To understand the history of formation riding is to first delve into the history of mans evolving horsemanship.

Dating back almost 2,500 years to the Greek history of Xenophon, the very first book written on horsemanship. The Romans took the gauntlet for furthering the study and training for battle movements and horsemanship for the purpose of having the edge of winning wars.

Fueled by the need to understand that there was a way to train for specific traits and movements more intricate than just ‘charge’! this came in the mid-1500s pushed by the need for a more intuitive way of equestrianism due to the development of firearms. This intuitive new form of horsemanship reached as far as Vienna with documents dating back to the 1500s referring to the Spanish wooden hall.

This era also saw the specific breed bred for this purpose that would stand the test of time and still be there to this day, the Lipizzaner. The school grew and developed until the great hall, usually used for balls was formed into a riding school in the 1700s. Still there today, The Spanish school of Vienna. Alongside this school was another just as old, Lipica Stud Farm in Slovenia founded in 1580, also using the famous Slovenian breed, the Lipizzaner. The Portuguese school was re-established as The Escola Portuguesa de Arte Equestre, founded in 1748 with a brief relapse and returning to former glory in 1979. The horses used for this school is and always has been the Lusitano.

Another school would be the French Cadre Noir of Saumur- this school uses various breeds of the horse but mainly the French breed of Selle Francais- founded in 1828. The Spanish counterpart would be the Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre where the possibly oldest breed on record by stud books is used, the Pura Raza Española, the school founded in 1970s.

There are five established schools in total, all of them steeped in historical presence. All the schools use the terminology of ‘drille’ riding or quadrille.