Edwin Hoogsteder.
Dressage. Music. Artistic Performance. Two worlds that developed side by side — and ultimately became one way of looking at performance.
Two worlds. One vision.
The Movement to Music Method did not emerge from a single discipline.
It developed where two worlds meet: music and dressage.
I grew up in a musical family and played several instruments from a young age. At the same time, I grew up around horses.
Those two worlds developed alongside one another and gradually shaped the way I look at a freestyle today.
Understanding the movement.
My experience in dressage taught me not only how a horse moves, but how movement feels.
I developed as a rider to Grand Prix level, competed with many different horses and worked for many years as a coach.
That experience helps me understand the technical decisions a trainer makes, the challenges a rider encounters and the way a combination develops over time.
Understanding the experience.
Music can build tension. Create release. Intensify emotion. Influence how people experience a story.
That understanding became the other half of the way I approach a freestyle.
Rhythm. Dynamics. Tension. Timing. Emotion.
Where two worlds become one performance.
When I watch a combination, I analyse more than technique. I see the horse's natural qualities. The expression of the partnership. The way horse and rider move together.
And almost immediately, musical ideas begin to form that can support those qualities. It is the result of years spent living in both worlds.
One specialist within one team.
Success in dressage is never the result of one person.
Artistic Performance has its own responsibility within that team — not as a replacement for existing expertise, but as an addition to it.
My role is to add the artistic layer and work alongside the people already guiding the combination.
The moment that matters.
Every rider is working towards something. The goals differ, but every training session and every decision ultimately points towards moments when everything has to come together.
DEVELOPING
Build confidence and artistic clarity.
PROGRESSING
Refine details and strengthen the complete performance.
COMPETING AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL
Make every artistic decision serve the decisive moment.
Let's talk about your performance.
Every combination is different. Tell me about you, your horse and your ambitions.