Marie-Joëlle Côté - Coach équin

14/05/2024

De bonnes paroles sur le vrai leadership. ❤️

What is good leadership?

When you’ve seen it and felt it, it’s life changing.

Plenty of people are in charge- anyone can take control and tell others what to do and how, but few can lead.

I’m self employed for a reason - I have some personality strengths or flaws, depending on who you ask- and they make me very independent. I don’t take orders well from tyrants, which is probably most bosses and leaders.

But a good leader makes you melt - not because they want to control you, not from fear or anxiety they drive into you, judgement and consequences threatened upon you- a good leader inspires, and makes you feel safe. And when you feel safe, you can be guided.

It’s impossible to really guide anyone or anything when they’re more worried about their safety, physical or emotional, than what you’re asking. I believe this is something most of us can relate to on one level or another.

It’s essential for the leader to truly understand those they’re leading - otherwise there will be some form of resistance or bracing. A leader is vigilant to the needs of those they seek to guide: meaning they get down to their level with frequency and without shaming.

A good leader is together themsleves : they can check their emotions, admit to their faults and seek to repair when damage is done. They do not blame, but fill in gaps, and provide resources and skill sets. They take ownership.
A good leader leads by example: being emotionally and physically balanced before giving directives, and is disciplined enough to never give out these directives without centering themselves first.

A good leader has clear parameters and boundaries, but is soft in tone: they can afford to be because they are respected for what they provide.

That’s the secret here: they provide for others-

Anyone can boss others around. The difference between a petty tyrant and a leader is all in the character of the person in charge.

So when you take the helm, you show those you lead who you are. And who you are is a daily choice you make, completely up to you.

09/05/2024

This 👌

THEY DON’T KNOW THAT IT IS NOT FOREVER.

Horses are not futurists. They can’t see into the future or read our minds and intentions. So when we ask a horse for something the very first time, they don’t know if or even when it will ever stop.

THEY DON’T KNOW THAT IT IS NOT FOREVER.

Let me give you a few examples.

When we first fit a saddle or get on a horse’s back, it does not know whether the saddle will ever come off or whether we will ever dismount.

When we pick up a horse’s foot for the first time or put a bit or a dentist's gag in its mouth how does it know life will ever return to normal?

The first time we load a horse into a trailer or tie a horse to a post or put it into a yard can it ever know it will be given its freedom ever again?

The first time a horse has any of these experiences a large part of the panic they can cause comes from a horse’s lack of understanding that the experience is temporary. It’s not forever.

It takes time and repetition for a horse to figure out that being taken away from its buddies is temporary and it will be with them again soon. Or that if they pick up their foot for us, it will get to stand on 4 legs again very soon and there is no need to panic. Or the discomfort of the saddle or hobbles is not permanent and there is no danger.

These are things we all know. But these are also things we sometimes forget to deal with compassionately. These are things we forget the horse doesn’t know.

For example, some people throw a saddle on a horse for the first time and let the horse buck until it gives up in futility. The horse gives up because it works out nothing is going to get this hunk of leather off my back and now I’m stuck with it forever. That’s a terrible mindset to leave a horse with – helplessness and futility.

To avoid this we must break lessons down into tiny incremental steps. Introduce new things in layers and for short periods of time, gradually building on each layer as the horse grows in confidence, trust, and understanding.

Let’s think about trailer loading as an example.

Loading a horse into a trailer for the first time comes from teaching a horse to lead brilliantly.

Confidence in trailer loading is the result of dozens of in and out exercises, asking the horse to stay in the trailer for longer periods as it feels more comfortable for the horse.

Teaching a horse that standing on a moving platform in a tin box is an okay experience starts with loading a horse in a trailer and driving for 20m, then letting it out. Repeating that enough times to take the worry out of it before driving for 100m and then 1km and then 20km.

The same principle can be applied to the early saddling, the first rides, the first tying-up sessions, the first time a foal is removed from its mother – or whatever lesson you can think of.

Ease a horse’s worry about a new experience by making it very brief. So brief that the horse doesn’t have time to figure out he should panic. Life is not coming to an end and things will return to normal very shortly. This is how you can give a horse confidence and avoid extreme responses and feelings of helpless futility.

I know we all know this principle. But I also know we don’t all practice it.

