Jean Luc Cornille

04/05/2025

Opportunity to learn at home with our "Comprehensive Video Lesson" program, or in an intimate group with our "Intimate Learning Event" program

03/31/2025

"The rider's hands are not there to control the horse but to feel the horse's thoughts." (Jean Luc Cornille, 2011)

I wrote this quote in 2011. Many like it, but few understand its true meaning. Several usurpers have stolen the quote and changed the picture. The original picture is part of the meaning of the quote. These people are just a fraud. Chazot is in balance, peaceful, and thinking. The picture illustrates lightness, but not just the lightness on the bit. Chazot is in real balance, and the subtle nuances that I felt through the bit were part of a dialogue that is now explained by Steven Levi’s biotensegrity. Chazot was both extremely challenging and a delight to ride. He was tall and powerful and strongly revolted against all attempts at control. The principles of classical equitation did not apply to him, and interestingly, he further developed the concepts of lightness promoted in the classical approach.
Chazot was absolute lightness, not simply on the bit, but everywhere in his body. The contact of the calves was just a light contact. Often, as I rode him, I realized that we communicated at the level of energy. I don’t discuss celestial energy when things happen because Mars is in alignment with Jupiter. I am referring to the subtle nuances in muscle tone, which involve managing the interaction of forces between his physique and my body. I don’t discuss the lightness of classical literature. It was not the refinement of the aids; it was a different dimension. I remember riding him and thinking, How can I explain that? The language of the classical approach is mechanical. Biomechanics explains how the body functions, but also that myofascial prestress, close kinematic chains, kinetic chains, and many other elements are not controllable through gestures, pressures, or shifts in body weight. The horse's capacity for perception is far superior to anything taught for centuries. The horse’s willingness also. For centuries, the horse has performed despite riding and training techniques that stimulated the wrong reflexes. During the Piaffe, for instance, the hind legs have a considerable decelerating activity and limited propulsive activity. The reason is that during the braking or decelerating phase, the supporting hind legs resist the forward shift of the weight over the forelegs. The propulsion occurs as the hind leg on support extends and lifts the croup, shifting the weight over the forelegs. Activating the hind legs with a whip increases propulsive activity and the consequent shift of weight over the forelegs. Some horses succeed in Piaffe despite the training technique stimulating the wrong reflexes. Most of the horses shift their forelegs backward, and they try a walking piaffe or other compromise.
Chazot and I conversed through the subtle orchestration of our whole physique, and from the whole we arrived at sophisticated control of all his body parts. My calves touched his body, my upper thighs were in steady contact, my whole physique was in a state of refined perception, which is how tensegrity structures communicate. It was so refined that I didn't feel any muscular work, even though it was, in fact, a refined workout of my whole physique. I did not create pressures; I created energy, influencing Chazot’s energy. Chazot loves this conversation. He tried to kill me when he arrived from the race track, expecting that he would have to deal with the crude physical relationship that led him to absolute revolt.
He was surprised when I walked by his side, adjusting my body tone and frequency to his tensegrity. He felt my body tone and opened his mind when he realized that no submission or discipline marred our conversation. His very high perception was comfortable with this interaction. Even through the very light contact of the bit, I could feel his mental processing and the part of his body where he increased the tone. I always rode him on loose reins, with soft fingers and forearms, and I could follow through the bit, his mental processing, and feel which part of his body increased in frequency or intensity.
Jean Luc

