Raconteur…. That’s the ironic name of the French horse whose story I am going to tell today, because this is what he would say if he could tell it himself. First of all, Raconteur would say that he has, throughout his life, been well treated, explaining that he passed his lazy young years in the green fields of the Boulonais.
“Then I was nicely broken and sent to dressage and training at the Thierry Lemer racing stables at La Teste, where I was quite successful….” But then you could see in his eyes that somewhere, something was going wrong. Subsequently, he would explain that he felt better. So, why did he recover so well? But, above all, why did he deserve such attention? So, again, let me tell you! “Because I am quite a small chap, proud of myself, and always put my heart into whatever challenge confronts me. I am a real character. A true Anglo-Arab boy!”
The multi-purpose prototype, formula one (racing, jumping, eventing, endurance etc…)! Raconteur’s mother, Roumega du Tuc, was born in the Adour fields (in south-western France), one of the best-producing regions for Anglo-Arabs. His father, the Thoroughbred Sheyrann, had been a good steeple-chaser. By the age of 10, Raconteur was placed in flat racing, and won in hurdles and steeple-chases, before, and in his later years embarking upon a new career in endurance where, again, he tried to do his utmost.
And this is why he sometimes gets anxious…. Because he knows, according to the increased intensity in his training schedule, that a competition is coming soon…. And stress takes over. His belly, instead of retracting in the style of greyhounds, enlarges and becomes fat. He looks at it, desperately, as might an attractive girl in the same situation. He was yawning all day long. Yes, he has pain. It all goes wrong. Diagnosis? Ulcers!...
