Can Dressage Quotes teach you Classical Riding?

Definitely. Why re-invent the wheel by trying to discover it all by yourself, even with the help of your trainer, when obvious solutions to common riding and training problems have already all been described in the finest detail four hundred years ago? In essence, the horse hasn't changed in the last thousand years. Those solutions are as valid and useful now as they were then.

Shortcuts for busy riders

Equestrian quotes is the perfect shortcut for today's busy but focussed rider. We have all been advised to read the old masters: La Guerinière, Pluvinel, L'Hotte, Newcastle, Oliveira etc. etc. But who has got the time to plough through these heavy volumes of wisdom with a household, full-time job, three kids, two dogs and a horse(s) to look after?

This is where horse quotes come in. Of course, there is always a danger that the meaning can change if a quote is taken out of context. But if these quotes are carefully selected by someone who is familiar with the subject and has read the original works in the language they were written in many years ago, then a single quote can have the teaching power of a whole chapter in an ancient tome. Equestrian quotes are the perfect solution for today's busy but thinking rider. Clear, concise and accurate snippets of information in bite-sized portions is exactly what we need. The fact that these snippets are now also available in easy-listening mp3 form makes discovering the old masters even easier – you can listen to them while driving to your riding lesson to get you into riding frame of mind and focus your concentration on the adventure ahead.

Just imagine how impressed your trainer and fellow-riders will be if you can dish up a spot-on quote from a famous classical master during your lesson! Even more importantly, imagine how powerful an asset such a quote can be if it helps you understand an elusive concept that you have been trying to master for weeks? I bet you'll never forget it ever again, no matter how much trouble you usually have to memorise shopping lists etc.

Shoulder-in and La Guerinière

Sound far-fetched? Take a look at this quote about shoulder-in:"In the first place, the exercise supples the shoulders, because the inside foreleg, crossing with each step the horse takes in this position in front of the outside leg and coming to rest on its other side, and in the same track, obliges the shoulder to follow that motion and activates the muscles of that part, which is already apparent.

The shoulder-in prepares a horse to be put on its haunches, because with each step taken in this posture it carries the inside hind leg forwards under the belly and brings it over to the outside hind leg, which it can do only by lowering the haunch: it is thus always on one haunch in one direction, and on the other haunch in the other direction, and learns in consequence to bend its hocks under itself; this is what is called being on the haunches."

Not bad, is it? Probably as good an explanation of the mechanics and benefits of shoulder-in as I've ever heard. And you know who said that? It was La Guerinière, the first serious promoter of shoulder-in and father of French Classical Riding. And he worked it all out in the early eighteenth century, three hundred years ago.

Equestrian Quotes and NLP

To get maximum value from a quote like this, I use all the NLP (Neuro-linguistic-progamming) power-learning-tools that I can think of. NLP is a very effective system if you want to master riding theory quickly and efficiently because you don't have hours to sit behind a desk and waste time that you could have spent riding. Some of the simplest but most effective methods include:

* Listening to the quote in MP3 form while doing something else, like cleaning tack

* Visualising a quote like the one above to literally see the horse performing the movement in your mind's eye. Then, to super-charge the effect, add sensation to visualisation: Imagine how it would feel to do each movement sitting in the saddle

* Writing down the week's quote on a sticky and place it in a prominent position: on the bathroom mirror, on the fridge, on your computer screen

* Discussing it with anyone with-in hearing distance that is willing to listen and comment

There are several even more potent NLP techniques to discover and implement to save time and learn effortlessly. And loads more horse riding quotes from every-day people who struggled with and solved exactly the same problems as you are struggling with now. So why not allow equestrian quotes to enrich your riding experience?

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