being a professional rider, and to work with horses – you can always try to understand what’s going on in their minds, or you won’t have that third aspect of the ‘partnership’.
F.O.T: In terms of training, what do you do in the lead-up to competition?
CH: It starts from the age of three really, when the horse is very very young, and you start with very easy exercises. Just to carry a saddle for a horse is very unnatural, so that takes quite a long time. The horses that we see her at the FEI World Cup finals will have been training for maybe ten years. In the short period of time before a competition I’d say that most horses will have been training almost everyday that can vary a little bit in terms of how they’ve been trained.
F.O.T: What does the training look for a rider like yourself?
CH: It varies a lot. I work professionally with horses so that means I’ll be riding from 8 o’clock in the morning until like one o’clock in the afternoon, non-stop more or less. So that is serious training in itself. Then there’s the fact that you have to work hard to be a top athlete; you have to work with strength, conditioning and stamina. So yes we do train a lot. I’ve been running a few marathons myself! My best time is 3.26 I think that’s pretty good. I think a lot of riders nowadays take their own physical health into consideration because there’s a long career. Maybe it’s not vital that you are in top shape just for your single performance, but it matters in the long run because you have to be able to go to the stables everyday and stay fit and healthy.
F.O.T: What are the most common injuries would you say?
CH: Back and hip injuries are the big ones, but also knees – especially for show jumping because they are standing up a bit more in the saddle so they tend to ruin their knees if they’re not careful.
F.O.T: What do you do to relax and ensure you get the best recovery?
CH: I think that’s a weak point for the equestrian community – we’re very good at taking care of our horses, having all kind of treatments and therapies and physios and all of that but we are not so good at looking after ourselves: that’s an area that can and should be improved.
F.O.T: Nutrition wise do you follow any particular diets or ways of eating?
CH: I have for periods of times been quite strict with my diet but right now I think that, I wouldn’t say it has so much to do with my equestrian career but my general life wellbeing. I do look after myself, and try to watch what I’m eating and be careful of what I do. I think that’s also something that can be improved. I like to be aware consumer of meat so I like to know what I eat and where it comes from, and I pick my days. I rarely buy my meat for my own household but if I go out to a nice restaurant and I can ask where the meat comes from. I try not to eat as much meat because I don’t think there are that many benefit to it.
F.O.T: For anyone who may be considering riding, what would be your main reasons for giving it a go?
CH: I think that riding is the most wonderful sport! In a modern day society, we have all the virtual realities and social media and all of that and in that world I think that equestrian sport is such a beautiful activity where you still have the element of the real animal! You can only get one horse, you can’t copy-paste a horse. You can’t produce them like an iPhone X on a factory line, with a million copies of a horse. That would be great in some ways because we could all compete against each other more equally, but they’re all individuals just like you and I, that’s the beauty of working with a live animal! Give it a try…
FINALLY, MY INTERVIEW WITH MATTIA HARNACKE, A CELEBRATED MALE MODEL, AND TALENTED SHOW JUMPER
F.O.T: How did you get into Dressage?
MH: I got in to Dressage when I first started riding at 8 in Italy. I started with jumping but found that all the horses I owned could never jump. So by default I got into Dressage which I really loved, and now I have my Dressage horse, but I do want to get a show jumping horse when I move to the Netherlands too. I jumped a few times and really want to get into it, it’s the next thing for me but I still want to do Dressage. I think it’s good to have a bit of variety.
F.O.T: What does a typical week look like in terms of training?
MH: It depends because my schedule is unpredictable; I model and I fly a lot. So if I’m in Australia [home], I usually ride 5 times a week and I get one or two lessons with my coach, Denise Rogan. I like to have a really good balance between riding and my normal life because horses can take so much work – as much it gives back, but I’m the kind of person that I would never want to say no to something that I won’t do because I’ve got to ride ten horses; that’s not the kind of life I want. I want to be able to pick up and go and make the most of every opportunity and then also still enjoy my horse!
F.O.T: So five times a week and how many hours a day would that involve?
MH: Well, I’m the kind of person, I’m quite slow because I like the process. So I like go there, I enjoy racking up, spending time with them, doing a few fun things before I ride and then I ride for maybe like 45 minutes.
To give you a sense of my life – I had maybe 9 months out of Australia last year, I’m constantly back and forth, and I like to commit to an animal and do it right so I can’t have ten horses – so one is enough just to manage between me and my coach.
F.O.T: Would you say there are any benefits of riding different horses though in terms of improving your riding?
MH: Absolutely, every horse is different, it brings out different skill sets in you as a rider but I’m very content with just one.
F.O.T: How did you find your horse?
