Thierry Lhermitte learned to ride as a child. Years later, he discovered ethological riding, a way of working based on the behavior of the horse. The rider observes the reactions of his mount and uses it to adjust his requests.
The actor trained until he obtained an instructor diploma. Today, he transmits this method during courses, where riders can work on communication with their horse on foot and in the saddle.
From Splendid to Dîner de cons, the roles that made Thierry Lhermitte known
Thierry Lhermitte met Michel Blanc, Gérard Jugnot and Christian Clavier at high school, he says in Psychologies. From this friendship was born the adventure of The Splendid. The troupe makes itself known at the café-theatre before bringing its characters to the screen. In Les Bronzés and Les Bronzés sont du ski, Lhermitte plays Popeye. He finds several members of the troupe in Santa Claus is trash.
Les Ripoux, An Indian in the City and Le Dîner de cons then installed him in comedies that went beyond the framework of the troupe. He also returns to the theater in a very different register with Fleurs de soleil, a one-off on stage adapted from the story by Simon Wiesenthal. Off set, he is also sponsor of the Foundation for Medical Research, for which he met researchers and reported on their work on France Inter.
Thierry Lhermitte, from rider to instructor
Lhermitte already recounted in Psychologies that he taught ethological horse riding. When he looked back on his career with the Republican Berry, he placed the discovery of the method around thirty years earlier. So he had been riding for a long time when he changed the way he worked with horses.
At Rio Javar, in Farges-Allichamps, he gave a course as part of a six-day course in September 2026. The center proposed to combine academic riding and observation of horse behavior, the specialty he came to teach.
In Psychologieshe compares the work of an actor, where he questions an intonation or a posture, to the questions he asks himself with horses. “Why doesn’t it always work as well? What did I do differently?“. This attention to his own gestures explains the place that the relationship between the rider and his mount takes in his story.
What the rider learns in ethological riding
The French Equestrian Federation presents this approach as an education method based on understanding horse behavior. Observation serves to adjust requests and make communication more readable for the animal. The rider also learns to work on foot, before finding some of these principles in the saddle.
The federation distinguishes several levels, called Knowledge. Their validation takes place through authorized establishments, with a qualified supervisor. The Rio Javar course combined this approach with classic horse riding, two ways of working that the organizer proposed to practice during the same week.
The work proposed depends on the level of the rider. The first Knowledge concerns understanding and approaching the animal. Progression then goes through communication on foot and in the saddle, to work on the lunge or in freedom and to refining requests when riding. Among the different equestrian disciplines, this method can therefore be practiced independently of a dressage or show jumping event.