2023-07-30 13:25:00
On the Libramont Fairgrounds, there are many men and women behind the scenes. This is the case of Fernand Huys, from Paliseul, present at the Fair as a horse braider for more than 40 years.
“During the Fair, I only sleep a few short hours”
Fernand Huys is a discreet man. But on the fairground, you have certainly already seen it in the alleys of the breeding, in the boxes for horses. Indeed, this enthusiast, 84 years old, has braided draft and carriage horses for many years.
“I’ve been participating in the Fair for 60 years, but I’ve been braiding other breeders’ horses for more than 40 years, he explains. I myself had animals in the past, so I braided my horses myself. And then I continued to do it for others. It’s more of a passion than a job.”
Over the years, Fernand Huys has exercised his passion throughout Wallonia and at competitions in France, the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. “If I weren’t passionate, I wouldn’t spend so many hours weaving. During the Fair, I only sleep a few short hours.”
Fernand Huys works, in fact, day and night. “Sometimes we start at midnight and continue until the next day. Sometimes I can spend an entire hour detangling a mane. And when everything is going well, it takes about twenty-five minutes to braid. In the long run, it can be sore hands, it’s a manual job. And then, you need a lot of patience with the horses. And from time to time, it takes a little too with the breeders, “he says, laughing.
If there has been no evolution in the practice of the profession as such in recent decades, fewer and fewer people practice braiding. “Some breeders do it themselves, but people who have a passion for it are becoming rare, continues the octogenarian. At the beginning, at the Fair, there were three of us doing it. One of us stopped and the other passed away, so I’m the only one now. People used to make a living out of it. That’s not the case anymore.”
“You have to be crazy to do what I do”
For four days, the pace is therefore sustained for this great enthusiast. “You have to be crazy to do what I do, he continues. It requires a lot of organization. I receive the list of breeders only two to three days before the Fair. Only for show horses , I have 32 to weave over the four days. For the Sunday competitions, I have 40 to weave while on Monday, the number goes down to 20 or 25.”
On his own, Fernand Huys is therefore operational all weekend to sublimate the mane and tail of the horses by styling them with the national colors. “If the manes reach 1.80 m, the braid can be 1.40. As for the tails, some breeders prefer to clip them.”
Originally from Paliseul, Fernand Huys is one of the most valuable and indispensable people in the equine sector. It saves a lot of time for breeders who participate in the Libramont Fair.
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