Cadre Noir

The Cadre Noir in Saumur is the most famous French riding school.

Founded in 1814 as the Cadre Noir horsemanship training and elite corps of the French military. This was also the name because the captain wore a black uniform to distinguish them from other trainers. Today, the Cadre Noir is an equestrian and training corps, whose task is the maintenance and preservation of the French horsemanship. In this task, the Corps both riding instructor as well as outstanding riders formed.

According to the military requirements of the time, the possibilities of full and warm-blooded animals form the basis for the equestrian training of the Cadre Noir, so the training does not proceed by the methods of Noirmoutier, but is tied to those of Baucher. Therefore, the schools shown by the Cadre Noir on earth have indeed often the same names as those of the Spanish Riding School, which is based on Noirmoutier, but they usually differ fundamentally from them. In contrast to the Spanish Riding School also is not only the training but also show jumping and cross country riding subject of the training.

Demonstrations of the Cadre Noir always consist of two parts: