Intermédiaire

First part: Flat work

Michel begins with a rider’s position check-up to improve the rider’s ability to follow his horse movements. Pierre has to unblock his legs and keep his hands steady in order to reach a constant contact.
He also has to pay attention to his path. For that, Michel asks him to perform a circle in an imaginary corridor. The simple fact of having a precise path enables Pierre to get a better connection with Quatmandou.
Pierre will then look to get his horse on the bit. The goal is the reach a position that would be less closed in, less forced up. For that, Michel encourages him to test his feelings and his horse reactions in the opposite position….i.e. very open. By working in the 2 extreme positions, Pierre and his horse will find a comfortable in-between position.
The training on the flat work continues with some transitions at different gaits, still staying on a precise path. This work goes toward the goal of this session which is to be able to accelerate or slow down while keeping a responsive horse.
The canter work is done on a large oval shape allowing Pierre to work on a succession of straight lines and turns to simulate the conditions of a course. All this work has to be done still observing a precise cadence.



Second part: jumping

The training continues with some ground poles along the 2 diagonal-lines of the indoor arena. In the approach of each pole, Pierre has to imagine he’s coming toward a huge fence. In order to not impair his body movements, Pierre has to keep breathing, especially while approaching fences.
Then, Michel sets-up a vertical on one of the diagonals. Very fast, he realises that Quatmanda has a tendency  to lose his pushing power, particularly when the take-off stride is not at the ideal spot. So, Michel arranges a set-up that will solve this issue.
Pierre has a tendency to assist his horse by preventing him to do the fault. On the contrary he has to make his horse aware of his responsibilities by letting him find the solution to jump correctly. It implies that the rider
The session moves on with some lines and combinations of fences. Pierre has to memorise the feeling of a good quality canter on the ground poles and has  to try  to maintain it at all time on the course.
 

First part: Flat work

Michel begins with a rider’s position check-up to improve the rider’s ability to follow his horse movements. Pierre has to unblock his legs and keep his hands steady in order to reach a constant contact.
He also has to pay attention to his path. For that, Michel asks him to perform a circle in an imaginary corridor. The simple fact of having a precise path enables Pierre to get a better connection with Quatmandou.
Pierre will then look to get his horse on the bit. The goal is the reach a position that would be less closed in, less forced up. For that, Michel encourages him to test his feelings and his horse reactions in the opposite position….i.e. very open. By working in the 2 extreme positions, Pierre and his horse will find a comfortable in-between position.
The training on the flat work continues with some transitions at different gaits, still staying on a precise path. This work goes toward the goal of this session which is to be able to accelerate or slow down while keeping a responsive horse.
The canter work is done on a large oval shape allowing Pierre to work on a succession of straight lines and turns to simulate the conditions of a course. All this work has to be done still observing a precise cadence.



Second part: jumping

The training continues with some ground poles along the 2 diagonal-lines of the indoor arena. In the approach of each pole, Pierre has to imagine he’s coming toward a huge fence. In order to not impair his body movements, Pierre has to keep breathing, especially while approaching fences.
Then, Michel sets-up a vertical on one of the diagonals. Very fast, he realises that Quatmanda has a tendency  to lose his pushing power, particularly when the take-off stride is not at the ideal spot. So, Michel arranges a set-up that will solve this issue.
Pierre has a tendency to assist his horse by preventing him to do the fault. On the contrary he has to make his horse aware of his responsibilities by letting him find the solution to jump correctly. It implies that the rider
The session moves on with some lines and combinations of fences. Pierre has to memorise the feeling of a good quality canter on the ground poles and has  to try  to maintain it at all time on the course.
 

In this session, Michel teaches Alice and her mare Quiria. He arranged a cavaletti set-up representing all the questions the rider may encounter on a course: skinny fences, combinations with short distances, tight turns, “scary” looking fences (wall, brush…). This set-up requires the rider to be fully aware and in control of each of her actions to direct the horse with precision. The short distances between fences require the rider to stay in control of the canter rhythm while guiding the shoulders of the horse to jump in the centre of these skinny fences.
 This is another example where the rider has to focus and stay centred on her horse. The slightest loss of concentration or the slightest fault in the rider’s position disturbs the communication with the horse which will make it impossible to stay on the track.

 

Alice completes the exercise successfully thanks to her centred position. The slow motion parts of the video will help you visualise the correct position over each part of the exercise.

 

In this session, Michel rides Undiams, a talended 7 year-old gelding out of Diamant de Semilly. He has been training this horse for several months now and making him gain some experience over some 1m35 courses in competition.

Michel warmed up the horse previously with some flat work and then over a few small fences. Going over smaller fences at first allows for all the joints and muscles of the horse to warm up.

When the horse is loosened up and connected with his rider, Michel starts jumping the line of fences. The fences are raised up progressively. With a horse like Undiams, it’s important to channel his energy and his desire to jump. Michel has to keep him under control while making him jump in the centre of the fences. Training on this kind of line encourages the horses to jump in a calmly manner and to apply himself for each jump.

This video gives you also the opportunity to watch Michel’s wonderful position over every single jump, especially his hands that are moving forward during the take-off stride. It gives you the correct mental image to memorise and reproduce.