Photo: This is the horse's first ever ride and is from a c**t starting competition in Australia a few years ago. I'm pretty sure in the 4 or 5 hours preparation the horse had had before this moment, nobody had explained to the horse that the rider was not going to stay on his back forever.

13/02/2024

"Un enseignant qui a confiance en ce qu’il fait tout en respectant les chevaux et les cavaliers, restera ouvert au dialogue, tentera de vous expliquer pourquoi il propose cette action ou cet exercice.
(...)
Et s’il n’a pas cette ouverture, aussi bon soit-il, la question est de savoir si vous souhaitez confier votre cheval à quelqu’un qui n’accepte pas qu’on lui pose des questions ou d’expliquer ses idées.

Que va-t-il faire quand c’est le cheval qui va poser des questions ou remettre en question ses certitudes?"

J’ai lu tellement de mails de lecteurs qui nous faisaient part de leurs questionnements vis-à-vis des méthodes de leur enseignant car elles ne correspondaient pas à leurs conceptions ou à leur éthique qu’il m’a semble important d’écrire quelque chose sur le sujet.

06/02/2024

🥰✨

LE DRESSAGE POUR APPRENDRE SUR SOI-MÊME

J’ai la sensation qu’on oublie souvent d’aborder la notion de sens que l’on donne à ce que nous faisons avec les chevaux.

L’équitation peut alors devenir ce qu’on lui reproche souvent d’être : des gesticulations sur un animal qui subit les objectifs du cavalier, sans vraiment de raison d’être, autre que le plaisir égoïste des cavaliers.

Pourtant, à mes yeux, il n’y a aucun mal à rêver de piaffé, de passage, de pirouettes ou de changements de pied.

Je pense même que c’est une opportunité extraordinaire d’évoluer en tant qu’être humain, car sur le chemin pour parvenir à réaliser ces exercices nous allons avoir l’opportunité de développer des qualités humaines très précieuses, comme dans l’apprentissage des Arts Martiaux par exemple.

Ce qui est terriblement triste, par contre, c’est de finir par arriver à piaffer ou à changer de pied et de n’avoir rien appris sur soi-même.

De sentir que nous ne nous sommes jamais vraiment connectés, ni à nous-mêmes, ni à notre cheval.

Que nous n’avons jamais écouté le message qu’il avait à nous transmettre, et que nous n’avons jamais pris son intérêt en compte, pour créer un partenariat suffisamment fort pour que le cheval ait réellement envie de réaliser ces exercices avec nous.

Pierre Beaupère

Photo par Céline Bo****no - Photographe Équestre

23/01/2024

Images très intéressantes. 🤓👌

12/01/2024

Un beau texte sur la confiance par Amy Skinner Horsemanship, que j'apprécie beaucoup 🙏

"What builds trust?

We hear it every day, all around us-
“You can trust me!”
But many peoples request for trust is like weedling a foot through a crack in a mostly closed door, and forcing it open. It becomes about their wanting, and in their wanting, that door becomes shut for good.

Trust is not owed to you, no matter how hard you work at it or how much time you spend. This is central to remember when trying to develop it.

Trust is developed by not wanting anything, except the well-being of the other.

Trust is developed by being who you say you are, and if you say you are patient then you are, and if you say you are caring then you are. It’s walking the walk after the nice words are said, especially when the going gets rough.

Building trust is developed by resolving conflict and taking ownership when you’re in the wrong - it means, without defensiveness or snippiness or anger, acknowledging the hurt and simply resolving to do better.

Building trust means letting go of what you feel you are owed by the other, and allowing them to be as they are.

Building trust means helping them through their troubles, without judgement- is it just a plastic bag to you? Not to them. Someone trust worthy is there to help in a meaningful way.

Building trust means being emotionally regulated yourself, so you can be a safe and easy place to be.

Is there someone in your life you trust, completely and totally? What do they offer for you, and how can you emulate that for those who’s trust you would like?"

04/01/2024

D'excellents conseils 👌

How to train with minimal time:

I’m of the mind that quality, consistent work ten minutes here and there is far better than an hour or two on the weekend. Everybody’s schedules are crazy, everybody has stuff going on, and probably everybody feels guilty all the time for what they’re not doing.

