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J.P.'s Story - In His Own Words...

MASTERFUL TRAINERS, SCHOOLMASTERS
& INQUISITIVE STUDENTS  

A VISIT TO THE CIRCUS. When I was 8 years old, my father took me to the circus where I saw a fantastic High-School presentation by the late master Roberto Vasconcellos in the center ring of the ‘Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey’ show in Paris. His horse did Canter-to-the-rear and on 3 Legs, Piaffe and Passage with no reins and fit One Tempi (flying changes at every stride) in the 39 feet of a circus ring. The man made it all look easy. It was 1958 and I had just begun to ride some disobliging, hairy ponies at the local riding club. My passion for horses was already settling in with absolute certainty, like some unrecognized memory resurfacing from another lifetime. I was transported by the display of this Centaur who was performing incredible feats of elegance and control. By the time I came home from the show, my passion for horses was solidly redirected on a quest for the first steps of horsemanship, though I couldn’t quite spell the word, yet. Much later, I learned that this magical apparition (seen through the eyes of an 8 year old), was impersonated by a bonafide Portuguese viscount living in self-imposed exile in America. He was a classically trained follower of the great Fillis and his horse was actually an American Saddlebred.

THE DISCIPLINE AND LAISSER-FAIRE OF THE FRENCH CAVALRY. After this inspiring vision, I started a very long equestrian education at the local riding club that mostly consisted in learning how to stay on the pony without falling off too often. The club was expertly directed  by a retired French cavalry officer, Capitaine Hubert Clauzel. This dashing rider, dressed in winged “Saumur” riding breeches, a small Trilby hat cocked on his head, had a passion for western riding and often used a stock saddle. He collected horses of every imaginable color and called them “Utah”, “Nebraska”, “Santa Fe” and “Trigger”. His views on teaching were entirely military, experiential and quite testing for the weaker amateurs. We rode in “reprises” (group of 10 to 12 riders performing arena patterns), got our stirrups taken away most of the time, and exercised in the saddle the “mise en selle” (“getting in the saddle”) exercises that had left indelible (and somewhat painful) memories in the mind of every cavalry recruit or equestrian enthusiast who practiced them for any length of time.  These mild acrobatics consisted in leaning back and balancing on your tail bone in all 3 gaits, holding your leg in your hand with your thigh vertical until your thigh position was suitably “descended”, ride without reins or stirrups doing all kind of movements with our arms, etc. These exercises were performed in the arena as well as in the huge forest that surrounded the stables. Another favorite lesson was to ride in “varied terrain”, an assortment of slopes, bomb craters left over from World War I and massive banks we crossed in 2 points position (called “position in suspension” in French). He also took us to cross country and show-jumping events that we reached by riding on the roads (no trucks) and slept in a barn with the horses all tied to a manger. Fun was had by all! He also got me to ride in steeple chase amateurs races on the big race tracks surrounding Paris (like Maisons Lafitte and Fontainebleau). This was a fabulous experience that served me well years later when I went to train eventers in England.

Clauzel's teaching style was very simple: we learned by doing and we became convinced that, as long as horses were going forward, everything would be fine. Fences were met in a positive rhythm and we developed a sense of balance and impulsion that made later education into more complex aspects of horsemanship much easier to assimilate. It was really a wonderful education that covered the basis in a way that is rarely available nowadays. We rode horses of many breeds: Thoroughbreds and trotters off the track, Barbs retired from the Spahi Regiments (North African light cavalry that belonged to the French Army), un-papered Spanish horses of every color, Appaloosas from Poland saved from the slaughter house and everything that the local horse trader would drop at the barn for training or resale. We also mucked plenty of stalls, brushed endless school horses and took clients on long trail rides.

