Welcome to Galop 1
Galop 1 is the first of the seven rider Galops® — the riding grades of the Fédération Française d’Équitation (FFE), the French Equestrian Federation. It certifies that you can be around a pony safely, look after him on foot and in the stable, and take your first steps, trots and canter strides in the saddle.
Its official title sums it up: Becoming a rider. Once you have passed this Galop, you can approach a pony in the stable and when he is tied up, put on his headcollar, tie him up, brush him and lead him in hand. In the saddle, you mount from a mounting block, you walk on, halt and steer at walk, you rise to the trot in rhythm and you canter a few strides. You also know the safety rules, how horses behave, the names of their parts and their tack, their three gaits and their three basic coat colours.
It is the first Galop: no other is required before it. All you need is an FFE licence, which you take out through your club. And everything happens in the spirit of the FFE’s Rider’s Charter, set out on the next page.
How Galop 1 is assessed
Each Galop is made up of three modules. They are signed off by your instructor — a qualified coach who holds an examiner code issued by the FFE — either at an exam session or over the course of your lessons: this is called continuous assessment. The modules can be passed one at a time or all together.
| Module | What is assessed | For example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 — specific part | Riding, plus some of the care and knowledge that goes with it | Mounting from a block, rising trot, leading your pony in his bridle to the school, naming the parts of the saddle |
| 2 — common module A | Groundwork and care | Approaching your pony, putting on his headcollar, tying him up, brushing him, leading him in hand |
| 3 — common module B | Knowledge | How horses behave, their gaits and coat colours, the aids, safety, the club and the licence |
Modules 2 and 3 are common to every Galop 1: the rider’s Galop, but also, for example, the Galops for trail riding (Pleine Nature), driving (Meneur) and vaulting (Voltigeur). Once passed, they count for all of them. When all three modules are passed, Galop 1 is yours for good and appears on your licence. In the saddle, module 1 also includes a test course, described on the last page.
How to use these pages
- Read them in order the first time: they roughly follow a lesson at the club, from arriving at the stables to putting the tack away.
- Each page deals with one item of the programme. The Remember boxes give the essentials; the Safety boxes are not up for discussion.
- Read the plates with their numbered keys: cover up the names, then say them from memory. The last page brings together a summary sheet, a quiz and the list of everything you must be able to do.
- These pages prepare for and follow up your lessons; they replace neither your instructor nor the time you spend with the ponies.
Tip
Two tips to get ready
Go through the moves at every lesson, even when nobody asks you to: putting on the headcollar, tying the quick-release knot, leading in hand. And between lessons, practise the knot with a rope threaded through the back of a chair: on the day you have to tie it next to a pony, your hands will already know how.
A word from the instructor
Galop 1 tests your attention, not your courage. The ponies, incidentally, run the same test at every lesson — and they never announce it.
Contents
- 01WelcomeOverview
- 02Respecting the horseKnowledge
- 03Club, licence and FFEKnowledge
- 04SafetyKnowledge
- 05Understanding the horseKnowledge
- 06Approaching your ponyCaring for the horse
- 07Headcollar and knotCaring for the horse
- 08Brushing your ponyCaring for the horse
- 09Leading in handOn foot
- 10Parts of the horseKnowledge
- 11Basic coat coloursKnowledge
- 12The three gaitsKnowledge
- 13Mounting and dismountingIn the saddle
- 14The reins and the aidsIn the saddle
- 15Walk, rising trot, canterIn the saddle
- 16Saddle, bridle, tack roomCaring for the horse
- 17VocabularyKnowledge
- 18Revision and examRevision