✨ "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 KoetsArne 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 w...
✨ "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 [01:26:00]
- Why horses become genuine strategic partners in mounted fencing — including Arne's story of a horse who executed a spontaneous 360 to protect his rider [01:41:00]
- How "deliberate hacking" — making conscious choices in the terrain — builds the horse's back and collection as effectively as arena work [02:30:00]
- A beginner sword fighter with zero riding experience sits piaffe on a stallion during his first lesson, then rides one-handed with a sword in canter by his tenth [00:16:00]
- Arne recounts confronting an FN clinician about why German riding schools don't follow what Steinbrecht actually says on page three [00:20:00]
- The horse who competed fully blindfolded by accident — caparison covering his eyes — and never put a foot wrong because rider and horse were one [01:44:00]
- Arne describes a group cavalry skirmish with 200 infantry and 48 mounted riders — and how the horses learn to aim the sword [02:13:00]
- The moment Arne's horse spontaneously executed a 360-degree bullfighting spin mid-sword fight, placed the weapon to parry an incoming blow, and then resumed the attack — entirely the horse's idea [01:41:00]
Arne's Website: www.arnekoets.com
Rosswochen Symposium (first weekend of May — academic lectures, workshops, tango night, mounted demonstrations): www.arnekoets.com
Fürstliche Hofreitschule Bückeburg (the Princely School for Riding Art referenced throughout): www.hofgestut-bueckeburg.de
About Arne Koets
Arne Koets is a Dutch-born historical dressage teacher, jouster, and the foremost practitioner of Rossfechten — mounted sword fighting in the tradition of the European fighting manuscripts. He trained at the Fürstliche Hofreitschule in Bückeburg, Germany, achieving the rank of Hofberater, and spent years interpreting equestrian history at the Royal Armouries and the Dutch Army Museum. He now teaches clinics internationally and hosts students and riders at his home in Thuringia, Germany. His approach synthesizes biomechanics, classical in-hand work, and the martial arts manuscripts of the 14th through 16th centuries into a living, teachable system. His events attract riders from across Europe, the US, and beyond.
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