It truly amazes me when people are taken in by what has become known as a "fluff act". I should think the public would be fooled, but not experienced entertainment professionals. An act like this is a matter of finding the right horses, as all animals have a different and unique personality and letting them "do what they want," absolutely no training skill involved. The "shavings roll 0 death," has become very popular, and is as difficult as teaching a dog to bark. It is harder to teach a horse not to roll in the shavings, as it is something they will do given every opportunity. The Fresian video was posted to clearly illustrate, the "skill" in this type of training, of letting the animal do what they want to do. Uninformed folks will actually state, "he didn't even use a whip, not like that bad man Fredy Knie does!!!" The difference is Fredy is acutally a trainer, and his horses are trained to do something. Big, big, difference. Note in 2008 he used a crop/whip, but in 2009 at Monte Carlo he used the same thing with material added to make it look like he was "tickling" them with a peacock feather. Traditionally a peacock feather is consider back luck, but in Mr. Giona's case he took steps to over ride the bad "juju". His agent is the italian member of ECA (European Circus Association), and the same man is the artistic director of Festival of Latina, and a close collaborator of Mr.Palmiri (the powerful president of italian circus proprietors). This agent-director is also a friend of Urs Pilz, and Pilz himself is an influentual member of ECA, and the same Urs Pilz was invited as a guest and member of the jury at the Latina Festival the past few years. This same agent-director is also a producer of horse shows in Italy. It is where he discovered the Giona family, and he took them to the Latina Festival. Pilz sitting on the jury at the Latina Festival took them to Monte Carlo where a Silver was arranged, and now the agent-director has some great self serving press for the horse show's he produces. And we wonder why the public is turning away. Just because it is easy to fool the industry, doesn't mean the public is that ignorant. And that is hard for us to accept. After all, we "know how the public thinks, and what they want."
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Fratelli Giona--2009 Monte Carlo and 2008 Festival Latina
Posted by
Wade G. Burck
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2 comments:
Easy is a 40 ft arena. Like to see them turned loose in a 200'x 150' and no people standing around to block their exiting. would be meyhem. The second video showed a multitude of problems and the little feather doesn't get it for me. Looks like a copy of a wanna be Calvalia
Madame Col.
I was hoping someone would pick up on that, and I should have assumed you would. I don't think the 40 ft. ring is a much of an issue as the fact that the second video was taken a year prior to the first one. In an act where the animals are allowed to do as they please and a "script" is written around it, it is never consistent given that they have the option of other doing it or not doing it. The best example is the "roll in the shavings 0 death trick. In the second video you will note the horse just dropped and started rolling instead of getting in line. To counter that, it is the first part of the act in the first(year later video). Also note the horse turns away from him, a "roll back" in your parlance, instead of waltzing towards him. As you are aware it is much easier to rollback instead of waltz, because you are driving the animal into a barrier. There is your love and affection. Note how many times he reaches out to touch the horse's face and the horse bolts. Steel Heart really loves him, and has confidence in him, doesn't he?
Wade
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