I have a busy life too. It can be hard to prioritize my own horses, but I’ve had several teachers essentially grab me by my shirt collar and emphasize with gusto how important my own horses training is- and so I present to you my secret plan for short sessions with quality

1- have a plan going in. I don’t mean decide exactly what you’re gonna do, because life happens and you have to work with the horse you have in front of you. But have a plan to give this session your all- to be 110% present for ten, fifteen minutes. No distractions. And calm. If you shoot for 110%, you might hit 70%, and that would be a great success. Get your head on straight, then go in to the pasture.

2- focus on quality in everything. How much care can you invest in putting the halter on? How did your horse feel? How nicely did they lead? How much attention can you give to brushing in a way your horse likes? How well did they stand at the mounting block, how much attention to detail did you give picking up their feet with softness? These things matter, and add up.

3- focus on being smooth and rhythmic. The more I can get me and my horse moving in a smooth, rhythmic way, the sooner the distractions fall away, the sooner my horse breathes and calms, the sooner every thing gets awesome. So get that rhythm!

4- if things go wrong, as they can do, backtrack to something easy. Spend your time building successes, so find something you can do well and quit on without eating up your whole evening being frustrated.

5- be happy with less. Don’t expect flying changes in ten minutes- be happy with breathing, be happy with standing still, be happy with moving nicely, be happy with moving at all. If you have minimal time, your expectations should fit the bill: small and simple, and learn to get happy with less. Resist the urge to do it one more time, keep that greed monster away and accept what is fair to accept.

Photo by Jasmine Cope

26/12/2023

Joyeuses fêtes et heureuse nouvelle année à tous les humains et chevaux qui ont croisé ma route cette année, merci de votre confiance!

Photo: Jordan Côté

20/12/2023

J'aime beaucoup!
Récompenser l'effort nous amène plus loin. ❤️

Always reward the try ❤️

Credit to Jess Wiiliam Dyck for the beautiful image and Martin Black for the words

10/12/2023

“As riders we should give our horses courage and confidence. The warm-up is the most important part of the ride; it will set the [positive] tone.”

Ingrid Klimke

Ingrid Klimke never stopped radiating positive energy from the center of the grand prix arena over the course of her two-day clinic, held Dec. 2-3 at Galway Downs in Temecula, California. The German Olympian and Reitmeister, a multi-talented athlete who has represented her country in both eventing a...

08/12/2023

Tout aussi vrai en compagnie des chevaux que dans la vie, comme toujours. 👌

🌓

18/11/2023

Superbe texte sur la persévérance et l'Amour du cheval ☺️👌

Photographie: Erick Labbé
Auteur inconnu

" 'Am I a good rider?’
She asked, pensively, sat upon her 14.2 cob, covered in poo stains
that she couldn’t quite get out before her lesson, that she
had persuaded her mum to buy a year ago for just £400.
(It wasn’t wanted anymore)

‘Why do you ask that?’
Her instructor replied,
for she knew how this young girl felt,
her eyes often lingered somewhere inbetween
her horses ears or the other side of the school when teaching.

‘Because I want to be one’
Her instructor pondered on this for a good few minutes,
whilst reassuring the nervous cob in front, and then said,

‘A good rider is not someone who buys flashy horses and
competes every Saturday and makes it to the top within a year.
A good rider is not who jumps the highest jumps or owns the fastest horse.
A good rider isn’t made just because they’ve been riding since they were 3.
A good rider is not someone who can move their forward horse forward...

no

A good rider is that pony clubber you see fall off every time
she gets on something new, yet still gets back on
with a smile on her face, A good rider is that girl who
cries in the tack room because of how her horse
behaved and how hard it’s been to cope watching everyone
else be successful, but to her it seems like she is the only
one failing, yet still rewards her horse with a treat and a smile
because at least he was better than last time, A good rider
is the boy with the angel horse, yet doesn’t claim
any of its successes for himself

“‘It was all him’,”
he would say,
“I just sat to it’”

A good rider listens
A good rider is soft
A good rider makes sure the horse is always happy,

As a matter of fact, a good rider often has nothing
to do with the riding, If you love it, and you try, and
you try again, even when you fall off and it was your
fault, even when people point because your seat
isn’t quite as deep as they’d prefer, if you never give up,

That’s what makes a good rider.' "

11/11/2023

👇

MARTIAL ARTS AND OLYMPIC SHOWJUMPING

This is part of an email we sent out recently about perfecting the basics.

"I always tell people that the advanced training is easy with horses, IF....and it's a big IF. IF YOU HAVE PERFECTED THE BASICS.