GREAT INSPIRATIONS: HENRIQUET AND OLIVEIRA. One of the clients at the barn, Georges Caubet, owned a beautiful Barb and a Spanish horse of great energy but afflicted with a very difficult inverted neck named Kiva he bought from the Gypsies. Georges was amused by my youthful exuberance and passion for horses and took me along for rides on my favorite school horse Moukhala. Problem was, Kiva became stronger and stronger and was no longer so cooperative for the acrobatics and wild rides Georges and his friends loved. Training became sorely needed and technical questions were asked but left unanswered by our military mentor. Georges read magazines and heard about a recently discovered Portuguese trainer apparently doted of singular talents: Nuno Oliveira. He took me one day to visit the French “delegate” of the Master, Michel Henriquet in his tiny private manege in Bailly near Versailles. Monsieur Henriquet rode several beautiful Lusitanos, who appeared light on their feet, happy in their work, amazingly brilliant and quite unlike anything I had seen so far. George did the pilgrimage to Oliveira in his old school of Povoa de Santo Adriao and came back a changed man. Naturally he had no peace until he convinced a few of us to go as well. That summer, my father (a near total non-rider) and I entered the tiny Picadeiro for the master on tiptoe and quietly sat in his upstairs gallery. Faure’s Requiem was playing and he was riding a beautiful bay horse I learned later to be an Alter Real called Corsario. The man on the horse lifted his gaze towards us long enough to say Hi! and returned to the intimacy of his ride. Ten minutes later, I had made the decision that I would spend the rest of my life attempting to ride like THAT! I was 16 years old, I am now 59 and my goal hasn’t changed. I have made a little progress and though the road behind me is now quite long, the road in front is not any shorter. I simply know a little more about what I don’t know.

Nuno’s teaching was mostly done by his horses Zarco the bay who did easy changes, Pluto who taught endless riders the feeling of a great sitting piaffe, Ulisses who did passage, Spanish Walk and Reverence like no other but had a dissymmetry that took a bit of skill to manage, Violaceo the gray with his bullfighting scars and his superb lightness, and endless other unsung heroes trained by the Master or his better students for the benefit of us, the “tourists”. We experienced the movements and he gave us the poetry that made it all somehow more understandable but not necessarily easier to achieve. Nuno spoke to us in the terms that made sense to him. He described emotions and concepts from his unique experience as well as from the pages of the treasures of his vast European equestrian library. He chose the horses for each lesson in a way that made us progress by facing our difficulties and taught us how to resolve the technical difficulties of riding. As far as learning to train, we had to peel our eyes watching him ride his own, first in the morning with the young horses of his clients (starting at 5:15 at that time of his life) and later in the afternoon when he rode his own horses: Farsista, Corsario and Ansioso, all bay Alters. His aids were discreet but not completely invisible, just very different of what I was used to from the Cadre Noir riders I had watched and admired until then. He used mostly the leaning of his body and the play of his shoulders to elicit most of his horse’s movement and direction. The fingers took care of the details of the horse’s mouth while I can only say that his hand was his shoulder, his shoulder directed his hip and his hip became his leg. The main motor of the horse’s impulsion was his back, with his shoulders nearly always placed behind his hips so as to push the horse into the infallible roundness that was his signature. At the time, I understood very little of his reasons for the sequences of exercises he unrolled endlessly, but to this day I have not forgotten any of it. He had a supreme idea of what gymnastic can do for horses, endlessly perfecting their balance and flexibility in a way that dissolves all resistances and stiffness. I watched everyday for the month I spent there and returned to France with the zeal of a convert but with the skill of a neophyte. My grandmother bought me my first horse, Uphano d’Orvillars, a trotter just retired from the track and straight from the shafts of the sulky. I learned much from him and managed to teach him a few things until I finally returned to Portugal for good to indulge my passion.

THE VALUE FOR FORWARDNESS. In 1970, after a feeble attempt at University, I went again to Nuno Oliveira’s school. I resumed the same course of study, but I soon got to ride a few of the school horses that needed work as well as one or the other of the simpler colts he had in training. A great opportunity arose when his son Joao became unavailable to break 5 colts from the famous breeder Jose de Meneses that Oliveira just received from the stud farm. They were called Jabuti, Jacobeu, Jagunco, Jaleco (all purebred Lusitanos), as well as their half brother, the Luso-Arab Jasmim. For 5 weeks, I rode those colts under the eye (and the scary voice) of the Master. The tone of the lessons was quite different from the dissertations about shoulder-in we heard during the group lessons. There was no time for explanations. It was rather: do that and do it now! Push the horse forward, ride straight into the corners, keep the head stable on a semi-loose rein and maintain the energy during the whole ride. These lessons have become the most cherished part of my apprenticeship because they taught me how important early forwardness is to the entire training process. After that intense phase, everything became easy. Shoulder in, halts, the contact, all came effortlessly because the horses were in balance and forward. Other students started to ride them in a little reprise while I rode Jasmim in front. This brilliant Luso-Arab had turned out to be quite a challenge and tested both my determination and solidity in the saddle.