MH: I sold my first horse and I was going through the last year of school, so I was focused on my studies but as soon as I sold my horse I was so lost. Horses were always part of my life, and it was such a coping mechanism for me as well when I struggled with things. I was very down, I lost a bit of purpose so it took me a year and a half to find my horse. I travelled all of Australia, flying, looking, I checked three horses and they all failed so I was like really bummed out. And then I was at a competition one day and I bought a horse, just a fun project horse, and then at the competition I realised this is not what I want to do, I still want to look for like that horse to be more competitive on, to really set myself up some goals. I started looking and this ad came up, and I saw his ad on Facebook and I saw that this girl in Australia who buys a lot of horses had made a comment – so I was like damn it I’m not going to have another horse bought from underneath me so I said I don’t want to see photos, videos – when can I just come and see him?! Then I saw him, he’s massive, he’s 17.2, which is 176cm at the shoulder and then you still have the neck – and he’s quite big there as well. So I was like; wow this is a very big horse and I’m like 6,3 so I kinda needed something like that. We clicked straight away, he feels like a brother in a funny kind of way. He’s always testing the boundaries a little bit, like pushing. He’s very cuddly but he’ll bite every now and then just to be like cheeky, not painful, just playful. He’s super interactive with humans in general. He just craves attention. If I go on the paddock he’ll come and eat the grass just beside me, just under my feet, he loves that. The people who work in the stables, they’re in there doing the racking out, or cleaning out the stable and he’s biting their hair or pulling their clothes. He just loves attention! So that personality aspect really won me over, and the fact that he just so big and he takes care of me when I ride, that’s very important to me too.
F.O.T: It’s fascinating to hear about that connection you share with an animal!
MH: That’s the thing, it’s almost like a person, you have to hang out every single day and you do things sometimes when you both can’t be bothered, but I always think you got to train with a horse and you got to be happy – but the horse isn’t going to want to train everyday. It’s like picking a flatmate – you want someone that you can live with. You can’t just see them once a day for a couple of weeks you know. It was a very special partnership to find.
F.O.T: Does your horse ever have bad days when you just think, he’s not in the mood?
MH: For sure, but I’m the kind of person, I don’t need to win. I don’t need to be like Grand Prix so if it’s a bad day I literally just get off. I’m like it’s just not worth it. There are some days when I get up and have to go for a ten kilometres run – it’s not fair.
F.O.T: That’s really interesting, how do you complement your training? Sport specific stuff on the side of horse riding?
MH: I used to go the the gym quite regularly but now that I travel it’s been a bit interrupted. I’ve got to stay quite lean as I do the fashion circuit, so I’ve got to stay quite skinny.
F.O.T: How do you recover in terms of training?
MH: We have physios who come for my horses, we ice the legs, the place that I’m going to now has a walker, you have a treadmill and a water treadmill. I think for the rider, a lot of riders have back and hip problems as well. I think if you ride as well 6-7 horses a day it affects you. It’s all about riding correctly. Keeping up your fitness like doing something else – weight training as well. Yoga is great too. I come at this from a different perspective I’m not a professional rider. That’s great to see because if the sport only had professional riders there would be like a tenth of what there is now. What we do as equestrian influencers as well is showcase these massive events for amateurs, who aspire to one day compete, or even who are competitive, and want to achieve higher goals with their horse!
F.O.T: Does weight play a role when riding?
MH: It doesn’t matter too much within Dressage but with jumping it would matter a bit more. There are still some heavier riders who do well but of course the lighter the rider for the horse the better for the horse, ethically as well, I think.
F.O.T: What are the basic things to look at for anyone who’s never ridden or is new to Dressage?
MH: So Dressage at a higher level is about ‘collecting’ and thats a hard concept to understand. The horse if it’s carrying a rider needs to work in a certian way so the muscular are working with the rider, so you want the horse to be through the back – which means instead of having a hollow back they round in the back so they carry the weight, distribute the weight evenly, it’s not pinching down on one spot. So the head, which is connected to the spine, it’s all connected to the the rounding of the neck and bringing the back up and engaging the hind, which kind of gives you that rounding. To make it simple, Dressage is a horse moving through certain movements without you seeing the rider do anything and I think you have to show a lot of passion behind it as well.
F.O.T: Do you think, perhaps a bit of a controversial question, but are there instances where horses are mistreated in Dressage?
MH: Absolutely, in anything – in racing, in dressage, in show jumping – this is the sort of thing that the FEI try to monitor thoroughly because in any sport that involves money (though it doesn’t always have to involve money), people will do anything to get away with winning. That’s also the case in the Olympics where people are engaged in doping, it happens anywhere but when you involve an animal, the welfare of the animal could come second to the win or selling it for money. Just like any sport it has it’s dark sides.
