Dedicated to the Preservation and Promotion
of Classical Dressage
Classical Dressage is an Endangered Legacy.
ClassicalDressage.com was formed in 1998 by Dr. Thomas and Shana Ritter as a means to disseminate information on the heritage and tradition of classical horsemanship. It is our mission to preserve and promote the art, culture, and knowledge of Classical Riding.
Classical Dressage was at its height in the Baroque era, when European aristocracy could devote their vast time and wealth to the endless pursuit of artistic equitation. Over the centuries since, classical dressage has entered a steady decline, and it is now in great risk of extinction. Most of the greatest masters of the art have died, many without leaving their legacy behind. The remaining living masters are aging and few in numbers. Time is of the essence!!! This is why it is crucial that, together, those of us who believe and value the classical principles, keep the torch alight and pass it along. Join us in this very important venture to preserve and promote the heritage of Classical Horsemanship.
"If we are serious in maintaining the equestrian art as a fine art and not let it be degraded to philistinism and puppetry, there is only one way: we must try to follow the old masters."
- G.Steinbrecht, 1884
"Feeling is everything. The Spanish Riding School has been going for 400 years. The old instructor teaches the young horse, and that horse when old and experienced teaches the young instructor. When the instructor is old he teaches another young horse, and so it goes on."
- F.Mairinger, 1983
"Unfortunately, there has been a regrettable neglect of the theoretical knowledge in the past decades; in all areas of equestrian sport, superficiality is increasing at a terrifying rate."
- A.Podhajsky, 1965
"Today, however, few riders know their horses and the causes of their behavior. Everything has become superficial nowadays, except technology. With machines the physical laws may not be disregarded as we often disregard the laws of nature with our animals. The well-founded doctrines of the old riding masters are frequently rejected today with the remark that these methods are old-fashioned and not applicable in our present times, which demand quick success. And what is the result of this fast training? The standard has declined until the once so beautiful movements have become caricatures of what they were. And yet a performance of the highest standards must be built up step by step and on a well-founded basis. I have learned by experience that today’s riders may indeed rely upon the teachings of our predecessors, for they are of invaluable help in the reasonable development of this sport. If a rider thinks that he has found a new method he may be sure that if it is any good he has come upon it by instinct or by chance and that it was practiced long ago by the old masters."
- A.Podhajsky
"A horsemanship from which artistic equitation has completely vanished cannot be rebuilt - thank God it has not come to that yet, but we are heading in that direction. The teachers of equestrian art would then be missing, and it takes generations to educate new ones. Equestrian art is too difficult. You cannot learn it on your own. Without a teacher who helps them over the hill, everybody only gets stuck."
- O.v.Monteton, 1877
"Brutality begins where skill ends."
- E.v.Neindorff, 1972
"In all Arts, the artist learns the technique, all the details of that technique, and now he makes his masterpiece which is the result of all that technique with love."
- N.Oliveira
"A ruthlessly condensed training only leads to a general superficiality, to travesties of the movements, and to a premature unsoundness of the horse. Nature cannot be violated."
- A.Podhajsky, 1965
"Since equestrian art is a mathematical science that is applied to a living organism, which will never change as long as the world exists, just as the foundations of mathematics do not change, there can be no new systems of equestrian art. Only art itself will always remain new and inexhaustible, because each horse is an original whose organism must be studied and then organized according to the unchangeable principles."
- O.v.Monteton, 1877
"For what the horse does under compulsion, as Simon also observes, is done without understanding; and there is no beauty in it either, any more than if one should whip and spur a dancer. There would be a great deal more ungracefulness than beauty in either a horse or a man that was so treated. No, he should show off all his finest and most brilliant performances willingly and at a mere sign."
- Xenophon, 4th Century B.C.
"Because, as a rule, the horse must take pleasure in his work. Otherwise, he and his rider will not be able to accomplish anything graceful."
- A.de Pluvinel , 1628
"It is art, not force, that should lead the horse towards the goal. Then, even a weaker rider will succeed."
- E.F.Seidler , 1837
"The horse’s beauty lies in his nobility, his grace, in his proud appearance, in the harmony of his movements, their brilliance, their energy. Equitation that is beautiful, delicate and tasteful, seeks the development of this beauty by relying on the very gifts of the horse and not by rendering them unnatural. It is nature that this equitation takes as guide and not the extraordinary or the eccentric that is sought."
- A.F.L’Hotte
"Theory instructs us that we should work from a foundation of sound principles, and these principles, rather than going against nature, must serve to perfect it with the aid of art."
- F.R.de la Gueriniere
"No-one will be able to train any horse completely, if he has not both, a precise understanding of their natural gaits, raising, advancing, and alighting of their legs, as well as a great knowledge of those that originate in art. It is a very general rule that art never contradict nature, but follow the latter and restore it to order."
