Starting the Riding Journey the Classical Way

Learning how to ride is always an interesting journey. Most of the time, people start by jumping into the deep end, getting on a horse and learning the bare bones of communicating with a horse (kick to go, pull on the reins to stop, pull one rein to turn, etc.). Eventually, they’ll work on refinement, but then it often feels like an uphill battle, as the body has learned how to compensate rather crudely for a lack of balance while trying to control the horse at the same time. For some people, it leads to lifelong anxiety when sitting on a horse, while for others, it leads to a constant struggle to overcome some bad habit picked up along the way.

However, learning to ride the classical way is quite different. The entire philosophy looks at the end goal, evaluates where the rider (and horse) is at the moment, and then breaks down the steps for how to get there. The beginning is slow and methodical, waiting to achieve certain foundation principles before taking the next step. The end goal we’re looking at is a rider who appears to sit elegantly and hardly move while the horse does all kinds of things under them. What they’re actually doing is making subtle changes to their weight and position that mold the horse into the movement they’re asking for. The hand is secondary just to help the horse stay balanced and relaxed; 90% of the commands come from the seat and leg. This requires a lot of fine body control and balance.

So why start this way?

For one, it is a much safer approach to learning to ride. Princes learned to ride this way, and we know how important it is to keep the future king safe. By taking the time to develop balance and control methodically, there’s less chance for accidental kicks or cues that may make the horse react in a way that someone could fall. It also makes learning later a lot easier. Developing the correct muscle memory in the beginning means there’s less unlearning later, and riders can progress up the levels faster. Also, by putting a less experienced rider on a more experienced horse that can do the exercises with the help from a trainer, the rider gets a chance to feel how the horse should go, which makes learning how to cue the horse a lot easier. Most riders trying to learn the exercises have no idea how it should feel, which really puts them at a disadvantage.

Because classical riding is the foundation for basically all the other disciplines, it also can set riders up better to learn more disciplines more safely. Learning how to go over jumps after developing a baseline of solid balance and muscle memory is so much easier than trying to go over them while still learning to balance at the basic gaits. Even riders wanting to go western benefit, as they’ve learned to balance even on a horse that’s turning, sometimes quickly, so they can sit more easily on a strong cut or rollback. Mounted archers and jousters learn to balance and cue the horse without their hands so they’re more effective with their respective weapons. When we know a rider wants to work in another discipline, we can tailor the start to what they want to do (such as practicing a jumping seat or learning to neck-rein). For young students who don’t know what they want to do, the basic foundation will serve them anyway.

What does it look like?

The starting point is learning to balance on the horse so that the rider at least can stay secure in the saddle and out of the horse’s way. That first step can be on a real horse, or it can be on a simulator, like our beloved Equicizer “Maestro.” Maestro moves enough that you can basically feel how the horse’s body moves, but he doesn’t go anywhere. He also doesn’t mind less than elegant mounts or dismounts, flops from losing balance, etc. However, we also use horses that don’t mind those things all that much and are happy plodding on the end of a longe, travelling in a circle around the teacher. From here, the student learns to balance using their body using different exercises, similar to equestrian vaulting exercises. These exercises help the rider learn to use one part of their body without another getting in the way, what we call “independence of the seat.” When at a standstill, this is pretty straightforward, but then when you add the horse’s movement, it gets tricky, as the rider has to balance on a moving object. At the Spanish Riding School, this work was continued until the rider mastered all the exercises at walk, trot, and canter, with no stirrups and no hands. For most of our students, we work until the student is comfortable with the simpler exercises at the trot with no hands and no stirrups; by this point, they are balanced enough to stay out of the horse’s way but can stay on the horse if something happens. While this sounds simple enough, it is not easy. Certain riders struggle more and take more time: Children going through a lot of growth spurts find this to be challenging, as their bodies are constantly changing and are often not the same from week to week. Riders struggling with confidence can also take a lot of time to overcome their fears. It is also challenging for people coming back from a hiatus who used to ride horses with smaller movements, as their memory combined with the time off tend to exaggerate their perception of movement that is bigger than their old horses.

The next stage is twofold. One aspect is learning how to influence the horse, the other is learning to stay balanced during the more complicated movements. Which one becomes the focus is largely dependent on the rider’s skills and on their goals. Riders who want to at least be proficient in the basic movements of dressage (ie, the lateral/sideways movements and some of the “fancier” movements, like pirouettes and piaffe) tend to do better focusing on the second aspect of this stage before the first. Riders who just want basic proficiency in walk, trot, and canter so they can start jumping and other disciplines tend to prefer focusing on the first aspect. Even at the Spanish Riding School, the first aspect takes a slight focus over the second, with the ultimate test being whether the rider can actively ask for a canter-walk transition with no stirrups or reins. Traditionally, however, the second aspect was prioritized until a rider could sit a capriole (one of the airs above the ground). This was done with the rider sitting relatively passively while the trainer asked the horse for the movements in long reins or in-hand. Sadly, this has become extremely rare to see, and only a handful of trainers can do this. However, it is a method used here at TRSCH, even for young children. Once the rider has basic feel for how their body works during different movements, it’s easier for them to learn how to influence the horse through their seat, as the horse has shown them the feeling and position. For us, this stage is continued until the rider can ride the lateral movements at walk and trot, can canter some of the simpler exercises, and can ask for all of that with minimal support from the trainer.

Once the rider has gone through this next phase, they’re basically ready to start riding off the line or longe! Of course, this feels intimidating in the beginning, but the muscle memory is developed so the rider doesn’t have to work so hard to consciously remember all the physical elements. Now it’s time to learn timing as well as how to put all the “steps” they learned into an actual “dance” with their horse.

Good for riders of all levels

The cool thing is, any rider can go back through this process at any time! If a rider is more advanced, it’s never a bad idea to revisit any of these stages; even the top riders in the world (including Chief Riders of the Spanish Riding School) will go back on the longe or request support from a fellow trainer in long reins (when the option is available). The stages are also not entirely linear; lessons can become quite blended, and sometimes the rider prefers taking a step back for a little while. The rate of progression greatly varies too; everyone struggles in one area and excels in another. Riding is one of the most neurologically demanding sports, and neurological training (ie, developing muscle memory and coordination) is one of the hardest elements of any sport. So for riders who didn’t have the luxury of learning this way early on, it’s never too late to add in some of this training in their program. For those riders, it’s important to remember that retraining is so much harder than training a blank slate and therefore to have compassion for themselves. It’s easy to look and say, “I wish I had started this way,” or, “It’s too late for me; I have too many bad habits,” but those thought processes are only harmful. It’s better to say, “I’ve got some retraining to do, so I’m going to have to work harder than I would have if I started this way. But that’s okay; I’ll appreciate each goal I reach that much more.” Working harder to get somewhere makes the achievement so much more valuable than if it was easy.

So if you’re looking to start riding or to restart your training and want to do it where you have a more solid foundation to build on for either classical riding or even other sports, consider starting the classical way!