Renaissance Man of Horsemanship
Readers of our magazines have become acquainted with the writings of JP Giacomini and it is time to introduce him more thoroughly to the equestrian world at large. In today’s overloaded horse training panorama, JP stands out as a “Renaissance Man” of modern horsemanship. He started riding by the “seat of his pants”, yet has studied various methods worldwide all his life and developed a very sound theoretical basis for his methodology. He has an extensive classical dressage background, yet he has applied it most successfully to the very competitive field of international Dressage, Eventing and Show-Jumping. His method has a definite European flair, yet he has adopted both Western and Native American approach when appropriate. His sessions radically improve the emotional behavior of his equine students, yet JP relentlessly works at enhancing the horses’ biomechanics, as often demonstrated by spectacularly improved soundness and performance. It can safely be said that “JP’s Essential Horsemanship”™ method is a fundamental paradigm shift that blends today’s Classical, Natural and Sporthorse training concepts…
…I spoke with numerous owners that had him “fix” their horses’ various problems; they think that the “man walks on air”, because they can see an immediate (and lasting) positive change every time. Above all, the horses JP works with are always happy at the end of the session. Now, THAT is the best testimonial a trainer can get! So I researched the matter of his career and wrote this piece as an introduction to JP’s newsletter series: “Ask the Horse Fixer”©, that appears in the pages of our magazines, as well as on-line on www.jpgiacomini.com
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Rahn: Why do people know you affectionately as “The Horse Fixer”?
JP: Above all the equestrian pursuits I have engaged in, my vocation is to search for training solutions. Over the years, I have been called on to fix problems by international competitors, show trainers and complete novices and I have been lucky enough to resolve some tricky cases. I never concern myself with the price of the horse or the status of the student: any problem is worth the time it takes to make the horse happy, the rider safe and the combination successful. Though dressage is my passion, I have helped owners with Eventers, Show-jumpers, Hunters, Driving horses, Reiners, Cutters, Western Pleasure and Stock horses, 3 gaited Saddlebreds, light shod Walkers, Arabians and Morgans and even miniatures, along with numerous pleasure horses whose only job is to be safe and love their owners.
R: How did you form your training philosophy?
JP: I benefited from two entirely different types of education. On the one hand, I received formal tuition, first in basic equitation through the French Cavalry system at my local riding club and later, in classical dressage with Master Nuno Oliveira in Lisbon and with Don Jose Athayde at the National Stud of Alter in Portugal. On the other hand, because the advice “by the book” often failed at correcting problems, I had to figure out on my own the intricacies of horse training by trial and error. I read a lot, including many books I didn’t agree with (I still read articles by most of my colleagues) and I observe all the riders I get to see, good or bad (I have learned just as much from the bad ones than the good ones). When I lived in England and was involved in the production of international FEI champions and coaching Olympic level riders, it gave me the opportunity to check the validity of my approach against the best in the world, which can be humbling indeed. This combination of formal and empirical experiences resulted in creating, little by little, a checklist of unalterable operating principles, that had to be applicable to every horse in order to be included in “the list”. One by one, I devised training tools to address specific issues of equine “genetic behavior” and biomechanics, some very simple to be used by amateurs, others more complex reserved for professionals. Eventually, a method emerged, applicable to all breeds of horses, all levels of riders and any type of problem, like the big picture of a puzzle appears when you have put enough pieces together. It boils down to a series of operating principles I named “JP’s Essential Horsemanship”™, because it is based on the core solutions horses and riders can’t survive successfully without. I will add that the application of this method to human relationships (emotional self-management, parenting, classroom teaching, business and personal relations) is fascinating. I am working on a leadership seminar program I am calling “The Centaur Solution”™, in honor of the Centaur Chiron of the Greek mythology who is credited with gifting medicine and philosophy to humans, through his student Hercules and other Greek heroes.
R: What do you see as the biggest problems of American
horsemanship?
