"Michel Robert has no age. Michel Robert is simply Michel Robert."

This is how the equestrian press describes him: a rider who has competed at the highest level for over fifty years, from the 1972 Munich Olympics to Grand Prix victories in his seventies. With thirteen medals across Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships and a lifetime dedicated to the pursuit of perfect harmony between horse and human, he transcends age, statistics and conventional categories.

You become, simply, Michel Robert.

Born on December 24, 1948, in France, Michel's journey with horses began at age five. From that first ride, he understood that horses would be his life, his passion, his philosophyand his purpose. But the path he took was anything but conventional.

Michel's international career began in eventing. He competed at the highest level, representing France at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games and becoming French Eventing Champion in 1970. But after Munich, Michel made a decision that would define his career: he abandoned eventing.

He explains, "I had too much sensitivity for the horses. I felt that at that time, three-day eventing was very hard on themand for me it was no longer a pleasure."

His horse had been injured. The terrain was terrible, the obstacles dangerous, the conditions too extreme. Michel could not reconcile his love for horses with a sport that, at that time, demanded so much from them. So he walked away from eventing and dedicated himself exclusively to show jumping which, in the 1970s, was less physically demanding on horses.

It was a choice rooted in conscience. In respect. In the understanding that sport must never come at the expense of the horse's well-being.

And it was the beginning of a show jumping career that would span five decades and establish Michel Robert as one of the greatest riders in the history of the sport.

In 1982, just ten years after leaving eventing, Michel won team gold and individual bronze at the World Championships in Dublin riding Ideal de la Haye. Team bronze followed at the World Championships in Aachen (1986), team silver at the World Championships in The Hague (1994)and team bronze at the Olympic Games in Seoul (1988) with Lafayette and Barcelona (1992) with Nonix.

He competed in nine European Championships, from Hickstead (1983) to Madrid (2011), earning team silver in 2011 riding Kellemoi de Pepita, team silver in 2003 riding Galet d'Auzayand team silver in 1993 riding Sissi de la Lande, among other podium finishes.

He became French National Champion five times (1983, 1986, 1991, 1994, 2003, 2006). He won the prestigious Top Ten Final in 2008 and the Global Champions Tour in 2009. Over his career, he made 95 Nations Cup appearances, competing in the most important shows and against the best riders in the world.

Statistics, as Michel himself says, are only part of the story. "Medals? Yes, I've won enough. They're all in a box somewhere."

What matters more to Michel is the relationship with the horse. The pursuit of harmony. The constant search for perfection in understanding, communicationand partnership.

In October 2013, after 44 years of top-level competition, Michel announced his retirement from Grand Prix show jumping. He did not retire from horses. He shifted his focus to what had always been his deeper calling: training young horses, teaching ridersand sharing the knowledge accumulated over a lifetime of learning.

Today, from his stables in Moras (Isère, France), Michel devotes himself to developing competition horses, mentoring international ridersand passing on his philosophy through his Horse Academy platform, books, DVDs, clinicsand personal coaching.

And in 2019, at age 70, Michel won a 1.45m jump-off class at CSIO St. Gallen, one of the most prestigious five-star shows in the world, beating 67 competitors and posting the fastest time in a field of 20 jump-off qualifiers. Only two riders broke 40 seconds. Michel was one of them.

Because Michel Robert has no age. Michel Robert is simply Michel Robert.