Philippa World - Camarguais Horses & The Cadre Noir

Before we meet the General Grelu, who will tell us more about Camarguais horses in War times, let's discover the school he went to: The Cadre Noir.


Located in Saumur, the Cadre Noire is known as a major world riding school.


From 29 April to 2 May, the French Riding School organizes the Grand Prix CDIO. The best world riders will be present during these four days of competitions.

The Cadre Noir de Saumur is also a Military school.


The troop was founded in 1828, and gets its name from the black uniforms that are still used today. It is one of the most prestigious horsemanship schools in the world.


In 1972, the National School of Équitation was constituted around the Cadre Noir, which form its core teaching staff. Today, there are about 50 horses and a team of elite riders, usually limited to 22. The members of the Cadre Noir are either under a civilian or a military status. Some of the riders have reached the highest level of international sport, being olympic or world champions.

The Cadre Noir mainly uses Thoroughbreds, Anglo-Arabians, Hanoverians and Selle Français, but also keeps Lusitano horses to demonstrate the 16th and 17th century baroque style of riding. The Thoroughbreds and Anglo Arabians are used for the Grand Prix dressage, and perform individually, pas de deux (two horses), pas de trois (three horses), and dûe quantité (four or more horses). They may be either displayed in hand or ridden.

The Selle Français are used to display the 'airs above the ground.'



Occasionally, Camarguais horses are used for dressage trainings.



The General Grelu will share with us his experience at the Cadre Noir. Since the military career of the General gave him the opportunity to be in charge of the Forests of the South of France territory and to also do analysis of the Natural risks of the region, we will ask him how Camarguais horses can play a role in the preservation of the environment.

Stay tunned!

Philippa World Intermezzo - The Upcoming Triple Crown

The Triple Crown of Thouroughbred Racing is a major event in the world of horses lovers we couldn't possibly miss.

The first race to win for the Triple Crown is the Kentucky Derby.

The second consecutive race to win the Triple Crown is the Preakness Stakes.

The third consecutive race to win the Triple Crown is the Belmont Stakes.

Since 1875 only 11 horses won the USA Triple Crown:

1919: Sir Barton

1930: Gallant Fox

1935: Omaha

1937: War Admiral

1941: Whirlaway

1943: Count Fleet

1946: Assault

1948: Citation

1973: Secretariat

1977: Seattle Slew

1978: Affirmed

In 2008, Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.

Unfortunatelly he wasn't able to maintain the speed during the last race.

Hopefully, we will have a Triple Crown winner this year!

The Triple Crown is a very important event in the US. In the South of the United States, it is even considered more important than the Super Bowl.

Philppa World - Camarguais Horses & Wars

When conquering the Gaul, Julius Caesar noticed the strange Camarguais horse.
This horse is indeed very intriguing for any warrior such as Julius.
He is strong, agile, fast, very endurant and cold blooded. All perfection....but if only he was taller and more refined. This would be too good to be true. Instead, he is rather small and not very beautiful. He certainly doesn't have the majesty of a Lusitano. Nonetheless, over the centuries, warriors have used the Camarguais horses.

During the Napoleon European campaigns, most Camarguais horses were requisitioned.
The horses for the 2nd Regiment of Éclaireurs were primarily Camarguais horses, and the remount depot was established in Camargue.

General Grelu, who was trained at the French military school of the Cadre Noir, will count us some of the wars histories for which Camarguais horses have been involved.

Stay tunned!

Philippa World - Polo's Manade & The Templars

Philippa World invintes you to discover the Manade Mejanes.
This 600 ha agricultural property was bought by Paul Ricard in 1939.
Today, you can visit the property which is open to tourists.

Not only you will discover an exceptional fauna and flora, but you will get to know the local traditions of the Camargue in Provence.

The property was used as a pilote to test the rice exploitation. Today, 150 ha are dedicated to rice production (with a modern setting optimizing the water and avoiding persticides).


Horses and bulls live freely on 300 ha of the property.


















