The Art Of…

Posts and Articles of topics related to the artistic aspect of horsemanship including Classical Dressage.

Equitation can have several meanings depending on your education background, from a competition style to principles to guide your approach to riding and training the horse.

What is Equitation?

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“Here should be inserted a word especially for equestrians, because the above truth, which is perfectly obvious to all other animal trainers and utilizers, most often seems to escape riders. At least, they generally behave as if they were unaware of it. Since they are in direct physical contact with the horse and communicate tactile sensations to it through the use of their muscles, they are easily taken in by the utterly false illusion (which is all the more convincing to them because it seems to be verified by certain superficial effects), that they act directly on the horse’s body through force, and thereby obtain a sort of mechanical response.”

Increasing the value of your horse doesn't just mean monetarily. Changing your view of what your horse is worth to you can change his value.

Learn What Your Horse Is Really Worth

Sometimes I worry I’m not doing enough with my horses. Like, “I don’t put enough training on them, which I really ought to do because it raises their market value.” Without training most horses are deemed at risk of the slaughter-house on the open market. Heck, even with training and championship titles any horse can face a bolt through the head.

Bettina Drummond was a long-time student of Classical Master Nuno Oliveira

Taking a Closer Look at Nuno Oliveira with Bettina Drummond

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Question: Do you know what Mr. Oliveira was seeking?

Answer: I think like all artists, an expression of self that isn’t selfish. I think because he stopped verbalizing it to himself, stopped being honest with himself, he lost the thread. He lost where he was going. But he never lost the desire to share with someone, which I find extraordinary in such a egocentric human being. He desperately wanted an audience. He wanted a private audience towards the end of his life. He wanted a really good horse and private students that would admire him. He never stopped riding, even when his body was giving out. Unfortunately, he could never become a coach. The only place to go when your body gives out is to be the teacher, the supportive coach. Why I thought he could do that for me when he couldn’t do it for his own son, I don’t know. But I had thought that it was going to evolve. I had to pick myself up when it didn’t happen.

Miniature pinto stallion standing in a grassy field; when equestrians listen to their horse their relationship can see great improvement.

Listening to Your Horse

Maybe I’m not being clear, but if time after time I’m being cut off, interrupted, my thoughts summarized incorrectly, then it is safe to assume the listener is no longer trying to listen. Of course at the pace our society moves who really has time to sit down and fully listen to another person…? Or do we and we’ve simply allowed ourselves to get caught up in a pace which requires us to constantly repeat ourselves?