How has Natural horse riding changed the equestrian world ?
The chestnut French Trotter is peacefully watching every single action of his young rider, walking at his side. It’s a wonderfully nice winter evening, on the beach at sunset. A slight mist makes the couple shiver in a perfect harmony between the horse and the rider. Diane Jagou, 18, a French rider, is carrying out an ethology session with her 17-year-old, horse completely free on the beach of Saint Lunaire.
Hundreds of kilometers away, in London, the exhibitors are arranging the last details of their stands at the Olympia Horse Show. They include the Equestrian Tourism Association of Lot, ATE (South of France). Everything should be ready for the opening of UK’s biggest Horse Show. Horses feel the stress in the air and a young woman soothes them by whispering « magic words » in their ears and the horses are now relaxed.
WHAT’S ETHOLOGICAL HORSE RIDING ?
Quite recent in the UK, ethological horse riding, also known as natural horse riding, is the way to communicate with horses while including his mental health. It comes from ethology science which studies animal behavior. This improvement of our capacity to create a soft relationship with the animal interest especially equestrian world. Ethological horse ridding is now represented in horse shows, such as the Olympia Horse Show. The Olympia Horse Show will take place from the 13th to the 19th of December 2016 in London.
National Geographic magazine crosses the Channel to meet the fan and professional of ethological horse riding in France. Even if the discipline was born in the US with the horse whisperers, it became quickly popular in France at the beginning of the 21rst century. Diane Jagou, a student in Equine Osteopathy at Ecole d’Ostéopathie Animale Mécaniste of Rennes, describe ethological horse riding with four words which passionates often use : « Passion, bonding, trust and understanding ».
SPEAKING HORSE
Most of the riders learned how to ride in the traditional way. It is when they faced a seemingly overwhelming difficulty that they had to find another way. It is what happened for Diane Jagou, rider since she was 6. Three years ago a French Trotter, Lygnus de Morgane came into her life, to enjoy his retirement after a life dedicated to trot races. Lygnus was trained to do races. Diane had to work on his mind to make of him a peaceful leisure horse. « Traditional horse ridding didn’t work with him, he was too focus on what he learned before, I had to make the work interesting for him » Diane said. She also explained what changed with ethological horse riding « As a rider, it enabled me to have a strong bond with Lygnus, with much trust between us, with all the advantages of this relationship during the more traditional horse riding work. » Softness seems to be the key to the horse’s mind, Diane, who often works in the wilderness, describes her work as « the most natural way as possible ».
TRUST CAN MAKE US TOUCH THE STARS
When Diane remove the heater, Lygnus doesn’t move and waits to play with his rider. She begins to walk, followed by the French Trotter, and when she then trots, Lygnus mimics her. There are no speaking between them but we can feel a perfect connection. This is a strange feeling when we realize the horse and his rider created a language only understandable by themselves. How did this 18 year old girl learn to speak horse ? She explains to us that it came as an instinct. « You don’t have to learn, you have to feel » she said. Since 3 months ago, Diane made of her passion her future work by studying Equine Osteopathy where ethology has an important place to keep horses calm during handling. « Ethology enables not to force horses and we are more attentive. It’s almost like the horse tells us where he is in pain » After two years of work, Diane made of Lygnus, who was terrified by obstacle and gallop, a horse who feels comfortable in every discipline. Lygnus follows Diane with an unconditional trust whatever they go.
WHERE TO FIX THE LIMITS ?
Ethological horse riding can be interpreted in many different ways with the risk it involves. Some riders, such as Carole Tassin, 25, and a home helper, learn ethological horse riding with an ethologist : « I discover ethological horse riding with Philippe Richard. This course enables me to get the basis of mutual respect. » Carole explained that gentle work doesn’t mean letting the horse do everything he wants. Speaking horse is understanding their code. In a herd, they are a dominant stallion and an old dominant mare. All the horses have to show their submission in a lot of different way but each horse has to keep its own space, where no other horse, even dominant, can enter without permission. The Human race is the only one to let people walk all over them, and horses often use this to became dominant. In that case, ethological horse riding can become dangerous. « By wanting to be too soft we can forget to fix limits. It can be dangerous for the horse and for the rider. We have to respect the deep nature of horses » explained Carole. Ethology isn’t for everyone, the rider needs to be dominant.
ETHOLOGICAL HORSE RIDING AND HORSE SHOW
Almost 70% of the riders asked think Ethological horse riding is not enough represented in Horse shows. Last year, Jean François Pignon, a famous French whisperer, represented this discipline at Olympia Horse Show. We met the ATE Lot which represents horse trekking at Olympia Horse Show to talk about ethological horse riding : « Concerning ethology, it seems that the use of scientific discoveries on animal behavior, including those of man, for various purposes, is also in the air. » Charline Chevalier, ATE manager said. She also admitted that although ethological horse riding had more exposure these last years in Horses Shows, they still missed ambassadors like the Pignon Family to support this discipline.
Aurélie Denieul
The Cat around the World 