Riding
by the self-posture of the horse 
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Ethological Equitation An ethological equitation ? For JYLG, the ethological equitation is the research of harmony between two living beings, the horse and the rider, the putting up of a mood of mutual confidence, the basic principle being, and that concerns the rider, the respect of the moral and physical horse’s personality. JYLG does not conform to a fashion, when he put himself, during the year 2006 (year of the revision of his website) in the trends of the ethological equitation. For him, it is an old preoccupation, all this dates back a very long time, thirty years, when the term "ethological" was not new, of course, but when people do not use the expression "ethological equitation" … You can find that in several quotations of his first book, published in 1988, but written eight years ago, Nouvelle Équitation, à la recherche du centaure, Lavauzelle, Paris, 1988. "The riding has lost a great part of his strength and of his beauty because it no longer has the requirement of the respect of the personality of the horse; the modern ethology can put us back on the right track." The modern ethology? The modern ethology is the heir to the works of Konrad Lorenz, Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch (who received the Nobel Medicine Price in 1973). The reasoning exposed by Konrad Lorenz in his work The Foundations of Ethology (1981), and in his earlier books (Studies in Animal and Human Behavior, Volume I (1970) , Studies in Animal and Human Behavior, Volume II (1971) is the one adopted by JYLG. The treatises on general ethology still exist and it is necessary to consult the authoritative works of Konrad Lorenz, as did JYLG as soon as they came out. Consequently, this short paper presents some general reflections on equine ethology and shows what Riding by the self-posture of the horse permits in order to respect the moral and physical horse’s personality. From a practical point of view, concerning
riding, it is necessary to respect the horse’s personality
and to take advantage of it, but gently.
Consequently, first, it is necessary do definite what is the horse’s personality and JYLG did that a long time ago. In the same book, published in 1988, he wrote: "The physical personality is characterised by the hypersensitivity, the moral personality by an extreme emotionalism." This summary already permits to give precious pieces of information on … What you must absolutely avoid (for example, to offend the delicate mucous membrane of the horse’s mouth, or to torture his "quivering" skin, or to put him under stress by excessive requests because of their difficulty or their number). The ethological ridings, for there are several, express more or less the same principles, but they could stay pious wishes, if they are not supported by an effective doctrine and effective processes. In fact, when the rider did not receive a high-quality instruction, he risks to fall in a simplistic and reprehensible riding, when, and it is often the case, alas, the rider "pulls up" and "uses too much leg(s)". Still in his work published in 1988, JYLG gives at first general instructions on what the rider has to do: "The knowledge of the physical and moral personality of the horse is not only necessary in order to obtain the best of the horse, but also for his education, because we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that he is an infinitely perfectible being." The rider has to be first a psychologist. Ethological equitation and the Riding by the self-posture of the horse If you consult the page "Self-posture", you will read, among other things: "This approach is, from a pedagogical point of view, of an incredible superiority …, The horse becomes a thinking partner …, Even a joyful complicity is establishing between him and his instructor …, The collaboration of the horse, a well-thought collaboration, freely agreed, generous …" And in the book In search of centaur, the physical and moral personality of the horse, an ethological riding (CD 10), he draws up a long list of processes in order to respect this complicated and delicate personality, but allowing to obtain the best, gently, of this sensitiveness animal machine: "aids that strive towards zero", "hand without legs, legs without hand", "superiority of the aid of weight", "use the favorable periods of the locomotion cycle (optimization of the rider’s requests)", "weight of the leather", "use of the articulatory limits of the vertebral column", "relaxation of the jaw", "recourse to the preliminary work in hand" … You will sea: The JYLG’s method, based on personal
and original processes, a method that appeals to the horse’s
intelligence, to his faculties of reasoning and of self-determination,
is an ethological, reliable and efficient method.
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