French dressage rider Corentin Pottier surprised by custom made shoes for Paris
It is only fitting that in the home of haute-couture, one equestrian athlete will be showing in designer shoes. Corentin Pottier rides his horse Gotilas Du Feuillard on the French dressage team at the Paris Olympics next week and his farrier made sure that the horses feet were shod to celebrate the occasion.
“We didn’t know anything about it. It was a surprise,” said Corentin’s [Coco’s] wife Camille Judet Cherét. Their farrier, Quentin Mathieu of Marchalerie pointes et fers, had been appreciative when the couple presented him with a gift of Gotilas’ – aka ‘Gus’’ – shoes after the World Championships in 2022. “I think he wanted to make a gift for us this time,” said Camille. This he did, by inscribing the bottom of the shoes with the horse’s and rider’s names, the venue and the date. For the icing on the cake, Quentin, engraved the Olympic rings on the sides.
Corentin and Camille run Pamfou Dressage – a dressage training and sales business – which they took over some 11 years ago from Camille’s parents, who started training dressage horses there in 1978. They are based just an hour south of Paris, making this Olympics very much a home-town affair.
“The whole team around the horse are coming – the farrier, the vet, the chiropractor. Coco’s mental coach – they are all coming to watch,” Camille, who was on the French team’s longlist, said. She is also one of Coco’s three trainers alongside her mother, five-star dressage judge, Isabelle Judet and Germany’s Norbert van Laak.
“We haven’t had the Olympics in France for so long and it’s really special because it’s really like home. We have a lot of our friends and family and clients and students from France and abroad coming to watch. For the moment we are at the stables and we don’t see any of the public so much. We get all the messages from everyone – oh we just landed – so in one way we’re all close but Coco keeps his distance because he’s focused with his horse.”
Gotilas, a 13-year old Dutch Warmblood gelding, who has been with Corentin for 7 years, is evidently enjoying the beauty of Versailles. “The facilities are really great. The stables are really good – the boxes are really big,” said Camille. “There are a lot of training areas. It’s also super relaxed. There are a lot of grazing areas also.
“We have been trying to keep it as normal as possible for him [Gus]. He will be starting on Tuesday in the Grand Prix so of course you have to prepare well. You have to be ready to perform on Tuesday, it’s not about being ready today or tomorrow and I think that is the difficult part.”
Even at 16 hands high, Gus is on the small side alongside his Olympian peers. “He’s really like a pony,” said Camille, who also regularly rides the gelding in training. “He has a very friendly personality. He’s a little bit like a pet. We have maybe a little bit of a strange training routine. We don’t train him every day. He goes hacking with his friends. He spends a lot of time in the paddock. He’s super enthusiastic and a very positive little guy.”
Tuesday sees Corentin and Gus’ Olympic debut in the dressage arena with the stunning backdrop of the Palace of Versailles and the footwear to match the occasion. Photos of the shoes were posted on Instagram some days ago and the response has been significant.
“I was surprised how much it has been shared by so many people – thousands,” said Camille. “And it’s nice for him [Quentin] also because the farrier is mostly in the shadows and it’s nice that they get credit for their work.”