© 1999 - 2001 Sue Morris Morris |
This site was last updated on: 2 February, 2002
Classical Dressage Notebook |
Indeed it is extremely hard, if not impossible to learn to ride from a book if you're not aware of what your faults are in the first place. It's this acknowledgement of a problem that leads to better riding and performance. Are you stuck at Preliminary / Novice (training level) dressage? I bet it's not because your horse isn't capable of it. Is it the thought of all that trot work - sitting! Your horse can't counter-canter (why not!). Some of you may have trainers / instructors who spend a lot of time and frustration on your horse's problems, but how many of you have someone who tells you that the problem lies with you and can get you to make that,sometimes seemingly minor change that brings about an often amazing turnaround in your riding ? |
Nothing presented in these pages is new or revolutionary (although it may appear to be if you've never come across these concepts before!) It's not "My System Of Riding"; it is a system stretching back two and a half thousand years to Xenophon, who remarked that: "a man should not sit upon a horse as though he were on a chair, but as though he were standing upright with his legs apart." This legacy has been handed down the centuries through such Masters as Pluvinel, the Duke of Newcastle, de la Guérinière (upon whose works the SRS apply their riding), Seidler, Seeger, Steinbrecht, Seunig and the twentieth century Master Nuno Oliveira. (There are, of course, other Masters. I am not implying anything by not including them; their names will appear within these pages). I cannot add to what these Great Masters have already written; I can only humbly express my findings, of what they have already discovered, as I progress along my own path through the Dark Forest in search of the Enchanted Castle in its centre. I invite you to ride into The Forest and start that journey for yourself... |
© 1999 - 2001 Sue Morris Morris |
Posture & Flexibility |
Balance |
Classical: Something of established excellence, accepted as an ideal or able to serve as one, that which ajudged to be of lasting authority. Dressage: The execution by a trained horse of precision movements in response to barely perceptible signals from its rider. |
Many thanks to those who have supported this site at this location. I look forward to welcoming you again over at the new one... |
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It stands to reason that a trained horse is a safe horse, whether his job be dressage, show jumping, eventing, hunting or as a hack on our treacherous modern roads. But to become a trained horse he needs a trained rider. To become a trained rider often means taking a huge step backwards, reassessing everything you've been taught to date and becoming a beginner again. This is a very frightening thought for many people, but once you realise that you can stop and turn a horse without pulling on the reins and you become aware just how sensitive he is to movement; you then discover that the most difficult things are that: "Less is More" and "The hardest thing to do is Nothing" |
Some riders are fortunate to have found good, caring teachers who from the start have trained them in the virtues of a balanced seat, some riders are, through watching and reading beginning to realise that there is a better way; that you don't have to use force and strength to dominate the horse. That short cuts and "quick fixes" are exactly what they say they are. Classical riding doesn't rely on gimmicks or gadgets; it relies on the rider having a total understanding of the horse based on its psychology, physiology and biomechanics. |
Gustav Steinbrecht: "If the art were not so difficult we would have plenty of good riders and excellently ridden horses, but as it is the art requires, in addition to everything else, character traits that are not combined in everyone: inexhaustible patience, firm perseverence under stress, courage combined with quiet alertness. If the seed is present only a true, deep love for the horse can develop these character traits to the height that alone will lead to the goal." |
Although Methods may vary from horse to horse; Principles never do. |
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