A Brief History of Blue Rider
Founded in 1991, we are a non-profit organization dedicated to creating positive opportunities through holistic horseback riding. Our task is to support the growth and progress of each individual student and equine while being mindful of the “safety first” principle for riders and horses.
Our programs include: therapeutic horseback riding, basic safe riding, riding without fear, vaulting, horse care, stable management, summer programs and more. Our horses are healthy, sensitive teachers that come to us for a meaningful second chance in their lives. Donkeys, chickens, cats and Theo the pigeon round out the Blue Rider Family.
A brief history of the name “Blue Rider”
Blue Rider Stables is named after an Expressionistic Art movement started in Germany in 1911 by three artists. Wassily Kadinsky, Franz Marc, and August Macke sought to open the way for a new, more flexible artistic programme with new ideas toward abstraction, originality, and experimentation. They leaned on the spirit of Russian and Bavarian folk, being spiritual and mythical. They (especially Franz Marc) saw animals as the guardians of what was left of innocence and unspoiled nature, a being that can live without the angers of the ego. They called themselves “Der Blaue Reiter” (The Blue Rider) because Kadinsky loved blue and Marc loved horses.
The founder of Blue Rider Stables was Charles Carlson III (Chip); painter, photographer and artist. He saw this stable as a place to take many different impulses and help mold them into a flexible new way of thinking and experiencing the animals. As the art group in Germany had Russian influence, we here have a strong European influence. We hope that some of the idealism of the artists’ group comes through in our work.
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