Gustav Steinbrecht
(1808 - 1885)
"As a conclusion of these general observations about the course of dressage training I want to add the serious admonition; not to hurry any of the exercises and to let them all follow one another in such a way that the preceding exercise always consitutes a secure basis for the next one. Violations of this rule will always exert payment later on; not only by a triple loss of time but very frequently by resistances which, for a long time if not forever, interfere with the relationship between horse and rider and often jeapardize the success of the entire enterprise."
(1884; translation: T. Ritter)
"Motion is the element of the horse and all motion starts in the hindquarters. If therefore, the flexibility of the hindquarters must be the ultimate purpose of all dressage training, this in no way means that lateral bending of poll, neck, and spine are unnecessary. Rather, the flexibility of these parts must first be obtained so that it can then be used as a means for the main purpose, namely to work the hindquarters."
(translation: T. Ritter)
“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.”
Das Gymnasium des Pferdes (1885)