THE DELICACY OF THE ALTER REALS. After I ran out of money to pay for my lessons, I got a job as assistant trainer at the National Stud of Alter do Chao where the Alter Reals, who now remount the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art, are bred. The head trainer at the Stud was Dom Jose Athayde, a disciple of Master Oliveira and a retired bullfighter who later became the first head rider of the Portuguese School. This combination of experiences made Dom Jose a very practical and skilled trainer that could resolve the many training problems presented by the Alters. The bay stallion were then in full renaissance after the damages done to their breeding by the military management of the Republic that followed their hallowed royal past as the best high school horses of Europe. Dom Jose was responsible for the training and the selection of the stallions and the supervision of the breaking of all the young colts and mares. His teaching style was very different from Nuno. He had little time to speak and no desire to speak French to me, so I had to learn Portuguese in a hurry. I did the speaking for both and asked endless questions that remained mostly unanswered. Then, days later, he would create a situation similar to the one that brought my question up and resolve the problem in front of me. If I was sharp enough to notice his game, he would them endeavor to explain to me the Why and the How. If I missed it, he would say nothing. There I rode the delicate Aoto, the febrile Brioso, the beautiful Fusil, the giant Gaio and the loyal Fiandero trained by Dr Guilherme Borba during his military service. The sensitivity of the Alters made every thoroughbred I rode later while training in England feel easy and nearly dull in comparison.        

BRITISH LADY RIDERS ARE THE QUEENS OF HORSEMASTERSHIP. Fast Forward to 1978. At the invitation of a British Dressage team member, I went to the UK to give clinics and I had so many students that I soon moved there. I became fascinated by the British event horses and I started to train a majority of them in my clientele. Those were strong bodied horses with very strong personalities, lots of idiosyncrasies and no specific breeding based on dressage ability or disposition. Instead of the technical finesse I had worked on to deal with the Alters, I had to quickly develop some psychological smarts to deal with horses that rarely had good basic classical training but were coaxed to perform well a really difficult job by clever (mostly) females riders. Amongst those horses were Gurgle the Greek (the dearest to my heart for his incredible character that helped him win a Silver European medal and great many advanced events), Mystic Minstrel (best trot I have ever ridden, winner of 4 Gold medals), Gamble (a weird looking horse with springs under his feet that went to the 1980 Alternative Olympics), Speculator (who won badminton later), “Porkchop” a funny looking part-QH (that nearly went round Badminton) and the funny Irishman Popjoy who unloaded me in a dressage arena a few years before completing the 1984 Olympics. There are many others whose names are escaping my not-so-sharp-anymore memory, but they all of them remain dear to me for what they taught me about horse training and conditioning as well as the psychology of the TB related horse and their amazing courage.

AMERICAN INVENTIVENESS. After 5 years of complete immersion in the obsessions of high level competition, I moved to America and took a hiatus from teaching. I soon resumed my compulsion and started again helping the amateur riders I have now taught for 25 years. These have proven to be my best teachers to date because they knew a lot less than my previous students and so forced me to clarify many of my ideas, simplify my techniques and become familiar with a whole new set of equine breeds. I have now ridden Morgans and Saddlebreds, Quarter Horses and Apaloosas, a lot of Warmbloods and Andalusians, a few Mustangs, some Arabians and draft crosses, 2 curly eared Marwaris and a mule, in short I think I have seen nearly everything the equine diversity has to offer. These thousands of horses used for a myriad of purposes have showed me that the unity of classical principles prevails, that riding theory must be simplified and “equestrian platitudes” avoided, that we must be more encouraging to students that our teachers were to us, that a series of small, achievable training successes eventually a trained horse make (even for an amateur with a late equestrian start, as long as he or she is consistent and determined).     

