The Foundation for the Equestrian Arts

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Our Story

The Foundation for the Equestrian Arts exists to preserve and encourage the ancient French classical exploration of the horse/human connection. It was started by students of Craig Stevens, a trainer who has worked for his entire life to more deeply understand this older method, training hundreds of horses, learning to read French to study it more deeply, translating rare writing that you can no longer find in English so that more of us can learn. It’s carried on by teachers who’ve done the intense training to become certified in this older way of working, and who in their own right continue the work of exploring more deeply this ancient paradigm.

So... what is it? “French Classical” can mean a lot of things! What we’re speaking of is the line of teaching that began around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea millennia ago that became the basis for dressage in the renaissance in Italy, and then traveled with trainers in the 16th century to France. In France this old form of training became the cornerstone of an equitation so beautiful and so precise, so clean and so effective, so breathtaking and so engaging.... that for 200 years France was the epicenter of excellence in equitation. Great trainers from all over Europe had their origins in France. When competition became the driving force in the equitation industry, this older way of working, which takes time, disciplined practice, and mental focus, began to lose its central standing in the equestrian community. Competition is not inherently wrong, it can be a lot of fun. And... it tends to turn the rider’s gaze from ‘what is the quality of this moment, here, now, with this horse’ towards ‘is this going to cost me the win?’ It’s a different center of concern. There are ‘unsuitable’ horses and ‘riders who can’t make the cut’ and ‘the wrong breed’ and ‘too short’ and on and on.

When we work in this older classical form, every horse and every rider is interesting and unique. When we work in this older classical form, the quirky, weird, odd and slightly difficult horses become fascinating teachers: we learn a kind of equitation that helps every horse to find its own best movement, its own best balance, its own true beauty. The beautifully conformed horses become simple.

In this old way of working we benefit the horse rather than cause it problems. Horses ridden this way were expected to have a life under saddle of around 20-25 years. The military training developed in the 19th century, on the other hand, lowered that under-saddle-life to 9-12 years. Military training was fast, easy to transmit from one person to another-- but it was known at the time of its inception that it would cost the horse. The trainers of that time no longer had the luxury to teach and train over the years it takes to develop a truly great rider, a beautifully trained horse.

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