Travail du cheval d’instruction, cheval d’instruction au travail : principes hérités et innovation au quotidien. Regard critique sur le patrimoine équestre

Abstract

The work of riding-school horses and riding-school horses at work ; inherited principles and daily innovation, a critical look at the horse-related heritage. Riding school professionals all agree that it is necessary to have a cavalry of reliable and polyvalent horses, capable of giving the best access possible to the joys of riding, allowing for the schooling to take place in safe conditions, both for teachers and for pupils... At the same time, however, the horses themselves are not specially bred for these purposes, nor specially trained, chosen more often than not for economic reasons and not for the qualities that their role might expect of them. The horses, too, learn only by experience, once at work. It is a makeshift solution, a far cry from the principles that honour the French school of horse riding. These questions will be addressed based on the author’s own experience as a teacher in a riding school and on a recent research project into the feminisation of the riding school world.

Keywords

• horse
• riding school
• riding professionals
• women horse riders