GERMANY: Year old stallions are captured and auctioned from reservation of wild horses in annual display
Record ID:
567036
GERMANY: Year old stallions are captured and auctioned from reservation of wild horses in annual display
- Title: GERMANY: Year old stallions are captured and auctioned from reservation of wild horses in annual display
- Date: 25th May 2002
- Summary: (L!1) MERFELDER BRUCH, GERMANY (MAY 25, 2002) (REUTERS) WIDE OF HERD OF WILD HORSES SLV HORSES STANDING IN HERD SLV FOAL DRINKING MOTHERS MILK SLV HORSES GRAZING SCU LITTLE BOY TAKING PICTURES MV HORSES IN FIELD CLOSE UP HORSES GRAZING WIDE OF HERD SMV GROUP OF MEN STANDING AROUND SMV MEN LOOKING AT STRIPED T-SHIRTS SLV HORSE CATCHERS IN BLUE SHIRTS AND WEARING RED BANDANAS STANDING AROUND WIDE OF ARENA WIDE OF SPECTATORS WATCHING WIDE OF HERD OF SOME 300 HORSES RUNNING INTO STADIUM SLV CATCHERS STANDING IN ARENA WIDE OF SPECTATORS APPLAUDING VARIOUS, CATCHERS RUNNING AFTER FLEEING HORSES VARIOUS, OF MEN CIRCLING IN GROUP OF HORSES AND CHASING THEM INTO A PEN SCU SOUNDBITE (German) STEPHAN DEMMER, HORSE CATCHER SAYING: "People want to see us wrestling with the horses. You grab the horses neck with one hand and its head with the other. Then you turn its head very carefully just a little bit. This is how the horse loses its balance. Then you jump onto the horse -- which hurts the catcher more than the horse -- and one guy then lies on the front legs, the other on the back legs so it can not move anymore." VARIOUS, MEN RUNNING AFTER ONE-YEAR-OLD STALLION, CATCHING IT AND JUMPING ON TOP OF HORSE VARIOUS, OF CATCHER TYING ROPE AROUND STALLIONS HEAD AS THREE MEN HOLD THE HORSE DOWN SCU SOUNDBITE (German) STEPHAN DEMMER, HORSE CATCHER SAYING: "It is dangerous and a few things have happened. But getting up in the morning is also dangerous." VARIOUS,TWO CATCHERS WRESTLING WITH HORSE, PULLING IT TO THE GROUND AND LYING ON TOP OF STALLION SMV THIRD CATCHER TYING ROPE AROUND STALLIONS HEAD CLOSE UP ROPES IN MANS HANDS SLV HORSE BEING LEAD AWAY ON ROPE LEAD SLV FOUR MEN HOLDING STALLION SCU SIDE OF STALLION BEING SHEARED (2 SHOTS) VARIOUS, OF HOT BRANDING IRON LYING IN COALS (2 SHOTS) SCU HORSE BEING BRANDED / TATTOOED VARIOUS, MEN BRINGING STALLION TO PEN (2 SHOTS) SMV , CAUGHT STALLIONS IN PEN CLOSE-UP OF TATTOO / BRAND ON STALLIONS HIP WIDE OF HERD IN FRONT OF SPECTATORS SLV REMAINING HERD WIDE OF REMAINING HERD RUNNING SCU RUDOLPH ERBPRINZ (HEREDITARY PRINCE) VON CROY APPLAUDING WIDE OF REMAINING HORSES LEAVING ARENA AND RUNNING BACK TO RESERVATION SCU SOUNDBITE (German) RUDOLPH ERBPRINZ (HEREDITARY PRINCE) VON CROY SAYING: "Most of the catchers are locals from surrounding villages. Some the catchers parents and grand-parents had been catching horses already. The wild horses catching event has been taking place since 1907 and in 1845 the last remaining wild horses were given a reservation." VARIOUS, OF CAUGHT STALLIONS BEING PRESENTED TO POTENTIAL BUYERS (2 SHOTS) CLOSE-UP OF AUCTIONEER SMV WOMAN TAKING NOTES HIGH SHOT OF SPECTATORS
- Embargoed: 9th June 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: MERFELDER BRUCH, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVAEYSSU761P1294OTAEXIZWJCS
- Story Text: Unlike in the Wild West, wild horses in a German reservation are not caught with lassos but with bare hands.
Some 300 wild horses living in a reservation in western Germany are chased into an arena once every year in order to remove the one-year-old stallions.
To avoid inbreeding, the stallions are taken out of the herd and later auctioned off under the eyes of thousands of spectators, some of whom pay between 200 and 500 euros per horse.
The fields near the town of Merfelder Bruch, not far from the Dutch border, have been home to wild horses ever since Count Alfred von Croy in 1845 turned part of his estate into a reservation.
No blacksmith or veterinarian tends to the horses which live in groups and are left to themselves -- except on the last Saturday in May.
"People want to see us wrestling with the horses," Stephan Demmer told Reuters Television. He is one of several horse catchers who chase the stallions, wrestle them to the ground and then lead them on a rope into pens where the animals await the auction.
"Most of the catchers are locals from surrounding villages. Some of the catchers parents and grand-parents had been catching horses already," said hereditary prince Rudolph von Croy, whose ancestor created the reservation.
Since 1907 stallions have been caught in Merfelder Bruch once a year. As catcher Stephan Demmer explained, there is a certain technique to the successful catch: "You grab the horses neck with one hand and its head with the other. Then you turn its head very carefully just a little bit. This is how the horse looses its balance. Then you jump onto the horse -- which hurts the catcher more than the horse," Demmer said.
Demmer admits that it is dangerous and a few things have happened. "But," he added, "getting up in the morning is also dangerous." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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