- W.Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle
"Nature is the most important teacher. Its book is the most accurate, the wisest, the most useful to consult. From the effects found in its pages, we are led to the causes that engender them. Better than the most seductive theories, the most beautiful dissertations, the book of nature enlightens us and guides us in our practice."
- A.F.L’Hotte, 1895
"The quintessence of horsemanship is always to place the interest of the horse above all other considerations, in his training as well as in his care."
- Dr. Thomas Ritter
"Training a horse is above all feeling and trying, according to what you feel, to help the horse and not to force him."
- Nuno Oliveira
"A dressage training whose final result is not at the same time preservative has no raison d’être and ought not to be attempted at all."
- W.Seunig
"The whole world worships progress, and the word “outdated” suffices to put the best thing down. Our fast paced time cannot wait for anything. It builds houses that fall down even before someone has moved in. How can such a time be expected to spend two years on riding a horse through, and the word “sport” makes it entirely impossible. For the word “sport” implies the concept of amusement. Equestrian art, however, is a very serious, difficult pursuit, that is not at all suitable to entertain the ladies or other ignorant people in a way that dazzles the senses, and “amusement” is inextricably linked with “not being able to wait” in the human heart."
- O.v.Monteton, 1877
"An oversimplification at all costs, which ignores psychological and biological variables, would immediately rob the art of its soul and life’s essence and in a wider sense make the recently created term “dressage sport” a dreadful reality."
- W.Seunig, 1965
"One thing is for certain: where horses are pressured the most, the art of riding is the least at home."
- B.H.v.Holleuffer, 1896
"I do not subject the horse to a schedule concerning when he must be able to satisfy my demands. That depends on his forces and his age."
- Du Paty de Clam , 1777
"Bad impressions, caused by hurried training methods, oftentimes cannot be erased in months. With a few days of patience, they could have been avoided altogether."
- E.F.Seidler, 1837
"In training one always wants to go too fast. To arrive quickly, do not hurry, but be firmly assured of each step. Demand often; be content with little; reward a lot."
- F.de Kerbrech, 1891
"Just as experience dictates to the ballet teacher the length of time necessary to train his students, so the horse, too, needs time to mature into a great four legged dancer. This fact cannot be obliterated by seeming successes that supposedly prove the opposite. For, even if someone should succeed in training a horse to high school level by the age of eight, this individual occurrence cannot shake the foundations of the classical art of riding, if this dressage horse is completely unsound and unusable by the age of ten."
- A.Podhajsky, 1965
"I was also asked whether I was able with my method to perform many of the main movements of equestrian art on a green horse, as some equestrian celebrities. My answer has always been: no! Since these tricks can only be performed by the one person who is doing them; they are not based on any particular system. What benefit could they possibly have for rational equestrian art, as they are not executed in accordance with specific principles, but depend solely on the physical energy of the rider and the forceful usage of physical strength. The rider practices these tricks only to dazzle people who lack knowledge in true equestrian art. The horse who is subjected to such violence initially obeys the unexpected demands, but soon wisens up and realizes his innate strength, and uses it entirely to oppose the force by suddenly throwing his head, neck and body against it. One then wonders how the horse refuses to obey the rider in the simplest demands which it used to perform easily and willingly. Simply awakened from its surprise, it is now taking the initiative and remains resistant, perhaps forever."
- F.Baucher, 1884
"A horse, whose will has been broken by brute force and who is in a state of passive submission because of his ill-advised good nature, has lost any autonomy along with his spirit, and now expects the rider to dictate every step. It is easy to imagine the pathetic role such a horse, who has been reduced to working like a machine, an automaton, will play in a hunt field, and the embarrassing situations in which a rider can find himself who may be altogether innocent of his 'training'."
- W.Seunig, 1949
"The horse is the mirror of the rider; his character, his mood, his present frame of mind, his attitude towards his horse and the subject matter find their expression in the quality of the horse’s gait."
- Dr. Thomas Ritter
"Horse and rider should always be an aesthetic sight."
- A.Podhajsky, 1965
"What are two years in the realm of art? In such a short time you can at best open the door for the students and show them the vast realm of art, in order to awaken in them the desire and explain to them the formidable difficulty of how far and rough, but truly interesting, the road to art is."
- O.v.Monteton, 1877
"In order to control a living being, one has to learn to control oneself. Riding requires a good mood and calmness. A rider should never feel fear, impatience, or anger."
- U.Bürger, 1959
"Look for the best role models – those who are truly trained in accordance with the natural way of riding and who educate in accordance with these tried-and-tested rules. Love the horse and try to understand his nature so that he can trust you. Be happy about little progresses in yourself and in your horse, then you will achieve great things playfully."
- E.v.Neindorff
"Xenophon was the first one to claim that horses can become only more beautiful with correct training, never uglier. I would like to add to this that if the horse becomes uglier in the course of his work, it is the unmistakable proof of incorrect dressage training."
- A.Podhajsky, 1965
"So when he is induced by a man to assume all the airs and graces which he puts on of himself when he is showing off voluntarily, the result is a horse that likes to be ridden, that presents a magnificent sight, that looks alert, that is the observed of all observers."
