Learning Classical Methods:   By Joseph Berto

     Hello,  my name is Joseph Berto.  Can a riding performance change a life?  In my case it did 5 years ago.  I had recently been given a young black Andalusian colt by my wife, and decided that it was time to begin to learn to ride.  At the time I was 42 years old and had no concept as to the complexities of this decision, or where this journey was taking me.

  I began my horse journey quite joyfully. My wife rides for pleasure and introduced me to it with fun as the key ingredient.  She made it easy for me to have a great time on a horse and together we played with the "natural horsemanship" methods.  I went to clinics and began a new business,  Equi-tee Farm and Fence.   The marketing of horse fence related products often took us to horse expos', and watching the various performances was always entertaining.  There was one performance that was special though. I saw a man ride a horse in a way that forever changed my perception of how a horse could be ridden.  Perhaps it was the fact that I had an Andalusian horse, perhaps it was just serendipity, but his display of riding skill resonated in a way that I didn't quite fully understand. Joyous, artful, peaceful, something was different. What I most noticed was the way the horse reacted, like it was part of a dance.  It is this dancing with a horse that I have been striving to achieve ever since.

 My wife and I operate a 100 acre ranch, raising horses and keeping hay fields harvested.  It is a very busy life.  In addition to this routine, my other career is as pilot.  Although this can be quite exciting I have found that I enjoy flying but I love to ride a horse.  It would be nice if I could spend more time riding, but usually I can ride every day.  This normal day to day living keeps me from the focus necessary ride the 3 or 4 horses a day that I would like.  As time progressed I found I really enjoyed horses, and I began to wish that they had come into my life sooner!  As a beginner I was enamored with the "natural horsemanship" style of instruction.  It was easy to learn and seemed to produce near instant results.  Having a horse follow you around, riding with no saddle and only one rein or even bridleless, all these "circus" performances seemed like real horsemanship. 

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words."  (Black Beauty)

But as I learned these methods, and became a more informed rider and interested in classical methods, I was discouraged to find that there was an apparent  disconnect between this "horsemanship" being taught by Expo clinicians, where ground handling or games is the emphasis, and the "Horsemanship" taught by the Masters, where astride expertise was valued.  It was this chasm of knowledge (or lack of it) that I found was so difficult to cross.   Did riding well mean that the fun was gone, or conversely, does riding for fun mean that you couldn't achieve riding excellence?  From my point of view it seemed that natural horsemanship allowed that it was ok to ride badly provided you could handle the horse well on the ground.  I began to notice that the riders I admired didn't use "natural" horsemanship.  I also noticed that  practitioners of natural horsemanship were not beautiful riders.  I guess it took me a while to admit I didn't want to be level anything, because it didn't fit my idea of what skillful riding should be.

It also became clear that learning to ride well was going to take a great deal of time, focus and years of studious work.  Real horsemanship talent is a clever disguise for  people who just work very hard at their art.   So I determined to start over again.  It was about this time that I was at the Expo where I  saw my first High School trained horse, and it was that ride that opened my eyes to the "other"  world of Horsemanship. Since the Classical masters all seemed to originate in Europe, it was there I decided to go.  I visited many countries, including Spain, but found that it was in Portugal where the Art was still most evident.  It was the Portuguese horses and the Portuguese riders that started me down the road I so fervently embrace.  It is this path I am sharing with you.

Master said, God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves; but He gave animals knowledge . . . which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by which they had often saved the lives of men. (Anna Sewell)

