JUST SAY AHHH….
The last thing Mandarin expected in San Francisco was a visit from the equine dentist, but when Magali Delgado noticed that the handsome buckskin Lusitano stallion was not eating his food one recent morning, she quickly deducted that he was loosing his second baby tooth.
Born on her parent’s farm in the South of France, Mandarin is more like a child than horse to Magalia and her husband Frdric Pignon, the equestrian co-directors for CAVALIA–as are all their horses. Far from being just an analogy, Magali actually saves her horse’s baby teeth, a tradition she continues from her own family. The Delgados are Lusitano horse breeders.
“Mandarin is very special. He has lots of charisma,” says Magali of a fact readily confirmed by CAVALIA audiences. In an act where Mandarin briefly follows an acrobat maneuvering across the stage atop a gigantic ball, the stallion steals the spotlight when he strikes an inquisitive pose that seems to ask, “What the heck are you doing up there?”
One of the younger horses in the show, Mardarin makes only a single appearance in CAVALIA. “It’s important for him to be very confident and very quiet,” explains Magali, who shares a philosophy with Frdric about working with horses slowly. But from the looks of this recently-turned four-year-old, Mandarin is already en route to stardom.
