A riding club with its own school at Hansen Dam. You learn in the arena, then you ride it everywhere: up the hill, over a fence, past a cow, into the show ring and off on the road. Whether you have never sat on a horse or you own three, the road is the same, and nobody skips a step.
Dressage was not invented to be watched. It was the schooling of a horse that had to do everything: carry a rider for days, hunt, work cattle, go to war, and still be light in the hand when it got there. Xenophon wrote about schooling a horse and about hunting from the same horse, in the same breath. The Iberian riding our Working Equitation comes from is the daily work of a horse on a cattle ranch, written down.
The old masters filled their books with the arena because the arena was the part that needed explaining. Riding across a country to get somewhere needed no book. It was simply what a horse was for. They never imagined a horse that would live its whole life inside a rectangle, because no horse ever had.
We ride the way those horses lived. The arena is the classroom. The world is the test.
So at Hussar Stables the collected canter and the cattle pen are the same subject. Hills build the strength the arena asks for. Jumping builds the hind end dressage sits on. Cattle sharpen the turns. The trail settles the mind. Then we step into the rectangle, formal and quiet, and the horse can do it because of everything else in its week.
Every rider at Hussar Stables, six years old or sixty, rides the same road. Each milestone opens more riding: a bigger show, a longer ride, a harder course, a cow. Every unlock is written into your curriculum, so you can see it coming.
Meet the barn, groom, lead, saddle up and ride, with a teacher beside you the whole time. Kids from 3, adults, nervous or not.
The first time a horse walks on because you asked.
Ground skills first: catch, lead, groom, tack. Then seat and balance from walk to canter, in private lessons on a horse matched to you.
The first canter you don’t have to think about.
Canter confirmed. Poles, then your first small jumps. Working Equitation obstacles at the trot.
The first time the arena fence is behind you.
Three or more days a week on a horse that is yours. This is where the Club starts.
A horse that knows the sound of your car.
Everything above, plus the trailer. Away shows, camping weekends, wine country, other states.
The first time you load for somewhere new.
Milestone zero is the intro lesson, where everyone starts. One and two are the Riding School, on our horses. Three and four are the Club, on a horse you lease or own. Shows run the whole way: leadline at the first stop, a full test at the third, an away show at the fourth. The gate between School and Club is a level you ride up to, not a ticket you buy.
A Club week has a quiet school, a hill, a jump, a cow and, now and then, somewhere to go. Each one makes the others better.
Three disciplines, one horse. We host, we travel, and School riders start early: leadline and walk divisions at our own shows, on our horses.
Why the horse needs it: a date on the calendar is what turns practice into a plan.
Classical work, in hand and under saddle, two or three days a week. The thing everything else is for.
Why the horse needs it: this is where strength becomes balance.
Fast rides around Hansen Dam and out to the places you can only reach on a horse. Your first ride out is on us at Level 4, then Club riders only. Never sold by the hour.
Why the horse needs it: hills are the gym, and open country is the classroom for the mind.
Gymnastics, small courses, and the occasional jumper show. Every dressage horse here jumps.
Why the horse needs it: the hind end that pushes over a fence is the one that carries a collected canter.
Cattle practice in a small group for Club riders, on a horse you lease or own, with a trainer in the pen with you. Not for kids.
Why the horse needs it: a cow is the most honest judge of a turn there is.
Weekends away with the horses, inside California and beyond it. Because a horse that only ever sees one arena is not living the life the old masters took for granted.
Why the horse needs it: new ground, new water, new company. A horse that has seen the world is calm in it.
Ask a horse to do the same circle six days a week and you get a horse that is physically strong in one direction and mentally checked out. Give it a hill on Tuesday, a cow on Thursday and a quiet school on Saturday and you get a horse that walks to the arena with its ears forward.
The Club rides on a horse you lease or own. If you are new, the Riding School gets you there, with your first show and your first ride out along the way. If you already ride, come as you are.
Weekly private lessons on our horses. Your first show by Level 2, your first ride out at Level 4, the Club at Level 5.
Book the intro lessonThree days a week on a Club horse, show days included. The fastest honest road into the Club, and we can always find a horse for a half lease.
See the Club packagesOne horse, yours up to six days a week. Care, farrier and vet risk on us. Every stage, every week.
Text Adam about a leaseYour horse lives on our row with a trainer six days a week, and you ride it in everything the Club does. We help you find one if you are not there yet.
Boarding and trainingRiders from across California and beyond. Leadline and walk divisions for our juniors on our horses, eight entries, first come first served. Enter a junior →
Small groups, Club riders, a trainer in the pen. Dates go out on the member calendar.
Level 3 and up, led by a trainer. Pace and distance grow with the group. Dates on the member calendar.
Trips, camping weekends and clinics are announced to members first. Member Area →
A private intro lesson at Hansen Dam: meet the horse, groom, lead, and ride with a teacher beside you the whole time. $150, kids from 3 and adults. It is stage one, and nobody skips it.
Book the intro lessonAlready ride? Bring your horse or lease one.