A FORTUITOUS MEETING.  In 1992, I met Tina Cristiani, a breeder of Andalusians and the scion of a world famous dynasty of circus vaulters and trainers. I mentioned my childhood memory of Vasconcellos in our conversation and she knew all about him. Amazed by the coincidence, Tina facilitated an introduction to Ann Canestrelli, another veteran of the Circus life who had cared for the master and his horses until the end of his life. Eventually, she invited me to visit and, because of this ancient connection with the master’s life, gave me the unique opportunity to ride the last horse Vasconcellos had trained. “Cheyenne” was 28 years old, and Ann had rescued him in South America where he had been sold as a performer. He hadn’t gotten any serious training for 15 years, any riding for 10 and was happily living out his retirement, except for the occasional attacks of emphysema that severely limited his stamina. Ann insisted that I ride him, but only at night when the air was cooler. My wife Shelley and I travelled to Sarasota FL, for the single purpose of following the master’s earthly trail.  I brought my saddle along.

THE OLD HORSE WHO COULD DANCE. When I sat on Cheyenne, he instantly offered his entire repertoire with amazing enthusiasm: Piaffe, Passage, Canter-in-Place, multiple Flying-Changes, deep Reverences (bowing with both legs stretched out in front, an exercise requiring great flexibility). This was a very emotional moment for the horse, who metamorphosed his attitude from complete indifference before he was tacked-up to total brilliance as soon as I gathered the reins. Humans present were all crying. It was the closure of a cycle started more than 35 years earlier, when a show of equestrian art elicited in a small boy the beginning of a life-long passion. Cheyenne demonstrated inarguably that correct dressage is not determined by the athleticism nor the age of the horse, neither by the shape of the arena nor by the dress of the performer.

DRESSAGE WITH A WESTERN SADDLE? Beyond the performance of classical movements, true dressage is stamped by the yearning that the horse and the rider shared for its practice, the harmony of the performance and the aesthetic emotion it transmits to the spectator. Dressage well-understood is simply the epitome of Horsemanship, the essence of interspecies communication, the word that describes the Birth of the Centaur, the Horse-(Wo)Man, the (Wo)Man-Horse. Like any form of art, it is really God’s work and, as such, belongs to all who come to it honestly, as doers or watchers. Dressage shouldn’t be ‘hijacked’ by the owners of any particular breed of horse, the wearers of any particular costume or the organizers of any special venue. No special group with obscure language and fuzzy concepts should use their horses as a pedestal and the ancient art of dressage as their own ritual of self- aggrandizement. Dressage can be done by a rider in Topper and Tails on a Warmblood, a Cowboy on a Quarter-Horse or a Bedouin on an Arabian, but it cannot be *lived* truly without study, without effort, without principles and without compassion. If the horse doesn’t display self-carriage, freedom of movement (within his genetic ability) and visible enjoyment when performing dressage movements, then the Art is surely only happening in the deluded mind of the rider. This is what masterful trainers, generous schoolmasters and inquisitive students have taught me in the last 51 years.

 

JP Giacomini: the Life & Times of a
Modern Renaissance Man of Horsemanship
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In today’s overloaded horse training panorama, J.P. Giacomini stands out as a “Renaissance Man” of modern horsemanship. He started riding by the “seat of his pants”, yet has studied various training methods in-depth during his many travels and developed a very sound theoretical basis for his methodology. He has an extensive classical dressage foundation, yet he has applied it most successfully to the very competitive field of international Dressage, Eventing and Show-Jumping. His method has a definite European flair, yet he has adopted both Western and Native American approaches when appropriate. His sessions radically improve the emotional behavior of his equine students, yet JP relentlessly works at enhancing the horses’ biomechanics, as often demonstrated by spectacularly better soundness and performance. It can safely be said that “JP’s Essential Horsemanship”™ method is a fundamental paradigm shift that blends the Classical Tradition (using the Baroque gymnastics scale), Natural & Sport horse training concepts and behavior modification techniques into a state-of-the-art approach to horsemanship.