F.O.T: But the bigger question; ‘Is Dressage cruel?’
MH: I think going into this, we need to understand that riding is a selfish sport. There’s no way of denying that, but if you’re giving a horse a good life, looking after it, and if you’re training it the right way, a lot of horses really enjoy it. Like my horse really enjoys the work. If you’re doing it correctly and you’ve got the right training and you respect the animal for what it’s giving you, there’s no reason my horse has to go round everyday in the arena form. I respect that, and I train him the correct way – there are certain things that you don’t do. I think if people understand that then it’s definitely not the case that dressage is cruel.
My horse had a tumorous growth which we had to get surgically removed, so we’ve definitely assisted; it’s just about managing that and making sure you have the horses best interest at heart.
F.O.T: Finally what would you say to anyone who is considering horse riding for the first time?
MH: When people tell me horse riding is easy I always say it’s like playing soccer but the ball has it’s own mind and feelings – it makes it ten times harder. On top of that you have, injuries, emotions, feelings, nerves. You may have worked your whole life, spent millions of dollars and you get to the olympics and your horse freaks out; there are people who get in the arena and they freak out and don’t even do their test. The road to getting there is hard, so hard, so competitive and so costly. Purely because of the fact that all this is going against you; how costly it is, and then you’re training a horse you get to the olympics, and it can take ten years to get in shape, but in that ten years, one injury and you’re done – the horse is gone – it happens a lot.
But if you’re considering riding as a hobby, there are a lot of benefits to it, and I actually used to be a coach at a riding school in Australia. I got the certificate so I used to coach a lot of young kids. I think from a child’s perspective, there’s so much personal growth that goes with it. Responsibility. For me it gave me a lot of confidence as well. I think handling these big animals who have so much presence was very scary at first, but you get used to it, and it really boosted my confidence as a child. Then moving on from that when I had to manage my own horse I had responsibilities of looking after it, and it really made me grow as a person.
But I think for anyone who wants to start, have a lesson and see how you go. It is costly so it’s something you want to think about especially if you want to buy a horse. What I always tell people is that it’s not actually the first outlay of buying a horse which costs the most; it’s maintaining it, and keeping it, giving the horse the best lifestyle you can. The vet bills, I just had a bill of 10,000 for surgery. Things like this happen and you just have to be ready for it.
If I ride – and this is why I feel like riding is so emotional for so many people – it’s the only time in life when you are 100% living in the moment. You don’t think of anything else, you don’t do anything else, all your emotions are concentrated on the outcome you’re seeing straight away. I don’t know any other time in my life when I have that. It’s crazy, that’s why I can get off a ride and just feel like I want to cry, if things go bad, it’s just because you’re so involved. And when it goes happily, you’re on cloud nine. And if you have a bad day it ruins your whole day. It’s one of those things, I can’t think of one other thing that gives you that. Even when I work and I model I’m thinking of other stuff and planning other things. My emotions aren’t there and if the shot doesn’t come out great, I can be of course maybe not 100% thrilled but it doesn’t affect me as much. Riding is crazy like that!
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from Health And Fitness Updates http://fitnessontoast.com/2018/04/26/world-cup-dressage-a-potent-workout/
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WORLD CUP DRESSAGE – A POTENT WORKOUT !
I recently had the good fortune to attend the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping and FEI World Cup Dressage Finals in Paris – which was RIGHT up my street! My formative years were spent living on a farm in the rural south of Sweden, and as a young child (then into my teens) I was a so-called ‘stable girl’, as my friends and I would spend all of our free time in the stables, combing the horses hair, cleaning their boxes and of course riding freely across the rolling fields. My walls were plastered with pictures of ponies – alongside the occasional Mariah Carey and kitten poster. Back in Paris, the FEI World Cup event is the pinnacle of equestrian competitions, their ‘Wimbledon’ or ‘America’s Cup’ equivalent if you like, so it was a real honor to have been invited the 10-year-old girl in me was overjoyed; watching the most decorated equestrian athlete of all time, Isabell Werth, dispatch a masterclass was a thing of beauty! This post is a behind-the-scenes account of the weekend, along with interviews with three riders, who reveal just how much of a physically and mentally demanding discipline this is. Click MORE to take a look at the fitness angle of world-class Horse Riding…
PREAMBLE:
Now, I realise that not everyone has ridden a horse, and I’ve encountered the misconception surrounding the sport, that horse riding is ‘easy’ and female-oriented. I would challenge any seasoned gym-goer to mount one of these huge beasts and control its power – it takes more than just brute strength, but also technique and the ability to communicate more subtly with the horse. It’s a ‘new’ meta-language that bridges the communication gap between human and animal. Once you’re able to ‘converse’ with your horse, you work as a team. The partnerships these world-class riders have with their horses is truly fascinating – it represents mutual respect, understanding and unconstrained drive to accomplish victory and be the best.
