Marat Bakhramov & JS Dressage: Dressage Trainer & Training Barn in Barnesville, Maryland: Dressage Training Philosophy

The Evolution of Dressage: Simple, Correct, Classic

Marat Bakhramov's training philosophy can be summed up in 3 words:

Simple, Correct, Classic

This formula has brought Marat the international success he has today, and has allowed Marat to bring out the best in even the most challenging horses. Both horses and humans in Uzbekistan, the Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and the US have benefited from his fair and sympathetic instruction over the past 35 years.

Marat learned to train dressage from 1980 Olympian Yuri Kovshov, who also was a cavalry officer in the former Soviet Union. Like Alois Podhajsky and other members of the Spanish Riding School, Marat himself was an officer in the Soviet cavalry during his youth. Marat uses the well-tested methods of the cavalry so his horses receive clear, simple, and correct classical instruction, which ensures them a successful future in dressage.

Horses are taught to move over their backs and forward into the bridle, giving them the confidence to relax their backs and become through enough to truly push to the bit and engage their hindlegs. The rider is taught to keep their hands still and quiet, and to influence the horse via seat aids alone. The horse becomes very elastic and confident because of this sympathetic training. Marat's horses improve at a faster rate, yet remain happy and excited to work, and their desire to play during training stays intact, proving further that the cavalry ways of training are the only solid method dressage riders can rely upon.

Dressage today is diluted by imitation; the training philosophy of Jotunheimens Staller and Marat Bakhramov rests on the idea that dressage must evolve - back to its time-tested cavalry roots.