JP: The first problem we face is the rapid disappearance of old fashioned riding schools where people could learn to ride on a variety of safe, trained horses before they decided to buy one. Training show horses for the exclusive sake of chasing ribbons is another great problem because it ruins a lot of horses early and does not create a long lasting motivation in riders. The newer concern is the rash of fashionable “gurus”, with great sounding theories that are often hard to prove practically. Riding teachers may need marketing, but they first should demonstrate real substance in their teaching material and their own performance. In order for horsemanship to be rewarding to horse and owner, riders need immediate, long lasting, practical solutions that improve safety and comfort for both parties and produce a higher level of performance in competitive sports. This beats the politically correct hogwash fare that cannot prevent them from being admitted to the emergency room much too frequently. Riders also need public validation, once in a while! I support horse showing when it is used as a test of one’s progress and horsemanship seminars when they are a genuine source of practical information. When either of those 2 venues becomes an isolated goal in themselves, the horse loses, the rider loses and horsemanship loses.
R: Isn’t there a big step from theory to results, particularly
in competition?
JP: Yes! Equestrian sports judged against a standard, like dressage, or against the clock, such as jumping, endurance or barrel racing, are based on performance. In International sports, the zero drug tolerance and veterinary check-ups, equalize the field even further. The horse’s eventual competitive success and longevity ONLY depends on the psychological and biomechanical correctness of his/her preparation. When the horse is not talented, or already confused by a previous rider, or the trainer is not experienced enough, a “holier than thou” riding philosophy can’t help the outcome. How can one resolve the difficulties that forestall the flourishing of the horse/human relationship? By using practical, small, immediate solutions. Training by philosophy alone only works for the watchers but not for the doers. Training by exclusively practicing the elected “performance” over and over, lames a lot of good horses. A better method is to aim at changing behavior AND movement by small steps any horse can understand and any student can recognize, each one checked against the Unquestionable Reference of Proven Equestrian Principles. Regardless of the horse or the trainer’s level of talent, this approach of small, attainable goals (forget perfection for now!) provides a trusted “road map”, the solid reference one needs when things get too confusing.
R: Why can trainers with vastly different techniques still be equally
successful?
JP: I have found that those apparent differences are in fact superficial. The great trainers generally agree with each other, regardless of their specialty, while the mediocre ones are busy stressing the uniqueness of their breed, discipline or technique of choice and “lose the forest for the trees”. There are no secrets to horse training: every guiding principle must be applied in every situation, either to prevent or cure problems, while the chosen techniques are personally suited to each trainer’s preference/ability and each horse’s individual need. Having visited many countries where I rode vastly different horses, I learned from classical dressage masters from Portugal, France and Germany, international jumping riders from England, eventers from everywhere, American cowboys and Australian horse breakers, to name a few. This lifelong observation taught me that the apparently innumerable ways to train a horse still boil down to universal principles (even when they are not explained as such), because they are mandated by the horse’s unique and constant nature.
R: Observers often comment about the rapidity of your results.
Do you get criticism for using shortcuts?
JP: I never miss ANY step in the training process, but I always try to find a shorter way to achieve them. So, what’s wrong with that type of shortcut? Horse training is “a long road that don’t turn” and we all need more effective ways to get it done, so horses do not spend endless years in the physically uncomfortable and emotionally insecure “not-yet-trained-horse limbo”. Even for the best trainer, the concept of “finishing a horse” (the only logical goal that a shortcut would theoretically make closer to reach) is just an abstract notion. As soon as a horse goes better, new training goals appear on the horizon and our pursuit of excellence never ends. Isn’t that the fun of it? In fact our quest eventually becomes longer by the very simple “rule of the diminishing return” we all discover sooner or later. “Shorcuts” is the name given to “progress” by the jealous people who don’t know the new “trick” yet. They use *time* as their big excuse for their lack of achievement: if a simple goal can’t be achieved in a short time, it can’t usually be achieved in a long time either! Once accepted by the mainstream (which always takes years!), the “short-cut” is renamed “classical tradition”. The list includes: the side-reins, invented by an unknown Iberian warrior 5 centuries B.C., the draw-reins and the shoulder-in, invented by William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle around 1630, the half-halt, invented by Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere around 1690; the lateral neck flexions, codified by Francois Baucher around 1850, etc. My Endotapping™ technique, invented around 1994, is hopefully next on the list of would-be classics!
