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All The King's Horses

-By Claudia Wallis

King Louis XIV of France adored all things grand and elegant. From the moment he rose in the morning until he settled down at night, the "Sun King" was surrounded by lavish activity: concerts, feasts, ballets, pageants and praise. Versailles (Vair-sigh), his magnificent palace near Paris, was a center for the arts, including the art of horsemanship. The king had two huge stables built there. Completed in 1683, they held 600 horses, plus trainers and grooms!

Today, Versailles is a top tourist attraction, but for 150 years its stables were used mainly for storage. This winter, the sounds of prancing hooves finally returned to one of the grand stables when a new Academy of Equestrian Performance opened. Its director is Bartabas, founder of the famed Zingaro troupe of performing horses. He aims to train young riders in the formal art of dressage (dress-ahzh) and to stage shows worthy of this royal setting. Most of the horses are Louis XIV's favorites: blue-eyed, cream-colored lusitanians.

Bartabas chose 11 riders to train at the academy. Nine are French, and just one is American: Dana Ishii of Hawaii. Ishii, 20, told TFK that working with horses at Versailles is "like a fairy tale." The elegantly restored stables "are marvelous," she says, "and we look across the street at the castle."

As part of her training, Ishii studies fencing, ballet and even singing ("I feel sorry for my voice teacher," she jokes). But mostly she works with two horses: Arlequin and Goya, "the best horse in the barn." Horses, she marvels, "have kept me out of trouble, kept me focused, and now they're providing the opportunity of a lifetime!" King Louis would be proud. --By Claudia Wallis

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