Are you a natural horsemanship student looking to learn about dressage?

Karen Rohlf loves to teach students of natural horsemanship. Students coming from a natural horsemanship education have most often been focusing on developing a good partnership with their horses, as well as making mental/emotional health a priority. It doesn’t matter what discipline you would like to end up specializing in ... a good understanding of healthy physical movement is going to be equally important.

Students coming from a natural foundation often have trouble accessing the information inside of dressage. Too many lower level (and upper level) dressage teachers are solely competition focused, or are simply not excellent enough horsemen. Let’s face it, there are too many so-called dressage teachers out there who use a lot of pressure, insults, force and intimidation. To me, this is not dressage teaching. Students coming from a foundation based in partnership, find this kind of teaching and training intolerable… and that is a good thing! Unfortunately, then too many students simply get turned off of dressage altogether, and that is a shame!

Gymnastic development of the horse is so important for the health of the horse. It is not natural for them to carry our weight on their back, and if we don’t set them up with a way to carry us well, their compensations and contortions can create may physical issues down the road, from sore hocks to front feet lameness, from sore backs to arthritis, to a general bad attitude about being ridden. On the other hand, if we help show them what they can do with their bodies, and we do our best to enable instead of hinder it, they can become empowered, free and balanced, way beyond what they may have thought of on their own out in the pasture! They can become super natural!

Karen Rohlf provides a way for the student of natural horsemanship to access the best information in dressage in a unique way that bridges and blends the qualities formed in a good natural foundation. Her method is not just an intermediary stepping stone from one to the other, but truly integrates dressage principles into foundation, and foundation principles into dressage.

Karen Rohlf's book, Dressage, Naturally: A guide to the basics of dressage from a natural horsemanship perspective, is speaking directly to the student of natural horsemanship. Karen herself considers natural horsemanship to be the context within which she does dressage. This emphasizes her commitment to an attitude of partnership first, and an interest in dressage second. In other words, as much as she is passionate about dressage (and she is), it is never a matter of making the horse perform at any cost. The limits are always decided by the horse.

She looks to the definition of the object of dressage, as written by the International Equestrian Federation as a guide. She believes that these objectives can be met in the earliest stages of dressage, and brought forward with you.

"The object of dressage is the development of the horse into a happy athlete, through harmonious education, resulting in a horse who is calm, loose, supple and flexible, but also confident, attentive and keen, thus achieving perfect understanding with his rider." Article 401, FEI Rule Book

Karen Rohlf teaches clinics all around the world to students of natural horsemanship who want to learn Dressage, Naturally. Some of the students have no previous experience in dressage, and some, like Karen, had started in dressage, then found natural horsemanship, but never lost their passion for dressage.

Her clinics are a combination of theory, simulation, group exercises riding and on-line, semi-private and private lessons. She also holds clinics at her Temenos Fields, near Ocala, FL USA.