French Classical Dressage

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

Do you spend more time dealing with an unhappy horse, than you do progressing in your training? Is your horse trying to tell you something's wrong? What if I told you that changing the way you use your aids and using them WAY less...

Could give you a happy, relaxed, light, uphill, and ROUND partner for dressage and jumping?
Yes!...even OTTBs. Especially, OTTBs!

WHAT MAKES FRENCH CLASSICAL DRESSAGE DIFFERENT?

Relaxation & Balance First

Impulsion is added gradually to every movement, but never at the expense of Relaxation, Balance, and Lightness.

Impulsion Is The Horse's Responsibility

We don't drive the horse into our hands with constant leg aids. We train the horse to maintain good impulsion on their own in exchange for not feeling the discomfort of constant leg aids.

Well-Rounded Atheletes

We train every horse to be a well-rounded athlete. Every horse should be confident and agile enough to ride outside of the arena and jump small jumps.

Release of The Rider's Aids

Constant use of layers of aids interrupts the horse's natural expressive movement and causes emotional tension & physical bracing. We use our aids to tell the horse what we want or to help them if they're having trouble... but never to hold the horse in position.

Self-Carriage

We release the aids when the horse is performing a movement well, and expect the horse to keep performing it well without anything more than the seat and weight aids. The horse experiences this freedom as a reward, and a horse who has learned to work in a constant state of "reward" is a happy, motivated horse!