Bent Branderup is the founder of the Academic Art of Riding.

Born in Denmark, he was drawn into the wide world of equestrianism. Stays abroad in Iceland, Hungary, Spain, Portugal and Germany shaped his early equestrian development. He was a long-time student of the Escuela Andaluza del Arte Equestre in Jerez de la Frontera, which at that time still bore the epithet “Real” (royal), and there he learned the art of riding according to the teachings of the old riding masters by Don Javier Gracia Romero.

After this training, Bent Branderup visited other great masters of the classical Art of Riding, such as Salvador Sanchez, Nuno Oliveira and Egon von Neindorff and travelled to historical sites of the Art of Riding.

Bent Branderup then settled in Germany and came to the horse on which he had to apply and refine all his acquired knowledge: Hugin – a Knabstrupper stallion whose both hocks and his front left crown joint were shattered by an accident. The griffin bone at the back right side was broken, had grown together overlapping and had cartilaged through the partial area of the tendons. To make matters worse, Hugin became completely blind in old age.

But through continuous work with well thought through, gymnastic exercises, Bent succeeded in building up Hugin and keeping him fit until old age.

With the training of the Academic Art of Riding, Hugin became an impressive stallion of the high school for which side gaits, canter changes, pirouettes, piaffe, passage, strong trot and school jumps were no problem.

Born in 1986, Hugin was the proof of the quality of the Academic Art of Riding and the old teaching saying:

“Dressage is for the horse, not the horse for dressage!”
Bent Branderup Grand Master of the Academic Art of Riding