Cavalli Connections » The lifelong pursuit of classical riding.

Quotes

“The horse knows how to be a horse if we will leave him alone…but the riders don’t know how to ride. What we should be doing is creating riders and that takes care of the horse immediately.” ~ Charles de Kunffy

“A good rider can hear his horse speak to him. A great rider can hear his horse whisper.” ~ Author Unknown

“At its finest, rider and horse are joined not by tack, but by trust. Each is totally reliant upon the other. Each is the selfless guardian of the other’s very well-being.” ~ Author Unknown

“The horse you get off is not the same as the horse you got on. It is your job as a rider to ensure that as often as possible, the change is for the better.” ~ Author Unknown

“Training a horse is above all feeling and trying, according to what you feel, to help the horse and not to force him.” ~ Nuno Oliveira

“It is rare to see a rider who is truly passionate about the horse and his training, taking a profound interest in dressage with self-abnegation, and making this extraordinary subtle work one of the dominant motivations of his life.” ~ Nuno Oliveira

“For the young, the practice of equitation is a valuable lesson, as it requires the exercise of all human virtue. If they are introduced to the practice of riding by understanding and patient teachers, then they too will develop these traits. The young rider grows to realize the horse is a partner rather than a slave who also deserves love and understanding.” ~ Nuno Oliveira

“A horse will never tire of a rider who possesses both tact and sensitivity because he will never be pushed beyond his possibilities.” ~ Nuno Oliveira

“If your horse says no you either asked the wrong question or you asked the question wrong.” ~ Pat Parelli

“The horse and rider must be good craftsmen before becoming artists.” ~ K. A. Von Ziegner

“Bad impressions, caused by hurried training methods, oftentimes cannot be erased in months. With a few days of patience, they could have been avoided altogether.” ~ E.F.Seidler

“You cannot train a horse with shouts and expect it to obey a whisper.” ~ Dagobert D. Runes

“It lies in the hands of every single rider whether horse and rider feel relaxed. It must be every rider’s supreme aim to create relaxation of mind and body.” ~ Klaus Balkenhol

“The quality of the seat determines whether we can even speak of ‘riding’, or whether the horse simply has to ‘deal with’ the load on his back.” ~ Kurt Albrecht

“The secret in riding is to do few things right. The more one does, the less one succeeds. The less one does, the more one succeeds.” ~ Nuno Oliveira

“To be an equestrian in the classical sense is not just to be a rider. It is a position in life.” ~ Charles de Kunffy

“If the art were not so difficult we would have plenty of good riders and excellently ridden horses, but as it is the art requires, in addition to everything else, character traits that are not combined in everyone: inexhaustible patience, firm perseverance under stress, courage combined with quiet alertness. If the seed is present only a true, deep love for the horse can develop these character traits to the height that alone will lead to the goal.” ~ Gustav Steinbrecht

“As riders, our most vital tool is our ability to find the gentlest and most effective means to communicate with the horse, so that he can enjoy his work.” ~ Raul de Leon

“I must not forget to thank the difficult horses, who made my life miserable, but were better teachers than the well behaved school horses who raised no problems.” ~ Alois Podhaisky