Celebrating Six Years of Preserving and Promoting the Art of Classical Dressage....

ClassicalDressage.com was formed in 1998 by Dr. Thomas and Shana Ritter as a means to disseminate information on the heritage and tradition of classical horsemanship. It is our mission to preserve and promote the art, culture, and knowledge of KLASSISCHE REITKUNST (Classical Riding).

Classical Dressage was at its height in the Baroque era, when European aristocracy could devote their vast time and wealth to the endless pursuit of artistic equitation. Over the centuries since, classical dressage has entered a steady decline, and it is now in great risk of extinction. Most of the greatest masters of the art have died, many without leaving their legacy behind. The remaining living masters (Egon von Neindorff, Karl Mikolka) are aging and few in numbers. Time is of the essence!!! This is why it is crucial that, together, those of us who believe and value the classical principles, hold the torch alive and pass it along. Join us in this very important venture to preserve and promote the integrity of Classical Horsemanship.

"Just as experience dictates to the ballet teacher the length of time necessary to train his students, so the horse, too, needs time to mature into a great fourlegged dancer. This fact cannot be obliterated by seeming successes that supposedly prove the opposite.
"For, even if someone should succeed in training a horse to high school level by the age of eight, this individual occurrence cannot shake the foundations of the classical art of riding, if this dressage horse is completely unsound and unusable by the age of ten." - ALOIS PODHAJSKY

"A ruthlessly condensed training only leads to a general superficiality, to travesties of the movements, and to a premature unsoundness of the horse. Nature cannot be violated." - ALOIS PODHAJSKY

We invite you to join and participate in our Discussion Group: THE CLASSICALDRESSAGE GROUP. Full details are in the Discussion Groups secion.

ClassicalDressage.com is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the art of Classical Dressage.
Contact Us: Phone: 360.631.1102
Mailing Address: 1301 NE Highway 99W #272, McMinnville, Oregon 97128
Email Us... Shana Ritter at levade@classicaldressage.com or Thomas Ritter at drritter@earthlink.net
©1998-2005 ClassicalDressage.com     All Rights Reserved
Site Created November 11, 1998    Last Update: January 3, 2005

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