Intermédiaire

Teoline works her horse on a circle and makes use of the bend to stretch her horse’s neck down up to the nose. She has to be aware of her own looseness and especially be ready to release her arms as soon as her horse starts to move his neck down. Yet, she still has to maintain a steady rhythm and a precise track.

The session starts with some exercises on cavalettis, and a small succession of fences that will enable Veronique to test her ability to control the cadence. As for Michel, he rides ZZ Top, which allows him to show the actions to be taken and the attitude to adopt in order to reach the desired result.
Veronique has also to be aware of her mind-frame and to set some definite goals to observe no matter what happens. Here, the priority is to control the speed before and after the fence no matter the place of the take-off stride.
Michel offers Veronique some solutions that enable her to maintain the correct position and to not bother Bjorn when difficulties arise.
The session continues with a course that Michel also jumps with ZZ Top. Veronique must keep in mind her set-goal even when difficulties arise faster. The course proves to be really educative as it makes the riders work on some shorter distances towards the end.At the end, Veronique succeeds in reaching her goal staying really mentally present throughout the course.

Contact with the mouth must also be established through supple fingers and with the arm joints free of all useless tension. The horse is sensitive to the slightest rigidity, the smallest tension… his confidence in the rider’s hands is extremely fragile. It must be safeguarded at all costs, and above all… be aware of the natural reflex that leads one to hang on to the reins and move the hands back towards oneself.
The rider must, on the contrary, move his hands forward without changing his seat and this must occur whatever movements the horse’s neck may make while jumping, extending the canter… or each time the horse needs to relax after working in a “fixed” position.
To keep constant contact, imagine that you are riding with elastic reins allowing variations in tension to be eliminated. In reality, your arms will act as ‘shock-absorbers’ by moving forward.
You can also imagine that the bit is linked to the ends of your reins with nothing else keeping it in place… no cheek pieces, only the light and soft contact you establish with the horse’s mouth. If you lose contact, the bit will fall out of the horse’s mouth… and communication with the horse is interrupted.

The session starts with some flat work combined with a succession of a few ground poles and cavalettis. These preliminary exercises are particularly profitable especially for riders who have a tendency to get worried in front of fences.
During this warm-up, Michel focuses on the steadiness of the canter and the precision of a set-path. Nenuphar must keep the same behaviour on the flat and over fences. Michel tries hard to maintain the same relaxation and to keep a steady connection at each canter stride with his horse. Even though the reins are slightly long in order to allow the horse a maximum of freedom in his movements, every lead-change, every turn, every jump have been well prepared in the rider’s mind.
The session continues in the same mind-frame with small verticals, and easy and low fences combinations. After each landing Michel reorganises the canter to come back to calm.  As soon as he feels Nenuphar getting tensed, he stops him and let the pressure go down.

While jumping more technical lines and combinations, Michel maintains the same priorities: calm and steadiness. The idea is to let Nenuphar break-down his jumps with some freedom in his neck, especially during the take-off stride.


The session ends by jumping a triple with higher fences. Michel is satisfied with the result: Nenuphar stayed in control with a minimum demands from the rider.
 

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.
 

The session starts by a warm-up in the grass paddock adjoining the yard.

Then, they’re back to the arena, where each of them warms-up the horse on some small cavalettis. Penelope gets to know Pleiade. The rider has very quickly a good feeling about this mare as she finds her easy and full of quality.

Michel rides Nenuphar Jac, which allows him to demonstrate the movements and the attitudes they’re looking for.

The lesson starts with some flat work, then with some cavalettis, and at the end, with a course.

Warning:
For your safety, you must wear a certified riding hat whatever the exercise you are practising.

Michel is conducting a gymnastic exercise over a jump in order to try to relax his horse to the utmost.  Michel himself must work with as much mental and physical relaxation as possible, all the while remaining in control of speed and accuracy of line.  This exercise is based on a repetition carried out while calm and with good humour, but always while requiring a good level of effort and determination from the rider.  It is an exercise that is in-between flatwork and jumping.  The rider maintains an attitude similar to that of a dressage rider.

The reins, however, are long enough to permit the horse to stretch his neck out as much as possible, especially during the approach phases.

The exercise over cavalettis and the line of cross-poles encourages a regular canter, and the horse to be right over the middle of the obstacles.  You can notice Michel's relaxation and his hands accompanying the movement almost to an exaggerated degree during the take-off and over the obstacles.  The horse has practically always a regular, constant canter.

After the mare went over the set-ups few times, Michel rearranges the fences to make sure that Catapulte doesn’t shift on landing, and to encourage her to push off with all 4 feet.

The idea is to not constrain the horse, but to let her find the solution by herself with the help of the exercises.
At the end of the session, we can clearly notice that Catapulte has improved her take off bounce of her forelegs in front of the fences because of better propulsion on the approach and a better overall balance.

However, Michel recommends not having the horse jump big while on the lunge line. It’s better, first of all, to emphasise the repetition of correct movements, straightness, calmness, control and the horse’s attention and thinking. The goal is to correct issues calmly, still allowing the freedom of movement for the joints and muscles, especially in the back…
…and all that in a joyful and relaxed atmosphere.