Jean Philippe (J.P.) Giacomini was born in France where he started riding under the tutelage of French Cavalry officer Hubert Clauzel. Later, he studied dressage with Master Nuno Oliveira for over a year and at the Portuguese National Stud of Alter Real where he was assistant trainer for three-and-a-half years. He rode many green colts, raced in a few steeplechases, evented, show-jumped and trained the first of 15 Grand Prix dressage horses when he was 17 years old. Through his travels, he was fortunate enough to get the “feel” of a variety of horses trained by direct students of French disciples of Baucher; as well as learned on Lusitano horses trained by Oliveira, Guilherme Borba and Don Jose Athayde (founders of the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art). He also rode a number of great sport horses, such as the Olympic competitors Liostro (trained by the late German master Herbert Rehbein for whom JP had the greatest admiration), Jenny Loriston-Clarke’s Dutch Courage and Margit Otto-Crepin’s Caprici – two of the numerous Olympic riders who attended his clinics. Later, JP worked on well over 12,000 remedial horses during clinics given in 12 countries and developed his own training system to improve all types of horses, from pleasure mounts to Western and top 4-In-Hand Driving competitors.

While living in England, JP produced international champions in Dressage and Show-Jumping, including the Lusitano stallion Novilheiro, who was his Grand Prix Dressage horse, an intermediate eventer with European Eventing Champion Rachel Bayliss and British Show-Jumping leading money earner in 1983 under the tactful guidance of John Whitaker. JP also coached international event and dressage riders from: England, Canada, the United States, France, Ireland and Portugal. This list includes the 1983 European 3 Day Event multiple Gold Medallist Rachel Bayliss who, aboard four different horses, all trained by JP, placed or won at Burghley, Badminton and Boekelo (*** and **** international 3 day events); with JP’s help, Bayliss won five gold and silver FEI medals in European and World Championships. She was the fist British rider to ever lead the dressage phase of an international 3 Day Event (in the 1980 Alternate Olympics in Fontainebleau, France, as well as in many other major events). Her horse Mystic Minstrel achieved the unique feat of competing internationally in Dressage and Eventing the same year.

The competitive facet of JP’s work gave him the opportunity to check and develop the validity of his classical training approach against the best in the world, as well as become an innovator in the field of holistic sport horse management and biomechanics development. This combination of theoretical knowledge and empirical experience resulted in the eventual creation of “JP’s Essential Horsemanship Training System”™. It is centered on the Relax Reflex Reward Technique™ that produces relaxation in horse & rider through a simple physical manipulation called Endotapping™. It is used throughout a progressive series of constantly refined lessons based on a short ‘check list’ of unalterable classical principles applicable to every training situation. This ‘Reality Training’ approach has resulted in the discovery of some of the simplest, yet most revolutionary solutions ever devised to resolve specific issues of equine behavior and biomechanics.

In 1992, JP and his wife Shelley founded an educational foundation called Trophaeum Mundi Int’l. Its mission has been to promote the Renaissance of the Baroque breeds, Classical Horsemanship through a series of competitions (TM Baroque Manege Classes™ and TM Baroque Versatility™) and develop innovation in the training of horses.

In 2002, JP created Equus Academy LLC, now located in Lexington KY, with the support of a world class Advisory Board (such as Arthur Kottas - former chief rider of the Spanish Riding School, John Whittaker – leading British Show jumper, Don Alvaro Domecq - founder of the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art in Spain, Memo Gracida – world’s best polo player, etc.. Equus Academy LLC is offering a comprehensive curriculum of Equine Science and Equestrian Art and a complete Certification Program for riders and instructors.

JP has published more than 100 articles in 5 languages on breeding history, training, biomechanics and has lead many horse study trips to Portugal and Spain. He is now in the process of completing a book on training, focusing on the practical application of classical principles..

