Gustav Steinbrecht

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Gustav Steinbrecht (1808-85) is considered one of the masters of dressage.^{[citation needed]} His advice to ride the horse "forward and straight" is one of the foundation principles of German dressage training.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Biography

Steinbrecht was born in 1808 in Amfurt, Saxony. He studied veterinary medicine in Berlin before spending eight years at the manege at Moabit under the celebrated dressage trainer Louis Seeger. It is there that he met his wife, Seeger's niece. From 1834 to 1942 he directed a private manege in Magdeburg, and then returned to Berlin to work again with Seeger. In 1849 Steinbrecht took over as director of Seeger's manage and began work on his book, Gymnasium of the Horse. In 1859 he acquired his own manege in Dessau, but returned once again to Berlin in 1865, where he continued to train horses almost until his death.

[edit] Quotes

"Ride your horse forward and straight." (Sometimes quoted as "...make him straight" or "...keep him straight.")

^{[citation needed]}

"...all [training exercises] follow one another in such a way that the preceding exercise always constitutes 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."

^{[citation needed]}

“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.”

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