Sunday, October 21, 2018 – Trans’Henson in the Bay of Somme
By Florent | Comments: 0 | 10 September 2018Trans’Henson in the Bay of Somme: the country whose prince is a horse …
Sunday, October 21, 2018 – 28th edition
This is the 28th time, Sunday, October 21st, that the Hensons will tread the Bay of Somme for their annual transhumance of autumn and yet, for the riders, as for the public, it will be again and again the first time.
Intense emotion … Authentic show … Meeting of heaven, earth and water against a background of light cavalry … His majesty Henson joins his winter quarters with, each time, a panache of waking dream and a growing craze for aficionados for the little horse of the Baie de Somme.
The Henson horse
This young breed, officially recognized since 2003, runs from success to success! Worn by the wave of riding in nature, in this beautiful country that we can think that everything here was designed for him, from the beginning of time, in view of his advent.
From dunes to marshes, from salt meadows to pine forests, on this remarkably preserved coastline and yet two hours from Paris and Lille (and barely more from London and Brussels), the Henson is a prince whose letters of nobility write on the sand, at the ebb of each tide in the Bay.
Want to know more? Discover the story of the Henson adventure!
The meeting at the Bird Park Marquenterre
The gathering of mothers and foals of the year, that of the young horses of 1 and 2 years old, who spent the summer in the polders of the Marquenterre Bird Park and in the marshes back-littoral, will take place in the middle of morning under the eyes of an unconditional audience. Hauts-de-France, Paris, Normandy and even Belgium, nobody would want to miss that, whatever the time.
In this beautiful morning expected, the Bay of Somme surely raise its skies of the big days: sublime clouds and intense light under the blue of the days of rain. The wind, which is often in the game, will be reaped manes and tails.
On the riders’ side, the adrenaline rush, which has been rising for several weeks for the big day, will reach its peak. Everyone will be on his thirty-one, “shooters and pushers” … Dressed in dark colors to marry harmoniously with the dress isabelle and the black and gold horsehair of their mounts, themselves excited by the adventure that awaits them.
Each will play his score in this natural symphony to 180 musicians, to gather and train the two groups of horses. It will then be necessary to convey them on about 10 kilometers in Bay, then in dunes, then in pine forests, to finally reach the pastures of the farm where they will take their quarters of winter.
Transhumance on the beaches of the Baie de Somme
120 wild horses will start and this year guided and channeled by 180 -employees riders, apprentices, trainees Henson Equestrian Centers and Henson horse owners, including the Association of the Somme and Authie Bays Riders which, since the beginning of the transhumance in 1990, have acquired the annual privilege of accompanying the herds with the professionals and are the owners of the event. On the sides, a good dozen teams, which will take place on the guests of the press, equestrian bodies and regional representatives, will participate in this extraordinary traveling, the rumor of the wind in the hair and ears. Stolen sensations to the power and grandeur of nature!
There will be something of a cavalry army as in the past in this transhumance, all horses at the same sand dress, their riders waving to the rhythm of the trot or gallop, their hooves pounding the ground in 1200 by the Bay, barreling heading north west to the gates of heaven, in this case the Domain of Marquenterre, himself next to the immensity of the natural reserve of the Somme, where in a last moment of apotheosis, the convoy will cross lagoons at the foot of the dunes before the doors open.
Crossing the Domaine du Marquenterre
The second movement of the transhumance, which will take place in the Domain winding in the middle of thickets, boldly climb the slopes towards the pine forests with green and red reflections, to reach a new landing. In the background, to paraphrase Léo Ferré in “Comme à Ostende”, the horses of the sea will surely shatter their manes, as if to give even more intensity to the ascent. The cavalry will pass before our eyes, imperial, strong of a feeling of accomplishment.
After a last decompression, where everyone will still have time to catch his breath, here the impressive convoy will set off again for “the final” and not least: a sustained race where the address of each will be requested to a maximum of 3 kilometers, in order to reach the general public who, around the Great Plain of arrival, will have gathered fervently to see emerge on the white track, horses in freedom and intrepid horsemen releasing their last efforts under the cheers and applause.
Afternoon activities
In the afternoon, equestrian games, entertainment, local food stands will continue to form waves repeatedly, as an echo of the great maneuver of the morning.
Everyone will be there: the Baie de Somme and its horse breeders Henson gathered together.
The Trans’Henson 2018 is in a few weeks and it is the great appointment of the Picards with their living heritage to which all lovers of the Hensons, Paris to Lille and Brussels to London join …
The smiles are on all sides and a sentence already circulates: strongly 21 October to all meet!
A big thank you to Agence Arcantide for the magnificent texts and photographs of this article – All rights reserved