Amazing grace

Humans and horses have always had a special relationship. Now, to explore this bond, Royal Salute Scotch Whisky has commissioned a series of short films focusing on the lives of two horsemen from very different worlds.

Facundo Pieres – one of the world’s greatest polo players – features alongside the ‘horse whisperer’ Jean-François Pignon in some extraordinary footage that gives a real insight into each man’s world. The first film in the series, entitled Stories of Power and Grace, opens with Pignon (pictured above) on a beach, training a white steed. As the horse rears, responding to the Frenchman’s body language and whip (which never actually makes contact with the animal), the mare walks briefly on her hind legs, before landing again calmly and nuzzling her owner.

‘My first memory of a horse was watching one running free, without reins, in a field,’ recalls Pignon. ‘I was with my father and he instructed me to stop it! I was nine at the time and small for my age. How could I stop a horse? Of course, what I didn’t know back then was that horses naturally respect humans.’

This understanding of their innate respect is shared by Pieres, who grew up, he says, ‘surrounded by beautiful horses’. As the camera follows the 10-goaler galloping along in slow motion, tapping a ball aloft, he is the very epitome of focus, control and balance. The footage is then slowed down still further, which serves to emphasise his skill and the calmness of the animal as he responds to his rider. ‘These horses are superbly trained and well looked after,’ the polo star acknowledges. ‘In close-up, you can see what athletes they are.’

As the winner of a number of Grand Slam titles and World Polo Tour Cups and, most significantly, the 2012 Argentinian Open (with his two brothers), he is used to working with the world’s fittest, most highly disciplined animals.

By contrast, as Pignon stands barefoot astride two horses, galloping without reins across a beach, the rulebook of human-equine relations seems to have been thrown out of the window. On a simple arm gesture, another three circle him with balletic poise, before lying down gracefully on their sides in the sand. It’s like watching a hypnotist, but without the chicanery. ‘I love my work so much – I still find it absolutely incredible,’ he smiles.

Given that Pignon’s calm, natural approach is juxtaposed in this film with the perfectionism of Pieres, it would be tempting to focus on the differences between the two. But, in fact, this little vignette serves rather to highlight what they have in common: an extraordinarily close relationship with their animals – which, as Pieres explains, works both ways.

‘When you’re with horses every day – riding them, touching them, learning how they move – you start to understand them,’ he explains. ‘It’s a two-way relationship. You’re not just barking orders. You’re responding to them, and they’re responding to you.’