JP is widely considered to be one of the few true masters of training Piaffe and Passage [the most difficult of the Dressage movements], and is noted for his ability to bring immediate (AND long-lasting) solutions to previously unsolved behavior or soundness problems hindering performance. He conducts clinics internationally (in 12 different countries) and is available for study tours and buying trips worldwide. JP trains his four beloved Lusitano stallions (he calls them his ‘living laboratory’ - you can see them at www.baroquefarmsusa.com or visit them at Pine Knoll Farm in Lancaster (near Lexington, KY). Besides being a distinguished linguist and writer on horse matters, JP is an amateur artist who enjoys writing poetry, sculpting and drawing. He is married to photographer Shelley Giacomini. They have five wonderful children: Colomba, T.J. (In Memoriam), Tegan, Tara & Ruy-Philippe.

An Interview With J.P.

“JP Giacomini: A Modern Renaissance Man of Horsemanship”

By Rahn Greimann, Managing Editor of HorseNAround and Southeast Equine Monthly magazines

Readers of our magazines have become acquainted with the writings of JP Giacomini and it is time to introduce him more thoroughly to the equestrian world at large. In today’s overloaded horse training panorama, JP stands out as a “Renaissance Man” of modern horsemanship. He started riding by the “seat of his pants”, yet has studied various methods worldwide all his life and developed a very sound theoretical basis for his methodology. He has an extensive classical dressage background, yet he has applied it most successfully to the very competitive field of international Dressage, Eventing and Show-Jumping. His method has a definite European flair, yet he has adopted both Western and Native American approach when appropriate. His sessions radically improve the emotional behavior of his equine students, yet JP relentlessly works at enhancing the horses’ biomechanics, as often demonstrated by spectacularly improved soundness and performance. It can safely be said that “JP’s Essential Horsemanship”™ method is a fundamental paradigm shift that blends today’s Classical, Natural and Sporthorse training concepts…

…I spoke with numerous owners that had him “fix” their horses’ various problems; they think that the “man walks on air”, because they can see an immediate (and lasting) positive change every time. Above all, the horses JP works with are always happy at the end of the session. Now, THAT is the best testimonial a trainer can get! So I researched the matter of his career and wrote this piece as an introduction to JP’s newsletter series: “Ask the Horse Fixer”©, that appears in the pages of our magazines, as well as on-line on www.jpgiacomini.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rahn: Why do people know you affectionately as “The Horse Fixer”?

JP: Above all the equestrian pursuits I have engaged in, my vocation is to search for training solutions. Over the years, I have been called on to fix problems by international competitors, show trainers and complete novices and I have been lucky enough to resolve some tricky cases. I never concern myself with the price of the horse or the status of the student: any problem is worth the time it takes to make the horse happy, the rider safe and the combination successful. Though dressage is my passion, I have helped owners with Eventers, Show-jumpers, Hunters, Driving horses, Reiners, Cutters, Western Pleasure and Stock horses, 3 gaited Saddlebreds, light shod Walkers, Arabians and Morgans and even miniatures, along with numerous pleasure horses whose only job is to be safe and love their owners.

R: How did you form your training philosophy?

JP: I benefited from two entirely different types of education. On the one hand, I received formal tuition, first in basic equitation through the French Cavalry system at my local riding club and later, in classical dressage with Master Nuno Oliveira in Lisbon and with Don Jose Athayde at the National Stud of Alter in Portugal. On the other hand, because the advice “by the book” often failed at correcting problems, I had to figure out on my own the intricacies of horse training by trial and error. I read a lot, including many books I didn’t agree with (I still read articles by most of my colleagues) and I observe all the riders I get to see, good or bad (I have learned just as much from the bad ones than the good ones). When I lived in England and was involved in the production of international FEI champions and coaching Olympic level riders, it gave me the opportunity to check the validity of my approach against the best in the world, which can be humbling indeed. This combination of formal and empirical experiences resulted in creating, little by little, a checklist of unalterable operating principles, that had to be applicable to every horse in order to be included in “the list”. One by one, I devised training tools to address specific issues of equine “genetic behavior” and biomechanics, some very simple to be used by amateurs, others more complex reserved for professionals. Eventually, a method emerged, applicable to all breeds of horses, all levels of riders and any type of problem, like the big picture of a puzzle appears when you have put enough pieces together. It boils down to a series of operating principles I named “JP’s Essential Horsemanship”™, because it is based on the core solutions horses and riders can’t survive successfully without. I will add that the application of this method to human relationships (emotional self-management, parenting, classroom teaching, business and personal relations) is fascinating. I am working on a leadership seminar program I am calling “The Centaur Solution”™, in honor of the Centaur Chiron of the Greek mythology who is credited with gifting medicine and philosophy to humans, through his student Hercules and other Greek heroes.

