Piaf’s, Canter Pirouettes, School halts and Levade’s. These moves can be inspiring for some, for others it is daunting.

It is important to understand that these exercises will only make up 10% of a training session. Focussing on the gymnastic works such as Shoulder In, Haunches In and Longing, as well as improving the Basics, allow these moves to be executed. It can take several years training these Basics and gymnastics to even get close to this point.

Within the Academic ladder, this training is called Basic Horsemanship. You can read about this in Volume 1 of the Academic Art of Riding where you will gain an understanding of what is meant by Basic Horsemanship.

I like diving deeper into these Basics as they are not that basic. By spending more time training these Basics, more layers can be peeled away, finally coming to a point where these exercises become quite “advanced”.

These exercises may look simple but they are a very complex set of exercises to do correctly. When the Basics have been mastered and are in place, the advanced work is suddenly becomes quite basic. When the advanced work falls apart, you will find the solution back in the Basics.

What are the basics and why are they so important?

I would like to invite you on a journey where I will share with you my explorations of these Basic exercises, the importance of them, where the focus lies, what tools to use and finally where it will take us.

Training of the Basics will not look as spectacular as a beautiful School Halt but without these Basics you will never get there.

I will share my experiences in a regular blog called Exploring the Basics. These blog posts will be moments in time. You will find that I may come back to a previous post when additional experiences and knowledge comes to hand that I can share on that particular subject.

I hope that I can inspire you to dive into the Basics and follow along in my explorations.

See you soon.
Jannie