Welcome to the AAoR school! Here you will join in the education of the horse according to the principles of the Academic Art of Riding. There are different sections with chapters about leading exercises, ground work, longeing and riding. In addition there are sections on pedagogy, body awareness , equipment etc. Now we begin! Join in!
You have a horse and want to start training it. Lovely! I hope you and your horse will become the best of friends and get much joy and happiness from each other. The first training you need to do is the one that a lot of people don´t think about, the one that should just work, the bringing up of the horse. Does your horse stand nicely next to you without stepping on you or pushing into you? Can you touch and brush your horse everywhere? Can you pick the hooves? Can your horse stand, both when tied and when loose? Can you walk away from your loose horse for a while without it running away? This is very neat when going to get your saddle. A young horse most people probably think it is obvious to bring up properly, but quite a few older horses weren´t brought up properly and could use a bit of education on this topic.
When your horse has had a basic upbringing it is time to start educating the horse. If it is a young horse you need to do short sessions, so it will not be mentally or physically exhausted. It is hard work to learn new things and strengthen the nerve patterns for new movements. A young horse session can be as short as 5 minutes in order to avoid mental exhaustion!
The goal of dressage is to obtain a strong, supple and well-balanced horse that has the strength to carry itself and its rider…
The goal of dressage is to obtain a strong, supple and well-balanced horse that has the strength to carry itself and its rider in a correct way, i.e. in a way that is not hurting the horse or the rider. This mean we have to do stelling and bending of the horse and work to make it straight, i.e. equally strong and supple in both sides. Do we need a dressage horse for the academic art of riding? The answer is no! The dressage is there for the horse, not the other way around. We want to strengthen the horse so it can carry the rider and this is something that any horse benefits from, perhaps especially those horses that for some reason have difficulties.
Now, let’s start the education! After the basic upbringing we start with leading exercises, ground work and longeing to teach the horse the aids and to strengthen it. When it is strong and supple and understands the aids it is time to sit up and start riding. Come on and join the AAoR school!