The rest of the property is dedicated to welcome visitors and organize activities allowing them to discover the local culture:

.How to mark a young bull
. Bull races
. Horse training







The property is also the headquarter of the Union des Clubs Taurins Paul Ricard (Union of bull clubes) working on maintaining the local bull traditions.


Historicaly, the property was built by the Templars. Some buildings were actually build during the 11th century. It is part of the supplement to the General Inventory created by Prosper Merimee and which list all the national French Treasures.

Philippa Wolrd - Camarguais Horses & Polo

Do you know this guy?


This is Polo, Paul Ricard.



A mediterranean guy born in the South of France near Marseille.

Paul Ricard became a legend.

You migh know him if you love cars, Formule 1 or Motorcycles.

If you search for him online, you will find this car race circuit

Paul Ricard who was born in 1909 was passionated about mechanical sports and he invested greatly in them.

Passionate, Paul Ricard certainly was about his region. Look at the map and you will notice the "Mistral straight". It refers to the local wind called Mistral. This is a very strong wind coming from the north, taking strengh in the Rhone Valley, and clearing the sky from clouds. This is thanks to the Mistral that you find this peticular light in the South of France painters and photographs come from all over the world to experience and fix forever.

What Paul Ricard and Enzo Ferrari had in commun?

They both loved cars and horse power and were gifted for Marketing. Now the success of Paul Ricard didn't come from his love for cars...

Paul Ricard actually made a fortune from a recipe...

In the 30's, he created a recipe for a very refreshing drink that soon became very popular: the Pastis Ricard.

The anise-flavor liqueur became very popular thanks to the determination and marketing skills of Ricard. The non alcoholic version of the Pastis also became very popular.

During WWII and the occupation, Ricard saved his staff from the deportation by having his employees officially working as farmers breeding horses and bulls in a Ranch he bought: The Manade Méjanes. This way, he would also be able to continue producing the forbiden alcohol for the Resitance...

"J'emmerde le général Pétain!" used to say Ricard (i.e. fuck Petain)

Philippa World invites you to discover this Manade Paul Ricard

Stay tunned!

Philippa World - Camarguais Horse: From Here To Eternity... A White Man

Today, Philippa World will focus on the Camarguais horse.
An eternity indeed that this one is running around... Remaining bones of the Camarguais horse were found and dated from the Stone Age. Considered one of the oldest spiece of horses in the world, this horse is described in Roman texts. According to some authors, it traces back to the Solutrean horse, or for others looks like the Magdalenian horses which are featured in caves like Lascaux. Today, he symbolises the Camargue, region of the Rhone delta, with the black bull and the pink flamingo.










The "white" horse fits to the very tough environment of the Camargue: wild swamps and climate extremes. The high humidity level combined with the strong wind, thanks to which the light is so intense, makes it cold in winter time. Summer time is well defined by heat waves and fall by floodings. Usually 5 feet tall 160 pound heavy, this horse is very robust with unusual strong feet and therefore rarely needs horse shoes.

Now, the secret of this robust animal might be in what he eats. Indeed the grass from this region is full of minerals and therefore breeders of race horses buy the "Crau hay" in order to optimize the performances of their precious athletes. Its great variety of leguminous and graminaceae provide it with a rich tenure of nitrogen, minerals and energy. The Crau hay is the first animal food to have obtained the label of "controlled origin".


If the Camarguais surely received some influence of hot blooded horses such as the arabian and the barb horses, this horse is very calm and could be considered as a cold blooded horse.

The Camarguais is quiet but energic, sensible, lively, agile, brave and with great stamina. He is used to endure bad weathers and long journeys. This horse needs to live wild, and when part of a Manade, this horse has to be let on a vast territory.

The mythology counts that chased by a black bull ,on the sea shore of the Saintes Maries de la Mer, the Camarguais horse had no other choice than plounging in the sea. He was saved by a stalion coming out of the Meerschaum telling him «I will never be your slave, but your friend». This horse is now the best friend of the bull.


Camarguais horses are used by gardians who breed bulls for races and for fightings. Only the Camarguais is cold blooded enough to not fear the bulls and even to tame them with the rigourous know-how of the gardians.


