New and Upcoming Courses
The Straightness Course
Here's the conundrum...Â
Without Straightness, there is no Balance.
Without Balance, there is no Suppleness.
And there is no Suppleness without Straightness, either
Straightness is vitally important. It is connected and interconnected to... EVERYTHING ELSE.
We created a Course About Straightness for riders and horses who were being held back in their development because of straightness issues.
This is an 18-week course about achieving Straightness as a horse-rider unit. This is THE course to learn the fundamental biomechanics of straightness and how it (and its opposite, crookedness) impacts everything else you do in your riding.
💎 Learn easy-to-use exercises to identify, address, and FIX your horse’s crookedness issues under saddle without having to spend months on groundwork first.
đź’Ž Some of the exercises are designed to be done on the ground, but most can be done on the ground as well as under saddle. Nearly all were designed to be ridden.
💎 With The Straightforward Straightness Method, you do not need to stop riding for a year just to work in your horse’s Straightness. You can begin immediately with the ridden exercises.
This course develops your understanding through:
-Â theory lessons which demystify and clarify the core central issues
- gymnastic exercises you can ride with your horse
- exercises for the rider to address the rider's crookedness
- and amazing ongoing support and community that doesn't just stop when the course is over
Join us and start your straightness journey, on 22nd November 2024.Â
The Ritterize Membership
The Ritterize Membership
(previously EOTM)Â
Infuse your Training with Ritterize - your monthly infusion of Ritter Learning. Click on the button to learn more.
November 2024:
Improving the horse’s gaits
 Improving the horse’s gaits
November in Ritterize we are going to focus on Improving the Horse’s Gaits. First we will talk about why you would even want to - in what situations should you try to change what your horse offers and why. Then we will talk about the biomechanics involved - what is actually at play here? And then we will discuss how you can do this with strategy, technique, and exercises you can integrate into your riding which will gradually contribute to healthier, more beautiful movement.
Also this month, we wanted to bring for discussion in our “Wine with Friends” meeting something that people rarely talk about in the horse world: How can you best support a friend who also rides? This can be tricky territory if perhaps you don’t want to intrude, but you also see something that you really think your friend needs to address. How can you best go about this without making them feel bad or intruding on their autonomy? How can you do this in the most humble, supportive, and loving way? This is an open discussion for the community, so you are welcome to bring your own experiences and ideas to the discussion. We will offer our own perspectives, but we would also love to hear your perspectives, too.Â
The featured riding exercise this month is called, “Bounce Back”. It is an exercise designed to develop straightness, throughness, and elasticity in your horse - all of which can help to improve your horse’s gaits.Â
Catherine has selected a Feldenkrais lesson this month called, “Balance and Stability”. Sumo wrestlers are like immoveable objects - stable at the expense of mobility. Conversely, tight rope walkers are as finely balanced as a pencil standing on its tip, yet teeter as the audience hold its breath. The conundrum for riders is we need a touch of both and we need to be able to move readily between the two states. And as we are sentient beings rather than inanimate objects, our thoughts, feelings (and life generally) conspire to upset our equilbrium. In truth, humans can neither be perfectly poised. nor consistently stable, but we can improve our stable instability so we lose it less often and recover more quickly. Find out in this short movement lesson where you are on the balance/stability continuum. Are you more Sumo? Or more tight rope walker. Then let us know.
As always, we will wrap up the month with a Members-only Hot Seat session for the “Bounce Back ” riding exercise. 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.Â
Self-Study Courses
A Course About Straightness with Ritter Dressage
Achieve Straightness as a horse-rider unit and see the benefits in everything you do in your riding!
The Straightness Course is THE course to answer all your crookedness woes!
This is a course about achieving Straightness as a horse-rider unit. This is THE course to learn the fundamental biomechanics of straightness (and its opposite, crookedness) and how it impacts everything else you do in your riding.
The Introduction to Work in Hand Course
âś” Improve your relationship with your horse
âś” Easily teach new movements to your horse
âś” Improve your horse's balance, suppleness, coordination and body-awareness
"Hands-down” the very best way to introduce your horse to the work in hand.
Learn how to do simple transitions and exercises with your horse with coordination, communication, and confidence.
Get lifetime, fully downloadable access to the training,
The Better Dressage Through Straightness Challenge Recordings
You will get...
✔️ Recordings of all the Challenge trainings and Q&AsÂ
✔️ PDF copies of the slides and horse exercises
✔️ All recordings downloadable
✔️ Lifetime access
So that you can...
âś…Â UNDERSTAND the problem with crookedness, and the attributes of straightness and balance
âś…Â learn an exercise you can use with your horse to identify your horse's stiff and hollow side
âś…Â UNDERSTAND how the rider can contribute to the horse's crookedness
âś…Â learn an exercise you can use to diagnose your own crookedness
âś…Â UNDERSTAND how dressage training can be used to straighten the horse
âś…Â 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.
