What do you mean by french classical riding?
Short version:
VERY briefly, when I say “French Classical Riding” I mean this is a form of riding taught for centuries by French trainers, based in the lovely heart based feeling of French culture, which is both classically beautiful and truly beneficial for both the horse and the rider.
more about the method and its roots:
Classical Equitation can refer to many different approaches to the art of riding. When I speak of “French Classical Equitation” I’m speaking of a way of working horses that came from France and is not military in nature, unlike modern dressage and also unlike classical military riding.
Rather it is based in work with roots in antiquity that was developed in Italy during the Renaissance to a high art, and then brought to France in the 16th century. This work was created to support the well being of the horse so that your horse will be willing, able and ready to engage in any work needed when the call arises. The method is based in the development of a true connection between horse and rider.
The lineage I follow is called “Classical” for a bunch of etymological reasons too— the French methodology has ancient Greek (and pre-Greek) roots and has been practiced for thousands of years. It is based in the work of a documented lineage of authorities, masters that can be traced across time. It is recognizably beneficial to both participants (horse and rider), and has a quality to it that is transcendent— an observer doesn’t have to have expertise when they first see this work practiced well, and still if the work is well done the observer will experience a deeply good feeling about what they’re seeing. And finally, while being based in “feel” it can, nonetheless, consistently be taught through time-tested, horse and rider proven methods.
These are all definitions based in ideas found in English dictionaries to define “classical”.
The methodology is called “French” because the lineage of masters that we study came from France, and French culture with its sense of artistic expression, of joie de vivre and savoring life: you know, that special French je ne sais quoi is at the root of the work. Whereas most modern dressage (what you’ll see in competition) is based on German training, which comes from a very different culture.
French training finds what’s special and unique in each horse, and in each rider too.
This is a way of working with any horse, not just the elite or ‘bred to it’ breeds, and with any rider, not just the ones that appear on the cover of competition magazines. And it’s applicable to- well, almost- any discipline, including trail riding, jumping, hunting, working cattle, practicing dressage and more.
So… where did it come from?
The first references to the work in writing are from the Greek writer Xenophon, writing 300 years before the current era began. Xenophon references the written work of someone named Simon of Athens, but his work has been lost to time. Much earlier images from other cultures show horses who are presenting themselves in the posture of a horse that has been invited to explore their best balance, and that suggests that people were working horses this way before writing was common. Over time the work was developed by people around the Mediterranean basin, and the work of the Renaissance masters in Italy brought it to a high art. Trainers from Italy were brought to France by the reigning monarch, and the Golden Age of French Equitation began. As the horse’s use began to take a back seat to cars and other modes of transport, the training began to be a matter of sport and diversion instead of the reality of the old work, and as the German approach was more marketable, only a few trainers stayed with the French line. But… some did. And that lineage is what you’ll learn if you study with Mary Anne Campbell.
Equitation has always been driven by the forces that define the rider’s need for the horse. Military demands, the need to put meat on the table, herding and moving cattle, travel, and self expression have all been among the requirements that influenced training styles. The horse’s habitual posture, gait, and temperament all lent themselves— or did not lend themselves- to the work required. The trainer’s task was to help the horse to listen to the handler, and to carry itself and behave in ways that supported the work that it would be doing. A riding horse needed to calmly position itself to bear weight, a carriage or cart horse to lean into the traces, a racer needed to be flighty and on the forehand, a trail horse needed intelligence and a posture that lent itself to agility, a swordsman’s mount needed to be agile and comfortable on its haunches. There wasn’t “one right posture” but rather a sense of developing each horse’s athletic and intellectual and temperamental facility with the work they’d be asked to do.
Today the driving force guiding training is competition, and what makes a competitor successful is standing out in the eyes of the judge and the audience. Breeding is pushing the limits of the horse’s physical nature, the desire for flashiness is pushing the limits of the horse’s physical and temperamental nature, and the horse’s intellect is rarely even a consideration. Amateur riders read and watch short clips about ideas being pushed at them from all sides, and they don’t have the education or the resources to determine what makes sense and what’s just snake oil.
This makes for a pretty unhealthy situation for the horse in the modern world.
What is the alternative?
What training used to be was something very different, it was something tested in the real world, verified by tens of thousands of participants whose lives depended on well trained horses. This old way of working is still useful today: if you’re looking for a great riding horse, a wonderful trail horse, a delightful arena companion— this old French work brings you all of that. It also happens that this work done well develops horses that will exhibit beautifully in the various disciplines in competition, but the rider tends to begin to listen to their own heart, and to their horse’s response, as the only authority worth considering in the work they do together. Showing becomes something to do just for pleasure, not to prove anything. Takes the stress out of it and leaves just the fun!
And this offers the modern horse a truly healthy interaction with their human companions, healthy physically, mentally and emotionally.
In the Golden Age in France horses were trained for whatever application they seemed most suited to accomplish. Dressage - which is simply the French word for “Training” was the basic physical, emotional and mental therapy that helped calm the horse, develop its focus, and give it a healthy body that could move without impediment in any direction. And the rider as well.
That’s the French approach as I have learned it, and for me, this is riding the way I always imagined it could be. I would love to share it with you.