- Xenophon, 4th cent. B.C
"Nothing is more harmful for equestrian art than that its results take so long to become visible and remain so hidden for the eye of the uneducated person."
- O.v.Monteton, 1877
"One should honestly answer the question: Which type of perfection are we looking for in horsemanship: a cold-hearted computer-like perfection that approaches the measurements and rules and regulations as closely as possible, which is manipulated until the last bit of individual personality has vanished; or that type of perfection that does justice first and foremost to the personality, even if little imperfections have to be accepted in favor of a harmonious aesthetic overall impression, because of the belief that man had better preserve the glory of creation instead of fumbling around with it until he has succeeded in making it disappear."
- K.Albrecht
"As horsemen we can disagree on the value, or lack thereof, of the equestrian competitions within the Olympic Games in general, and the “Grand Prix” in particular. Beside the huge advantage which these competitions entail for the idea of the horse, in front of the world as a token of world peace, there is an undeniable disadvantage. Those, who have the opportunity to take a backstage look at the so-called preparations for the Olympics, have to mourn the victims that a hasty dressage training with its excessive demands unnecessarily claims. A large percentage of the most wonderful equine material – I am using this industrial expression deliberately here – is broken before it had a chance to present itself in the full luster of a completed development."
- W.Seunig, 1949
"And the equestrian art cannot be maintained solely by holding horse shows, much less can it be brought to a higher stage that way. Due to the fact that, …, the number and difficulty of the movements to be ridden in dressage tests keeps going higher and higher, we have arrived at the point where decent riding suffers. In the equestrian competitions at the Olympics, haute école movements are already required in dressage although the majority of the riders and horses are not fully capable of even meeting the requirements for general riding. What is shown then is no longer equestrian art but tricks!"
- H.v.Heydebreck, 1935
"With the inclusion of exercises into the dressage competitions that used to be first and foremost training devices, like the lateral movements, walk pirouettes, or rein back, they lost much of their original meaning. Detached from the educational level of the horse, they are mostly “put on” the latter, and consequently, their execution does not harmonize with the overall gaits any more in many cases. Hence, not only their educational purpose is lost, but also their attractiveness for which they were included in the show program in the first place."
- K.Albrecht, 1983
"Dressage has now become an exclusive sport, and of course in sport there is no other practical way of measuring performances than in penalizing inaccuracy and faults. Artistic quality is too difficult to estimate objectively.
"Unfortunately, this system of judging has led some riders to resort to rough training methods and short-cuts which provoke resistance on the part of their horses. This explains why ludicrous parodies of the piaffe and passage are such frequent occurrences at Grand-Prix level; what is more deplorable is the infringement at that level of the most important preconditions of pliancy: impulsion, purity of the gaits, ease of movement, smoothness of the transitions.
"It should be noted that in the nineteenth century, connoisseurs were already starting to lament the decline of the art of horsemanship. Now that dressage has become a competitive sport, it has to be admitted that artistic quality has declined even more."
- U.Schramm, 1991
"We should be aware that, just like in show jumping, it is not at all the case that the true artist always wins, and that the winner of a dressage test is not necessarily an artist."
- U.Bürger, 1959
"The love for the subject matter - passion - is the soul of any talent, of any sustained excellence. However, any art is so difficult, its road to the goal is so thorny, so rocky and long, until one reaches the summit, that it does not open its gates to the disciple without serious studies, no matter how great the love may be. Nowadays people do not want to engage in this seriousness, this quiet studying. They do not even read a book on horsemanship. I have, therefore, little hope of being read. If I wanted to see this wish fulfilled that lies buried at the bottom of every ink pot and is waiting for its resurrection, I should have chosen a different title, such as: "On the Art of Winning", in order to be picked up by the equestrian world."
- O.v.Monteton, 1877
"However, the art of riding must not raise a slave. The means of dressage must not become a chain that the horse tries to break, wasting all of his energy. On the other hand, dressage should not put the horse to sleep and make it into a machine. What can the rider expect from such a monkey-grinder, other than that it plays the tunes that are on the cylinder? He must not be surprised if the monkey-grinder falls silent as soon as he stops turning the cylinder, and if the whole harmony changes into discord, if one cog is missing.
Again, the rider must always try to form a companion through the dressage training, and must not degrade the noblest animal of creation either to a slave or to a machine!"
- F.v.Krane, 1856
"This implies that equestrian art is not determined by the degree of difficulty of certain measures, but exclusively by the degree of harmony between rider and horse and its visible expression. In one word, the same beauty with which every foal in the pasture captures the observer should characterize an equestrian performance, regardless on what level. Equestrian art is therefore inextricably linked to the rider’s skills and has nothing to do with the horse’s training level. The presence or absence of the rider’s artistic touch will have to be recognizable on all training levels."
- K.Albrecht