At clinics, rarely do I get to help people with advanced work (even if they think they are ready for it) because usually the basics are "ok". When you try to build advanced movements out of "ok" basics you end up with trouble in that movement.

Basics are hard, mostly because they can seem ok, but it’s the details that matter.

I was recently chatting with a friend who is an Olympic showjumping coach. He has competed at 3 Olympic Games and has coached his National team at 3 others.
I said to him "you do lots of clinics around the world, do you ever run into people that can jump say, a metre, but want to jump higher, but in order to jump higher you have to take them back to the start, back to ground rails ?"

"All the time", he said. "I rarely encounter anyone who wants to jump higher and is ready for it."

Once you get the basics really good, the "hard" things are actually easy. It sounds completely backwards to most people, but once you get your head around it, the game changes completely."

I had an email reply from a 6th degree black belt in Japanese martial arts, and thought it too good not to share here.

"Yes. This is EXACTLY the same in martial arts (or anything). I have been teaching Japanese martial arts for 30 + years. Now I must apply that training to my horse practice. Thank you for what you do to help horses and people. How you teach, your philosophy that you have acquired, resonates with the way of budo (way of the samurai, the warrior) and the intertwined philosophy of Zen which the samurai practiced. Budo, which Westerners translate as martial arts, literally translated, means “way of stop fighting.”

You are helping me with understanding my horse and you are reminding me to use my budo skills with my horse. We say the same thing in our budo, it’s in the “ki hon” (basics) then the rest is easy. I have a sixth degree black belt in our type of budo, but there is my favorite saying by Zen master Suzuki Roshi, “In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” We must keep the beginner’s mind always. We must remain white belts in all that we do and I am for sure a white belt in front of my horse, just ask my Mustang. But I love him so.

Thank you again for all you say and DO."

28/10/2023

L'amour du cheval avant le sport, toujours.
Toutes les 📸 par Erick Labbé.

"Today I am grateful for owning my Grand Prix dressage horse, having him live safe and happy in the fields around my barn, and not having to sell him off on an auction.

I’m grateful that I had the choice to compete him, not the need. So we could do it all in our own time. The journey was as important as the destination. Or, perhaps more important.

Today is a day where the cold, hard facts about the sport involving horses were revealed. Horses are equaled with commodities and their needs are second to the financial needs of their owners.

Yes, I know how that world works. I understand the game. But I don’t agree to it.

If we want the sport to survive, we need to reconsider how we treat the horses. History has already shown us how a horse and rider combination is unique. Why should money be allowed to separate the uniqueness of the magic pairings in the sport we love?

Let the skilled riders train the inexperienced horses so the inexperienced riders have a horse to learn from. But let’s respect that each horse has needs, and they must come above and before all else.

I’d say asking a horse to change rider twice, travel around the globe and compete on different continents at the highest level in less than 12 months is not okay for any horse.

How would you like to stay in a hotel bed every night, not knowing if you were leaving, asked to perform at your maximum capacity or had a completely new management you had to adapt to the next day? Oh, and you didn’t have anyone you knew by your side, everyone near you would change every 3 months. If that seems like a terrible life for you, imagine what is does to a horse that has no idea what tomorrow will bring a no friends to find peace with. It’s like going into a café full of people, having cake and coffee, all alone on your own. You don’t feel safe because other humans are there. You feel lonely because you don’t know a single person in the room.

It’s not difficult to change the rules. Just make the decision and do it. So horses won’t be auctioned off like goods - or precious sport requisites before a certain date before the next Olympics."

Texte emprunté de Nadja Maria

21/10/2023

Ubalto 💙

Gentil géant avec qui j'ai eu la chance de travailler cet automne pour un super projet d'entraînement.

Merci Cassandra pour ta confiance! Ton cheval est une perle.
Un remerciement spécial à la belle team du Ranch Latulippe pour l'accueil chaleureux, l'accès aux installations, les bons footings et les superbes sentiers. 👌✨

Heureusement que je continue de m'impliquer dans la progression de ce beau duo, parce que je vais m'ennuyer. 🥲🥰

25/09/2023

L'équipe du tonnerre - Sonya & sa superbe jument Canadienne Wendy; Sportive, volontaire et avec un coeur immense. 💞

J'adore l'éthique de travail du cheval Canadien. 🫶

Bravo les filles pour votre super séance matinale!

