Laugier - Flexible Saddleflexiblesaddle.com/pdf/Laugier.pdf · 2010. 9. 12. · Title: Laugier.indd Created Date: 6/20/2009 8:14:39 PM

xaqueiro salutes the audience with rhythmical canter pirouettes and flies over the arena in a huge extended trot. Joël Laugier sits in the saddle, quiet and concentrated, humble and modest. He is a master who doesn’t make a big fuss about himself. His horse is the star. As are his pupils: “Monsieur Laugier still spends sleep-less nights when a pupil asks him a question to which he cannot give a comprehensive answer. He is a passionate rider who never fails to give you a detailed and reasoned answer,” says one of Joël Laugier’s students. “I have seen him train a very average-looking colt into an impressive high school performer. What’s most important – he is a master who shows everything he teaches on a horse. Being his pupil has been a truly eyes-opening experience.”

Joël Laugier is the manager of Académie d’Art Equestre de Provence, in Caumont sur Durance, Southern France. He has about 40 Lusitanos and is the breeder of many top horses in the European barock horse scene. One of his stallions, Almonda, is available for breeding. “Equestrian art which is also called barock riding is getting more and more

A True Master

Joël Laugier breeds and trains Lusitanos and transfers his knowledge of classical dressage.

I

Joël Laugier spends sleepless nights when a pupil asks him a question to which he cannot give a comprehensive answer.

popular every year,” says Nathalie Mouli-nas Le Go. She works together with Joël Laugier and rides her own Lusitano stallion. The academy arranges shows and training, carriage driving, dinner-parties and festivi-ties. There are more and more barock riding events and competitions all around Central Europe, separate from conventional dressage competitions. The best barock >

Text SINI SEPPÄLÄ-VANHALA Photos PAULI VANHALA

horses are usually no warm-bloods but Iberian horses (Pura Raza Espanolas and Lusitanos), Lipizzaners, Knabstruppers, Frederiksborgers and Friesians.

The Iberian horse has been an essential part of the development of dressage. All the classical masters like Françoise Robichon de la Guérinière, Antoine de Pluvinel and François Baucher praised the intelligence and athleticism of the Iberian horse. Iberian horses are perfect for dressage because of their square body type, willing-ness and docile nature. A square horse has no problem collecting. “A big, rectangular warm-blood can have a beautiful extension and a good canter. But he is often not capable of having a brilliant passage or an elevated piaffe. His overall collection has nothing to do with the pictures of the founders of the art of dres-sage”, Joël Laugier says. When Joël Laugier throws a glimpse at the mirror, he could as well be looking at the historic mosaic on the wall: his horse looks the same. >

The key of dressage is harmony. But how often do you actually see this,minute after minute.

Above: Joël Laugi-er riding young Jalqueroso. Left: Nathalie Moulinas Le Go works with Joël Laugier and rides her own Lusitano stallion. Right: Joël Laugier and Ixaqueiro in a piaffe.

The key of dressage is harmony between horse and rider. Everyone knows that. But how often do you actually see this in reality, minute after minute, from an airy passage to perfect pirou-ettes? Watching Joël Laugier ride makes one easily speechless. Such effortlessness and elegance, such a relaxed and supple horse, such true art. “Horses are in my blood”, Joël Laugier smiles and points at his arm all the way from the shoulder to the tips of his fingers, slowly as if to emphasize how inevitably the timeless tradition continues and is transferred from teachers to pupils through the centuries. He is in no hurry when he is with his horses. Training involves no force. His horses master flying changes and Spanish walk wearing only a simple snafle. “A good saddle is vital. I use a Flexible Master System Trekker saddle on all my horses. It gives them true freedom of movement and the same saddle fits very different horse backs”, Joël Laugier says. Joël Laugier dismounts and gives Ix-aqueiro a refreshing shower under the dazzling sun of Provence. The stallion looks at him with his gentle eyes, manifesting the typical, honest and open look of the Iberian horse. Who could possibly imagine a more loyal companion?

Watching Joël Laugier ride makes one easily speechless. Such effortlessness and elegance.

Above: Teaching the piaffe to Jalqueroso.Right: Grooming Ixaqueiro.Middle: Jalqueroso showing the typical look of an Iberian horse: open and friendly.Far right: The work goes on.