Foundation Course in the UK

We are taking applications for Légèreté student teachers.
Auditions will follow application reviews.
 

The Foundation Instructor course will be taught by Master Teacher Catherine Marshall, who qualified as a Légèreté Instructor in 2014. In 2022 Philippe Karl asked her to join the Master Instructors, and she is now responsible for teaching the Foundation courses in the UK.

 

Catherine came to Légèreté from a background of competition riding. In her twenties she started importing, backing and selling horses from the Netherlands. It was during this period that she began to take an interest in various horsemanship techniques, and started to look for something that could bridge the gap between horsemanship and high school. Over the past 12 years she has developed a passion and deep understanding of Philippe Karl’s philosophy, having trained many different breeds of horse from basic groundwork to high school movements. Her teaching is enthusiastic, systematic and clear, and always with the deepest respect and love for your horse.

 

Foundation courses consist of 4 day clinics which take place 3 times a year – there are a total of 10 clinics altogether. Students will have 3 individual lessons per clinic, a group lesson, pedagogy and theory lectures.

After completing the basic training course of the Ecole de Légèreté, students must pass a rigorous exam before being awarded their licence.

Students will be judged on:

  • Their theoretical knowledge
  • Their competence with their own horse, both groundwork and under saddle
  • Their competence as a teacher

Exam requirements

In a normal basic training course with four-day clinics, the final exam can be attempted at the earliest on the 10th clinic and must be completed during the 16th clinic at the latest.

​For students who do their basic training in one of the advanced courses (with clinics lasting only three days), the final exam may be taken at the earliest on the 13th clinic; it must be completed on the 16th clinic at the latest. The possibility to have support from already licensed teachers between the clinics should compensate for the missing days.

​Each part of the exam can be tried three times in total. If a student fails any part on the third try, they have failed the entire exam.

​At the end of the second year of the basic training course, the students can present their horse in lunging and the in-hand programme (flexions, transitions, shoulder-in walk). If this presentation is successful, the student will get a first certificate. This certificate is necessary before going forward to the final exam.

​Final exam: The three parts (Foundation Level) or four parts (Level I or higher) can be taken separately, on different clinics, with the exception of the theory exam, which must be attempted together with whichever part of the exam the student chooses to take first.

​Exceptions to these rules must be approved by Philippe Karl and, where relevant, the master instructor holding the course.

​Foundation Level

Provided that lunging and work in hand have already succeeded.

Theory

  • Oral examination (30–45 min talk, with 30 min preparation time)

Practice

  • ​Riding:
    • Flexions in halt
    • Warm-up programme
    • Transitions (walk, trot, canter, rein back)
    • Lateral movements (in walk and trot)
    • Counter canter

Pedagogy

  • ​First lesson with an unknown horse and rider (diagnosis and setting up a training programme)

 

Please send your application which must include a CV, video of your riding, letter of motivation, photograph and completed questionnaire to Catherine Marshall:

catherine@whitesands-equestrian.co.uk

Each clinic is 600Euros. The venue is to be confirmed but will be a UK central location.


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