Quotes

Otto von Monteton: "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."

The Colonel Alois Podhajsky, the former longtime director of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, quoted "One can never, through vilence, cause the horse to perfect the manner in which it expresses its skill, but only by delicate coaxing and subtle demanding, between much praise and little punishment."

Egon von Neindorff said "Brutality begins where skill ends."

Major Balassa: "The horse accepts gentleness, he resists harshness, he obeys appropriate strictness."

Xenophon stated an accurate principle: If one induces the horse to assume that carriage, which it would adopt of its own accord when displaying its beauty, then one directs the horse to appear joyous and magnificent, proud and remarkable for having been ridden." Xenophon also said, "If the rider is not in harmony with the nature of the animal, then it will perform as a burden with no display of pleasure.

Rene Gogue quoted "Throughout the training of the adult horse, even when it reaches a higher level - maybe especially then, it is very beneficial to revisit elementary exercises frequently, especially cavaletti-work and jumping small fences."

A French rider, Francis Robichon de Le Gueriniere stated "Suppleness and lack of constraint are the prerequisites for voluntarily offered obedience, not for agonized subjection of the horse"

B.H.von Holleuffer: "The horse will always be the best teacher. Those who train and pay attention to what mistakes the horse makes will know what to work on.
"Therefore, one must be grateful for the horses' mistakes and resistances, and not get angry and punish them, but educate them.
Punishment is only rarely necessary."

Johann Wolfgang Goethe said, "Thou must learn the thoughts of the noble horse whom thou wouldst ride. Be not indiscreet in the demands, nor requiring him to perform indiscreetly. The horse is a wise animal. Let him show you the best and most natural way to accomplish a desired end."

Arthur Kottas von Heldenberg: "Take your time, but don't waste time."

For training young horses, another famous French equestrian, Antoine De La Baume Pluvinel, has said, "We shall take care not to vex the horse, or cause it to abandon its affable gracefulness in disgust. For this is like the fragrance blossoms, which never again returns once it has vanished."

Melissa Simms Quoted

"Dressage is more than just learning how to ride. Dressage is a way of life. As you learn more about horses ... and the beauty of creating something in a horse ... you find that this process becomes how you ask yourself about what is right and wrong in your own life. Because when you work with a horse, you are not just dealing with the problems in this horse , but also with the problems in your life. People grow through their riding. Or you don't grow. You have a choice, but the opportunity is there.
"I deal with hundreds of horses -- horses that have been handled correctly and incorrectly, all with different problems and talents. And I may not know anything about their histories, but I have to learn to understand them at that moment. With this creature we've chosen to confine, we have the responsibility to learn how to make its confinement as pleasant as possible. Not just tolerable, but pleasant, because he liked it when he was free, and he can only be beautiful when he likes where he lives and how he's being treated.

"Which is why I think everyone who rides has the responsibility to learn to ride at least to a certain level, so that the horse is comfortable carrying him around. A badly ridden horse is never a happy horse. Badly ridden horses develop problems they'd never develop in the wild. A poor-sitting rider or poorly-fitting equipment causes soundness problems. And even if the horse is so strong that it won't go lame, it will develop temperament problems.

"And handling on the ground is also a horse's environment. If a horse is being unfairly handled, or even brushed too hard, he'll react. If you go into a stable and see a horse that just stands in a corner, this is very uncharacteristic of natural horse behavior, because a horse in nature is totally interested in his life, and has to be to stay alive. You may have to remember, the animal has no say-so in what will happen to it; you're totally responsible for its well-being. And that's really how I see my duty with respect to dressage: to teach people how to make their horses' lives more comfortable.

"The horse must be allowed to be a horse and to develop its character. Correct dressage and correct handling develop the horse's character. They become perkier, and more confident in themselves. They stop shying because they feel confident in their world. And their bodies become more beautiful through correct dressage, and they live longer and healthier lives. We take away the horse's freedom, but we give something back. We develop the horse's mind."

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