Tales from Tokyo: ‘Storm Alex destroyed 80% of our stables’

Martha Terry's avatar
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Published In Features
French dressage rider Alexandre Ayache and Zo What compete in the grand prix at the Tokyo Olympics
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)

On 2 October last year, Alexandre Ayache’s yard was almost destroyed by Biblical rainfall as “Storm Alex” battered south-east France. Eight months later, he is competing for the French dressage team in the Tokyo Olympic Games.

In one “apocalyptic” night, Alexandre lost 10 stables and 12 more were on the verge of collapse with the soil crumbling beneath them. One stable was washed away down a ravine, the wind tore the roofing off and one employee nearly drowned. None of the horses were harmed, but the business Alexandre had built up over 17 years all but disintegrated overnight.

Martha Terry
Martha Terry
Features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.