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Not the only horse whisperer |
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Tuesday, 08 July 2008 |
Dear French News,
“Horse sense” in the June issue implies that Jo Bond is the only horse whisperer in South-
West France and that France is light years behind the UK in adopting these ideas. This is
not true.
There are several internationally known horse whisperers, the majority in North
America. They all teach the same basic philosophy about the horse, although their methods
vary in details. Monty Roberts whom Jo Bond follows is but one of them.
In France, the best known is Pat Parelli, an American with a huge following in his native
country, in several European ones and in Australia. Parelli has toured France at several
occasions, performing to packed audiences. In the late 90s, an equestrian centre in the
Yvelines by Paris initiated a programme for French riders, with further training in the US, to
become accredited teachers of his Natural Horsemanship method. One of the first
‘graduates’ is already working in south-west France.
Sylvia Furrer has been running a successful training centre based on Parelli and
Australian methods since the mid 90s in the Haute-Loire, Elizabeth de Corbigny, a French
woman, teaches her own version of horse whispering in the Midi-Pyrénées, Frédéric Pignon
tours the country teaching his methods. Horse whispering is a regular feature of many
country horse shows and the French horse press has been carrying articles about “nouveaux
maîtres”, ie, horse whisperers, since the 90s.
Olympic level French riders and Cadre Noir riders in the French horse Mecca in Saumur
have worked with Parelli. The French Riding Federation has introduced ‘ethology’, horse
whispering methods, into the official riding teacher programme a few years ago. The method
is indeed well accepted in top riding circles.
The undersigned has seen horse whispering style methods introduced into German
speaking Europe and to Italy already in the late 80s, as a result of interest in Western style
riding. The rest of us are not as backwards as the British riders like to believe.
Aune Somersalmi
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