5 Years of partnership with Alizée Froment

In 2014, my daughter came home with a DVD from the german fair "Hansepferd". Somehow she was holding Alizée Froment's horse there for a second and then immediately bought a DVD of Alizée. We watched the video together and were both enchanted by this "visibly invisible" connection between Alizée and Mistral, who playfully showed single changes on the circle line on a neck rope and immediately afterwards enjoyed the freedom of movement in the middle canter. I was so happy at that time that there was finally someone who could show the difficult lessons so well only with a neck rope and, I was sure about it, would awaken the dream in many riders to experience this with their horse. Maybe, I thought, one or the other who forces his horse to do these lessons would silently feel a little bit bad and rethink things.

Alizée Froment started riding at the age of two. As a young girl, Alizée competed successfully in pony shows up to the highest class. Since 2006 she has been competing internationally in the Grand Prix class with her Lusitanian stallion Mistral du Coussoul.

For Alizée, trust and harmony are the two most important prerequisites for good riding. Her performance of high lessons with only a neck rope made her famous.

"When I ride with a neck ring, I have the same requirements as with a bridle or double bridle. The horse should carry itself with a loose back. It is not the rider's hand that controls the horse, but the rider's seat, voice, belly and back muscles."

Since I saw Alizée riding completely bareback from time to time, I thought a riding pad might please her and offered her our very first LaBona model. She liked it and I was happy to see her and Mistral with it at shows and in training sessions every now and then - although Instagram was still very small at that time.

Over time, more and more small connections were made. Cheval Ami took over the exclusive rights to sell Equimero®'s award-winning Biothane products in France. Alizée, who was looking for a super-soft sidepull for her highly sensitive Mistral, had made a significant contribution to the conception of the successful Equitrense®. We organised clinics together in France...in real covid life, and online courses. And there is more to come...!

Behind what outwardly appears to be a partnership between a well-known rider and an online shop, a friendship has developed over the five years. Thank you Mistral, Thank you Mistral, Thank you Alizée !