The live Challenge is now over...
but you can still take the Better Dressage Through Straightness Challenge!
Grab the recordings and all the supporting materials to download and keep!
Buy Now for only €27
Straightness improves your horse's rideability AND is vital for your horse's long-term soundness and wellbeing.
In the Challenge, Thomas and Shana Ritter show you how to diagnose YOUR horse's crookedness and how YOU can use Dressage Exercises to help straighten and supple your horse.
WHAT IS THIS?
5-Day Online Challenge for Riders
- Recordings and Downloads
In May 2023 we held a 5-day Online Straightness Challenge. The Challenge included Theory, Instruction and Riding Exercises. It is designed for riders who are interested in learning about the therapeutic benefits of Dressage to keep their horses sound, healthy, and happy.
WHEN IS THIS?
The challenge was held May 1-5, 2023
The challenge is now over - however we have made the recordings of the live training, Q&A sessions, and the Hot Seat Sessions, along with copies of the slides and the horse and rider exercises available for you to download and keep.*
*The small print - please note - this challenge was originally released for a limited time for free as a pre-cursor to the enrollment for our 2023 Straightness Course cohort. As such you may find references to this within the Course materials.
WHERE IS IT?
All Online on our learning platform.
The training videos are all hosted on our online course platform. You can watch the videos live and also download the video, audio and pdf files to files to use offline.
Not technically minded? We have a support team that can help you if you have any issues.
Take the Better Dressage Through Straightness Challenge
Get your Challenge materials to go!
By purchasing the Challenge you will not only get access to all the recordings of the live training and Q&A sessions, but you will be able to download the slide deck, and the horse and rider exercises too!
And you can listen to it all at your leisure too, with lifetime access.
Challenge Promises
In the five-day challenge, Thomas and Shana Ritter took the participants on both a theoretical and practical journey from crookedness to straightness.
At the end of the Challenge you will be able to….
✅ UNDERSTAND the problem with crookedness, and the attributes of straightness and balance
✅ learn an exercise you can use with your horse to identify your horse's stiff and hollow side
✅ UNDERSTAND how the rider can contribute to the horse's crookedness
✅ learn an exercise you can use to diagnose your own crookedness
✅ UNDERSTAND how dressage training can be used to straighten the horse
✅ learn an exercise you can use to help straighten your horse
✅ UNDERSTAND the basis of a Straightness based method of training. Training that is better for your horse's health and better for your dressage.
Meet your Instructors
Thomas & Shana Ritter
Located in Portugal, Thomas is an International Clinician and author of "Dressage Principles based on Biomechanics" and "Long Reining: From the Beginning through the Levade" (published by Cadmos Press in both English and German) and countless articles in many publications. Shana is a USDF Bronze and Silver Medalist. Together they create and orchestrate the Artistic Dressage program.
Catherine McCrum, Feldenkrais Practitioner
Catherine McCrum participates as an Assistant Teacher in our Artistic Dressage Online Courses Program. She is an accredited Feldenkrais practitioner and has been teaching sport, fitness and movement since 1986. She is also a rider and is joining us in this challenge to help you learn how to recognize how the way you use your body can be interfering with your ability to progress in your riding.
Here's what we covered
In the daily training and Q&A sessions we discussed:-
➡ DAY 1 - The Problem with Crookedness
➡ DAY 2 - Understanding Straightness and Balance
➡ DAY 3 - The role of the Rider on the Horse’s Crookedness
➡ DAY 4 - The Journey from Crooked to Straight
➡ DAY 5 - The Straightforward Straightness Method of Training.
➡ PLUS BONUS SESSIONS - Hot Seats (riding the exercises) and and extra Q&A
"Thank you to Thomas and Shana for all the time they spend developing the challenge and course exercises. Yesterday my horse's massage therapist found so little that needed to be done on Simon that she took $25.00 off her regular fee. She said that the exercises that I am doing with Simon are getting amazing results. He's 18 but doesn't look or act his age thanks to being so fit from doing his therapeutic exercises in homeopathic doses. His massage therapist really liked that line of thinking.
So don't doubt for a moment that these exercises won't transform your horse. They will! You just need to be persistent"
- Linda Drescher