The Camargue has always been a working breed and a faithfull companion for the guardians. The breed was registered in 1976, a studbook opened and standarts edicted in order to perserve its exceptional qualities from crossbreeding. The "berceau de race" (the true Camargue area) was defined as the triangle of Monpellier - Tarascon- Fos Sur Mer. Any Camargue foals born outside this area are registered "Hors Berceau", if they are born outdoors. The Marquage (the branding) is officially held each year in october ; the brand is the symbol of the Manade, a letter for the year and an idendification number, and then the foal is registered in the studbook.
















The versatility and size of the Camarguais horses make them good for horseball and other equestrian games, dressage, driving, leasure and long distance riding, for both adults and children.

Not only they are versatile in what they can do, they are also versatile in who the can be with:
They accept children very well indeed as it is described in the White Man.

The Camarguais horse became a movie star thanks to Albert Lamorisse short film "White Man" praised by the NY Times.

This white man is actually born brown, he then becomes grey and finally white at the age of 5 or 6 years old.

In our next edition of Philippa World, we will discover the Manade Paul Ricard where gardians breed Camarguais horses and bulls.

Philppa World - Camarguais Horses & Folklore

If Raseteurs are quite courageous, crazy, unconsious...whatever you may think, we would think that horses would be avoiding these bulls.
We know that horses are not predators. Their only way to survive is to escape.
But for some reason, Camarguais horses are not afraid of bulls.
They are cold blooded enough to stay calm and trust the instruction of the Camarguais Gardians.
This is why Camarguais horses are used in all the local folklore called Feria during which Bull races and Bull fightings are organized.

Bullfighting also called Corrida is a traditional spectacle of Latin American countries, Spain, Portugal and some cities in southern France such as Nimes and Arles. There are 2 main types of Bull Fightings:

The Spanish Corrida concludes with the killing of the bull by a sword thrust. If the bull demonstrates great courrage, he can be saved by the judges and will experience the joy of

reproduction.

The Portuguese Corrida, which finale consists of a tradition called the pega, where men (forcados) try to grab and hold the bull by its horns when it runs at them. Forcados are dressed in a traditional costume of damask or velvet, with long knit hats as worn by the campinos (bull headers) from Ribatejo.

The Freestyle bullfighting which is a style of bullfighting developed in American rodeo is sometimes organized in Nimes but not as part of the local folklore and not during Feria. The style was developed by the rodeo clowns who protect bull riders from being trampled or gored by an angry bull. Freestyle bullfighting is a 70-second competition in which the bullfighter (rodeo clown) avoids the bull by means of dodging, jumping and use of a barrel.

Similar games from Freestyle bullfighting have been organized that are close to circus. It is called Taureaupiscine. These silly sport games are organized in an arena in the middle of which there is a free little bull and a little swimming pool. The goal is for participants to avoid the bull and avoid being too wet since the best way to escape the bull is to jump into the swimming pool.
Usually it is a soccer game with the traditional 2 teams but with 2 unusual elements: a bull and a pool. Such games are totally harmless for the bull and funny for the participants.

In all these games, the role of Camarguais horses is limited to conduct the bull from the truck to the arena. Now there is a big difference between an heavy hot blooded bull going to a corrida and a little bull going to a Taureaupiscine....

Philippa World - Camarguais Cowboys: farmers & athletes trainers

Today, Philippa World is going to find out what a cowboy can do in the south of France.

The Camargue, in the south of France, is not so much known for its cows but for its bulls.
So overthere, cowboys are called Gardians. The farms where Gardians raise bulls are called Manades.

The Camargue is the largest river delta in western Europe. Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. This vast territory still remains wild. The fauna and flora is still preserved with remarkable wild birds, aboundance of mosquitos which make it hard to want to stay there except for some gardians who are breeding horses and bulls.

Since the territory is so vast, Manades usually are very large properties where gardians proceed to an extensive breeding. Indeed, horses and bulls live on a very spacious territories.

Gardians are farmers, breeders and athletes trainers.