R: What do you see as the biggest problems of American
horsemanship?

JP: The first problem we face is the rapid disappearance of old fashioned riding schools where people could learn to ride on a variety of safe, trained horses before they decided to buy one. Training show horses for the exclusive sake of chasing ribbons is another great problem because it ruins a lot of horses early and does not create a long lasting motivation in riders. The newer concern is the rash of fashionable “gurus”, with great sounding theories that are often hard to prove practically. Riding teachers may need marketing, but they first should demonstrate real substance in their teaching material and their own performance. In order for horsemanship to be rewarding to horse and owner, riders need immediate, long lasting, practical solutions that improve safety and comfort for both parties and produce a higher level of performance in competitive sports. This beats the politically correct hogwash fare that cannot prevent them from being admitted to the emergency room much too frequently. Riders also need public validation, once in a while! I support horse showing when it is used as a test of one’s progress and horsemanship seminars when they are a genuine source of practical information. When either of those 2 venues becomes an isolated goal in themselves, the horse loses, the rider loses and horsemanship loses.

R: Isn’t there a big step from theory to results, particularly
in competition?

JP: Yes! Equestrian sports judged against a standard, like dressage, or against the clock, such as jumping, endurance or barrel racing, are based on performance. In International sports, the zero drug tolerance and veterinary check-ups, equalize the field even further. The horse’s eventual competitive success and longevity ONLY depends on the psychological and biomechanical correctness of his/her preparation. When the horse is not talented, or already confused by a previous rider, or the trainer is not experienced enough, a “holier than thou” riding philosophy can’t help the outcome. How can one resolve the difficulties that forestall the flourishing of the horse/human relationship? By using practical, small, immediate solutions. Training by philosophy alone only works for the watchers but not for the doers. Training by exclusively practicing the elected “performance” over and over, lames a lot of good horses. A better method is to aim at changing behavior AND movement by small steps any horse can understand and any student can recognize, each one checked against the Unquestionable Reference of Proven Equestrian Principles. Regardless of the horse or the trainer’s level of talent, this approach of small, attainable goals (forget perfection for now!) provides a trusted “road map”, the solid reference one needs when things get too confusing.

R: Why can trainers with vastly different techniques still be equally
successful?

JP: I have found that those apparent differences are in fact superficial. The great trainers generally agree with each other, regardless of their specialty, while the mediocre ones are busy stressing the uniqueness of their breed, discipline or technique of choice and “lose the forest for the trees”. There are no secrets to horse training: every guiding principle must be applied in every situation, either to prevent or cure problems, while the chosen techniques are personally suited to each trainer’s preference/ability and each horse’s individual need. Having visited many countries where I rode vastly different horses, I learned from classical dressage masters from Portugal, France and Germany, international jumping riders from England, eventers from everywhere, American cowboys and Australian horse breakers, to name a few. This lifelong observation taught me that the apparently innumerable ways to train a horse still boil down to universal principles (even when they are not explained as such), because they are mandated by the horse’s unique and constant nature.

R: Observers often comment about the rapidity of your results.
Do you get criticism for using shortcuts?

JP: I never miss ANY step in the training process, but I always try to find a shorter way to achieve them. So, what’s wrong with that type of shortcut? Horse training is “a long road that don’t turn” and we all need more effective ways to get it done, so horses do not spend endless years in the physically uncomfortable and emotionally insecure “not-yet-trained-horse limbo”. Even for the best trainer, the concept of “finishing a horse” (the only logical goal that a shortcut would theoretically make closer to reach) is just an abstract notion. As soon as a horse goes better, new training goals appear on the horizon and our pursuit of excellence never ends. Isn’t that the fun of it? In fact our quest eventually becomes longer by the very simple “rule of the diminishing return” we all discover sooner or later. “Shorcuts” is the name given to “progress” by the jealous people who don’t know the new “trick” yet. They use *time* as their big excuse for their lack of achievement: if a simple goal can’t be achieved in a short time, it can’t usually be achieved in a long time either! Once accepted by the mainstream (which always takes years!), the “short-cut” is renamed “classical tradition”. The list includes: the side-reins, invented by an unknown Iberian warrior 5 centuries B.C., the draw-reins and the shoulder-in, invented by William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle around 1630, the half-halt, invented by Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere around 1690; the lateral neck flexions, codified by Francois Baucher around 1850, etc. My Endotapping™ technique, invented around 1994, is hopefully next on the list of would-be classics!

