That single act alone speaks more about respect, trust and partnership than anything else I have witnessed to date. Jean Marc Imbert of France, achieves this and much more. And he will soon be on our shores, the star of Cavalcade - Reins Of Fire.

People describe your communication with your horses as "telepathy"; how do you describe it?
People say this because they don’t understand what I do. For people it’s impossible to speak to horses like we speak to a dog. But for me it’s the same thing, I speak with the horse and with much training the horse does the work as if alone. In the Indian show for example, I can communicate everything and you don’t see or you don’t hear anything. The horse is very sensitive. For the people it looks like telepathy.

I have read that, in childhood, you stopped your formal riding lessons to study more fully the bond between man and horses. What was it that made you realise there was something more to communicating with horses than just "traditional" riding and training methods?
I didn’t like the traditional riding. I didn't like just doing circle-work and hearing somebody saying "change the place of your hands or your legs"... I think the horse, it isn’t a machine with buttons to control him.

What did you discover during that early time?
I discover the thinking of the horse, and that it was possible to do something without a bridle.

How did you feel about these discoveries?
I feel that it was more interesting to work in harmony with the horse.

Many people would feel that the level of communication you have with your horses is beyond their reach; do you feel that communication with horses is something anyone can learn?
I don’t know ... I think it’s normal communication, people think that we need a special language with the horses. I think no, it’s the same with all the animals and humans: the respect. Somebody who respects humans and animals, can learn the same communication. Pat Parelli says that we need to look like this at the horse and move like them. I think it’s a joke!

How did you progress from simply riding horses to creating such exciting equine theatrical shows?
I create this because at the beginning I worked alone with my horse, and now I know what the audience wants. They want to live a dream during and hour and a half, like a film as at the cinema. For this I work with many artists to create different shows. For example, I did a show "Widow in the magic country". It was a show with a princess and a dragon. The dragon, it's a horse with a costume who breathes fire. (There are some awesome photos of the performance here) This year, my new big show, is with a special intelligent car ( the name of the car is Gigi), that I control with a remote, and during the show a horse drives it and the car does many things (see photo here). My speciality is working free horses, but my first job it was electronic and informative. Now I use all my experience to do an original big show .

There must be an enormous level of physical fitness required; how often do you train?
At the same time as the training of the horses, I haven't more time!

Do you feel as though you have the best job in the world?
Yes, I think it's a very good job. But not easy, very hard sometimes. For example Normally, to do the Hungarian free poste like the poster of the show, I do this with my horses Santana and java, black and brown but after analysis Santana can't go in Australia. For this, since the 29 of June I'm training a new horse Yelo. I did for the first time a show the last weekend with this horse and it was very good. Now I have only one show in Switzerland to prepare this horse! but I think he'll be good. Only 3 month to replace my better horse, it's not a easy job! But sometimes it’s very very interesting and beautiful! Working with the horses, it's more easy than the people!

What is your favourite part of working with the horses?
If you want know what I prefer to do with my horses, it's to understand and develop the personality of the horses. I do many different shows, trick riding, many shows with bridle but I prefer free horses, the freedom ...

Is there anything else you would like to say?
I’m very happy to go to Australia. Since a long time I dream to go to your country, but I never think that would be possible one day with my horses. Today it's a dream which will be carried out.

Jean Marc Imbert will be in Australia as part of Cavalcade in November 2005. Some photos in this article have been take from Jean Marc's personal site (in French, but the photos are worth it!).