R: How do you suggest amateur owners find their way in
the multitude of horsemanship clinicians competing for their dollar?
JP: When judging anyone else’s method, focus on the result you honestly see because no really bad method can produce a truly good result. Remember that what is acceptable/ understandable/ pleasurable to a horse is physically and emotionally different from what is okay for a human, so avoid anthropomorphism in your evaluation. Poor training philosophies fail because they are based on arbitrary judgment that ignores equine reality. Horses only truly understand how other dominant and/or friendly horses relate to them and that is how they can relate to humans. Their behavioral standard is marked by immediate, lifelong compliance to simple, reasonable and unmistakable requests. So, select teachers who produce results that are clearly visible and useful and do not request the reading of ‘chapter and verse’ to be understood.
Then evaluate how complete the method is. By that I mean: does it address the BODY, the MIND, the EMOTIONAL STATE of the horse and the PERFORMANCE you are interested in? Most methods I have observed has been marked by an “addiction” of the trainers for one single aspect of horsemanship or equine performance: the “speed” of the racehorse, the “cow” of the cutter, the “jump” of the hunter, the “respect” of the western horse, the “movement” of the dressage horse or the “stop” of the reiner. This focused approach is a strength because specialization can produce excellence. It is also a weakness because it often ignores the needs of the horse/rider combination as a whole.
R: What makes your approach fundamentally distinct from
the current fare of horsemanship advice?
JP: Respect for the horse’s long-term integrity, both physical and emotional, Practicality of the method, Realism of the training goals. Though I have to assume an unquestionable position of leadership with the horses, I pay the utmost attention to the roundness of their topline because it is the indispensable condition for carrying the weight of the rider without undue stress to the horse’s lower joints and tendons. When I analyze a new horse, I always try to simplify the diagnostic and be honest about the evaluation. In practical terms, and to make sense out of horse training, try starting a session by answering these questions: First, are you in the right emotional state to establish your AUTHORITY with enough COMPASSION? Is the horse WILLING to pay you attention/respect? Is he ROUNDED in his topline? READY to move on request? SYMMETRICAL in his actions & responses to rider’s demands? SELF-CARRYING and SELF PROPELLED (meaning that is enough energy and the balance to control it)? Are you equipped technically and emotionally to use RELAXATION to resolve the problem at hand? When asking this before each remedial session, the answer usually is: NOT ENOUGH (or not at all!). So prepare your work by improving your attitude and rehearsing your technique, then focus on the easiest aspect of the horse’s problem, choose a technique you can handle that fits the level of difficulty and use the “Essential Operating Principles” as your guideline. After the lesson, if the answer to the questions become YES, to ANY degree, the result IS valid, whatever anyone may think of the technique that was used. One may fail for not being in the right mood on a given day, but the SYSTEM must be always reliable. I have modeled my method for (re)patterning the behavior I am looking for on such a system and it has not yet failed me!
I always search for more effective ways to elicit the goodwill of the horse through the relaxation of every part of his body. As the source of physical harmony, relaxation is the best mean to improve performance and soundness. As peace of mind, it facilitates positive behavior modification, but it is also the best reward we can offer an animal whose survival is based on a constant awareness of danger real or potential. Working on relaxation FIRST facilitates the horse/human relationship because it provides a sense of safety, which is the indispensable condition of learning for the horse. It also provides the reliable roadmap that is the first prerequisite of the teaching ability of the rider. In short, if you want to be successful: choose techniques appropriate to your ability, question your own performance constantly, but rely on the simple, tested, unquestionable principles of the method and the horse’s performance will improve dramatically.
