And Dream of Spots: History

mercredi 2 février 2022

History Secret - Part Five

Here's a recap of the third and last filming Excalibur did for TV.
And this one, is by far, a favorite...

We got a lot of horsey scene in the script, including canters and such. But once we get on Digoine Castle again, with Excalibur and Quirian (repeated the duo), we were asked if one of the horse could be ridden sidesaddle because of the actress dress that couldn't allow her to ride astride as planned.

Excalibur, as he's my horse now, was already trained to be ridden with a skirt (that's why we choosed him for the day). So we did it a try of false sidesaddle, out of the blue.

Because yep, it's just a classic saddle, without one of the stirrup.

We asked the production if they got a sidesaddle, but the answer was no. Luckily, Excalibur really reacted like he had done this his whole life... so it would be okay for some walking, saddly it meaned that canter would not be an option for this time.

Once the pony was ready, it was time for the actress to ride. We were all a bit nervous about the fact she had to ride sidesaddle without a proper saddle, but...

Like Excalibur, she did this as she had done it her whole life. And I must admit, it was so classy, I fell in love with the scenery.

After a walk and poses for the camera, the actress was joined by Quirian and his own actor.

To play a romantic scene!

You cannot deny, it was so perfectly looking.

But... who is that wonderfull amazon women? Well it's Marie of Romania (1875-1938), also know as Regina Maria or Queen Marie.

And because we are talking of more modern time than usual, this time I've got photographs of her to compare!

Portrait of Queen Marie of Romania formerly known as Princess Marie of Edinburgh, She poses on horseback outdoors, 1910, Romania (Photo by George Eastman Museum)

And if that episode was sooo romantic, it was also romanced in regard of the horse. Because, I'm pretty sure that Queen Marie never ever got an appaloosa colored horse in her life. Also most of the pictures I've found of her on a ride, are military ones and not casual one.

The lack of spotted horse is somethin' easy to explain because, in Europe they weren't really a trends in victorian times and then declined to become very rare, or disapeared in most breed the century after... sad but as already said, that's how trends are, they came and goes and came back... to goes again...

But, let's be clear, I've got evidence of spotted horse, in between the 1800 and the 2000's even in Noble European family. So that's not somethin that couldn't have happened...

Valentin Serov (1865-1911): Peter II and Princess Elizabeth leading the dogs
Russian Painter

Julius von Blaas (1846 - 1922): Return of the Nobles
Italian Painter (can be refered as Austrian as well)

Otto Eerelman (1839-1926): Madame Carré with her Grey

Netherland Painter

Painting by Conrad Freyberg (1842-1915)

German Painter

Collier's, 1904

Jugend, 1908

Those last two horses have Excalibur's vibes, in my opinion.

But I want to speak a bit more about Marie of Romania (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh). Because she's not as known as she could be today, but she was considered as "one of the most famous horsewomen in the world" in her time.
And that's somethin' right?

Horse-riding was a passion that captivated Marie since her childhood, she often rode for hours on end and was deeply admired by army officers for her ability to handle the most difficult horses...
Child herself was also depicted in the episode.

(this is a picture of her and hers sisters as kid, I don't know on wich pony she is)

With the various scene Excalibur had to play, he was in the trailer of the episode as well...

not one... but three time :')

That last scene was probably the horse's favorite :')

Then, to finish in beauty, I got my own romantic fake sidesaddle picture.
Thoses who know me, may know that's one of my equestrian dream to do it for real ;)

mercredi 19 janvier 2022

History Secret - Part Four

PART THREE

After we did the first filming with Excalibur, we got some work to do because the script kind of mention that there will be banners for the next episode with him.
So we did one.

Excalibur was not impressed.

Some other horses were...
It was the case of Quirian, my friend Sabrina horse... wich was supposed to be on the same filming. So he got some banner time too.

Then it was ok for both of them and we were "ready".

Next day, we headed back to Digoine Castle with the two stars of the day.

We got costumes for them...
Quirian beeing taller and the most experienced horse got the honor of the horse cover, but both matched together with medieval saddle and most looking historic bridles. They looked just.. dashing!

Before the actors takes their places on horseback, we played a bit in the castle garden. We wanted to be sure none of them will spook with that horse cover flying in the wind, but mostly we wanted to play a bit. That's not everyday that you can ride a medieval horse ;)

As both horses were okay with the gear...

It was time to let them play!
Do you have guessed of wich historic characters they were going to be the charger?

Richard the Lionheart, for Quirian and... Philippe Auguste, King of France for Excalibur.

And now, you want to know if the King of France could have got an appaloosa in medevial time, right?
Maybe this time my answer is a bit more complex than usual...

Middle Age had spotted horse, they were some before and they were some after... So they should have been some in between. But probably less, in regard of the records we have.

It seems that spotted horses lost in popularity during middle age, you can see that because they are barely no spotted horses on medieval paintings and sources...

Though they are some... if you search after it.

But you'll found a spotted horse mostly as the horse of Death (one of the four horsemen of apocalypse). Culture and religion may have pushed the idea that they were a death omen.
And then, have them decline because of popular belief.

But in reality, we don't really know for sure why spotted horse lost their popularity. Probably because fashion and trends comes and goes too.
BUT I managed to found evidence of spotted horse in chevalry...

(c.1445-c.1450 Knights Jousting from Sir Thomas Holme’s Book of Arms)

And even somethin' that looks like one maybe two spotted horses, in a very close reference to Richard the Lionheart, a depiction of... his mother!

("Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of Angouleme and two squires riding on horseback" - fresco from 13th century, Chapel of St. Radegund, Chinon.)

So would Philippe Auguste, King of France been riding a spotted horse? Probably not, but there's a really thin chance that yes. In any case my searchs cannot confirm a firm no.

And if you are wonderin' why we choose Excalibur for the role, knowing it wasn't the most historic choice? Well because he was, after Quirian, the best horse we had for such a filming that could have been spooky. We choose a solid minded horse, for the actor safety.

Here's a sculpture of Richard the Lionheart...

And a painting of Philippe Auguste, King of France (the guy in blue on the white horse in the middle of the battle)

Are thoses greys spotted horses? I'd say yes probably.

Versus our actors...

Sorry, founding reliable pictures of medieval figures is hard. Most of the time, you only found romantic paintings of those legendary character, like this one... Who depict Richard the Lionheart (on the champagne dilute-like horse) and Philippe Auguste (on the white horse) at St Jean d'Acre during crusades.

(Merry Joseph Blondel (1781 - 1853): "Saint-Jean d'Acre remise à Philippe-Auguste et à Richard Coeur-de-Lion".)

I've kept that picture for the end, just because I wanted to speak about THAT RIDICULOUS banner in regard of what we expected...

Speaking of romantic view of the middle age, guess what? There's a huge presence of spotted horses on them, so here's some. After seeing thoses picture, you would just agree with me that Excalibur isn't such a bad color choice for a romanced history ;)