In an age of virtual reality, smartphones and social media, with most of our hours spent indoors, horse riding is more relevant that ever before, as a reactionary and liberating escape into nature. Getting on a wild animal and riding outdoors delivers a thrill unlike anything else. It’s a great way to truly switch off and be present.
BACKGROUND INTO THIS ANCIENT SPORT
The roots go deeper than almost any other sport which comes to mind. Renaissance Europe is the birthplace of the modern classical equitation (riding in harmony with the horse), though scientific and artisitic accounts of horse riding date back to about the 4th century B.C. with Xenophon, the masterful Greek general, whos treatises On Horsemanship show the concept of Parade Horses, and how to care for them. The Hittite civilisation, over a thousand years before even that, were participating too.
More recently, horses were the mainstay of the medieval battlefield, with an obedient and well-trained cavalry horse making the difference between life and death. They were trained in kicks, leaps and tears, to counteract any footsoldiers who were too close when the knight had been un-horsed. By the Victorian era, riding was a fully-fledged art; times have changed again, but today’s Dressage discipline still makes use of the ceremonial movements practised by the Ancient Greeks and the Medieval Knights – piaffe, passage, the half-pass and the pirouette.
The word Dressage originates from the French word dresser, which in this context, pertains to training or dressing a horse. It’s a super-organised discipline with strict etiquette, perhaps stemming from military heritage. Riders enter the 20 x 60m arena and perform a suite of manouevres with increasing levels of difficulty; they’re marked on their execution of these ‘tests’, as well as their horse’s gait, submission, impulsion and the rider performance. From what I can tell, the performance has to look gentle, quiet, harmonious, supple, loose, confident and attentive, all at once!
But don’t take my word for it; here follows an account of my discussions with three celebrated equestrians; Ellesse Jordan Tzinberg, Carl Hedin, and Mattia Harnacke.
FIRST UP: MY INTERVIEW WITH ELLESSE JORDAN TZINBERG, MODEL AND FEI WORLD CUP DRESSAGE FINALIST!
F.O.T: What got you into Dressage?
EJT: I started off as a show jumper but about three years ago I really committed to Dressage – it’s always something that I’ve done especially in Asia, you only have so many shows that you can do a year and so if you only do one it’s quite limiting to your opportunities. So I’d always done both and been pretty good at both, and then three years ago I wanted to fully commit to one. I’d never been in a program for Dressage so I wanted to at least try it, so I could say I tried it, it failed!
F.O.T: Have you ever been interested in any other types of sports?
EJT: I used to play basketball quite a lot, both in college and high school. We have university sports in America but then you also have intercollegiate, which is not as competitive as NCA but it’s still quite competitive. So I played basketball a lot, and also was into fitness. I box a lot still. I’ve been boxing since I was really young so it’s something that’s always been in me. If I was younger maybe I would’ve committed to that instead of riding but it’s something that’s also been a big, big part of me.
F.O.T: What sort of sport specific fitness training do you do to complement your riding pursuits?
EJT: For Dressage, I love Pilates and I think it’s really great for all riders. Yoga is, of course really great for riders but I know that maybe not all riders like the pace of yoga. It’s quite slow, and we work with horses so we tend to like fast pace. For me Pilates is a bit more mentally my pace, I do that a lot and that really helps with posture. Dressage is so much about the core working, and so much so that you don’t really want to be seen moving very greatly, everything is about very minuscule movements – very strong small movements so Pilates in my experience really trains those muscles. Then I always thought boxing was great for all riders just because you’re using your entire body, you’re using you balance, you’re using coordination, hand eye coordination, speed, controlled movement, and there’s a lot of rhythm. You have to stick with the rhythm and there’s a lot of combinations – it’s the same with riding where you always have a rhythm whether your jumping or sound Dressage, you have a rhythm that you keep to and you don’t want to break that constant rhythm. It’s quite musical as well.
F.O.T: Why do you love yoga so much?
EJT: As riders we’re in the same position for hours each day. A lot of riders aren’t very flexible. They get quite used to using the same muscles every day, all day. And we sit in that same position. You talk to a rider and most of the time it’s always like their hamstrings and hip flexors are super tight as well as lower back. I like slower, more meditative yoga, as it also works on opening the hips up. It calls for a lot of mental strength too and the same goes for riding – mental patience, and mental strength. Yoga is practical for that.
F.O.T: How do you structure your training week?
