The «form weight» is an important indication for the condition of health and fitness. The horses are weighed regulary, above all before and after the race to get a additionally indication to the visible indication.

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The « fagot »: all big ones start small…

The schooling ring serves to school young horses. It gives the frame and encourages them to keep the perfect movement on a jump, even when they are tired. «A winning horse is not absolutely the best but the one who saved the most energy during the race and being the less tired in the end.»

The apprenticeship in the ring of some youngsters is rather short, while others need more time to get the assurance necessary to jump «outside».

The schooling ring gives also the opportunity for older, more experienced horses for a coming back after a long break or some gymnastic before the race. Nervous horses feel more secure and are calmer in this fencing. This helps them to settle.

Guillaume Macaire was the first trainer in France to buy a horse walker and to understand the benefits rater than it being a way of economizing staff.

The principle of the walker is simple; the horses exercise freely, muscularly and mentally, without the direct constraint of a rider. The horse can let off steam, recuperate, or warm up without the weight or intervention of a rider on his back and no contact of a riders hands on his mouth.

The two walkers are used daily for different purposes:

• for a horse who needs to warm up without weight on their back
• a horse who tends to need to find calmness with other horses or who needs to vent some energy to provide the level of concentration necessary to work out on the gallops
• a horse who is injured in the place of a saddle but is still in need of exercise
• a horse who has returned from the races and is in need of recuperating and relaxing their muscles and their mind

The equipment of the racecourse from Royan-La Palmyre grows and develops constantly. It has two canter tracks, several jump tracks and a schooling ring.

With the help of the trackworkers Guillaume Macaire changes the place of the steeple jumps from time to time. This is pretty exceptional!… This way he can adapt the order to the needs of a horse or a racetrack which is in the program.

Short lines with turns help for example a nervous horse to settle while another one - and the jockeys as well, needs to stay attentively for the different kind of jumps.

Guillaume Macaire gives his orders for the central "tower". This higher position allows him to observe the skills of every horse.

A new canter track is in construction where the racing chase used to be.