In the first part of the lesson, Michel teaches Marine how to obtain an effective response to her leg actions. He reminds her of a few basics and in particular what would be the perfect rider’s position in order to be effective while favouring the horse understanding, the good flow of energy and the hind-legs activity. Marine’s position should also be suitable for her self-carriage as well as the one of her horse whether it’s on flat work or over fences.

The driving force is sustained with the continuous connection with the horse’s mouth. During, the second part of the lesson, Michel explains to Marine how to strike a balance between the contact on the horse’s mouth and the movement of the horse’s neck while keeping a steady tension on the reins. The rider can, then, position her horse’s head at the level she wants, with the poll being the highest or in a full neck extension without disturbing her position or the movement forward.

During the third part of the session, Marine has to combine her leg actions and the connection with her horse’s mouth during transitions and canter works. Michel shows Marine the attitude to adopt in priority to prevent the horse from being heavy on the reins, or from getting tense and pulling on the reins.

At the end of the session, Day Dreamer and Marine are in a perfect connection. Day Dreamer is steady in his gaits and responsive to his rider’s aids, ready for a jumping session.
 

The goal is not to jump high. The first fence of the grid should not exceed 50 cm (about 20 inches) and the fence out of the grid should not exceed one meter (Three feet high).

The grid should be approached at a trot or a collected canter.

Michel rides Tosca. He previously did a warm-up including jumping her over some cavaletttis.

The first two or three times you go over the grid, the height should not exceed 80cm. You can raise the height of the fences only if the horse has understood the exercise perfectly and if the rider is able to keep him straight over the line and follow perfectly the movement of his horse over the jump. Once again, the rider’s position is essential to follow the flow of the movement: not preceding or not late compared to the jumping movement. The lateral balance needs to be addressed as well to avoid encouraging the horse to deviate from the fences’ line. Indeed, the cross rails half-way through the grid are useful to keep the horse in line as well as the rider’s eyes focusing beyond the grid rather than on the fences.

In this session, Michel Robert is teaching Marine and her mare Amanda. The first step of the exercise consists of a set-up of flexy-jumps placed on the ground. The set-up consists of an easy path but encourages the rider to quickly alternate between turns and straight lines. For the second step, the ground poles are replaced by fences which height can be modified depending on the outcome and the level of the rider and horse.

We can notice how influential the rider’s weight is, on the quality of the precision of the path. The capability of the rider to let the movement go through is essential to pulling this exercise together nicely. Michel offers solutions that the rider can use on this exercise but also on a full course or in shows.

 

For this new lesson, Michel teaches Marine riding Vivaldi, a stallion owned by the “Haras de Hus”. The set-up consists of six vertical fences. For inexperienced horses and riders, the exercise can be first practised over ground poles or cavalettis.

Marine jumps the course perfectly thanks to Michel’s advice regarding the rhythm and her position in the turns.

There is no distance requirement for this course as it should be adapted to the size of your ring and /or the level of experience of the rider and the horse.

However, in this video, the distance between verticals is of 23 meters.

Michel is teaching Marine and the horse Vivaldi, a stallion owned by the Haras de Hus. The exercise takes place in a field next to the stable. As already said, training the horse outside of the ring not only improves the horse’s level of fitness but it also makes him feel better mentally.

At first, Michel sets up small fences on a serpentine track. This is to make sure that Marine is able to properly manage the tasks set-up by Michel.

After Marine went successfully over the exercise several times, Michel raises the height of the fence. He insists on the fact that the rider has to imagine the exercise as successfully achieved as difficulties arise. If one thinks he can’t do the exercise, it will lead to a failure as one programmed it negatively. On the other end, if the rider visualises mentally the exercise being successful before practising it, then he will be able to instinctively react to the situation with some light and useful actions.

The fences on this exercise can be swapped with some oxers or small combinations. It matters that everyone is having fun, and that the session ends up well.
 

The lesson starts with some flat work and getting the horse on the bit at the three gaits. Michel offers an easy solution without the help of any rein-aids that he has banned from his training method years ago. This session proves one more time the effectiveness of his work principle based on the respect for the physical integrity of the horse.

As the session goes on, the rider learns to combine the position on the bit with the improvement of the quality of the canter as he approaches fences. The solution offered by Michel leads quickly to good results without going through the classical dressage training which can deaden some horses.

Approaching fences, it would be ideal to have the horse round and on the bit, with a good strided quality canter. To reach these conditions, the rider has to give priority to the pushing force and forward movement. Charles de Gaulle has a tendency to be a bit slow in his hind legs and not lift his back. To solve these issues, Michel advises Gilles, to get a stronger canter further away from the jump and to come with strides that decrease closer to the jump.

The solution is to alternate transitions within the gait until the horse settles round on the bit.

Most riders have a tendency to do the opposite which is to close the horse in from afar and let him open up in the approaches on the pretext to give him more freedom…at that moment, the horse goes above the bit and loses his pushing force and engagement.

The proposed solution here is to stock up some strength in order to regulate it close to the fence.
 

Once we’re successful, meaning when the horse gets used to staying on the bit in the approaches, we can modify the work by approaching fences with steady strides, and then increasing the stride length.