Here is what you can look forward to each month…

One New Riding Exercise each month.

Each of our exercises are biomechanically designed to help your horse develop his balance, straightness, suppleness, engagement, and throughness. But it can get boring if you find yourself getting stuck in a rut of only doing the same, old exercises over and over. At some point, you feel the need for some variety and inspiration, so each month we bring you a new exercise to add to your repertoire. We will explain not only what to do and what the exercise accomplishes in the training, but how you can ride it in a way that will be best suited for your horse right now. We teach you how to modify the exercise to make it easier or harder, depending upon what your horse needs, and we teach you how to embellish the exercise to bring other elements in. We also teach you how to trouble-shoot the various problems that you may encounter with the exercise. With these in mind, you set yourself and your horse up for the best possible results. These exercises are sure to become some of your favourite go-to’s! Each exercise comes with instructional video and downloadable PDF with full instructions.

One Group Coaching Hot seat each month.

Feedback is VITAL to making progress. We have seen this time and time again in our courses. The riders who regularly ask questions and get feedback on their riding videos are the ones that excel in their training. So we are now adding this element into EOTM. A Hot Seat session enables us to watch videos that the community has submitted, and we give feedback, tips, and help troubleshoot any problems that came up. This all happens on a Live Zoom webinar, they are always recorded so you can watch later, and you can learn through watching others EVEN if you do not submit your own videos (but we encourage you to, if you can!).

"Wine with Friends"  Meetings each month.

Wine with Friends is like hanging out with your riding buddies in the afternoon with a glass of wine and chatting together about the stuff that is all on our minds. Sometimes we discuss Current events or hot topics. And sometimes we discuss Mindset matters: What gets in your way in making progress in your riding?  Whatever we are discussing, you have a voice here! These are held as meetings so that we can have a conversation together- all of us. Participation is optional, of course - you can attend and just listen. Whatever you feel most comfortable with!

Additional Bonus Trainings added periodically.

These can vary from masterclasses on topics like timing of the aids, shoulder-in, piaffe training, and long-reining. Interspersed throughout these are occasional commentary videos where we watch a recording of a famous rider or trainer and break down what is happening, what we see, and what you can learn by watching them! Variety stimulates learning and ideas! All trainings are always recorded, so you can watch as many times as you need and return to them whenever helpful. All previous trainings are always available in the archives!

Feldenkrais Mini-Lessons.

Each month you get a mini Feldenkrais lesson taught by Professional Feldenkrais Practitioner, Catherine McCrum. These lessons are designed to help you improve your coordination, balance, body awareness, and suppleness OFF of the horse (some are even done ON the horse) so that you can enjoy your riding more.  With these lessons you will develop independent use of your individual body parts so they all work more comprehensively together as a whole! This helps you to sit better, straighter and more relaxed, ride with more suppleness in your joints, and give your aids with better differentiation and finesse. These lessons are very soothing and relaxing to do, as well! Great for doing right before you ride if your busy life sometime impedes your ability to "arrive" mentally with your horse. You will find that not only your riding improves, but also your relationship with your horse.

The Ritterize Community.

The serious pursuit of riding Dressage can sometimes get lonely, particularly if you live in a non-Dressage area or feel like you’re the only rider at your barn who wants to train in a way aligned with Ritter values. But having the support of like-minded people who “get it” makes a world of difference. You may have already experienced (and fallen in love with) our generous and exuberant community in our other courses or challenges. They are a group of riders all over the world, committed to their and their horse’s progress, soundness, and happiness. Now you will be able to keep that awesomeness year-round, regardless of which course is in session, by tapping into our amazing Ritterize community. In this private, members-only community, you’ll have an amazing ecosystem of peers, trainers, assistant trainers, team members, and of course Thomas and Shana to help you make your riding goals a reality.

The Archive.

Every single exercise and training since the membership started in 2017 is stored in the Vault and you will have access to ALL of it. Coming in 2023: We are re-categorizing all of the trainings so that you can find whatever you need based on what you are wanting to do TODAY! There is so much in here - you will never, ever be at a loss of something new and interesting to implement into your training!

Your Ritterize Membership includes:

One Exercise Live Training with Q&A each month

One Group Coaching Hot seat each month

One Mindset Meeting each month

Additional Trainings

The Ritterize Community

The Extensive Archive of Exercises, Mindset Trainings, and Masterclasses

Total Value: €4685

Ritterize December 2024: Collection

This month in Ritterize we are celebrating the completion of a year and a cycle. Here in Portugal (where we live) it isn’t looking a lot like Christmas, but this month is sure shaping up to be something that “Smells like Christmas Spirit” and we sure hope you will be joining us!

With that in mind, we will be finishing up the year with a Masterclass training on Collection, taught by Dr. Thomas Ritter. Collection is essentially synonymous with flexion of the haunches. Acting as coil springs, the joints of the hind legs fold to absorb the shift of weight and energy, which can then be released into movement, resulting in springy, elastic gaits. Correctly trained collection also serves to keep the horse sound and makes the horse more comfortable to sit. 

The beauty of collection is that it is the culmination of potential movement and movement potential. It contains within it the possibility to move quickly and effortlessly in any direction, and it allows the horse to reach his full movement potential.

In addition to this, we will hold our annual end-of-year celebration and Holiday Party. Members join us! You will be invited to share their triumphs, discoveries, and celebrations from 2024. Holiday beverages and Christmas cheer (as well as Christmas hats and sweaters) optional… but highly recommended! 

The featured riding exercise this month is called “Frosty”. It is an exercise designed to build collection, but it is also a really FUN exercise to ride. A bit advanced, but we will also show you how to simplify it for the less-advanced horse. And even if you don’t have a corncob pipe or a button nose (or two eyes made out of coal), this exercise will make you a jolly happy soul. There must be some magic in this exercise because it will bring you and your horse to life!

Catherine has selected a Feldenkrais lesson this month called, “Finding Your Back (on all 4’s)”.  What would it feel like to move as a connected whole, to understand the relationship of your head and neck, to your chest and pelvis by way of your spine? And how every small movement you make with your head and eyes affects your balance over your feet? In this session we go down on all 4's to explore these relationships. Of course we are two-legged creatures and we have a great deal of freedom in our spines because we are not supporting our weight on our hands. We also have collarbones whereas your horse has a thoracic sling to support the chest in relationship to the front legs. However I think the movements in this session will give you a feel for how every part of you (and your horse) is involved in every small weight shift forward, backwards, upwards and downwards and side to side.

As always, we will wrap up the month with a Members-only Hot Seat session for the Exercise of the Month. This is a live session where Thomas will choose several member-submitted videos to to provide feedback, tips, and suggestions for improvement. Even if your video is not selected to be featured or you choose not to submit footage, you are sure to come away with tips and pointers from this session which you can put to use in your own riding right away. 

Join us and try this month’s exercise “Frosty” before it all melts away.

December 2024 Schedule:

🐴 EOTM: “Frosty“ - released December 1, 2024

🐴 Feldenkrais Lesson - “Finding Your Back” - released December 2, 2024

🐴 Masterclass Training: Collection - Friday, December 6, 2024 at 10:00am GMT

🐴 Wine with Friends Holiday Party & end of year celebration - Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 6:00pm GMT

🐴 Hot Seats Meeting - Monday, December 30, 2024 at 10:00am GMT