Most of us are brought up being told that we can be anything we want to be.
Well, it seems a five-year-old bull has taken that message to heart, and refuses to let anyone stop him from living his best life as a horse and pursuing his passion for showjumping.
Aston the bull formed a close bond with 43-year-old Sabine Rouas when she started helping out at a cow farm, when he was just a newborn calf.
Animal lover Sabine soon became close with the little calf and convinced the farmer to let her buy him, to save him from slaughter.
Sabine decided to raise him alongside her pony Sammy, but noticed that the bull was picking up the same horsey tricks.
Before long, Aston had mastered trotting, galloping, stopping, going backwards and turning around on command and responding to Sabine’s voice – just like a horse.
His size hasn’t held him back. Despite being three tonnes, it took just 18 months to teach Aston to leap over 1m high horse jumps in the dressage ring – with Sabine on his back.
Sabine, from Verdun, France, said: ‘I was teaching Sammy some basic tricks, and Aston was taking notice.
‘I tried to teach tricks to Aston. It wasn’t riding him then, but tricks like following my voice, and walking him.
‘That’s when I had the idea of trying to ride him when he was bigger. I spent more and more time with him. He was quite good at the things I was teaching him, and was picking it up faster than the horse.
‘He saw it as a game. Aston and Sammy both had horse boxes next to each other.
‘He got better and better and more like a horse.’
The duo now travel to fairs and horse exhibitions around Europe and crowds gather to watch them perform.
Sabine said: ‘We get a good reaction. Mostly people are really surprised and initially they can be a bit scared because he’s big – much bigger than a horse.
‘Even people working in farming are sometimes really scared around him. Most people – even farmers – don’t like to get too close to cows with horns.
‘But once they see his real nature, and see him doing the exercises, they often say “oh he’s really quite beautiful.”
‘Children in particular really like watching and getting the chance to be close to him.’
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch at MetroLifestyleTeam@metro.co.uk.
MORE: For how long do you really need to walk different breeds of dog?
MORE: Cat left looking like bright yellow Pikachu after turmeric treatment for skin condition
MORE: Extremely cute cat with a major underbite is constantly sticking out his tongue
source https://metro.co.uk/2020/08/28/meet-showjumping-bull-who-thinks-horse-13190171/
0 Comments