03/20/2025

Classical or Elite Rider
“If you can only be tall because someone’s on their knees, then you have a serious problem.” Toni Morrison
If you can only be a good rider because the horse is submitted, then you have a serious problem. Horses obey, even if our demand induces physical pain. They find compromises that ease the discomfort, but they can’t understand the long-term damage of the compromises. If our value is our ability to “make the horse do it,” we have no value. Our value is our knowledge of the performance’s athletic demand and our ability to guide the horse’s mental processing toward adequate body coordination. The classical approach is not built on this knowledge. The classical approach utilizes the wisdom and experience of talented riders to guide the horse in executing movements according to established standards. The standards don’t stand actual knowledge. Some are plainly false, such as the advanced engagement of the hind legs lifting the horse to lightness; others cripple the horse, such as driving the horse onto the bit. Compressive forces cause arthritis, and the cervical lesions of horses compressed between the rider’s driving seat and heavy contact on the bit are consistent with compressive forces.
Astronauts who spend a long time in space return to Earth with a different perspective. Earth's atmosphere is thin. "I realized that everything that sustains life on Earth depends on a fragile layer, almost like paper” (Larry Gindhart), and the futility of human values, money, power, and possessions became apparent. Down to Earth, humans will probably destroy the planet because of their material values, but there is an elite that can, for the time left, appreciate and benefit from the gift of life, and the horse is a gifted teacher. The horse allows us to be just a rider, even a skilled one, or a valuable human being.
In the Science of Motion courses, we discuss meditation sessions where, with heightened concentration and respect for the horse, we become capable of feeling what we could not feel with traditional approaches. Our perspective as humans changes as we realize that the horse is at home with this high level of finesse and subtle muscle tone adjustments. We take conscience that the horse has suffered from our gross gestures but did not blame us. The horse won the blue ribbon despite our crudeness, letting our ego enjoy ephemeral glory. The farce does not last long as pathology develops and the horse can no longer perform. This is when the classical rider injects the joints, and the elite rider upgrades his equitation and human values to the practical application of advanced knowledge.
Jean Luc

03/17/2025

Balance is Three-Dimensional

So is straightness and forwardness. Evolve from linear and mechanical thinking. Protect your horse from traditional beliefs. They are unrelated to the horse's body function and mental processing. Why follow a tradition that stresses joints and soft tissues abnormally and pay a lot of money to "repair" damages that cannot be repaired, when most of the lesions can be prevented. Rush the horse on the forehand and hold heavy contact on the bit, and you will likely deal with kissing spine and cervical arthritis. Ignore the lateral shifts; you will likely deal with navicular, knee, or hock arthritis. Ignore the spine dysfunction loading the legs abnormally and spend your life looking for a hoof care provider who will compensate for your ineffective riding. For decades. I have restored soundness when all approaches have failed and the therapy was adjusted to the individual horse but basically recreated a body function that should have been created in the first place. Invest in riding well. The classical approach has not evolved with actual knowledge. You can upgrade your equitation and beliefs to a new understanding of the horse's body function. It is gentle, intelligent, fascinating, easier than the traditional equitation and allows you to discover your real talent and your horse's true potential. Jean Luc Cornille

03/14/2025

The Philosophy of the Science of Motion
The philosophy of the Science of Motion, athletic development, satisfaction, affection, respect, and ethics demands that understanding the horse’s physiology be upgraded to actual knowledge. Kindness is knowledge. To carry the weight of a rider, the horse needs more energy. The most efficient way for the horse to create more energy is to increase the stance, which is the sequence of the stride where the limbs are on the ground. During the first half of the stance, muscle, tendons, fascia, and aponeurosis store elastic energy that is used in the propulsive phase and the swing. “It should be borne in mind that the weight of the rider will rise two- or three-fold during locomotion and also that a mounted horse requires more energy and this energy must be obtained by increasing the stance phase to recover more energy during the swing.” (J. L. Morales, DVM, PhD, 1998)
Very few horses can independently practice more efficient storage and reuse of elastic energy. Their nature is to protect against muscle imbalance or whatever issue they have. Their efficiency is further altered when they are subjected to riding techniques, rushing them on the forehand. Horses accept to perform under pain, allowing riders to believe in training techniques that lead to pathology. “Making the Horse Do It” is based on the acceptance of slavery. Teaching the horse to coordinate his physique for the athletic demand of modern performances is the true art of riding but demands an evolved philosophy. Talent predisposes an equine athlete to dressage jumping or other specialties, but the natural reflexes are primitive and insufficient. We need to understand the complexity of the performance’s athletic demand and accept that the coordination of the many systems necessary for the performance is controlled by the horse independently of our influence. We need to evolve from the egotistical concept of obedience to the more intelligent and humble idea of partnership.
Partnership needs ethics and respect but also affection. The horse processes clever coordination of the many systems if the coordination provides physical ease and the horse feels supported by us. Errors are part of the process. If we think of obedience, we judge the error instead of benefiting from it. An error is a description of the horse’s actual body state. If we analyze it regarding the performance’s athletic demand, we can understand what needs to be changed in the actual coordination of the horse’s physique. The change needs to be suggested and not imposed. Imposing the change triggers protective reflex contraction. The horse needs to explore a different nuance in its body coordination, and we suggest it. That is where we need affection. The horse might process a different solution than the one we have in mind, and the horse’s solution might be more efficient than the one we theorize. We react negatively if we don’t honestly believe in the horse’s willingness. Reason might tell us that the horse’s idea is worth considering, but it is too late; the horse has already felt our negation and is exploring a different reaction. Fondness allows the positivity that we need for a constructive conversation.
Jean Luc

