Some 120 “riders” gathered this Saturday at Les Herbiers (Vendée) for the third edition of the two-legged horse world championship. A crazy event which consists of imitating horse riding without any horse, therefore on foot, a stick between the legs. Created in 2018, this funny competition was put on pause following the health crisis. She makes her return with two events on the program this Saturday: neighing and resuming dressage. Interview with Alexis Poirier, crowned world champion in 2019 with his five comrades.
With your Moustachuu team, you are the reigning world champions of two-legged horses. What does that represent?
That is the class ! Being a world champion is not given to everyone. Plus, with the Covid break, we stayed there for four years (laughs). We will not return to the track this year since I am a member of the jury. In any case, we preferred to end with a title! We wanted to finish at the top (laughs).
So what is this championship, a demanding competition or just a big madness?
A bit of both ! It’s accessible to everyone but it’s still a bit sporty. You have to keep up the rhythm, be well coordinated, there are a lot of broken steps, little jumps… But, hey, you shouldn’t take yourself seriously! My advice is to make the most of it, set the mood, have fun with the audience. It’s all humor. The more ridiculous we are, the funnier it is!
How did you get started in this four years ago?
We had seen the first edition, it made us laugh and we said to ourselves “why not us?” “. We knew nothing about horse riding at all, most of us had never ridden a horse. It was all about joking, having a good time with friends. We did preparatory stages in Arcachon and found ourselves qualified for the world championship. There, we said to ourselves that we had to do things right.
And you won. What made the difference in your favor?
Originality and energy. We created a universe inspired by Freddie Mercury, with mustaches and Queen at full blast. We had known seduce the public, that’s what pleased me I think. On the technical side, however, we were not at the top. It was more of a street art show than anything else.
Do you have to practice a lot to succeed?
It depends (laughs). We had only done three rehearsals the previous days. As for neighing, you shouldn’t ask too many questions. For dressage, there are required steps to reproduce, you can learn them with tutorials. But what matters, above all, is to prepare a choreography that holds up a bit, to be good together. There are also the costumes to prepare, as well as the stick horse. Some make them themselves. I think we bought the sticks off the shelf.
You decided to extend the joke beyond the championship…
Yes, we took advantage of our title to go on tour crossing France to Switzerland, just before Covid. For five days, we stopped in city centers to repeat the show. Sometimes there were barely any spectators, other times hundreds of people! It was great. As we had been covered in the media at the time, particularly on television, some people recognized us in the street. We had a few fans following us. I’m still laughing about it!
The news is particularly tough at the moment. Does this absurd event make sense?
It feels really good. We need even more initiatives like this. The news is sad, we only hear about horrors in the media… Having moments like that which allow you to unplug your brain a little, to laugh, to have a little madness, it’s important. It’s an excellent remedy for gloominess!