“Look at all the people in the world riding animals like ostriches, camels, elephants…”
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At the foot of the vineyards of a village on the Meuse in eastern France, Sabine Rouas takes an early morning ride on her bull Aston, which is walking peacefully along.
At the wheel of his van, a man stops in amazement, cell phone in hand, to immortalize the scene.
Aston evokes the same reactions at each of his performances and Sabine Rouas likes to laugh: “To be honest, I didn’t invent anything!”
This unique bull draws attention in the region and far beyond just by sniffing it. In the social networks, Sabine’s husband Yannick Kirschhoffer is responsible for giving her actions the widest possible echo: 62,000 subscribers on TikTok, 90,000 on YouTube and almost as many on Facebook.
The story of Sabine and Aston begins with the bereavement of the emeritus rider’s show horse. “Every rider has a special relationship with a horse in their life. When he died, I didn’t want to hear about horses anymore.
At that time, Sabine lived in Luxembourg in a building next to a farm. Over the days she watches the cattle dance and comes up with the idea of contacting the farmer “to get in touch with the big animals”.
“I still had problems with the horses, I missed their contact. So I went down to the yard and saw this cow who was more interested than the others. I started cleaning it. I saw that she was intelligent, that she was learning to give her paw, to say hello, to answer her name.”
For Sabine it is a revelation. When the cow gives birth to a male calf, she buys both animals.
“For me it is the beginning of hell.” In the hustle and bustle, Sabine has to find a place for the cattle. “I was told I was completely insane and it’s true I didn’t know anything about it.”
The character-strong former commercial clerk sticks to her idea: As with the cats she trains, she believes in the special bond between humans and animals. And thinks it’s not a bad idea to train Aston. Sabine clings to this band and… to her reins: she falls 38 times in 3 months trying to stuff the bull.
But she quickly saw encouraging signs. “When Aston saw me riding, he wanted to do the same,” she enthuses. “By observing them, he learned a lot from their behavior, so we played with mimicry.”
The result? Aston, now nine years old, jumps over small obstacles, makes side movements, canter.
“When people see that, they tell me Aston thinks he’s a horse, and it’s true: he likes to imitate them. After that I can only let him do what he wants: He weighs 1.4 tons and has his character! When he jumps over obstacles, it’s because he enjoys it!
“I say it often, in terms of upbringing it is very similar to the cat. They have a similar character.
Aston’s success prompted Sabine to present it at horse shows to develop the “Aston, the Bull” brand.
“Today people contact me to find out how to mount their cattle, I advise them. Aston acts in movies… I still can’t believe it. Aston is known as far away as Japan!”