English riding

What is English riding, also known as classical riding?

Well, there are different styles of riding within the discipline of English riding.

Classical riding stretches back into antiquity, to classical Greece. 'Classical' was a term that was applied to different forms of art, and in a sense classical riding can be seen as an art form. 'Classical' as applied to ancient Greece meant working with nature, allowing grace, harmony and balance to flow through into riding.

Classical or English riding often conjures up images of the dressage horse, completing complicated maneuvers in a ring, under control and docile. We tend to think of English riding as stiff, unbending and controlled from the hand.

English riding, based on discipline, to many people does not seem to be compatable with a sense of working with nature, and creating a flow between horse and rider that makes perfect balance. This is because we are used to seeing riders using heavy handed aids to control their horses, emphasing an over-dependence on the hands rather than an understanding that control and balance come from the back of the horse.

While we tend to see English riding every day, performed way that is not so good, we seldem see at first hand those riders who are really good with horses using English riding styles. These riders work with rather than against the horse to maintain balance and control.

Watching a master of classical riding at work is a hundred miles away from the heaviness of a lesser rider. The experienced dressage rider has a stillness, and a sense of oneness with the horse, a perfect 'seat', neither too far forward or back. As Sylvia Loch puts it, they are 'plugged in' to their horse like a toy Americal Indian on a plastic horse. Their very skin moves with that of the horse.

Classical or English riding often has a reputation for being stiff, disciplined and over-controlled that is underserved. In the UK, most people are taught to ride by instuctors who have a grounding in classical riding because this is traditionally the way riding has been taught. Ways of learning move very slowly in the equestrian world, and most insructors will not have considered any other methods since the time they trained. And very few people learn to ride with a master. People who are really good with horses don't generally want to train novices to ride. But novices need very good teachers to become really good with horses!

English riding, when you see it done by a master, is much closer to western riding or natural horsemanship than is often recognised. It often suffers from being taught by people who have learnt the jargon, and can't step outside the parameters of it explain to novices what it really means, or what they should really be doing to ride well.

Both western riding and natural horsemanship are to a large extent uncluttered by jargon, and on the whole, its exponents make an effort to make it understandable to people with no previous experience.  Because of the influence of western riding, there is now more awareness of the need to explain in simple terms how to ride a horse.  Writers and teachers like Mary Wanless and Sylvia Loch have taken away some of the mystique of English riding, making it more accessable to eveyone.

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