Ekidemy

At Galop 7 you are no longer asked simply to ride well, but to manage your horse’s work: put it on the bit in all three gaits, stretch it long and low, bend it, lengthen and shorten its stride, warm it up as your instructor directs and ride it in a double bridle; on the ground, lunge it in a training aid and work it on long reins. You can also judge a horse — its conformation, its identity, its ration — like a good yard manager. And a door opens: Galop 7 is the level the FFE’s rules generally require to compete in the Amateur division, the rung above club competition.

What Galop 7 builds on

Everything rests on Galop 6: bend on large curves, working on the bit with impulsion, counter-canter, training aids for ridden work, the lunge and long reins. These now become tools you link together and measure out; these pages recall each in a sentence, without teaching it again.

How the exam works

Galop 7 brings together a specific part, module 1, and a common part shared by every Galop 7, modules 2 and 3. It is awarded once all three modules are passed; a common module you have passed stays passed.

• Module 1

  Specific part

  The flatwork everyone rides, then the test for the option you chose. Add to that the double bridle, shoulder-in and straightness.

• Module 2

  Groundwork and care

  Lunging a horse in a training aid, long-reining from the side or from behind, basic acceptance of the bit in hand, polo bandages.

• Module 3

  Knowledge

  Conformation, identification and the passport, travelling horses, rationing, feed names, training aids on the lunge.

An equivalent Pony class may replace the Club test. Your instructor chooses the form of assessment, an exam session or continuous assessment; for a session, the FFE recommends a panel of at least two examiners, one of them from outside the club. A hat is compulsory in the saddle, a body protector across country. Under 18, module 1 can only be passed once Galop 6 has been gained in full.

How to use these pages

The pages follow the programme: the knowledge of module 3, groundwork and care, the double bridle, shoulder-in and straightness, then ridden work and the three options. Read yours in detail and skim the others: a dressage rider gains from understanding a stride plan, a cross-country rider from knowing what a straight horse is. The last page gathers a summary sheet, a quiz and a checklist.