03/14/2025

Lower Price

03/13/2025

Biojump 4, Special Document

03/04/2025

12/30/2024

Jan 2025 New course's start. View all of the courses Jean Luc and Science Of Motion offers here: https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/science_of_motion_25_courses.html

12/26/2024

The Middle Finger
Yesterday, Betsy broke her middle finger. We talked this morning, and Betsy said it has not been painful so far. We joked a little about using the middle finger, and Betsy remarked that it was not the finger we used the most when riding. As I rode after our conversation, I thought about how I used my middle finger riding. The thumb and index hold the reins; the small and annular fingers ensure contact and elasticity. I noticed that the middle fingers feel the variation in contact with the horse’s mouth. It is almost as if the small and annular fingers feel the contact and the medium finger feels the energy.
I ride as much as possible with soft hands and light contact with the bit. The fingers are sensors feeling the contact given by the horse. They are not closed nor totally open. The greater level of perception is when they are halfway flexed and the forearms are soft. If the horse’s pressure on the bit increases. I don’t close my fingers but filter the increased pressure with my body.
Maybe because I concentrated on the middle finger, I felt small variations in contact even if the rein barely touched the finger. The perception was numbed when I increased the tension of the forearms, and the same if I increased the tension of the fingers. It was easy to feel riding Devina and Berti as they both work with a light contact. With Pascalina, it was clear when she was very light.
The softness of our fingers is part of the tensegrity of our whole physique; If we contract our shoulders of forearms, our fingers tense up a little. Same if we increase the pressure of our calves. Biotensegrity is the coordination of our whole physique, which is a great part of our efficiency. As long as we think of relaxation, we are not effective. The more efficient we became in refining muscle tone in our whole physique, the more subtle our conversation with the horse became. The horses respond as they are liberated from the need for protection. Their mental processing refines, leading to very subtle body control. The horses react as if finally we meet them in their comfort zone. It takes time as our physical intelligence gradually develops muscle synergies and refines closed kinematic chains. The fascinating aspect is that we became capable of feeling nuances that we never felt before, and the refinement never ends.
Through our physical intelligence, we better understand the horse’s intelligence. They don’t process as we do; their umwelt is different, and the way they respond to our touch and contact allows our mind to understand how they process.
Jean Luc

12/19/2024

Happy Birthday Jean Luc! Helyn

12/12/2024

Unload It
In Humans, as in Equines, Osteoarthritis is a worldwide problem with no cure. In line with the Science of Motion’s teaching, Craig Walter. David Hayes, Jon E Block, and Nicholas J. London wrote in 2011 a courageous article explaining that the most efficient solution was addressing the aberrant biomechanics that is the primary driver in the progression of knee and other joints arthritis. “The lack of effective interventions is due, in large part, to an overemphasis on pharmacotherapy and direct chondral repair. Instead, we propose that research and development efforts be aimed at addressing the aberrant biomechanics that are the primary driver in the progression of knee Osteoarthritis (OA). In particular, technologies that “unload” the joint may reverse the structural damage, which is the cardinal feature of this disease. Reestablishing a favorable local mechanical environment may not only delay the requirement for an invasive joint reconstruction procedure but obviate the need entirely” (Graig Walter. David Hayes, Jon E Block, Nicholas J. London, 2011)
The authors address the human obesity problem. In equine, the loading of the forelegs’ joints is primarily due to an imbalance on the forehand. The first thing I do when I receive a horse with osteoarthritis issues in the knee, fetlock, navicular apparatus, or coffin joint is to reduce the load on the forelegs by creating proper balance. I am not talking about the half-halt type of balance, which is a restriction that does not reduce the load on the forelegs. I am talking about teaching the horse to efficiently convert forward through the thoracolumbar spine, the hind legs thrust into upward forces. I unload the painful joint, and it is the only needed therapy.
Interestingly, while soundness is the initial aim, many horses go further, exploring gait qualities unknown to their owner. One owner told me with a large smile, loading her horse in her trailer, “I was advised to put my horse to sleep. I brought my horse to you hoping that you could reduce the lameness, and today, I bring my horse back home as an extraordinary mover.” The horse did not respond to pharmacotherapy, but no one would consider addressing the aberrant kinematics that caused the problem. I did. I identified and corrected the source of the aberrant kinematics, which was a lack of balance, and the horse regained soundness and developed superior gaits.
This was in 2012, but the predominance of pharmacotherapy remains in modern days. In 2011, the authors suggested that corticosteroids and hyaluronic acid accelerate the development of osteoarthritis. “Illustrative of this point is the somewhat paradoxical finding that pain palliation alone, as provided by oral analgesics or intra-articular injections, has little effect on and may actually accelerate the progression of osteoarthritis tissue degradation.”
The point is not to reject drugs that can ease the pain. The point is that without finding and correcting aberrant kinematics stressing the structure, injections of drugs and manipulative therapies have superficial and short-term effects. I write that “Unload It” was a courageous study because addressing and correcting the kinematics abnormality is a journey; it takes a few seconds to swallow a pill or push the syringe’s piston. It takes work, commitment, and the courage to question what we have been told to correct aberrant kinematics. It is up to us to decide if our horse is worth the effort.
Jean Luc

