Horse_amp_amp_Hound__06_February_2018
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ALL IN A DAY’S WORK<br />
The trick rider<br />
Camilla Naprous on performing for Madonna and the<br />
county show display that nearly ended in disaster<br />
My family company, The Devil’s<br />
<strong>Horse</strong>men, has been involved in<br />
Cossack or trick riding on the<br />
county show circuit since the<br />
1970s. The moves, including the<br />
shoulder stand and “death hang”<br />
— when the rider is suspended<br />
by their ankle from the top of the<br />
saddle with their head about five<br />
inches from the floor — haven’t<br />
really changed, although the<br />
routines are regularly reinvented<br />
using new music and costumes.<br />
I started off by riding<br />
conventionally, although usually<br />
bareback. Playing cowboys and<br />
Indians with my brother, Daniel,<br />
was a favourite. It involved<br />
numerous tumbles — but you<br />
can’t be a decent rider without<br />
falling off.<br />
My earliest experience of<br />
Roman riding — standing on top<br />
of two horses — in public occurred<br />
at <strong>Horse</strong> of the Year Show at<br />
Wembley in 1995. I was eight.<br />
I galloped around the ring on<br />
Charlie and Foxy, my two Welsh<br />
section As. I did my first stunt<br />
aged nine, when I threw myself<br />
‘The audience<br />
reaction at any show<br />
makes you feel like<br />
a rock star’<br />
off two ponies in a circus ring,<br />
and I was 12 when I started<br />
Cossack riding.<br />
The biggest risk to trick riders<br />
are trips and slips on wet<br />
ground. If you are hanging upside<br />
down with your leg in straps,<br />
there is no quick release. If you<br />
are keen to have a go, learn from<br />
the experts. Don’t try it at home.<br />
I particularly enjoy trick<br />
riding at the Festival<br />
of British Eventing at<br />
Gatcombe and at the<br />
New Forest Show,<br />
although the audience<br />
reaction at any show<br />
makes you feel like<br />
a rock star. Our<br />
trick team,<br />
generally<br />
made up of<br />
nine riders, works on the circuit<br />
every weekend between April<br />
and September. We also take<br />
private bookings, and once put<br />
on a gypsy-themed show for<br />
Madonna at her Wiltshire home.<br />
My most impressive “save”<br />
occurred at a county show in<br />
North<strong>amp</strong>tonshire. Four of us<br />
were Roman riding eight horses<br />
around the arena at a gallop. On<br />
a corner, my inside horse slipped<br />
down to his knees. I fell,<br />
ending up on his neck, but as<br />
he got up he propelled me<br />
back into the saddle. I still<br />
don’t know how I escaped<br />
a really serious fall.<br />
We have 100 horses, all<br />
of whom are trained<br />
from a young age<br />
to ride, drive and<br />
trick ride. All the<br />
staff have their<br />
favourites. For<br />
many years mine<br />
was Raphael,<br />
a 15.3hh dark<br />
bay Welsh<br />
cob/Lusitano. He retired last<br />
year, so on the show circuit I now<br />
ride Moses, who’s an eight-yearold<br />
roan Lusitano stallion. We<br />
don’t feel “married” yet and I feel<br />
slightly unsafer on him than I did<br />
on Raphael.<br />
My father, Gerard, began stunt<br />
riding in Paris in the 1970s,<br />
jousting on stage at The Lido.<br />
Now stunt riding is rarely live,<br />
being restricted mainly to films<br />
and TV. I was a stunt double from<br />
my late teens to my mid-20s,<br />
generally standing in for the pretty<br />
lead actress and galloping across<br />
a moor. Back then, very few<br />
female parts included impressive<br />
stunts — that was a man’s game.<br />
Although I don’t stunt ride<br />
any more, I’m involved in<br />
choreographing the sequences for<br />
the films and TV series we work<br />
on, including Game Of Thrones.<br />
Generally we are informed of the<br />
sequence required six months in<br />
advance, giving plenty of time<br />
for rehearsals. When it’s time to<br />
film, every movement has been<br />
pre-rehearsed and timetabled<br />
almost down to the second.<br />
My life is non-stop. Alongside<br />
the summer trick riding, I run<br />
a yard of 100 horses and a team<br />
of staff. Along with my assistant,<br />
Rebecca Horan, I also work out<br />
the logistics of getting numerous<br />
horses to their film and TV<br />
commitments. I spend 80% of my<br />
time on film sets, but I wouldn’t<br />
have it any other way. H&H<br />
NEXT<br />
WEEK<br />
Legendary tack<br />
shop owner<br />
Shirley Rankin<br />
Words by Julie Harding. Picture by Graham Stone/REX/Shutterstock<br />
16 <strong>Horse</strong> & <strong>Hound</strong> 8 <strong>February</strong> <strong>2018</strong>