If you are very fortunate, then you may experience one ride or one moment on a horse will happen to change everything.  For some it is just an indefinable sensation that overcomes you while you are astride.  It may also occur when you watch a exceptionally ridden performance. This emotional moment can occur after one year of riding or forty.  This feeling is a sensation of extraordinary consciousness, an awareness of connection, vibrancy, spirituality.  Time will slow to a crawl, or stand still.  You will, for a fleeting instant, be one with another sentient being, the horse you are riding or watching.  You may want to laugh or cry, you will never forget the sensation.  Unfortunately the instant you acknowledge it, the sensation will vanish.  The return to self will bring with it the sadness, and will make you realize that everything you had been taught added up to nothing.  Because nothing in your skills can make that feeling re-occur.  
     I was lucky, for me it happened quickly once I was introduced to artful riding, and validated my journey down the High School Trained riding path.  I discarded my new age books and began reading classical books to see if I could validate what I felt.  Through the classical works of the Masters I discovered that not only was "the feeling" well known, this sensation was universal and had been occurring between horses and riders for thousands of years.  I then began searching out instructors or methods in an attempt to re-tune in "the feeling", to teach me what I had been reading about.  This turned out to be much more difficult that finding well written books.   I was surprised to find out that very few instructors were aware of what I was talking about, in fact I began to be embarrassed to ask about it.  Few of  the trainers even remotely display that touch.  Worse still, most of the horses I was put on to ride were not anywhere near the point that they would share their spirit. " Broke" is not just a word either.   Learning the " High School " style of riding is not only difficult to do, it is difficult to even find teachers.  
    But I did find a few.  They were usually older, when introduced some were reluctant to talk or teach, not sure of how I would react to their message.  Amazing humility at their skills was displayed.  In time great joy at finding a willing student became apparent.  Long lengths of time went by with only tiny breaths of "the feeling".  The more I was taught, the more I understood the principles that they were sharing, the same ones that I had read about from the great authors.  And it has made me aware that  "Classical" horsemanship is not just  word,  it is a lifestyle, and the school style of riding is its epitome.  School riding is a life changing experience that is still occurring to this day.  For some of you this message will resonate, for most it won't.

"I am never afraid of what I know." (Black Beauty)

     In the country of Portugal the principles of classical riding are not only practiced, they are flourishing!  I was no  longer embarrassed by my search for the sensation, rather, I was put on exceptional horses that were eager to share their spirit and strength.   Moments of joy stretched into seconds, seconds into minutes.  And as the years of instruction take hold, I have begun to be able to reproduce some of the guidance into my Andalusian stallion at home.  As I taught him, so he has taught me.  Together we have rides that are light, intuitive, inspiring, magical.  When I am not riding, the way of classical riding still guides me, for leaving its gentleness requires a re-connection with the feeling that is not easy to find once lost.
      For me classical riding is not about horse shows, or competition. It is not about riding for ego, although a beautiful horse, softly ridden, is a gift to behold. It is about trying to attain a level of horsemanship that appeals to the spirit, the true self.  And this spiritual horsemanship has such true beauty that even non-riders are caught up in its spell.  It is also about patience in a society that has no time for such things.  It is the agonizing wait between learning epiphanies.  It is about the discipline to allow riding to happen, rather than make it happen.  It is a oneness with the horse that is extraordinarily difficult to find, yet is so simple when you are there. Like Love, it cannot be defined, but when you are in it, you know it truly.  But unlike Love with a human, to capture "This Feeling" requires the permission of a horse, and finding the road to that acceptance is wrought with frustration and discouragement.  It requires a careful balance of intellectual understanding and kinesthetic feel that is very, very difficult to obtain. It requires a single-minded determination to learn something that is bewitchingly elusive. And when you figure out most of the big pieces, it turns out the little details are just as important, so the process is seemingly never ending.  But then again that is beauty of it! 
     I work with the Morgado Lusitano Riding Center and other stables in Portugal because they have the horses and the way of going that allows us to share in "The Feeling", perhaps for the first time, perhaps for a revisit.  I return to them over and over again, and each time is like laughing with an old friend.  I have enabled dozens of clients to visit, and the excitement that the clients share tells me that I am doing the right thing, that classical horsemanship is special, and for the few that make the journey, the reward is priceless.  I love to ride, I only regret that the first 40 years of my life I was not aware of His gift of the horse. 
  Joseph Berto

 This page was last updated on 03/01/07 .