IF “Cavalia” sounds suspiciously like Cirque du Soleil, it’s no wonder: From 1985 to 1990, artistic director Normand Latourelle was one of Cirque’s principal figures, helping turn it from a small amateur circus into a worldwide entertainment juggernaut.

He said he created “Cavalia” when a horse in one of his productions once stole the show.

A nonrider himself — “I never rode, not even a pony” — the 54-year-old French Canadian says it’s the animals themselves that determine the action.

“We take what they do naturally and try to put the emphasis on that,” he explains. “We don’t really teach new movements or new ways of being. We use the way they are and just push it a little bit further.”

There are 60 horses in all, from which 40 are drawn for each particular show. And while there’s some shoveling off to be done, it’s not as much as you’d think:

“They get a shower every day,” he says of the horses, “and a lot of them like to poop when they’re in the shower. Don’t ask me why.”