Visiting pupils of the European aristocracy took these concepts back home, and the dressage of the Renaissance spread practically all over the continent. The most famous disciples were Engelhart von Lohneysen from Germany, Thomas Blundeville from England, and Salomon de la Broue from France, who later became the instructor of the French king and in so doing created the basis of the most influential and most prominent center of Renaissance dressage, the Ecole de Versailles. In 1593, he published and summarized his equestrian concepts in Le Cavalerice Francois. He was followed later by Antoine Pluvinel, who was the instructor of Louis XIII and wrote his famous book Le Manege Royal, which just recently appeared in an English translation. Somewhat later, the Duke of Newcastle published A Grand System of Horsemanship, which together with Pluvinel and de la Broue best represents the concepts of Renaissance dressage.

But time moved on, and the Renaissance changed to the Baroque and later to the Rococco, a more opulent, extravagant, and lavish period, everything more compact, rounder, and sensuous with an aspiration to perfection. It was Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere who expressed this to perfection and in order to achieve this objective used more of the Iberian horses, closer to the Lipizzaners of today. He further changed the saddle to its modern form, leading to today's leg position and weight aids, and introduced the shoulder-in to collect the horse from behind without pulling on the reins in front, abandoning leg yielding as an exercise, which in his opinion was simply putting the horse on the forehand. Therefore, looking at de la Gueriniere, we see a basic departure from the Renaissance.

At the same time and against the same cultural background in Portugal, the Marquess of Marialva moved in the identical direction, perfecting the academic dressage which was already practiced since King Duarte I. His teaching is still followed today, perpetuated by many outstanding riders, the most well known probably being Mestre Joquin Gonzales de Miranda in the early 1900's, who was actually the teacher of Nuno Oliviera. This type of dressage, also called The Romantic School, created by Marquesss of Marialva, is obviously suited to the Lusitano, the horse of Portugal, which again is one of the ancestors of the Lipizzaner horses of Vienna.

On the other end of Europe, in Austria, probably the most Baroque country in Europe, de la Gueriniere's principles were fully embraced and perpetuated in the Spanish Court Riding School, where authentic Baroque dressage is still practiced today.

In the rest of continental Europe, dressage vanished. The French Revolution destroyed the Ecole de Versailles, the riders, and the horses. Baroque never had a chance to really develop and flourish in this country like it did in Austria and Portugal. The Napoleonic wars decimated, and devastated Europe except again Austria and Portugal, and the primary occupation was survival, not art for the sake of art, and the equestrian concepts of the Prussian General Friedrich von Seidlitz were implemented by the cavalry out of sheer necessity.

In the rest of Europe, dressage split into several directions at this time. First, the English had never accepted Baroque and embraced an aggressive colonialism, world domination, and commerce, combined with a Victorian veneer. The British Anglo-Thoroughbred replaced the Iberian horses. Polo, hunting, and racing became more and more prominent, activities which basically reflected their outlook on the world. Dressage was completely sidelined in England and had vanished completely until very recently. It re-emerged after World War II, when England, out of necessity, reintegrated into the European community and adopted the competitive dressage of today.

France, where, as already mentioned, Baroque never had a real chance, lived through a very turbulent century of the Revolution, the Napoleonic era, the Restoration, and finally the introduction of the Republic, which led to a very liberal attitude, highly individualistic, argumentative, and above all completely rejecting anything from the past.

To be continued NEXT ISSUE