For almost one hundred and fifty years, the Cadre Noir developed within the Cavalry School de Saumur, before being transferred to the newly created National Riding School in 1972. In 1972, the Cadre Noir separated from the École d’Application de l’arme blindée cavalerie. Leaving the Ministry of Defense for the Ministry of Youth and Sports, it joined the newly created National Riding School. He formed the “backbone” of the school. The school opened to civilian recruitment, and two women were soon wearing the black uniform. Favoring academic riding, he gradually made up half of the teaching staff at a school primarily geared towards training equestrian executives, but also teaching the three Olympic disciplines of driving, endurance, and acrobatics.
The origins of the Cadre Noir
In 1763, King Louis XV commissioned the Duc de Choiseul to reorganize the French cavalry. The “most beautiful school in the world” was built on the Chardonnet to house the officers and non-commissioned officers responsible for training the cavalry regiments. It remained in operation until 1788. Dissolved on the eve of the French Revolution, the school was reborn during the Restoration.
It comprised a military manège and an academic manège, where the principles of military equitation were taught. “Air relevés” were officially practiced. First introduced in the Middle Ages and continued under the Italian Renaissance, “school jumps” were used to decorate the choreography of carrousels. They were also used to prove the worth and solidity of riders in the saddle. The military origin of these movements is probable. In Saumur, school jumps were, and still are, practiced without stirrups.
The equestrians of the academic manège, forerunner of the Cadre Noir, immediately adopted the Versailles tradition. In 1828, at the first carrousel, the cadres presented Sauteurs and instructors. The latter wore the current “chapeau de manège”, the lampion or bicorne, but the outfit was not yet black. It would become so under the reign of Louis Philippe. The Cadre Noir was born, and from then on formed the cadre of riding instructors at the Cavalry School.
From 1840 onwards, the school saw a clash between two conceptions of academic equitation, that of Count d’Aure and that of Lrançois Baucher. The methods of d’Aure and Baucher, which were sometimes very different, gave rise to numerous violent polemics.
A pupil of both, General L’Hotte, one of the most brilliant equestrians of his time, enriched the French equestrian tradition by laying the foundations of the doctrine.
Cadre Noir presentations
Gradually, the squires opened to different equestrian disciplines, competing in dressage, jumping, and racing. This demonstrates the eclecticism and adaptability of this institution throughout its history.
Since its inception, the Cadre Noir has expressed its equestrian concepts through public presentations in France and abroad.
Cadre Noir presentations include the reprise de Manège, the reprise des “Sauteurs en liberté” and several other performances based on long rein exercises, obstacle work and more. The “reprise de Manège” includes both “basse école” and “haute école” work. In low schoolwork, the horse is exercised in all natural gaits, brought to the highest degree of regularity. In high school, the horse’s gaits take on a stylized form, as it gains gathering and impulsion.
The value of academic or artistic equitation lies less in the spectacular aspect of the movements than in the perfect lightness of the execution: the horse is light when it obeys the rider’s most discreet indications. “Impulsion, grace and lightness are the hallmarks of French equitation.
The Sauteurs reprise includes the low bow and croupade, which have retained their “Saumur” style, and the cabriole, which retains its classic style.
At the end of 1999, the names E.N.E. and Cadre Noir were superimposed, with the latter now forming the school’s entire teaching staff, all disciplines and specialties combined, i.e., some 45 equestrians. Military personnel still make up a third of the total.
The National Riding School in figures
- 200 staff, including 43 teachers;
- 400 horses housed in individual boxes;
- 20,000 training days per year;
- Over 50,000 visitors;
- 4 large stables;
- 6 riding arenas and 15 Olympic careers;
- almost 50 km of groomed trails;
- several hundred natural obstacles;
- a modern veterinary clinic;
- a fully equipped amphitheater;
- a modern media library.
The school also publishes its own magazine, Equitation, which serves as a forum for exchange and information on the sport and its teaching.
The missions and resources of the National Riding School
The E.N.E. works in liaison with the French Equestrian Federation and with the support of the National Studs and the Ministries of Defense and Agriculture.
It trains top equestrian executives. The teaching provided covers all equestrian disciplines, as well as general training. In conjunction with the University of Angers, the French Equestrian Federation, professional organizations, and other partners, it offers a wide range of courses and advanced training for French and foreign teachers and competitors. More than 25,000 training days are logged each year. Horses and riders at the school put their knowledge to good use in competition, from regional to international level. Finally, the school hosts or organizes numerous competitions, also at international level.
Studies and research are carried out in various technical, scientific and pedagogical fields, with the aim of improving the teaching of horse riding.
The research department’s best-known program is undoubtedly the “Persival” simulator, already on the market and the source of many derivative applications. The school also boasts a particularly extensive documentation center, which is increasingly accessible thanks to multimedia. As part of the National Riding School, the Cadre Noir continues its mission to train and dress French horses. Through its presentations and teaching, it expresses its ideas beyond our borders and contributes to the influence of French equitation. Built since 1974 in several stages, the school is located on two large plots of land totaling 300 hectares. The Terrefort site, where all the buildings are located, and the Verrie site, used for competitions and races.
The school can be visited by groups all year round and offers a full program of activities, contributing to the economic development of the Saumur area, particularly in terms of tourism.
Although reserved for training, the National Riding School magnificent facilities attract numerous operators who come to organize meetings and seminars.
Many people think that in Saumur, because of the public presentations of the Cadre Noir, the equestrians indulge in, or even confine themselves to, the discipline of Dressage. This is to forget that dressage in the generic sense of the term is a means to an end, not an end. The flexibility and muscle-building exercises described in all good riding manuals have but one aim: to make your horse easy and pleasant to ride (or drive, for those who prefer carriage driving).
Broadly speaking, there are two main European trends in dressage methods. These are wonderfully described in General Decarpentry’s analysis of Steinbrecht’s work, in the foreword to his “Gymnase du cheval”.
Dresser, as far as our classical French equitation is concerned, does not aim to give horses artificial attitudes and gaits. Rather, the aim is to achieve, through intelligent progression, horses that work in muscular harmony, are supple, easy to handle, receptive to indications from hands and legs, able to pick themselves up, rebalance, stop, set off again effortlessly, turn short until they pirouette. Finally, there’s an easy-to-read barometer: gait quality! The moment a horse’s gaits deteriorate, whether mounted or harnessed, we have proof that his training is wrong.
To find out more: Le Cadre Noir de Saumur