17/09/2023

LE CHEVAL-MENTOR

Avec l'été qui s'achève - le tout premier avec ma pouliche, je constate combien il est précieux qu'un jeune cheval puisse suivre un cheval d'expérience.

L'humain pourra - et devra - sans doute lui apprendre beaucoup de nouvelles choses. Accepter d'être touché, brossé, douché, examiné par le vétérinaire, donner les pieds, puis sellé, bridé, monté, etc.
Il n'en demeure pas moins qu'une foule d'expériences ne pourront être mieux guidées - et, conséquemment, interprétées par le jeune cheval comme positives - qu'avec l'aide d'un cheval adulte, déjà confiant et heureux de faire son travail.

J'en constate déjà les effets; une Stonewall Luna qui demande déjà à venir avec nous lorsqu'on part pour une courte randonnée.

Cortado a pris un bon coup de maturité cet été, depuis qu'il est devenu "Oncle Coco". Il prend son rôle au sérieux. Je le soupçonne même d'aimer montrer l'exemple et de se sentir utile. ❤️

Merci à nos chevaux-mentors, qui veulent bien nous aider à fonder les bases de la relève et ainsi laisser leur trace.

Shaman s'y mettra aussi très bientôt. Beaucoup de plaisir avec une gentille pouliche qui deviendra bien solide dans ses capacités et qui aura vu du pays - tout en douceur. 🥰🌙

01/09/2023

C'est beau! (Et vrai.)
Bien accorder l'instrument et apprendre à bien jouer de la musique 🎶😌🐴

Keep on learning . . .

30/08/2023

N’oublions jamais qu’avant de regarder la qualité d’un appuyer, d’un saut ou d’un piaffé, il faut regarder les yeux d’un cheval. Ils nous diront beaucoup sur la manière dont il se sent.

Pierre Beaupère.

Photo par Céline Bo****no - Photographe Équestre

25/08/2023

Apprendre, c'est facile.
Désapprendre et réapprendre, c'est plus long.

Défaire la mémoire musculaire, c'est long et contre-intuitif.

Accepter le vide, tolérer l'absence de récompense immédiate pour des bénéfices qui viendront (beaucoup) plus t**d.

Désapprendre nécessite courage, discipline, patience et humilité, lâcher prise; quelque chose que nous n'avons pas tendance à être très bons à faire.

Mais, à cheval comme pour le reste,
les belles choses prennent du temps et là est tout le plaisir du processus. 😊

It’s not learning that is hard, but unlearning.
From the time we begin our interest in horses, we’re bombarded with information about horses that is innacurate, outdated, biased, anthropomorphic, and downright illogical. And yet it is repeated enough to be accepted as the collective truth -

So when we learn new information, we can watch it work before our very eyes: we can see the horse change, we can see the logic of it, but it’s hard to accept. It goes against our every muscle memory. It goes against our conditioning, and this can be very triggering: self doubt, shame, judgement, embarrassment, resistance and clinging to the hard work we’ve put into information that simply doesn’t work for the horse.

Learning is very easy: we can quickly absorb the lesson of kick and pull to go and turn in one lesson, and if you’d been taught to ride initially with your seat in one lesson, you could have just as easily learned that.

Unlearning requires courage, dedication, backbone, and patience: because it is the very messy act of untangling and letting go- which is something we tend to not be very good at.

24/08/2023

Excellent texte sur le Horsemanship.

Pour moi, le Horsemanship c'est « Comment » on va s'y prendre avec le cheval pour obtenir tel résultat: Prendrons-nous un chemin où il se sentira bien auprès de l'humain, ou en défense?
C'est l'art d'agir comme partenaire du cheval et ça implique une compréhension profonde et infinie de son être et de sa biologie.

C'est ce qui fera la différence entre une exécution dans l'harmonie ou par l'usage de la force ou de la violence... Indépendamment de la discipline et du nombre d'années équestres que la personne peut avoir.

Sans Horsemanship, l'équitation pour moi, ne fait pas vraiment de sens...

WHY HORSEMANSHIP?

When I was a young fellow I would try to go to jumping clinics, eventing clinics, and dressage clinics, but it never occurred to me to enrol in a horsemanship clinic. Plus there were very few opportunities to participate in a horsemanship clinic. I can think of a handful of horsemen who ran such clinics and they were very infrequent because they made their living from training, not teaching.

