Philippe Karl on the Problems of Modern Dressage and the Essence of French Classical Riding

Bent Branderup has spent years looking into the historical roots of classical riding and adapting its traditions for training today, in what’s known as the Academic Art of Riding. From rediscovering the school halt, to riding on the square used by La Guérinière, Bent shares his experience and historical findings to help more riders achieve riding as an art. Bent Branderup is a Danish classical rider and the principal teacher of the Academic Art of Riding, which now has students and trainers a...

Master Trainer of the Academic Art of Riding Marius Schneider shares why he chose Academic Riding, why he finds groundwork and changing the horse’s frame so crucial in the horse’s training, and how he uses the airs above the ground to benefit the horse. Marius Schneider teaches the Academic Art of Riding extensively, sharing his passion both at his own stable Gestüt Moorhof in Germany, as well as internationally and online. His focus is on encouraging his students to foster a better relations...

Hélène Arianoff, a Belgian classical rider with over 60 years experience and longtime student of Nuno Oliveira, shares how to use the classical riding aids, and how she thinks modern dressage could return to classical riding principles. Having taught all over the world, Hélène Arianoff is dedicated to passing on the principles she learned with Nuno Oliveira, and helping riders achieve the same moments of unity with the horse that she experienced through his training. Having learned with Nuno ...

Sonja Weber, a classical rider and trainer with over 25 years of experience, shares how to keep the horse healthy long-term with classical dressage, through developing its carrying capacity. Passionate about sharing how training can be used to develop the horse’s body to support its health, she has written two books, and produced several films on how to use collection to build the horse’s thoracic sling muscles, and establish a healthy posture. Based in Germany, and originally from Aust...

Pureza Oliveira, daughter of the now legendary classical rider Nuno Oliveira, shares stories of her father as a rider, an artist, and how her own story and artistic journey developed, told through her experiences with her father. Having translated both the collected early and later writings of Nuno Oliveira for the first time into English, she continues to be an important representative of her father’s life and work, and can uniquely share what it was really like to grow up with him, and obse...