Intermédiaire

During this session, Michel teaches Charlotte and her new horse Tito, a 7YO gelding.

Charlotte starts at a trot in order to discover the exercise’s set-up. Then she practises it over ground poles at a canter. The first rounds at a trot are useful to set-up the correct cues between the rider and the horse. Michel advises the student on her position to prevent the horse to lean inside or run out. We can notice that each time the rider doesn’t anticipate her movements correctly, her horse tracks out.
 

After few successful rounds, Michel sets up some cavalettis. Charlotte has to focus on her eyes to avoid staring at the fences or at the object that marks the track. Then, they will practise the same exercise with a stronger canter. The goal is to come closer to the condition of a course where difficulties come one after another which can amplify the rider’s weaknesses.
 

By the end, the horse and rider get a full work having fun.

For this exercise, Michel rides Tosca, a young 7 year old Selle Francais mare.

Previous to the exercise, Michel warmed-up Tosca over some small fences. The warm-up phase is important to get the tendons and joints ready.

Start by jumping the grid with low fences. The horse needs to get accustomed to the fences set-up as to not be confused since it would lead to the opposite of the desired goal. The goal is to encourage the horse to stretch as much as possible over fences. Therefore, it’s important to build confidence and favour relaxation.

Michel explains also the benefits of this exercise to gain in style as it encourages the horse to tuck his knees up over fences. Indeed, the horse is channelled by the set-up, and therefore needs to push symmetrically with his four feet which leads to a better use of his pushing power.

After you successfully jumped the grid once or twice, and according to the need for the horse, you may increase the width of the fences:

The fences at the beginning of the grid for some horses, the ones at the end of the grid for others.

Michel insists on how important it is for the rider to stay really straight and aligned with his horse. One more time, your eyes are an important and effective aid to line-up your body with the median axis of your horse. Indeed, it will be difficult to keep the horse straight in the combination if the rider’s position isn’t symmetrical. If the rider succeeds in keeping his eyes up and looking further away than the grid, the imperfections will be solved.

After you went a couple of times over the grid, you can add a Liverpool to increase the stretching movement over the fence.

To demonstrate this exercise, Michel teaches Marine who rides Vivaldi, a 9 YO stallion owned by the Haras de Hus.

This well trained horse is already accustomed to the exercise. Therefore, Marine will be able to execute the 3 steps of this exercise in the same session. It is obvious that a young horse or a less experimented rider should work on each step over one or several sessions until the results allow you to get onto the next step.

In those cases, Michel advice and recommendations will be particularly useful since they emphasize in the rider’s position and the mental attitude to adopt in order to learn and succeed flying change of lead.
 

During the debriefing of this session, Michel points out that working a horse over jumps highlights the weakness encountered on the preliminary flat work. However, the session enabled Day Dreamer to improve his control and understanding. Michel advises us to have a lot of patience, analysis and quietude….That’s why you need to believe in yourself and your horse. The future proved him right, as a few days later, Day Dreamer’s improvements paid off with the victory of a 1m40 Grand-Prix at Equita’Lyon. This is an excellent performance for the couple’s first competition.

The session takes place in the outdoor arena with Marine who is riding her mare Amanda. First of all, Marine has to manage her mare anxiety as she’s new to Michel’s yard. This exercise is perfect for it, as it doesn’t present any technical challenge for the mare either physical or mental. However, it requires some self-discipline from the rider in terms of position and mind control as she has to stay aware of her position after the jump.

As the exercise goes on, Marine succeeds in improving the connection with Amanda. The mare is under control and steady after landing, which will allow the rider to direct the mare better when she’ll have to jump a course.

To keep Aiti straight when she jumps, Michel has set-up a grid that will encourage the mare to stay centred through the lines. The exercise offers a solution to the drifting that is based on the rider’s mind and position. That will greatly limit the rider’s influence and therefore her interference with the mare’s mind and freedom of movements.
 

In this session, Michel is teaching Lea who is riding Tosca. At first, Michel lunges Tosca, so the rider doesn't hold any reins. It enables the rider to work on her position and her ability to follow her mare's movements which in turn, should encourage the mare to stretch down her neck. Lea has to get used to the feeling of emptiness in front of her when the mare stretches her neck with her nose down to the ground, especially when going downhill. Michel gives her some tips to reach that goal.


Then, Lea picks-up her reins. The difficulties in getting a horse to stretch down his neck can come from the rider's attitude, but also from a bit that is too severe. To solve this issue, Michel uses a bit made with leather. Much softer than a metal bit, this leather bit encourages horses to take the contact and stretch their nose toward the ground.


Michel teaches Lea how to find the solution and get her mare to stretch down her neck by alternating taking and releasing periods. By the end of the lesson, the goal is reached. Then, Lea will need to keep practicing and make it a routine.

Stretching the horse's neck is not an end in itself, but rather an efficient way to improve the horse's pushing power, hind legs engagement, and balance.

Michel makes Pierre and Quatmandou work on some ground poles placed in a circle.  As already discussed, working over ground poles is an excellent way to verify if the parameters of speed, track, and balance can be maintained.

 

At first, Michel explains Pierre how to get his horse to stretch down his neck with a minimum of influence. Little by little Quatmandou starts to trust the rider’s hand, and is seeking for the connection. This movement of stretching the whole horse’s muscle mass and his joints is an essential step toward the collection.
 

During the exercise, we noticed that Quatmandou wanders off the circle. Michel offers a very efficient solution by only working on Pierre’s position.

 
The session continues by going over a ground pole at a canter. The priority is to maintain a given speed and a precise path. Nonetheless, Pierre has to work on his position in order to follow the jump whatever the stride and spot.

Michel explains Pierre how to set his mind to better anticipate his actions and to follow the priorities given for the exercise.