Kip Mistral

Cultivating legacy and posterity for classical traditions

Recent Posts

  • Bonding with Your Horse

     Bonding with Your Horse

  • The Horse We Have in Our Stable is the Horse We Make

     The Horse We Have in Our Stable is the Horse We Make

  • Sparkling Marie Antoinette: Irreverent Rider of Donkeys

     Sparkling Marie Antoinette: Irreverent Rider of Donkeys

  • The Vanishing Point of Lightness: Michel Henriquet on Equestrian Art

     The Vanishing Point of Lightness: Michel Henriquet on Equestrian Art

  • Music and Riding

     Music and Riding

  • Magnum Opus – Coming Q4/2024 & Q1-Q2/2025

     Magnum Opus – Coming Q4/2024 & Q1-Q2/2025

Bonding with Your Horse

Bonding with Your Horse

(© Kip Mistral 2026. Marc Chagall, Horsewoman on Red Horse 1966.)

I was asked to participate in a 2018 “roundup” titled “35 Equestrian Bloggers Teach You How to Bond with Your Horse” on the horsesandfoals.com website. The questions were:

1. How Do You Bond With Your Horse So That You Can Get Him/Her To Trust You?
2. What Is Your Best Tip For Bonding With A New Horse?

My contribution follows:

For me, the answer to both questions is the same…Take Time. Give Respect. Show Appreciation. Create Partnership. I love this quotation…

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The Horse We Have in Our Stable is the Horse We Make

The Horse We Have in Our Stable is the Horse We Make

(© Kip Mistral 2026. Portrait of his Arabian mare by The Marquis Mac Swiney of Mashanaglass.)

There is a six-year-old mare somewhere in America who does not know how to lead. She does not know how to load into a trailer, either.

Recently, a respected trainer was called to collect the mare and bring her back for training. The horse had been lovingly “raised” from a foal by her owner. But when the trainer arrived, she discovered something startling…the mare had never truly been educated at all. She could not be quietly led forward by a human being, nor persuaded to step calmly into a trailer. After considerable effort, the trainer finally had to give up and drive home without the horse.

This story is not remarkable because the owner was cruel. By all accounts, the mare was loved. It is remarkable because it reveals something profound about modern horsemanship. We are living in an age in which many riders have lost the idea of foundations.

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Sparkling Marie Antoinette: Irreverent Rider of Donkeys

[© 2026 Kip Mistral All Rights Reserved. Sketch of Young Marie Antoinette by Gabriel de Saint Aubin]

Artist Gabriel de Saint-Aubin captured her better than history ever did. In his quicksilver sketch, Marie Antoinette sits astride but turned in the saddle, glancing back over her shoulder as if the moment itself had surprised her. The lines tremble with movement. She is only five feet tall, her elegant little mount perhaps a Spanish jennet, yet unmistakably all horse: collected, light, and entirely attuned to her hand, ready to leap forward at her smallest whim.

It has always seemed to me that Marie Antoinette, born Archduchess of Austria and at age 14 married to Louis Auguste, Dauphin of France who would become King Louis XVI, is one of the misunderstood personalities of all time. To demonstrate, I’d like to write a little about her equestrian life which at one point in the young Dauphine’s world, became something of a story which should be remembered.

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The Vanishing Point of Lightness: Michel Henriquet on Equestrian Art

[Photo credit Frédéric Chéhu. Copyright 2005 Kip Mistral. Originally published in Equine Journal, October 2005]

Michel Henriquet on Equestrian Art:

The Vanishing Point of Lightness

In a day when classical dressage and competition dressage don’t always see eye to eye, Michel Henriquet still strives for the ultimate lightness in riding.
by Kip Mistral

“It is disappearing,” Michel Henriquet says quietly, looking across his dining table with a level expression that hints of sadness. It is the end of a day of talk about the rich history of “high” equitation in Europe. Pale mid-afternoon light filters through the ancient windows of Fief de la Panetière, the venerable 16th century house that he shares with his wife, Olympic and international Grand Prix champion Catherine Durand. The company has lingered long over the end of a superb luncheon while Henriquet speaks of the future of equestrian art.

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Music and Riding

Music and Riding

(Author unknown but believed to be an Australian who posted on an early website from 2002. Artist for the image also unknown; please advise if either are known.)

Music is often considered to be one of the highest art forms, due to its wholly abstract nature and yet uncanny ability to evoke emotions and feelings in the listener directly without the literal intervening use of words, paint or stone. It is that most intellectual of pursuits which demands the abeyance of the intellectual faculties for its enjoyment. This consideration of music is also due to its ephemerality; the moment a note sounds it is also disappearing into the abyss of silence which existed before it started, and which ultimately awaits every composition at its conclusion.

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