The Lost Art of Mounted Combat & Classical Dressage | Arne Koets | EP 57

✨ "The difference between destruction and creation kind of just disappears, and this is a beautiful thing to be able to do." – Arne Koets

✨ "Are you making a foundation for a skyscraper or are you making a foundation for a shed? Those are not the same foundations." – Arne Koets

Arne Koets is a historical dressage teacher, jouster, and practitioner of Rossfechten — mounted sword fighting — who trained at the Fürstliche Hofreitschule in Bückeburg, Germany, reaching the level of Hofberater (courtly rider). His work draws on European martial arts manuscripts dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, blending biomechanics, classical in-hand work, and the disciplines of combat horsemanship into a living, practiced tradition.

In this conversation, Rupert and Arne trace the deep connections between martial arts on horseback, tango, and the finest ideals of classical dressage. They explore how the same biomechanical principles that make a good fighter also make a good dancer — and how understanding this can transform the way we train and relate to our horses. The conversation moves through in-hand work, the role of the schoolmaster horse, the philosophy of building community, and what it actually takes to get a beginner riding with confidence and joy from the very first lesson.

A far-ranging, intellectually rich conversation that will delight history nerds, dressage geeks, and anyone who has ever wondered what riding was really for.

Timestamps

How Arne's background in reconstructing European martial arts led him to historical dressage and Bückeburg [00:01:00]The connection between Argentine tango, wrestling, and riding — and why the line between building balance and destroying it is thinner than we think [00:10:00]Why teaching the collection work first, not last, is the old way — and why Steinbrecht actually agrees [00:16:00]The concept of unificare — inviting the horse to come up into an embrace with the rider — versus driving the seat bone down [00:25:00]Why confused definitions (what does "forward" actually mean?) have degraded the modern system of riding instruction [00:32:00]Arne's step-by-step in-hand training sequence: figure-of-eight, lateral movements, piaffe steps, and preparing for the first rider [01:03:00]The role of the "ground monkey" and "sky monkey" — why team work is not optional in breaking young horses [01:13:00]How Rossfechten (mounted sword fighting) builds community, releases ego, and teaches riders to feel what their horse is doing [01: