« I’m proud to have done it. I didn’t resign for nothing. It is the culmination of two years of work. » For Mathéo Coiquaud, 22 years old, the gold medal, won in Lyon, in the final of the Best Apprentice of France “Riding Teacher” rewards the audacity he had in leaving the Saint-Maixent equestrian center -the School, in Deux-Sèvres, just a few weeks before the competition.
The company didn’t want to give him days for the final stage; he left with the approval of his parents, the young man’s first supporters. Obviously, this decision was a real driving force to give the best on June 7 and 8. A student at the La Salle Saint-Antoine training center in Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge, he was able to count on the support of the high school and his teachers, Alexis Vincent and Damien Dulac.
In the car, when we passed horses, he would say bito, bito
Mathéo Coiquaud’s passion for horses dates back to his very first months of existence, relates his father Vincent Coiquaud. In the family, no one practices horse riding but one image seems to seal the little boy’s destiny: the advertisement for the horse racing journal Bilto with Omar Sharif. Vincent Coiquaud delights in this little anecdote: “In the car, when we passed horses, he would say ‘bito, bito’.” It will take some time to decipher this enthusiasm.
Soon in Saumur
He was 3 years old when his parents put him on pony rides. Young Mathéo will then spend all his free time at the old Saintes equestrian center. “He was there from morning to evening,” his father remembers. Mathéo Coiquaud also goes to local centers, competes, and obtains a technological baccalaureate in the sciences and technologies of agronomy and life (Stav) at the Georges-Desclaude high school. He attempted, without conviction, a BTS in aquaculture on the island of Oléron but only followed the first year.
“At the same time as my BTS, I went to my equestrian center in La Broussardière, in Chaniers. Fanny [la propriétaire] offered me the job of being a horse riding instructor. » The idea appealed to him. The young man joined the Saint-Genis-de-Saintonge training center and discovered an interest in teaching young people. He gets attached to the riders he likes to see progress.
Studying to obtain a Professional Certificate in Youth, Popular Education and Sport (BPJEPS) with a horse riding option, he was offered the MAF competition by his teachers. The latter were well inspired since he won gold at the departmental level then at the regional level.
With the help of his teacher Damien Dulac, Mathéo Coiquaud intensified training and revisions to present himself in Lyon, more prepared than ever. “By resigning, I had more time to prepare it,” he analyzes. Educational test, analysis of sessions, knowledge of the horse, course simulation, grand oral… Mathéo Coiquaud overcame the obstacles one after the other.
And what’s next for him? She is heading to Saumur to obtain a state diploma in competitive coaching. With one requirement: “to go up a lot to be credible. »