EJT: A lot of professionals ride five-to-eight hours a day so that’s quite draining. It varies depending on the horse but normally you’d ride one horse for 30 minutes to an hour. Some days, you do end up really exhausted. You and the horse will always have a day off so I think it’s really essential to do something that’s going to change which muscles you’re using, to do something else with your body. Then I think it’s really important even if you’re riding 8 hours a day, to take care of your body so you’re training those other muscles that support the muscles you use whilst riding. So whether you do some plank work or core exercises, stretches, I think any little bit helps.
F.O.T: A lot of people who’ve never ridden may not realise the immense amount of strength required for horse riding…
EJT: I can definitely tell when I ride more horses or not. It does take a lot of strength, they’re such giant animals first of all; also, of course you immediately think you have to be so strong to handle these big animals but also because I’m like 56/57 kilos I’m never going to match up to a horse head to head so you have to find ways to use your muscles in a more practical way and being able to have your core strength and being able to be quick and hold, let go very fast… so it’s about being able to use what we have most efficiently also.
F.O.T: What do you do to really chill out and recover from training?
EJT: Massage!!! In Wellington which is where I live in Florida, I’m very lucky that there’s a wonderful massage lady there who I try and see every week. I think it’s so important for your body. Also someone with that profession feel things that you don’t know. They might notice that your hip flexor or spine is a bit crooked, so you need to have that expertise. Besides, getting a massage is just really relaxing too!
F.O.T: In terms of nutrition, so you want to stick to a certain weight?
EJT: For the benefit of the horse, it’s nicer to be a lighter rider. I also think that there are some riders who are light but they ride very heavy, and there are some riders who are a little heavier but they ride very light. Of course you want to be your fittest self whatever weight that may be – the fitter you are the better you are for your horse I think. I know that for the jumpers, it’s a little more essential for them to be lighter. For me, when I first got the horse that I have right now, I felt very weak compared to him because he’s a bit of a different ride. So for me I focussed a lot on getting strong in creating parts of my body – like my core, being able to have good balance whilst still being able to use my core and my upper body. It really varies on the type of horse and it’s personality.
F.O.T: I’m Swedish; I know you spent some time there too…
EJT: Yes! I lived in Skåne for two years, and that’s where I moved to from California, but it was a huge culture shock. One winter there and I thought ‘I need to find somewhere else warmer’ and that’s why I went to Florida – warmest place to do it! I moved there and that’s where I really immersed myself in Dressage. The horse I have now is from Sweden it’s from a Swedish rider. I still have a special place in my heart for Sweden.
F.O.T: Is there a benefit between switching horse?
EJT: I think so because really the horses are just so different. Personally if I look at the Grand Prix horse I have now, compared to my last one, they are completely different rides. The last one was very nice in the sense that he was so soft and light, I really didn’t have to be very physically strong, however I had to be a little bit stronger in my legs and I had to ride him in a more forward aggressive way. Whereas with this one I have to be very strong to control his energy. His energy is already there, so it benefits me to be able to swap from different horses and be able to change in that situation or adjust the way your style is.
F.O.T: What would you say makes Dressage so special?
EJT: I think as far as fitness goes, it’s an amazing workout. I’ve had friends who are huge fitness buffs, soccer players, tennis players, and when they’ve gotten on a horse, the next day they literally can’t walk. So it’s definitely a great workout in terms of strength, but I also think it’s so special compared to other sports because it’s really the only Olympic sport where you work with an animal, so that brings this whole other element to it. You’re not only training yourself you’re training a horse and then you’re training yourselves together. I’d say if you like mental games and mental sports it’s definitely one of them but from a little bit of a different aspect.
I have my own horse with whom I compete and then I work for a show jumping rider and I train his horses in Dressage. A lot of jumpers will tell me ‘oh you still go to the gym but you do dressage’ – they think it’s so much more of a physically intense discipline. You do have to be enormously strong to compete in Dressage.
SECONDLY, MY INTERVIEW WITH CARL HEDIN, DRESSAGE RIDER & INSTAGRAM PERSONALITY!
F.O.T: What got you in to Dressage?
CH: I started riding at riding school, when I was 7 years old in Sweden. I’m not from a horse background. My parents have always been very clear though, this is my passion, they’ve always supported me, and said that it was my ‘thing’. At first at riding school I just wanted to be like a cowboy riding out in the woods and doing three day eventing and all of that. So I started off doing eventing and then when I was 16, I realised I wasn’t any good to be honest! I was always very good in Dressage though – I’ve always been a perfectionist and I loved training with horses, and understanding how you can teach them, and just the whole behavioural aspect of riding really. Then when I was 16 I did some two star shows at eventing and hadn’t really caught a break for eventing so then I said to my Mum, ‘I think I want to do Dressage full time’, because somehow whatever horse I would get on, whether it would be an Irish pony or anything, it would just end up as a Dressage horse so I thought ‘why fight against it, just go for it’. That’s when and how I started Dressage!
