Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Casselly's Horses & Elephants (Practice Ring)


Outdoor.1, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Posted by Buckles at 1/29/2008 06:04:00 AM

10 comments:

Raffaele De Ritis said...

Not a practice ring, but the "open air" free show given on the Saturday afternoon at the bay by some of the festival performers and animals.

30 January, 2008 04:23
Anonymous said...

I can not believe that this prestigeous festival couldn't come up with a ring curb for that special show. I have worked in a baled hay ring when the prop truck broke down. But Monte Carlo, come on. Liiks like a street busqing set up. I hope I never hear again about the great circuses overseas and how lousy our efforts are.

30 January, 2008 07:25
Anonymous said...

I heard this story SECOND HAND, so some of the facts might be a little blurry...

When Sascha Houcke came to GSOE/USA he did not received or was not alotted enough ring time for his charges.

Unruffled, he rounded up hay bales and made an ring and practiced to his heart's content in a nondescript part of the Tampa fairgrounds. Needless to say his charges were ready and polished in spite of RBBB red tape and politics.

Here's the kicker: the "theater/tech folks" would stare in total disbelief that this horse trainer could/would/did get his job done WITHOUT their involvement.

Circus trumps Theater everytime!

By the way, Sascha and family are friends of mine and my family, I'm not telling tales out of school.

30 January, 2008 08:34
Anonymous said...

Anonymous,
We assumed you were friends by the way you told the tale, no need to explain. Sasaha Houcke did a great job on Ringling, and I've never met him.
Mr. Houcke aside, I have come to realize the past couple of years that it is not what you do or how well you do it, that is important. What is most important, are the skill's and quality of your advance team and publicity department and .
Wade Burck

30 January, 2008 08:59
Anonymous said...

When I first came to Venice I was given an hour in the ring barn, so Jack Joyce camel traikler was parke3d there. He was Perf. Dir. of Blue Show, so I asked him if he had a ring curb in it. He said go ahead take whatever you need. It wasw a fold up, but I set it up in the back sand pit and with rope around it staked down I had my own 24 hour ring barn. Boy did all the European Royal families eye ball that, but I got alot of work done It looked pretty crude buy looks are deceiving.

30 January, 2008 10:32
Anonymous said...

Not true Wade. If you do it well it will generate its own publicity. Sure alot sneak by with bullshit, but I like the comment of some guys sitting on a bale of hay and the topic frequently comes up of, "Whatever happened to so and so? He or she was the se3cond coming for a short time". But those who have perservered are surely recognized for their endeavors, great or mediocre. When you choose to be in a public arena you accept the critique whatever it may be. Being a nice guy doesn't neccessarily mean that you are a good trainer or have a good act. It might help, but it won't get you past the finish line. Personal satisfaction should be the best incentive to do well.

30 January, 2008 10:48
Anonymous said...

Col.,
I guess all of us "Yank's" had a warm welcome on GSOE. When I was told that I had to practice Boss's tigers out in the arena behind the ring barn, after I was shown what they did, inside the building, in the set up once, and once only, net cage, when I pointed out that it had a sloped floor making it impossible to set the props level, it was pointed out in no uncertain terms that the floor had been poured special for the washing of Ursellas polar bears, and if it was by God good enough for her, it was sure by God good enough for an American. The fact that I wasn't interested in washing the tigers, just getting the act together, didn't seem to be important. But like you and others, Col. we seemed to get it done, with the creative stacking of wood and brick.
Wade Burck


Wade Burck

30 January, 2008 11:02
Anonymous said...

Col.,
Boy, thank's for the motivation. Just about the time I'm convinced of the value of charming and cute, and getting ready to invest in a good school, you point out the obvious. Hey Casey, you are going to have to arrange for a new dormatory roommate. I'm not going to enroll this semester.
Wade Burck

30 January, 2008 11:12
Anonymous said...

Addendum to the Col.,
Welcome back. I wondered where you were at. Let me know next time you are going to take some time off. I had a run away horse issue I wanted to ask you about. It's not important now, he got hit by a truck.
I hope you are feeling well, and up to par. Alot has occured on this blog deal, during your absence, so you need to get saddled up. There is a lot of muckup work needs to be taken care of here.
Your friend,
Wade Burck

30 January, 2008 12:13
Anonymous said...

say what you will about the haybale ring curb; any show with sawdust in the ring has my vote.

30 January, 2008 16:17

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