If you look for “Aston the Bull” online, you will find numerous viral videos, some of which have well over a million views! In the comments, people express their admiration and amazement: “He jumps higher than my horse, how is that possible? “She rides that bull without stirrups? Honestly respect.”
Aston is a worldwide phenomenon: “I even learned that Japanese students are studying Aston in class, I couldn’t believe it!” says the bull’s owner, Sabine Rouas, who is herself quite a phenomenon. It is evident that she has a jovial and exuberant temperament that quickly becomes tempestuous if one tries to restrain it. No wonder: it took a lot of character to start training a bull.
Because a bull does not become a colossus with nimble feet overnight. Of course, all over the world, people ride bulls, use them for work in the fields... “But equestrian training for a bull was new, because it was completely crazy,” Rouas admits.
It all started in Luxembourg, almost ten years ago. Opposite the flat where Rouas lived with her husband, there was an organic farm. Sabine, who had been an avid horsewoman since she was a child, had just lost her Grand Prix horse and was in low spirits. “I missed the contact with the big animals, but I wasn’t ready to take on a horse again,” she explains.
She often visited the neighbouring barn and soon noticed a cow that stood out: number 309. “She was the smartest in the herd, she responded to her name, I could teach her tricks like giving the leg, and she didn’t forget anything. No 309 changed the way she looked at cattle, often reduced to steaks or walking milk factories.
One day, this Simmental breeding cow mated with a Charolais bull. Their little calf also showed a predisposition. “He already recognised my voice! Probably because I was already talking to him when he was in his mother’s womb,” Sabine recalls. Sabine and her husband decided to buy the mother and the calf. And it was her husband, a car fan, who came up with the name for the calf: “309 sounded like a Peugeot model, and he was more of a fan of English brands. So, the calf was christened Aston (Martin)!”
After many adventures, Rouas and her husband found a beautiful country house with a large plot of land, in the area of Côtes de Meuse, near the Madine lake. But Aston, who stayed in a shelter for several months in the meantime, had already picked up some bad habits. “He would run into the electric fences with his eyes closed, he would try to jump over the horse boxes...”. Rouas spent four months just channelling his boundless energy.
At first, she didn’t consider training Aston as a horse at all. “It was not on the agenda at all. But Aston wanted to join Samy, my new horse, and do what he did,” she recounts. Rouas took notice of Aston’s tendency to mimic and decided to start an experiment. Aston is as prodigious as his mother: he willingly gives his leg, goes to the shower or to the box, rides in a van...
All well and good. But breaking-in, which normally consists of a horse accepting the saddle, understanding and executing basic commands, etc., is long and tedious: “It took me nearly two years to break-in Aston (compared to about three months for a horse). Because it’s not as if there are already methods, a line of horse-trained bulls, etc., that exist. We had to start from scratch,” Rouas explains.
But this unique experience motivated her, and one day she made her dream a reality: she climbed on Aston’s back. “I felt like I was on a mountain! But without a saddle and without stirrups, with just a saddle pad and a surfboard to hold on to,” Rouas recalls. After all, “there’s no such thing as a bull saddle!”
Rouas is convinced that Aston is a true phenomenon. In fact, she is starting to showcase his prowess at local events. While at first, she was still shy and awkward under the spotlights, she slowly gets used to the attention. And so, Aston has been invited to perform in France, Belgium, the Netherlands... But not in his native land, much to the surprise of Sabine Rouas. “I don’t know why Luxembourg has never been interested, I honestly don’t have an answer to that question,” she admits.
The agricultural world, from which Aston comes, does not always look favourably on this dissident bull that escaped the slaughterhouse. The equestrian world, on the other hand, “is much more welcoming, I receive many messages of encouragement”. Rouas pampers her special bull: Aston has his own farrier, osteopath, and nutritionist...
One of Aston’s most impressive achievements is a record jump of 82 cm!
Film directors have even invited the bull to take part in shootings. Aston quickly became a celebrity, especially in India and Japan. “A very famous actress in Japan, the equivalent of Gérard Depardieu in France, came to see Aston in France,” she remembers. Rouas became a recognised specialist in “bovine horsemanship” and increasingly focussed her efforts on travelling and attending conferences. She also offers management courses, using animals as mediators to improve human behaviour.
The “Aston Project” now employs a team of nine people. But beware of those who would like to turn it into a circus phenomenon: Sabine Rouas categorically rejects even the most tempting offers from large amusement parks. Whereas many horses put on multiple shows on the same day, Rouas limits Aston to one show per month. “It must remain a pleasure and a game,” she stresses.
Today, Aston, who is almost ten years old, has become an imposing bull weighing nearly 1.4 tonnes. This naturally means that he most likely won’t be breaking any more jumping records. But his ability to follow Rouas’ instructions is as spectacular as ever. He dances, walks sideways, and curtsies, all despite his heavy weight. But all of that only when he feels like it.
Ultimately, people should never forget who they are dealing with. Even if he is castrated, a bull remains a bull. “Today, we see him as a teddy bear, but he has a lot of character. Last year, a groom almost got killed because she didn’t respect the rules,” Rouas recalls.
Our colleagues from RTL 5 Minutes got lucky during their report because even though he is normally not a fan of home exercises, he agreed to demonstrate his skills – until he clearly had enough!
That’s why dressage is still a two-way street, Rouas explains, “because Aston always does what he wants. He is not a horse that can be forced to move. If you try to force him, he literally sends you packing,” she laughs.