F.O.T: What goes in to training a horse?
CH: I think there’s different aspects of that. The easiest way I would divide it up is into three parts. You have the rider and the horse as two singular units, and then you have the partnership between those two. These three aspects all need to collaborate in order for it to just work. So if you have a really good rider but not such a good horse, that won’t be a fit and you can have a really good horse but not such a talented rider that wouldn’t work either. Sometimes you might have a good horse and a good rider but it s still not working because you don’t have the chemistry, and the third factor isn’t really there. I think those are really the three aspects you need to look at.
F.O.T: You mentioned ‘the behavioural aspect’ – what do you mean by that?
CH: I think it’s important that when we work with live animals, that we can never expect animals to understand our language. Instead, we can just try to adapt to their way of communicating with each other. Therefore I think it’s amazing – it’s a new language that you understand little by little, how to read a horse, and how you build that trust and relationship, for you both to do these amazing things.
F.O.T: Have you always been an animal person?
CH: Yes, absolutely! I can do all the lines from National Geographic, I’ve always been so into animals since I was really really young. It falls naturally for me to work with horses.
F.O.T: Can you read the horse emotions, for instance can you tell if and when your horse really enjoyed a ride together?
CH: Yes I think that’s a very important part of being a professional rider, and to work with horses – you can always try to understand what’s going on in their minds, or you won’t have that third aspect of the ‘partnership’.
F.O.T: In terms of training, what do you do in the lead-up to competition?
CH: It starts from the age of three really, when the horse is very very young, and you start with very easy exercises. Just to carry a saddle for a horse is very unnatural, so that takes quite a long time. The horses that we see her at the FEI World Cup finals will have been training for maybe ten years. In the short period of time before a competition I’d say that most horses will have been training almost everyday that can vary a little bit in terms of how they’ve been trained.
F.O.T: What does the training look for a rider like yourself?
CH: It varies a lot. I work professionally with horses so that means I’ll be riding from 8 o’clock in the morning until like one o’clock in the afternoon, non-stop more or less. So that is serious training in itself. Then there’s the fact that you have to work hard to be a top athlete; you have to work with strength, conditioning and stamina. So yes we do train a lot. I’ve been running a few marathons myself! My best time is 3.26 I think that’s pretty good. I think a lot of riders nowadays take their own physical health into consideration because there’s a long career. Maybe it’s not vital that you are in top shape just for your single performance, but it matters in the long run because you have to be able to go to the stables everyday and stay fit and healthy.
F.O.T: What are the most common injuries would you say?
CH: Back and hip injuries are the big ones, but also knees – especially for show jumping because they are standing up a bit more in the saddle so they tend to ruin their knees if they’re not careful.
F.O.T: What do you do to relax and ensure you get the best recovery?
CH: I think that’s a weak point for the equestrian community – we’re very good at taking care of our horses, having all kind of treatments and therapies and physios and all of that but we are not so good at looking after ourselves: that’s an area that can and should be improved.
F.O.T: Nutrition wise do you follow any particular diets or ways of eating?
CH: I have for periods of times been quite strict with my diet but right now I think that, I wouldn’t say it has so much to do with my equestrian career but my general life wellbeing. I do look after myself, and try to watch what I’m eating and be careful of what I do. I think that’s also something that can be improved. I like to be aware consumer of meat so I like to know what I eat and where it comes from, and I pick my days. I rarely buy my meat for my own household but if I go out to a nice restaurant and I can ask where the meat comes from. I try not to eat as much meat because I don’t think there are that many benefit to it.
F.O.T: For anyone who may be considering riding, what would be your main reasons for giving it a go?
CH: I think that riding is the most wonderful sport! In a modern day society, we have all the virtual realities and social media and all of that and in that world I think that equestrian sport is such a beautiful activity where you still have the element of the real animal! You can only get one horse, you can’t copy-paste a horse. You can’t produce them like an iPhone X on a factory line, with a million copies of a horse. That would be great in some ways because we could all compete against each other more equally, but they’re all individuals just like you and I, that’s the beauty of working with a live animal! Give it a try…
FINALLY, MY INTERVIEW WITH MATTIA HARNACKE, A CELEBRATED MALE MODEL, AND TALENTED SHOW JUMPER
F.O.T: How did you get into Dressage?
