BRINGING THE ANCIENT ART OF EQUESTRIAN TRAINING INTO THE PRESENT DAY
What is Classical Dressage
People in New Zealand seem to think that Classical Dressage is a new style to hit the horse world, but in fact:
Xenophon was born 430 BC in Greece; it was he who wrote the earliest work on what to look for in the conformation and training of the horse for the Military.
The military trained their horses to perform movements while in battle to evade or attack the enemy. Dressage movements used today such as:
The piaffe movement, was used as a spring for sudden advance.
The pirouette was used to quickly turn away from or towards the enemy.
Canter flying changes would allow the horse to make switches easily throughout the many knights on the ground.
The Spanish Riding School in Vienna which is the most famous of the Classical Schools was founded in the sixteenth century and we are now in the 21st. So that makes it over 500 years old and they still today teach the same as they did when the school was first built.
The aim of Classical Dressage is to master the art of horsemanship by perfecting all the natural movements of the horse and reproducing them in the complete harmony with the rider.
I feel it is an honour for the horse to allow us upon their backs and to perform the things that we ask of them, but as man we think it is our right.
For centuries horses have been trained inhand within the classical schools of riding, yet today work inhand is often forgotten, set aside as unimportant, or thought to be too time-consuming by modern trainers. This is unfortunate because there is much to teach horses from the ground. What is Inhand?
People in New Zealand seem to think that Classical Dressage is a new style to hit the horse world, but in fact:
Xenophon was born 430 BC in Greece; it was he who wrote the earliest work on what to look for in the conformation and training of the horse for the Military.
The military trained their horses to perform movements while in battle to evade or attack the enemy. Dressage movements used today such as:
The piaffe movement, was used as a spring for sudden advance.
The pirouette was used to quickly turn away from or towards the enemy.
Canter flying changes would allow the horse to make switches easily throughout the many knights on the ground.
The Spanish Riding School in Vienna which is the most famous of the Classical Schools was founded in the sixteenth century and we are now in the 21st. So that makes it over 500 years old and they still today teach the same as they did when the school was first built.
The aim of Classical Dressage is to master the art of horsemanship by perfecting all the natural movements of the horse and reproducing them in the complete harmony with the rider.
I feel it is an honour for the horse to allow us upon their backs and to perform the things that we ask of them, but as man we think it is our right.
For centuries horses have been trained inhand within the classical schools of riding, yet today work inhand is often forgotten, set aside as unimportant, or thought to be too time-consuming by modern trainers. This is unfortunate because there is much to teach horses from the ground. What is Inhand?
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