Apassionata, By The Light of the Stars

Yesterday Marion and I have been to Apassionata and it was wonderful. We had a very good time.

Apassionata is a yearly returning show where horse and human work together and lets see the best sides of them. This combined with dance and music.
This year the show is called “By The Light of the Stars” and tells the story of Leyla, a elven girl, who finds stardust, how it was stolen from her and returned to her.

We saw really some great stunts clearly belonging to the category “Don’t do this at home”. Things that only can be done when there is a true tie of trust and faith between horse and human.
And that (the tie of trust and faith) is what I have seen all the time during this performance. These people love to work with their horses and their horses love to work for them… Sure, I know the reward (a special apple cookie for horses or something) is also important for the horses. But in that they are just as humans. You doing something and you get a reward… a hug from a beloved one, salary, your name mentioned in a positive way… 🙂

But we not only saw breath taking stunts, but also very lovely things.. as this lady with her six horses who listened remarkable to her. Really something to see.

It was very nice to see all the kind breeds of horses…. The big Friesiens, Shire & Henson horses and more… even a very cute white donkey was to be seen.

One fun moment when someone behind us, who was bragging all the time about his knowledge of horse, claimed that the Henson horse was a Tinker. I turned to make a remark about that, but Marion stopped me with a soft punch with her elbow in my side.

I assumed that it would not be allowed to take pictures, but that was not correct. It was allowed, but not the use of a flash. Very understandable, because horses dislike things as the sudden light burst of a flash (I thought that for this reason it would not have been allowed). And yet, there are people who were still making pictures with flash. Really stupid, because things really can go wrong because of this. The excuse “” I don’t know how to turn off the flash” is nonsense in my opinion. Then learn to turn it off or don’t use the camera.
Maybe next year I will bring my camera. If I use a high ISO setting, I don’t need my flash at all.

The only little negative remark I have to make about the evening are the chairs. They were not really comfortable and that was not only me. Marion make a remark about that. But really, that was the only thing.

I bought for myself a nice book telling the story of “By The Light of the Stars”. The book is full of great pictures and also gives some background information of the show. For Marion I bought a plush horse and a t-shirt (one reason less for her to borrow my t-shirts all the time :P).

I am happy that I always claim that I am a little able to ride horses, because after having seen the show of yesterday I know that is completely the truth.