Gardians have to maintain the farm where they sometimes produce rice on a part of the property, they also have to breed horses and bulls, and finally they have to select bulls who will be running on "Courses Libres". The Course Libre (free race) is an old tradition where the bull is the center of the attention. Whereas the star is the Matador in bullfights, the star in the "Course Libre" is the bull. Usually this bull is a Camarguais bull, typically small and light (Camarguais bulls usually weight more or less 600 pounds). Nowadays, Camarguais bulls are not or rarely chosen for bullfightings. Bullfightings require heavy impressive bulls (with a weight of more or less 1200 pounds). Mostly Spanish bulls meet the requirements of bullfighting rules.

Raised in large Manades, Camarguais bulls live very freely and somwhat keep their natural instincts. Therefore they are a challenge for these young men who will be running after them during a "Course Libre" in order to catch the little red ribbon called "Cocarde"placed between the horns of the bull by the Gardians before the Course Libre starts. If these young men called Raseteurs manage to get the little red ribbon, they can make some money. Catch one of these red ribbons and you can cash it for a few hundreds euros.

Now don't try to get this little red ribbon if you have never done that before. These bulls are pretty fast and furious...even if they are not that heavy, they still have character.

So you know, Raseteurs usually begin to train in their early teens against young bulls before graduating to regular contests. They don't take the ribbon with their bare hands but with a claw-shaped metal instrument called a raset (hook) in their hands. But don't worry, there is no blood. At least, the bull is never harmed. Raseteurs on the contrary take risks. This entire game is just to show how couragous you can be with a charging bull.

Philppa World - The French Cowgirl: The Arlesienne

Now that you met the French Cowboy...
Well that's his girl: the Arlesienne

These French Cowgirls don't get the blues... Wanna know why?

Because too many Artists have been thinking about them ! Now, we don't know if they all were thinking of the same Arlesienne.

Bizet composed about her.

In 1890, Van Gogh painted her: Madame Ginoux that you can now see at the Kröller-Müller Museum

Alphonse Daudet also wrote about her.

Like most Provencal beauties, you have to look for her if you really want to see her.

She is a myth who only rides Camarguais sidesaddle

Philippa World - The French Cowboy

Today, Philippa World is looking for the French cowboys.

Here are some French cowboys...good singers indeed, very funny and burelesque no doubt... but these are not the French cowboys we are looking for...

What about this French cowboy? Ah! No...this is our president...our little Nicolas.

He is not in the American Wild Wild West but in the French Wild Wild South called Camargue.

The Camargue is located in Provence, in the south of France between Spain and Italy, where people used to speak occitan.

Well let's have Nicolas guiding us in the Camargue where real French cowboys are...

Our guide went to a Manade which is a ranch in Camargue.

In these ranches called Manades, there are cowboys called Gardians who like our president are riding white horses called Camarguais horses.

Camarguais horses are very recognizable. They usually are white and not too tall.

Gardians are also very recognizable, but unlike our president who seems to like wearing Ralph Lauren shirts as per the NY Times, we know that Gardians usually wear local outfits. They usually wear shirts with typical provencal designs. Nowadays, brands such as les Olivades, Souleiado or Les Indiennes de Nimes print these designs in an industrial manner. And they usually wear pants made out of a quite resistant local fabric that Levis Strauss exported from Nimes and marketed very well: the provencal blue fabric "de Nimes" (i.e. from Nimes) that nowadays everybody wears and call "Denim".

Philippa World - 1st edition

Welcome to the First edition of Philppa World!

Why Philippa? Because we love horses....

Everybody loves horses....why?

Maybe because we can do so many things with them

To hunt

To fish

To farm

To eat (oh my god!)

To discover the world

To conquer the world like Genghis Khan who built the largest empire in History

To express ourselveves














To play

To gamble

To recover

To be poetic

To be romantic

Maybe because horses have been our best friends throughout history.

Or maybe is it because we love the their best friends cowboys? oops.. those cowboys?

Next, let's find out where these cowboys are nowadays...here is one!