“You never cease to amaze me Craig. You are a generous giving teacher with immense compassion for the horse and endless patience for the rider. I treasure getting to learn from you.”

Kathleen, Atlanta

”I have found Craig's teaching has helped me to understand how I can fit power steering on my horse which is really important when I am 5' 6'' , And he is 17h1'' ! The seat training has completely changed the way I can sit and relax on the horse, and altogether riding is becoming a more relaxing and fun experience for both of us. I can heartily recommend this system for any rider.”
Penny, United Kingdom

“Working with Craig has given me a very direct way to link into what
to do with my horse to ask for specific results, and how to adjust
what I do based on the feedback I get from my horse. The most
important thing for me about this has been that I can ask more and
more gently without (ultimately) losing clarity, and in being ridden
more and more lightly my horse gives me back more and more lightness.”
Mark, United Kingdom

"NSAE has the best atmosphere anywhere...intelligent, artistic, and NOT competitive and catty. Nice happy horses, nice happy people, nice big library....I'm afraid you guys are going to have to tolerate my presence for years to come. :)"

Shelley, Seattle

"I can very highly recommend the school. Lovely, well trained horses, well maintained indoor facility, lots of friendly folk. Craig is a humorous, patient, and well-educated coach. He also practices what he preaches, and welcomes students to watch him work horses in training outside of lesson hours. For me, the value really came out of Craig's desire to create thinking riders who can problem solve on their own. For every exercise, he showed me how to test myself at home. I ride with too many people who can't ride without a coach watching them, it was a real breath of fresh air to run into someone who expects his students to experiment and work ongoingly without constant supervision. He allows the horses to come through as teachers. I don't have the means to ride with a coach very often, so I feel lucky to have found one that fits with what I'm
trying to do."
Jen, British Columbia

"My lessons at NSAE have been the best I have ever had and far exceeded my expectations.  In a relatively short time I have learned more about riding than I thought possible.  I also greatly appreciate all that Craig and the staff taught me about being safe around horses and what to do and not to do to avoid injury to myself and my horse.  You have a wonderful program a NSAE and I look forward to returning for lessons whenever I visit."

Kareen, Virginia

"I chose to ride with Craig Stevens over 5 years ago after I read an article he wrote in Flying Changes.  I felt that this was the kind of person with whom I wanted to ride.  I was 52 years old at the time and a retired physician so my expectations of excellence in training were quite high.  I can unequivocally state that Craig is one of the BEST teachers of ANYTHING I have ever had!  He has an unerring eye when watching his students and has an amazing ability to never repeat himself as he tries to get a point across.  He knows his subject so thoroughly that he can break down training into very tiny pieces and make it all make sense.  He showed amazing patience while we worked on deconstructing my previous riding experiences and helping me build a balanced seat.  He has also always remained true to one of the original philosophies that attracted me in the first place, that "this is a partnership with another sentient creature" who is much larger and faster than I could ever hope to be.  There cannot be force, it would be ridiculously counterproductive. For Craig, the emotional well being of the horse is paramount, all of our "moves" must be because the horse "chooses" to join us in them, NOT because we "make" him/her do so.  My learning experience  at NSAE has been a gloriously rich experience with moments of triumph, moments of frustration, and those rare and wonderful "AHA" moments.  The experience has required patience, a good work ethic, humility and a willingness to truly try to feel what my horse is saying to me.  In short, I love the whole process and plan to keep doing this until I'm 100!"

Suzanne, Mukilteo

“When I first met Craig, I didn’t know anything of what classical dressage was about. I understood that what Craig teaches was about lightness. What amazed me was that Craig actually, for the first time, gave me the theory of how the horse and the aids really work. I didn’t know there was that much detail to it, and I was amazed at how much there was to learn. It was a whole new world opening up for me…I have been riding with Craig for several years now (since 2001) and my riding has improved so much! I am doing things I honestly thought I would never achieve.”

Marie, Stockholm