R: How do you suggest amateur owners find their way in
the multitude of horsemanship clinicians competing for their dollar?

JP: When judging anyone else’s method, focus on the result you honestly see because no really bad method can produce a truly good result. Remember that what is acceptable/ understandable/ pleasurable to a horse is physically and emotionally different from what is okay for a human, so avoid anthropomorphism in your evaluation. Poor training philosophies fail because they are based on arbitrary judgment that ignores equine reality. Horses only truly understand how other dominant and/or friendly horses relate to them and that is how they can relate to humans. Their behavioral standard is marked by immediate, lifelong compliance to simple, reasonable and unmistakable requests. So, select teachers who produce results that are clearly visible and useful and do not request the reading of ‘chapter and verse’ to be understood.

Then evaluate how complete the method is. By that I mean: does it address the BODY, the MIND, the EMOTIONAL STATE of the horse and the PERFORMANCE you are interested in? Most methods I have observed has been marked by an “addiction” of the trainers for one single aspect of horsemanship or equine performance: the “speed” of the racehorse, the “cow” of the cutter, the “jump” of the hunter, the “respect” of the western horse, the “movement” of the dressage horse or the “stop” of the reiner. This focused approach is a strength because specialization can produce excellence. It is also a weakness because it often ignores the needs of the horse/rider combination as a whole.

R: What makes your approach fundamentally distinct from
the current fare of horsemanship advice?

JP: Respect for the horse’s long-term integrity, both physical and emotional, Practicality of the method, Realism of the training goals. Though I have to assume an unquestionable position of leadership with the horses, I pay the utmost attention to the roundness of their topline because it is the indispensable condition for carrying the weight of the rider without undue stress to the horse’s lower joints and tendons. When I analyze a new horse, I always try to simplify the diagnostic and be honest about the evaluation. In practical terms, and to make sense out of horse training, try starting a session by answering these questions: First, are you in the right emotional state to establish your AUTHORITY with enough COMPASSION? Is the horse WILLING to pay you attention/respect? Is he ROUNDED in his topline? READY to move on request? SYMMETRICAL in his actions & responses to rider’s demands? SELF-CARRYING and SELF PROPELLED (meaning that is enough energy and the balance to control it)? Are you equipped technically and emotionally to use RELAXATION to resolve the problem at hand? When asking this before each remedial session, the answer usually is: NOT ENOUGH (or not at all!). So prepare your work by improving your attitude and rehearsing your technique, then focus on the easiest aspect of the horse’s problem, choose a technique you can handle that fits the level of difficulty and use the “Essential Operating Principles” as your guideline. After the lesson, if the answer to the questions become YES, to ANY degree, the result IS valid, whatever anyone may think of the technique that was used. One may fail for not being in the right mood on a given day, but the SYSTEM must be always reliable. I have modeled my method for (re)patterning the behavior I am looking for on such a system and it has not yet failed me!

I always search for more effective ways to elicit the goodwill of the horse through the relaxation of every part of his body. As the source of physical harmony, relaxation is the best mean to improve performance and soundness. As peace of mind, it facilitates positive behavior modification, but it is also the best reward we can offer an animal whose survival is based on a constant awareness of danger real or potential. Working on relaxation FIRST facilitates the horse/human relationship because it provides a sense of safety, which is the indispensable condition of learning for the horse. It also provides the reliable roadmap that is the first prerequisite of the teaching ability of the rider. In short, if you want to be successful: choose techniques appropriate to your ability, question your own performance constantly, but rely on the simple, tested, unquestionable principles of the method and the horse’s performance will improve dramatically.