All of this for only €27.
The Canter Blueprint Training Recordings
Learn more about the biomechanics of the canter and create a targeted training plan for your horse.Â
This training is all about the canter and the pre-requisites for a quality canter.
It will help you understand:-
âś” the training principles on which the canter is built
âś” identify the KEY areas your horse needs to improveÂ
So you can prioritize your training work and plan HOW you will approach your training from here on out so that you can HELP your horse to canter at his best.
Get lifetime, fully downloadable access to the training, plus the recordings from the Q&As we held each day for VIP members.
All of this for only €37.
The Path to Simple and Flying Changes Challenge Recordings
Learn how to train and develop your horse so that the changes become the most logical, easy thing to do.
You will get...
✔️All the recordings to the Challenge trainings and Q&AsÂ
✔️ PDF copies of the slides and horse exercises
✔️ All recordings downloadable
✔️ Lifetime access
The Challenge Proposition...
Anyone can train their horse to do simple and flying changes. Anyone.
❌ That means you don’t have to be a professional trainer.
âś… You just need to know the pathway.
 👉 We show you how to do that.
Feldenkrais Courses for Riders
FeldenFit 4-Pack (BEST DEAL!):
***Scroll down the page to purchase FeldenFit 1-4 individually***
Purchase all 4 FeldenFit Programmes and get a discount!
4 x €97 = €388Â
Today's Price = €297 (other currencies available)
FeldenFit 1Â is the original FeldenFit program with Catherine McCrum with 30 days of daily 7-15 minute lessons. Catherine uses her knowledge as a Feldenkrais teacher and blends this with her background in sport and fitness to make a flowing sequence of exercises that enhance co-ordination, agility, suppleness and effortless power.
FeldenFit2Â is the follow-up program to the original FeldenFit program. Join us and Catherine McCrum for 30 more days of daily 7-15 minute lessons. Catherine uses her knowledge as a Feldenkrais teacher and blends this with her background in sport and fitness to make a flowing sequence of exercises that enhance co-ordination, agility, suppleness and effortless power.
FeldenFit 3Â is a series of 30 lessons that specifically address how to take your riding to the next level. Lessons and imagery that improve your foundation and support from the ground up, movements that free your head, neck and eyes from long-held patterns of muscular contractions, experiencing how ribs that are springy and supple impact the independence of your legs and hip joints. Clarifying the wave like oscillations of the pelvis, spine and head that make riding the more dynamic gaits smooth beyond imagination. And finally 4 specific lessons to do in the saddle, or in the barn before you get on. This is truly the rider's series!
FeldenFit 4 - The Freedom Series! This fourth set of 30 days of daily 5-15 minute FeldenFit lessons. Designed specifically for riders the lessons in this programme are focussed on creating freedom in the saddle. In freeing our bodies from the constraints of poor posture, unconscious muscular tension, disturbances in breathing and poor co-ordination we as riders, achieve the ultimate freedom to feel and be truly capableÂ
FeldenFit 1
The original FeldenFit program with Catherine McCrum with 30 days of daily 7-15 minute lessons. Catherine has created a flowing sequence of exercises that enhance co-ordination, agility, suppleness and effortless power.
FeldenFit 2
FeldenFit2 is the follow-up program to the original FeldenFit program. We take a deep dive into the key concepts that we introduced in our first programme and we added the requests of the course members.
FeldenFit 3
Riders will love these sessions that clarify support from the ground up. When your feet, ankles and lower legs are well-organised, you can access the potential for both mobility and stability in your centre.
FeldenFit 4
The lessons in this programme are focussed on creating freedom in the saddle.
In freeing our bodies from the constraints of poor posture, unconscious muscular tension, disturbances in breathing and poor co-ordination we as riders, achieve the ultimate freedom to feel and be truly capableÂ
"How Can Feldenkrais Help Riders?"
A 7 day Free Challenge.
Together with Feldenkrais Practitioner, Catherine McCrum, we have put together a set of off-the-horse lessons that you can use to improve your coordination, balance, suppleness, and feel. In this challenge, you will do one Feldenkrais lesson per day. These lessons are pre-recorded so regardless of timezone or location in the world, you can do it on YOUR schedule and terms. Then, once you have completed the lesson, meet us in the Facebook group for a discussion about the lesson.
The Aware Rider Program
Parts 1 and 2. Feldenkrais with Catherine McCrum, fused with Dressage with Shana and Thomas Ritter.
What is the Aware Rider Exploration About?
How can we improve how we move ultimately with the aim of having a better relationship with our horses: One in which we can listen to ourselves as well as listen to them in such a way that they hear what we're saying. This is a conversation about the conversation we have with our horses.