12/10/2024

The Route that Would Prevent Pathology

“It’s funny how people will believe in Wi-Fi, invisible waves powering everything, but still think energy, frequency, and vibration are just some mystical non-senses.”
Riders talk about their horse on different online groups using Wi-Fi waves and frequency but still believe in communicating with the horse with spurs, weight on the bit, and shift of their body weight. The horse is a tensegrity structure, so we are. The efficiency and stability of a tensegrity structure is the perpetual adjustment between the tension of all the tensegrity structure elements. Releasing or contracting one element would alter the integrity of the whole structure, and we are told to shorten the horse’s lower line and stretch the upper line to improve balance, gaits, and performance.
Riders are comfortable using wireless technology and yet still believe in theories relating the tone of the horse's whole physique to the intensity of the contact on the bit. Some remove the reins and believe they do better when taking another bifurcation of the wrong route. The route that would prevent pathology is communicating with the horse at energy, frequency, and vibration levels. Not only is it not mystical, but it is easier than the mechanical approach.
Pathology cannot be cured. All drugs and therapies do is ease the pain, reduce the inflammation, and slow the evolution of the processes, although, recent studies demonstrate that one of the drugs commonly used to slow the process accelerates, in fact, the development of arthritis. The only way it would be possible to restore structure function would be to identify and correct the source of the abnormal stress loading the structure. Only then could the remodeling restore the structure's integrity with the help of adequate medication, therapies, and correct hoof balancing.
Equally skilled riders can make the horse do it or educate the horse’s physique for the athletic demand of the performance. The former is a competitive rider; the latter is a therapeutic rider. A competitive rider who uses therapies to fix the damage caused by his training approach is not a therapeutic rider. The therapeutic rider does not activate the horse legs with a whip to create a pantomime of Piaffe. The therapeutic rider evolves from the reductionist, linear, and heretical belief that balance is achieved by shifting the weight backward over the hind legs to the capacity to lead the horse’s mental processing toward the mastery of the forces above and around the center of Mass.
Reductionists dismiss the concept as mystical because it is not easily done with a mindset based on mechanical thinking. They talk wirelessly but use heavy contact of the spurs and bit. They talk about lightness but I feel heavy tension in their forearms when I touch the reins.
Often, in a clinic, a rider asks to ride her horse. I oblige and feel the horse’s dysfunctions, I explain the muscle imbalance, inverted rotation, or other issues I can feel. If I ride the horse long enough, I identify the root cause and explain how the whole physique adjusted to the dysfunction and arrived at the actual pathology. I then explain the first step of the rehabilitation, allowing the horse remodeling process to remodel the problem instead of turning in a circle from one compromise to the other.
The rider understands intellectually but still thinks mechanically, and the task appears overwhelming. If the rider is sensitive and more concerned about her horse than the ribbon, I suggest an easy first step. I ask the rider to slow down the horse without using the hands. I suggest holding the reins on the tips of the fingers and keeping the hands steady without pulling back. I tell the rider that the horse might increase the contact on the bit, but instead of pulling back with the arms, which would bring back the dialogue with the horse on the bit, the rider opposes just enough muscle tone to keep the hands and fingers steady. I advise the rider to liberate his or her mind from the concept of obedience and control and explore authentic partnership. The horse is willing, but we cannot experience how much the horse is willing as long as we expect obedience to our aids. We need to realize that waves, vibrations, and frequency are created through the tone of our whole physique instead of the hands, the legs, and body weight. Our mind concentrates on slowing down the horse, and our physical intelligence figures out how to create the right energy and frequency. The horse responds when our physique reaches the level of subtlety, which is the horse's comfort zone. The horse welcomes us into his comfort zone.
We need to believe that we have the sixth sense and let our physical intelligence explore our senses. If we try to do this consciously, we will not succeed because our minds think about our horse’s large mass and trigger too much muscle tone at the wrong frequency. The horse responds when he feels the right wave and frequency from our body. Every time the horse responds, the rider cannot believe that he or she did it because it is much more subtle and different from the principles and actions of traditional equitation.
Marketing aims to make the buyer believe that he needs the product. The usual strategy is to convince the rider of his incompetence and his dependence on drugs and therapy. Only if the rider identifies and corrects the source of the dysfunction, loading the structure, drugs, therapies, and proper trimming can help the remodeling process recreate the structure's integrity. It is a journey I choose and teach the journey.
All the daily videos in the Science of Motion courses show how to teach a young horse to efficiently carry a rider or a more mature horse to learn the transition Piaffe- Passage. The horses show reciprocal gentleness, kindness, and a deeper partnership. They are in their comfort zone and explore their advanced mental processing capacities.
Jean Luc