MH: I got in to Dressage when I first started riding at 8 in Italy. I started with jumping but found that all the horses I owned could never jump. So by default I got into Dressage which I really loved, and now I have my Dressage horse, but I do want to get a show jumping horse when I move to the Netherlands too. I jumped a few times and really want to get into it, it’s the next thing for me but I still want to do Dressage. I think it’s good to have a bit of variety.
F.O.T: What does a typical week look like in terms of training?
MH: It depends because my schedule is unpredictable; I model and I fly a lot. So if I’m in Australia [home], I usually ride 5 times a week and I get one or two lessons with my coach, Denise Rogan. I like to have a really good balance between riding and my normal life because horses can take so much work – as much it gives back, but I’m the kind of person that I would never want to say no to something that I won’t do because I’ve got to ride ten horses; that’s not the kind of life I want. I want to be able to pick up and go and make the most of every opportunity and then also still enjoy my horse!
F.O.T: So five times a week and how many hours a day would that involve?
MH: Well, I’m the kind of person, I’m quite slow because I like the process. So I like go there, I enjoy racking up, spending time with them, doing a few fun things before I ride and then I ride for maybe like 45 minutes.
To give you a sense of my life – I had maybe 9 months out of Australia last year, I’m constantly back and forth, and I like to commit to an animal and do it right so I can’t have ten horses – so one is enough just to manage between me and my coach.
F.O.T: Would you say there are any benefits of riding different horses though in terms of improving your riding?
MH: Absolutely, every horse is different, it brings out different skill sets in you as a rider but I’m very content with just one.
F.O.T: How did you find your horse?
MH: I sold my first horse and I was going through the last year of school, so I was focused on my studies but as soon as I sold my horse I was so lost. Horses were always part of my life, and it was such a coping mechanism for me as well when I struggled with things. I was very down, I lost a bit of purpose so it took me a year and a half to find my horse. I travelled all of Australia, flying, looking, I checked three horses and they all failed so I was like really bummed out. And then I was at a competition one day and I bought a horse, just a fun project horse, and then at the competition I realised this is not what I want to do, I still want to look for like that horse to be more competitive on, to really set myself up some goals. I started looking and this ad came up, and I saw his ad on Facebook and I saw that this girl in Australia who buys a lot of horses had made a comment – so I was like damn it I’m not going to have another horse bought from underneath me so I said I don’t want to see photos, videos – when can I just come and see him?! Then I saw him, he’s massive, he’s 17.2, which is 176cm at the shoulder and then you still have the neck – and he’s quite big there as well. So I was like; wow this is a very big horse and I’m like 6,3 so I kinda needed something like that. We clicked straight away, he feels like a brother in a funny kind of way. He’s always testing the boundaries a little bit, like pushing. He’s very cuddly but he’ll bite every now and then just to be like cheeky, not painful, just playful. He’s super interactive with humans in general. He just craves attention. If I go on the paddock he’ll come and eat the grass just beside me, just under my feet, he loves that. The people who work in the stables, they’re in there doing the racking out, or cleaning out the stable and he’s biting their hair or pulling their clothes. He just loves attention! So that personality aspect really won me over, and the fact that he just so big and he takes care of me when I ride, that’s very important to me too.
F.O.T: It’s fascinating to hear about that connection you share with an animal!
MH: That’s the thing, it’s almost like a person, you have to hang out every single day and you do things sometimes when you both can’t be bothered, but I always think you got to train with a horse and you got to be happy – but the horse isn’t going to want to train everyday. It’s like picking a flatmate – you want someone that you can live with. You can’t just see them once a day for a couple of weeks you know. It was a very special partnership to find.
F.O.T: Does your horse ever have bad days when you just think, he’s not in the mood?
MH: For sure, but I’m the kind of person, I don’t need to win. I don’t need to be like Grand Prix so if it’s a bad day I literally just get off. I’m like it’s just not worth it. There are some days when I get up and have to go for a ten kilometres run – it’s not fair.
F.O.T: That’s really interesting, how do you complement your training? Sport specific stuff on the side of horse riding?
MH: I used to go the the gym quite regularly but now that I travel it’s been a bit interrupted. I’ve got to stay quite lean as I do the fashion circuit, so I’ve got to stay quite skinny.
F.O.T: How do you recover in terms of training?
MH: We have physios who come for my horses, we ice the legs, the place that I’m going to now has a walker, you have a treadmill and a water treadmill. I think for the rider, a lot of riders have back and hip problems as well. I think if you ride as well 6-7 horses a day it affects you. It’s all about riding correctly. Keeping up your fitness like doing something else – weight training as well. Yoga is great too. I come at this from a different perspective I’m not a professional rider. That’s great to see because if the sport only had professional riders there would be like a tenth of what there is now. What we do as equestrian influencers as well is showcase these massive events for amateurs, who aspire to one day compete, or even who are competitive, and want to achieve higher goals with their horse!
