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3 new VHS cassettes

UNE NOUVELLE ÉQUITATION
(New Horsemanship)

A VHS cassette presenting Jean-Marc Imbert and his methods of horsemanship based on communication with the horse. We discover new techniques that allow us to acheive many different exercises with a horse, without any constraint.

FROM THE TECHNIQUE TO THE ART
In this new cassette, Jean-Marc Imbert simply explains how to listen to you horse, to observe and understand the animal in order to teach him all the codes of natural riding.
ON STAGE

In this film, Jean-Marc Imbert brings you both on stage and back-stage of his shows throughout Europe.

During the voyage, you will witness in entirety his two main numbers, the Indian and the Banjo.

The cassette is available from Jean-Marc Imbert.
To contact
Jean-Marc Imbert

photo © Eric Jourdan

Jean-Marc Imbert and Nikito
photo © Joël Smolsky
Jean-Marc on Internet
Visit the Official site

In France and in Europe, Jean-Marc Imbert and Nikito, a 16 year-old Criollo gelding, present a show rich in emotions: The Indian.

It is the occasion to appreciate a different kind of horsemanship, without any constraint, based on communication with the horse. Jean-Marc and Nikito seem to communicate by telepathy. In fact, Jean-Marc rides without bridle or saddle! He manages to control the horse without his hands, thanks to his posture, his legs and his voice.

A whisperer in his way

Of course, Jean-Marc heard about the new masters, Pat Parelli, Klaus-Ferdinand Hempfling or Linda Tellington-Jones, who try to initiate a new, natural way of riding.

However, he doesn't pretend to be part of that circle and found his methods alone. He explains his exceptional complicity with horses...

I'm very rigorous in my work and I always want the horse to give me what I want of its own free will. I refuse to extract it and reach my goals by force.

If Jean-Marc Imbert is not one of these new masters we talk so much about, his method certainly deserves our admiration.

Nikito's weak point

With Nikito, everything went well from the beginning. Of course, it hasn't always been easy, because his highness didn't always want to work... But Nikito has a little weakness that always makes him easy: gluttony !

He only thinks about eating. At night when the horses come in from the paddock to go to their box, they are usually calm. Except him; he is in such a hurry to eat that he would probably step on me if I didn't watch out! He would do anything for a carot... I use that to make him work while I'm on foot; because in that moment, I don't have any power over him and he can do whatever he wants to. So, I must appeal to more traditional training methods than usual !

A perfect complicity

At first sight, it seems impossible. Nevertheless...

photo © Annette SoumillardA horse that has a bit in his mouth only worries about the metal bar that bothers him. If we take it off, he's more attentive to the rider's legs. And when we only have the legs to control, we learn to give much more subtle orders. Each contact has a meaning...

For instance, to make Nikito start, I squeeze my legs relaxing the pressure from time to time in small movements. Whereas, to stop him, I press my legs constantly. And to make him go forward, I use a new, stronger pressure.

Now, we are no longer surprised when we see Jean-Marc riding backwards...

However, it's a lot of work. The aids are inverted, the legs are not exactly in the same position any more... Once more, you have to learn everything. But there's no secret, you have to work.

 

Every day, Jean-Marc and his horses practice for almost two hours.

In the beginning, I thought I was very lucky to have found a horse that accepted being ridden without a bridle. Later, I was able to do the same things I had achived with Nikito with other horses. I understood then that I had invented a new way of communicating with them.

Jean-Marc, a bit of a dreamer, adds :

Everyday I learn something new, and at the same time I realize how much I still have to learn and how many possibilities exist with this way of horse riding. It gives me many ideas for my shows.

Adapted from the video cassette of Jean-Marc Imbert
and Cheval Star magazine, Stéphanie Frank.

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