12/05/2024

12/01/2024

The horse evolves constantly, and we need to evolve the same way. Mastering the forces around the Center of Mass, the new understanding of balance control, demands daily adaptation of many muscles, tendons, and fascia. As muscles and fascia evolve in constant coordination, the horse physique can evolve in improper coordination, and it is our job to feel and correct it. It is very easy to be fooled by feeling. We get used to an incorrect feeling. Working alone is a problem as we spend days or weeks before we realize that the horse went in the wrong direction, which is more difficult to correct. I faced this problem. My luck is that all my life, I have ridden four to eight or more horses per day. They were all different, and one helped me recognize the wrong evolution that another horse developed.
Video lessons are useful. After live training, they are the second most efficient solution, as I can point out a developing problem before it becomes a problem or even pathology. There is also the constant evolution of science and the refinement of the practical application. Many horse difficulties are easier to correct with today’s knowledge than they were a few years or even a few months ago. The concept of the Center of Mass, for instance, The evolution from linear thinking, makes possible an education that was a struggle, thinking that balance control was a linear control of forces. Before Steven Levin explained the Center of Mass, I felt the constant lateral shifts with every horse and felt they were part of balance control but not as important as they truly are. Today, instead of trying to increase the balance through the greater tone of my body or the false theory of shifting the weight backward, I focus on channeling the numerous and minute lateral shifts. It is easier and more effective.
The knowledge evolves constantly, and if we don’t evolve, we go backward. I don’t understand why riders need to believe that they know all. We talked about that with Betsy this morning. We have worked together for decades, and we are very comfortable with the fact that we need each other knowledge. Betsy evolves considerably in her riding, and I evolve considerably thanks to her scientific research. Without the practical application, the research goes nowhere, and we need to constantly question the practical application with new knowledge to go anywhere. The covered brutality, part of the equestrian world, tries to forcefully achieve what the training techniques cannot achieve. The reason is that conventional thinking reduces the horse’s part of the performance to obedience to the rider’s directive. This is arrogant and ineffective. The horse coordinates many systems that are out of reach of the rider’s control. Whatever authors believed was the result of their skill was, for a significant part, the horse’s willingness and sophisticated mental processing. Only now has science reached a level of understanding, exposing that horses have done it for centuries despite archaic and even false theories. Our authentic leadership is our knowledge, not our capacity to impose our views. Knowledge engenders intellectual modesty, allowing us to consider the horse’s reaction as a solution that might be better than anything printed in the book. This acceptance engenders respect and kindness.
Jean Luc