horse gymnastic

Riding outdoors is ideal for getting a horse fit. It will be all the more effective if one has the opportunity to ride over hilly ground. The horse will be more receptive, more joyful and its body will express itself more naturally.

I remember one day that a girl who rides with me saw me cantering around in a wet field, and exclaimed: «But it’s much too dangerous to ride on that ground without studs! « Many riders really believe that horses slip and fall on wet grass. In the wild, however, horses live out and never fall when turning at a canter in a field!
Once again, I am reminded of Belle Bleue, the mare with all those bad experiences, with a hot temperament and hard to control. I only managed to canter in a circle calmly after a year’s work. One night, I went to canter in the icy arena. The ground was like a skating rink. Belle Bleue knew it.
All of a sudden, she became very receptive to my requests and paid great attention to all her movements. She was never as pleasant to ride as that day! When un-mounted, horses are quite capable of keeping their balance; it is the rider’s rigidity that blocks the natural functioning of their movements and unbalances them to the extent of causing them to fall.
Riding outdoors is also ideal for improving the horse’s endurance - progressively of course. A competition horse must be capable of trotting for 30 to 60 minutes, on the clock. My eventing experience has taught me what it takes to get horses fit. To do this, it is necessary to start by analysing the initial situation to establish a training programme lasting at least one month. During this period, I usually alternate flat work and jumping, with two or three weekly sessions trotting out, if possible going up and down hills. The aim is to increase the horse’s breathing and endurance capacities.
I remember a CSIO horse I had been given to ride a few years ago. When it arrived in my yard, it had no physical condition at all, it roared and got tired very quickly. I decided to set up a serious program for getting it fit again.
After a month’s work, its breathing capacity had changed totally. It could canter for half an hour, and then later for three quarters of an hour, at a speed of 350 metres a minute. It no longer coughed and its roaring was no longer a problem when jumping three rounds in a Grand Prix at the end of a CSIO.
Bear in mind that the fitter the horse, the less sensitive it will be to illnesses, lameness or any other problems. I am aware I have said this before, but at the cost of repeating myself, once again remember that more horses are ill or lame due to a lack of physical activity rather than from being over-worked. Pay attention, however, to irregular, unsuitable training, or bad preparation. As far as I am concerned, my horses go out and work every day, even if they are stiff or tired. Of course warming up periods are extended, but under no circumstances do they stay in their boxes.

With a horse in good shape, there is no need to resort to chemical products, vitamins, infiltrations or other “concealing agents”. Personally, I eliminated all that more than 10 years ago.
A horse does not go lame or become ill by chance. If it does, it is rather like a red light blinking: «Be careful, you are not training correctly.» Camouflaging this problem with chemical products is rather like attacking the red light with a hammer so it stops blinking. Why hide from the truth? A given rider generally finds that most of his horses suffer from the same pathologies.
Veterinary surgeons are well aware of this. Why is it that in certain stables all the horses have problems with their hocks? And why is that in another stable, it is always the same vertebra that hurts?
In these conditions, the rider is faced with a number of solutions:
. he can change his horse… but this is very expensive!
. he can call the vet… and hit the red warning light with a hammer,
.
or he can adopt the most viable long-term solution, he can take the time to search for the primary cause of this pain: perhaps a poor ground, an unsuitable way of training, the rider’s poor seat…
Why give a horse cough medicine if its box is exposed to drafts or dust? Listen to the body’s language. This is equally true for both human beings and horses.

Michel and Sissi - 1994

Sissi de la Lande was lame when she was 6 years old and was several times considered unfit to compete. Complete examinations were carried out by several veterinary surgeons in Switzerland and in other countries. They each had a different opinion, but none achieved satisfactory results.
It was my friend Alain Guerland, the manual therapist, who provided the solution. He simply ignored the fact that she was lame; he believed that her lameness was the consequence of a deeper imbalance.
With a great deal of patience, Alain managed to discover the primary cause. Following a very old traumatic event, the mare, was so to speak, “crooked’. This torsion reflected on one vertebra unbalancing her body as a whole.
In summary, it is rather like someone with a leg in plaster, all the weight is on the other leg, resulting in lumbar, sciatic or other pain.
With Sissi, thanks to manipulation and the right kind of training, we managed to completely eliminate the lameness.

There are many other stories about horses, either ill or lame, that with correct exercising returned to lead a normal life.

Horses are just like us, it is possible to mould and improve them to reveal their real potential. A good rider must be capable of taking his horse to one, two or three …levels above its current possibilities. And, as with human beings, there is no age limit for achieving this. A 15-year-old horse can still improve its suppleness and progress. One must simply do things naturally.

Unfortunately, we are provided with many opportunities for “ruining a horse”.  I am above all alluding to ill treatment, and to misinformed riders, vets or carers.
To improve a horse it is necessary to “have faith”: to believe in it, to believe in its potential for making progress.
I remember Sissi de la Lande; despite of her undeniable qualities, her temperament and irregular paces at times made her a difficult horse. And yet, together we won two silver medals at the World Championships. She was so sensitive that I worked with her practically by thought transmission. This was in fact quite hard, because I had to keep a very clear mind, or she could become very disagreeable. She needed constant rebalancing. Once again my strategy was to teach her to work on her strong points to relieve the weak ones, all this, of course, without resorting to any medication.
The system worked well and I still remember her perfect paces when she trotted up for the vet before the final round of the World Championship. And yet, that week, she had already jumped a speed class, two team classes and the last qualifying round!
There have been many other success stories; I remember my beginnings in Béligneux when I managed to win show jumping classes with the last horse left in the stables... the one nobody else wanted.

At times, believing in one’s horse allows one to do things previously considered impossible. To do this, it is necessary to bear in mind that the horse’s physical preparation - and the same applies to riders - is a crucial element in succeeding.
With a well-trained horse on the flat and in good physical shape, a jumping show becomes a game in which all that remains to be done is progressively work on the height and variety of fences.

Extract of the book "secrets and method of a great champion"