Former Chief Rider of the Spanish Riding School and USDF Hall of Famer Debuts Classical Dressage Training Website
Gloucester, MA: Karl Mikolka, USDF Hall of Famer and former Chief Rider of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, brings the art of classical dressage to the web with the unveiling of MikolkaDressage.com, a website dedicated to the schooling of the horse and rider as it was practiced and refined at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria. Techniques of the Spanish Riding School were primarily passed along verbally through one-on-one instruction. So before it is lost, Mikolka is making the treasure of those time tested techniques available to all serious equestrian students. These techniques have been proven to be effective for hundreds of years and correctly applied, are still today practiced at the highest levels of competitive dressage.
“I truly believe that the art of training a horse correctly and classically can be demonstrated beautifully in the competitive arena by following the methods of one of our greatest masters, Karl Mikolka.
“For any dressage enthusiast out there, it is an absolute MUST to visit MikolkaDressage.com. There are downloadable articles, training exercises and so much valuable information you owe it to yourself (and your horse!) to check it out. There’s no one like Karl!!!”
Shannon Peters (Student of Karl Mikolka, FEI competitor and wife of Steffen Peters – One of America’s most decorated dressage riders)
Through this site, Mikolka, who has devoted his life to the training of the Dressage horse, brings the values of Classical Horsemanship to riders of all levels by offering a thorough foundation in all aspects of the basics up to the most advanced movements.
For equestrians interested in feedback and advice on specific training issues, MikolkaDresssage.com also offers the opportunity for riding evaluations and training consultation by video from Karl Mikolka. 
His desire is to provide riders of any discipline with the tools to create a safe, reliable and correctly moving pleasure horse and also offer the competition rider an abundance of techniques formulated to produce the winning partner. Everything needed for success in the sport of Dressage can be found in articles and exercise charts throughout the site.
For the first time, over sixty information-packed articles and detailed arena exercises are available for purchase via instant download from the site, and new essays and exercises will be regularly added.
Each article and exercise has been painstakingly written and prepared and covers such dressage topics as: Safety in all aspects of training from the ground as well as from the saddle; how to prepare for and ride flying changes, how to ride correct circles and voltes to increase suppleness, submissiveness, agility, strength and balance; how to train and ride shoulder-in; what to look for in performing the correct half pass; the correct execution of the half halt plus the groundwork for pirouettes, piaffe and passage.
In addition to the lessons, the site features an extensive biography and gallery page showing highlights from Karl’s rich life in dressage, including rare never-before-published photos from his years at the Spanish Riding School.
To learn more, visit the site at http://www.MikolkaDressage.com
About Karl Mikolka
Alois Podhajsky accepted Karl Mikolka as élève at the Spanish Riding School in 1955. His teachers included such Masters as Hans Irbinger, Joseph Riedler, Ignaz Lauscha and Alfred Cerha, who became Karl’s primary mentor.
In 1967 Colonel Hans Handler promoted Karl to the highest rank of Chief Rider, and in 1968 Karl accepted a position offered by the Confederaçăo Brasiliera de Hipismo in Rio de Janeiro – the Equestrian Federation of Brazil – to establish a nucleus of Dressage for developing future international horses and riders.
In 1972 Karl moved to the United States to teach and train at Friar’s Gate Farm, a prestigious riding center in Pembroke, Massachusetts where he established and directed the Massachusetts Dressage Academy.
In 1980 he joined the team at Tempel Farms in Wadsworth, Illinois, where he trained Lipizzaner stallions for nearly twenty years.
For many years, Karl was an AHSA Dressage Judge and in that capacity served on the judging panels for several U.S. Olympic selection trials. In recognition of his many contributions to the development and promotion of Classical Dressage in the United States, Karl was inducted into the United States Dressage Federation Hall of Fame in 2003. His impressive and extensive body of written work, together with his experience teaching hundreds of clinics around the world, distinguish his contributions as some of the most credible and contemporary influences in the training of Dressage horses and riders.
Karl and his wife, Lynn, make their home in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT: Anita Adams anitaadamsdressage@gmail.com
