28/05/2025
I have just returned home from a lovely trip to the International Open Day for the Ecole de Legerete, to pay homage to Philippe Karl and High Noon in their last public performance. Philippe’s retirement, alongside the immense losses earlier this year of Bettina Drummond and Charles de Kunffy, prompted me to wonder about who the next masters will be. Who will carry the torch of Classical Excellence? Who will share the shining truth of Masters past? Who will inspire the next generation to do the same?
Often in life, we realize no one is coming to the rescue; we must chart our own course. Now, more than ever, the onus falls on us to demonstrate our own ethics in our horsemanship practice, and bravely for the public eye. Philippe in his speech to his teachers assembled in the audience, urged us to the fore: now is our time. It is not enough just to make cogent arguments: but into the fray. Show the work, to the best of our ability. If we are lucky, one day a student of ours will rise to the occasion, following the beauty that harmony and balance create, and perpetuate in turn.
While there are very few who we might consider Masters among us, there are many unwilling to compromise on the ethics of training which respects and honors the horse. As we take up the mantle, we lift the torch, and simultaneously the burden from the generation before. And the most beautiful thing happens: the truth has a way of rippling out, sparking curiosity and growth in ways we cannot even imagine.
A few years ago I sold a horse to a young girl, it was a big step up for her. He had many good qualities, but could be as anxious as he was talented and kind. She saw in him her hopes and dreams, and as she got to know him, he guided her training and together they forged a path of kindness, mutual trust and respect. Other young people at her barn took notice. They began to ask questions, to follow the training she was doing. One by one they took off their nosebands. Somewhere far away, young girls who I have never met, are practicing more ethical training, changing their own lives and the lives of their horses, all because some years back I began learning about and practicing Legerete. How many others might have shifted in their paths in ways we cannot imagine? And if this has happened from my work, imagine the reach someone like Philippe Karl has had - across continents, across time.
This is how change happens. Not only from inspiring demonstrations of mastery, as we saw from Philippe Karl and High Noon in their farewell performance this past weekend, but also from the ripples of many imperfect messengers, doing the best they can in their small corners of the world. Uncompromising in their ethics and standards, but contagious in their empathy and generosity. Imagine the combined effect, not just of the one bolt of lightening that is true mastery, but of a million far flung floating sparks, waiting to ignite.
