Welcome to the official website for Tigchelaar Dressage. Located in Hanover, Virginia, we specialize in dressage instruction, training, and sales.
We seek to provide our clients and their horses with the most professional training and personalized care. We work as a team, and our passion is riding and training all breeds of horses by classical dressage principles which develop their gaits, balance, obedience, and physique.
As instructors we assist our clients to set and achieve realistic goals and gain greater harmony with their equine partners. Under the rider’s direction, the horse and rider must learn to perform as partners and be happy in their work with lightness and without force. Clients will also learn the essentials in horse management and care, behavior, and the principles and history of dressage--while enjoying the horses and having a lot of fun!
We use a dynamic approach to teaching which can include: lunging the rider to aid in developing their balance and seat, mounted and unmounted exercises, and occasional homework assignments (to include reading or videos as supplemental material). We keep an open mind and a positive, patient attitude.
We will communicate honestly and work together with your horse to achieve your goals. We both are dedicated to developing our own riding and teaching to reach our full potential. We have great appreciation for the late great dressage riders and horsemen, Dr. Reiner Klimke, Willi Schultheis, and George Theodorescu. International trainers that we most admire include Steffen Peters, Rien & Inge van der Schaft, Michelle Gibson, Rudolf Zeilinger, and Monica Theodorescu.