Equestrian Culture

Theory and practice

Theory is knowledge, practice is knowing how to do, but it is always knowledge that precedes the action. Without equestrian culture and skill in training horses no teaching is possible. In horse riding, the trainer moulds his student, the horse. This is an extremely sensitive creature on which any intervention, positive or negative, constitutes an act of training. The art of horse riding and the training of the horse cannot be separated: simply by being on a horse, you subconsciously train or untrain. The instructor, the trainer must not be content to ‘learn to do’ but must ‘make understand’ what to do, how, when, why, for what purpose… riders must be thought to be worthy of that name and at the same time humble. Horse riding consists, first of all, in learning to understand horses in order to have their collaboration in full respect, meaning that riding is only for the honest man. Horse riding can be summed up in two words: Justice and Fairness.