Classical Dressage Art in Motion

I'd like to say that starting a young horse correctly is as simple as teaching it a few ground manners, free or line longe work, saddle and bridle it and mount up. I'd like to say that once the horse has accepted this amount of input and is relaxed, training under saddle is a straightforward matter of kicking on. Not so. Paul training a young ANCCE stallion at WVH   Horses are not plug-n-play and every young horse, even before you hop aboard (or rather lightly place your seat in the saddle from the height of fa mounting block so as not to make the horse stiff to one side by mounting from the floor using the stirrup iron), needs more than just urging it into the trot and beginning work on transitions up and down, taking it's head side to side for directional aids with reins. It is true that mounting the horse and teaching it to accept the presence of the weight and activity of a human being on its back is a good start. Musculature of the horse's back has hopefully been d