F.O.T: Does weight play a role when riding?
MH: It doesn’t matter too much within Dressage but with jumping it would matter a bit more. There are still some heavier riders who do well but of course the lighter the rider for the horse the better for the horse, ethically as well, I think.
F.O.T: What are the basic things to look at for anyone who’s never ridden or is new to Dressage?
MH: So Dressage at a higher level is about ‘collecting’ and thats a hard concept to understand. The horse if it’s carrying a rider needs to work in a certian way so the muscular are working with the rider, so you want the horse to be through the back – which means instead of having a hollow back they round in the back so they carry the weight, distribute the weight evenly, it’s not pinching down on one spot. So the head, which is connected to the spine, it’s all connected to the the rounding of the neck and bringing the back up and engaging the hind, which kind of gives you that rounding. To make it simple, Dressage is a horse moving through certain movements without you seeing the rider do anything and I think you have to show a lot of passion behind it as well.
F.O.T: Do you think, perhaps a bit of a controversial question, but are there instances where horses are mistreated in Dressage?
MH: Absolutely, in anything – in racing, in dressage, in show jumping – this is the sort of thing that the FEI try to monitor thoroughly because in any sport that involves money (though it doesn’t always have to involve money), people will do anything to get away with winning. That’s also the case in the Olympics where people are engaged in doping, it happens anywhere but when you involve an animal, the welfare of the animal could come second to the win or selling it for money. Just like any sport it has it’s dark sides.
F.O.T: But the bigger question; ‘Is Dressage cruel?’
MH: I think going into this, we need to understand that riding is a selfish sport. There’s no way of denying that, but if you’re giving a horse a good life, looking after it, and if you’re training it the right way, a lot of horses really enjoy it. Like my horse really enjoys the work. If you’re doing it correctly and you’ve got the right training and you respect the animal for what it’s giving you, there’s no reason my horse has to go round everyday in the arena form. I respect that, and I train him the correct way – there are certain things that you don’t do. I think if people understand that then it’s definitely not the case that dressage is cruel.
My horse had a tumorous growth which we had to get surgically removed, so we’ve definitely assisted; it’s just about managing that and making sure you have the horses best interest at heart.
F.O.T: Finally what would you say to anyone who is considering horse riding for the first time?
MH: When people tell me horse riding is easy I always say it’s like playing soccer but the ball has it’s own mind and feelings – it makes it ten times harder. On top of that you have, injuries, emotions, feelings, nerves. You may have worked your whole life, spent millions of dollars and you get to the olympics and your horse freaks out; there are people who get in the arena and they freak out and don’t even do their test. The road to getting there is hard, so hard, so competitive and so costly. Purely because of the fact that all this is going against you; how costly it is, and then you’re training a horse you get to the olympics, and it can take ten years to get in shape, but in that ten years, one injury and you’re done – the horse is gone – it happens a lot.
But if you’re considering riding as a hobby, there are a lot of benefits to it, and I actually used to be a coach at a riding school in Australia. I got the certificate so I used to coach a lot of young kids. I think from a child’s perspective, there’s so much personal growth that goes with it. Responsibility. For me it gave me a lot of confidence as well. I think handling these big animals who have so much presence was very scary at first, but you get used to it, and it really boosted my confidence as a child. Then moving on from that when I had to manage my own horse I had responsibilities of looking after it, and it really made me grow as a person.
But I think for anyone who wants to start, have a lesson and see how you go. It is costly so it’s something you want to think about especially if you want to buy a horse. What I always tell people is that it’s not actually the first outlay of buying a horse which costs the most; it’s maintaining it, and keeping it, giving the horse the best lifestyle you can. The vet bills, I just had a bill of 10,000 for surgery. Things like this happen and you just have to be ready for it.
If I ride – and this is why I feel like riding is so emotional for so many people – it’s the only time in life when you are 100% living in the moment. You don’t think of anything else, you don’t do anything else, all your emotions are concentrated on the outcome you’re seeing straight away. I don’t know any other time in my life when I have that. It’s crazy, that’s why I can get off a ride and just feel like I want to cry, if things go bad, it’s just because you’re so involved. And when it goes happily, you’re on cloud nine. And if you have a bad day it ruins your whole day. It’s one of those things, I can’t think of one other thing that gives you that. Even when I work and I model I’m thinking of other stuff and planning other things. My emotions aren’t there and if the shot doesn’t come out great, I can be of course maybe not 100% thrilled but it doesn’t affect me as much. Riding is crazy like that!
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