The market for horsemanship training was miniscule in Australia until around the early to mid-1980s when the Americans began to make an impact. Australians like Maurice Wright, Kel Jeffrey, Neil Davies, Heath Harris, Jim Wilton, Tom Roberts, etc. dwelled on the fringes of the movement that modern horsemanship would become. Of those few only Neil is still with us and continues to be active.

However, the wave of American influence began a tsunami change in attitude about what horsemanship was about in Australia. Horsemanship no longer was just about how to lead a horse or clean their hooves or tie a hitch knot as the pony club system was teaching. Both the Aussie and American horsemen started to plant the seed of the importance of a relationship between horse and horse person and that groundwork meant more than lunging in circles. For those who may not have been in Australia or into horses at the time, it is hard to explain what a revolution this was to the average horse owner. Of course, there were good horse people everywhere who already knew what the new gurus were teaching. But it was only with the advent of modern marketing techniques did the average horse owner shift their mindset.

This brings me to the topic of this post.

One of the criticisms I read about horsemanship clinics is from people with considerable experience and even expertise in some field of the horse industry. The criticism often describes horsemanship training as only useful for novice horse people. Implied in this criticism is that once a person achieves a certain experience or success they no longer have use for further training in understanding their horse. Horsemanship is only useful for teaching the very basics and after a short time a person needs to move on to training with people more skilled at an elite level.

I want to challenge this assertion.

I’m sure most of you have heard the adage, “The more you know the more you realize you don’t know.” This is certainly true of horsemanship. Horsemanship is not “a thing”. When it comes to interacting and working with horses horsemanship is “everything.” Horsemanship is everything from when you try to halter a foal for the first time to when your horse has to stand quietly for the blue ribbon ceremony at an international competition.

As an embryonic competitor and horse trainer I used to think horsemanship was what I used when I needed to teach a horse to pick up its feet or stand tied up or load into a trailer. At that stage of my education, it had nothing to do with jumping a clear round or performing collected movements in a dressage test. But now I see it differently.

As the term implies, horsemanship is the understanding of horses. But just those six words incorporate a lifetime of learning and understanding. Horsemanship is the art of feeling what a horse will feel and do before the horse knows. Horsemanship is the art of a horse and a human being able to finish each other's sentences.

Horsemanship is what props you up when you are training a horse to perform a lead change or wear a crupper. Horsemanship is the stuff that fills in the gaps between riding across a bridge and chasing a polo ball. Horsemanship teaches you how to walk up to your horse with feel at the start of a day and how to walk away from your horse with feel at the end of a day. Horsemanship is what makes it possible to salvage the relationship with your horse even after a bad experience.

Horsemanship is a serious study irrespective of what discipline you ride or what level of skill you ride. That is why the study of horsemanship is a lifelong pursuit. That is why being a skilled horse person is its own reward.

Photo: Three mates - Six, me, and Riley.

14/08/2023

Beau week-end d'accompagnement/coaching pour une sortie en Clinique de compétition.
Apprentissage & fierté pour chaque couple cavalier-cheval.
Ici, la phase de familiarisation.

10/08/2023

"GUIDER LE CHEVAL VERS LA BONNE REPONSE

Je pense que beaucoup de cavaliers oublient que les aides et les corrections que nous allons faire avec nos mains, nos jambes, notre voix ou tout autre outil, sont des moyens de guider le cheval vers la bonne réponse, et surtout vers la récompense, quelle que soit cette récompense.

Si on ne voit pas les corrections comme des moyens d’indiquer au cheval vers quoi on souhaite aller avec lui et comme un moyen de l’aider à trouver la bonne réponse, alors on risque de se culpabiliser d’avoir dû intervenir et surtout on risque d’agir trop fort ou dans une énergie qui n’est pas adaptée.

La correction n’est pas censée être une punition, elle est censée indiquer au cheval comment arriver à la bonne réponse.

Et la bonne réponse n’implique pas de demander au cheval des choses qui ne sont pas naturelles, mais plutôt de créer un langage commun qui permet un vrai dialogue avec une autre espèce, qui ne parle pas notre langue.

C’est ce qui rend l’équitation, et la relation avec les chevaux, aussi magiques à mes yeux, à condition qu’il y ait en permanence une volonté de créer ce pont entre nos deux espèces, où chacun trouve un réel intérêt à interagir avec l'autre."

Photographie: Erick Labbé
Texte: Pierre Beaupère Dressage