The role of a supporting actor is to make the star shine. We reduced the supporting actor into a shadow, and a large number of comments emphasized Chazot’s beauty and charisma. He is indeed a gorgeous athlete. He is also more than a striking athlete. He does have elegance in his mind and his heart.  Birth gave him an athletic physique and a mind willing to evolve. His life started in a world of indecency, corruption, and greed. He was not a senator; he was a racehorse. Having grown too fast, he was 17 hands as a yearling, and he fell into incompetent hands who saw greater speed in his long legs. He did not understand that his back did not have the muscular power and coordination to elongate the stride and then repeat the stride at a greater frequency. Thinking like politicians, the owners confused bluff and reality. They saw the frame; the horse’s massive physique and their gluttony saw price money. They did not realize or wanted to recognize that between the starting gate and the finish line, there is an athletic performance demanding a powerful muscle development and sophisticated body coordination. The horse they forced to perform was not this horse, but this horse, skinny, tall, poorly developed.

They repeated traditional training techniques, like repeating the movements to educate the body. Of course, he did not gain speed but did not explore a better approach; they became angry because their bluff and incompetence did not generate money. They did not want to see the suffering because it would question their system, and Chazot revolted. He reared, ejected the jockey, and immediately concluded, “problem solved,” he reared over and over, ejecting all jockeys. As does today’s CD19 virus, Chazot exposed the failure of the system, but they were too corrupted or too stupid to take conscience that the problem was the system. 

Chazot came to us damaged, both mentally and physically. We did not perpetuate the cover-up injecting the joints. Instead, we identified and corrected the source of the kinematics abnormalities stressing the joints. We did not dominate his revolt using power; instead, we challenged his intelligence using science and respect. The beauty of the beauty is that the journey continually evolves. “Education is not something you can finish.” (Isaac Asimov) we can refine our riding far beyond the history book. We can correct kinematics inducing lameness. We can prevent abnormal stress, we can create a level of efficiency unknown from our predecessors, and the horse is comfortable working at this level of subtlety.

Science has evolved from muscles flexing and extending joints, which is taught in an anatomy course, to the understanding that most of the length change required for the work of locomotion, occurs not in the muscle fibers themselves but by elastic recoil of the associated tendons and muscles aponeurosis. The simplistic thought that muscles move joints supported the equitation of body parts, the aids. The more elaborated understanding that muscles maximize elastic energy of the tendons, fascia, aponeurosis, demanded an evolution form the equitation of body parts and gestures to the integrity of the rider’s physique communicating with the horse through subtly orchestrated nuances in muscle tone. Neurological studies demonstrated that if we are willing and concentrated enough, we have the capacity to replace the primitive gestures emphasized in traditional equitation, with sophisticated orchestration of our physique. Each cortical motor neuron influences only one muscle. This provides enormous freedom for the motor cortex to create any sort of movement and to individuate the contraction of particular muscles in a new way. “It is also what determines the capacity of modern dancers to create surprisingly novel motion and allows for the spectacular control of gymnasts, musicians, and surgeons.” (Scott Grafton, Physical Intelligence) Having been both a gymnast and a rider, I found the same need and ability to reach advanced body control. One does not prepare the other beside been athletically fit. The approach is different; the body control achieved through riding is unique in the sense that it is force management and mutual response. The need to go beyond what we think is possible. When we believe that we try, we don’t try, or we try to repeat the same thing. We try and indulge ourselves in finding an excuse. If we have the will, we can reach a sophistication that is beyond the norm.

The horse manages his own forces through muscle tone, tensegrity. If we tune our tensegrity to the horse’s tensegrity, we became capable of influencing how the horse manages forces. Complex? Yes, in fact, extraordinarily complex and extraordinarily fascinating. The beauty of the beauty is that we have, at the level of the motor cortex, the capacity to replace the gross gestures of traditional equitation with subtle orchestration of muscle tone. Instead of pulling and using half halts, our motor cortex has the freedom and the capacity to individuate the contraction of particular muscles in a new way. It demands practice and concentration and will, but if we want to meet the horse at his level of greatness, we have to raise our level.

Every picture and video of Chazot is on lose reins. We communicate through subtle nuances in muscle tone. He is home at this level of refinement. He is too sensitive and too intelligent for the equitation of the correct aids, and indeed, if the equitation were as dumb as obedience to the correct aids, I would have quit forty years ago.

Jean Luc Cornille