Who Left Those Hoofprints in the Sand?

The impermanence of art: the incoming tide will wash away the hoofprints on the beach near Mont St Michel, but the FEI has made a grand impression on the world that only 100 days remain before the opening of the 2014 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in France. (FEI photo)

It's 100 days until the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games begin in Normandy, France. Something was bound to happen, but who would expect this?


What is Normandy famous for? Its beaches. The wide flat sands there were the site of the Wrold War II's D-Day invasion in 1944, after all.

And what is host nation France famous for? Among other things, art.

French metal artist/sculptor Christophe Dumont made the 100-day art installation into performance art by putting his hoof down in just the right spot...well over a hundred times. And this is how he did it.

I'm sure farriers will complain that he should have had both front and hind shoe shapes, but I can confirm that this artist does know a thing or two about horses. His series of metal-sculpted horses in the stages of the gallop and other fine examples of horses in motion and posed show that he has a remarkable sense of the horse in motion.

Just check the artwork on his Facebook page.

His clever cookie-cutter horseshoes worked beautifully in the sand, and some real horse hooves even came along to make it look authentic.

Congratulations to Mr. Dumont and the FEI. If you believe that luck is carried in horseshoes, the fortune of the Games is assured.

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