The historic Versailles Palace Gardens will soon host the Paris Olympics equestrian sports.
A horsewoman trains with her horse in the main courtyard of the royal stables, in Versailles, Thursday, April 25, 2024. More than 340 years after the royal stables were built under the reign of France’s Sun King, riders and horses …
The elite academy, founded by French horse trainer and impresario Bartabas, who decided to revive the splendid building in 2003, has only 12 riders. After years of hard work, they take part in a prestigious show at the Great Stables of Versailles every weekend to the delight of spectators.“We are only women here now,” said one of the riders, Fanny Lorré, smiling as she noted how big a change it is from the once male-dominated world of equestrianism.
The Great Stables were built “just before the king arrived here in Versailles. He wanted very big and wonderful stables because he had a lot of horses,” Lorré said. “Horses at that time were very important in the court and in the everyday life.” After the French Revolution, in the 19th century, the army took over the stables, using them for its cavalry regiments until World War II. They were then used as a storage facility for the Versailles district’s archives and later for horse carriages until Bartabas stepped in and formed the academy.
The academy members, though not participating in the Games, are looking forward to seeing Olympic riders galloping in the gardens of the Versailles Palace, Lorré said.
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