MARCH 2006 • VOLUME 7 • ©HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

A JOURNEY TOWARDS CLASSICISM

When Colonel Carde asked me to write this article, I wondered where to begin. I would like to start by quoting General Alexis Francois L'Hotte:” The course of life runs not always as we have dreamed, but rather as destiny decrees, and we should consider our duty done, our present task fulfilled, when conscious of having done our best in the field of action flung by fate.”

I have ridden horses all my life, beginning over 50 years ago on the Continent of Africa. As a young boy, I was taught the rudiments of how to sit and manage the reins as well as how to cope with small jumps. It was at that time I developed a passionate love for all horses. Until about 20 years ago, to use Jean Saint Fort Paillard's classification, I was an empirical rider of the instinctive type. Mine was the equitation of “try it and do it”.

As a young man when I came to Canada I became fascinated with the raw skills required to ride horses for days, and indeed, weeks on end in very steep, mountainous, terrain. I learned the skills of caring for, and loading, pack horses for extended periods of time in very rough country, and in all weather. Without balance, one would not have survived. I learned the art of horseshoeing, for to lose a shoe in such country, and be unable to replace it, might have been a matter of life or death. Until recently, I am getting older, I have always looked after my horse's feet without a farrier. I believe all horsemen and women should know this skill even if they do not practice it themselves.

About 20 years ago, I found an interest in the sport of Reining, which is a Western performance discipline. I acquired a Quarter Horse, a breed well suited to this sport. I enjoyed the fast movements involved, but something was lacking and I found it unpleasant to see the somewhat harsh methods of training used in the upper levels. We are seeing similar activity in Competitive Dressage .The breeders of Reining Horses have improved horses to an extreme that for non-professional riders the cost can be prohibitive. A parallel is seen in Sport Dressage horses.

At about the same time I began to ride and train Reining Horses, I met the first of many expert horsemen who have helped to mould my views on equitation. There have been others, to whom I shall always be grateful, and it is with pleasure that I mention their names to recognise their expertise. Mr. Roy Yates of Grand Junction, Colorado, U.S.A, although a very fine Reining Horse trainer introduced me to the Classical Principles of the lunge in the breaking of young horses at which he was an expert. He showed me the Classical concepts of straightness, impulsion, engagement and balance. Above all, however, he introduced me to that beautiful French concept of lightness

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