Western riding for everyone

Western-riding initiation workshops will be organised in Hall 5 throughout the show. These sessions will give traditional riders the opportunity to discover a different approach.

The workshops are run by Julien Sermet, whose stables are based in Isère (France). « By offering these initiation sessions, we want to promote western riding and show that it's accessible to everyone. It's all very well organising top-level competitions to showcase this type of riding, but they can make the discipline seem inaccessible, when in fact there are many clubs and teachers around to help people get started. Anyone can do western riding, whether they are 7 or 77 years old, experienced riders or beginners, or even disabled », explains Julien Sermet.

As he spoke, the teacher was standing in the centre of the arena, giving advice to three riders who were new to western riding. At the end of the session, all the riders managed to successfully complete the required exercises and were delighted with the experience of the workshop, as for example Abi, a "traditional" rider : « I really didn't have the same sensations as usual on horseback. For example, you leave the reins slack and pull them to make your horse move backwards. In fact, the reins and other riding aids are not used in the same way. It's different and it allows you to discover something new. When you've been riding for a long time, it enables you to take on another challenge. Even though here we were lucky enough to get a taste of the discipline from real master teachers, I think I'd really like to take up western riding! » So, who is up next?

Click here to get all the times for the western-riding initiation sessions