Based near Chantilly, Mario Luraschi trains his horses for the most improbable scenes for the needs of the cinema, of which he has been one of the greatest stuntmen since the 1970s. We went to his house.
By Romain Rivière
There is the man who whispered in the ears of horses, and there is Mario Luraschi . He doesn’t just talk to them. He makes them do just about anything he wants: rearing up and down, jumping into flames or through windows, running into boats… To say he knows them well is an understatement. Since the 70’s, the greatest directors of the seventh art have called upon him to prepare the horses for the most formidable scenes, and to carry them out. At 70, this Italian, one of the greatest trainers and equestrian stuntmen of French and international cinema, displays an impressive filmography From James Bond to Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar, from the Visitors to Napoleon, from D’Artagnan to the Versailles series, Mario Luraschi has 400 films to his credit. “And 3,000 falls,” he adds.
Both a collection of anecdotes and an encyclopedia of horse and film history, Mario Luraschi is a man apart. And his farm, located near Chantilly, north of Paris, is a sort of living museum, articulated around an exceptional collection of saddles and harnesses, an authentic saddlery workshop and, of course, unusual horses. This is the reason why, beyond his daily life as a trainer, he has been working hand in hand with the agency A Cheval Chez Les Princes and with the conciergeries of the Parisian palaces to organize days at his side in order to make people discover his secret and prestigious universe.
Thirsty for knowledge, Mario Luraschi is a mine of knowledge. Initially fascinated by North American Indians, then quickly by horses, he trained in the rigorous school of bullfighting, then in the circus alongside Alexis Gruss senior Very early on, he travelled the world to discover and learn local training techniques, which varied according to the breed, even if it meant immersing himself in old books to fill a possible gap in his training. “Everywhere I go, I keep looking, I get explained, I learn,” he says. Having mastered all these techniques, he has built his own method, based on total harmony with the horses. To hear him tell it over lunch, at his home, in front of his huge open fireplace, is, in itself, a spectacle worth the trip.
