Craig’s Biography

Brought up in Long Island in a “horsey” community, Craig Stevens always loved horses. Craig had to work to get time in the stables, and from very early on he became a typical “barn rat.” As a young man, he attended a military high school where he rode in the cavalry. From there he went on to study with local trainers and worked as a professional groom and colt man, starting horses for a training barn in Ohio. then ---something about arabs and something about saddlebreds in Florida and Kentucky.

Craig loved working with the responsive, brilliant horses but he hated the abusive methods that were in common use for training them. In1974 when living in New York City he and his partner, Betty ----  found Francois Lamarie de Ruffieu, a former member of the Cadre Noir, teaching in New Jersey, and he began to study Classical Equitation.

 “From my first master I learned that there was Classical literature I could draw on,” he says,  “and from there everything became possible. I knew this was a lighter, more horse centered approach, and the fact that there were historical masters meant that it could be done, and the fact they had students and a progression of masters who had learned from them meant that the information was codified and learnable. It wasn’t some unattainable voodoo anymore.”  Craig and Betty managed the barn for his first master and he began to develope himself as a combined training instructor and trainer.

Craig taught himself to read French in order to read the old masters in their own words, and continues to consume everything he can get his hands on from the Classical masters. “I’ve found that any translator makes changes in the material they are translating. Ideas from masters such as De La Guérinière that had always seemed odd to me suddenly made perfect sense when I took the middle man out, and read the trainer’s actual words.”   

From New Jersey he went on to run Caumsett Equestrian Center in New York, where he taught huntseat, dressage and eventing and designed the premier combined training course in the area. 

He then took some time to explore the corporate world, and worked his way up to an invitation to partnership in a nationwide private detective service. But…the horses were where his heart lay. “I knew I was in trouble when I found myself crying while watching the budweiser ads with the Clydesdales. Something had to change.”

In the early 80s Craig was invited to give an eventing clinic for the Equestrian’s Institute in Washington state. Accepting the invitation Craig returned to the equestrian world and hasn’t left it since. But the beauty and culture of the Pacific Northwest so attracted him that he accepted a position in Washington teaching and training at Cascade Equestrian Academy  as the lead instructor and trainer. He prepared horses and riders for presentation in Dressage, Hunt seat and Combined Training, and won numerous championships in all divisions.  Craig qualified both horses and riders for area and regional competition.  

In 1985 his mother became ill and Craig returned to the East to spend time with her. He took a position as head instructor and trainer at Meadowbrook Equestrian Center in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He began focusing on teaching instructors and trainers, as well as non professionals. And he trained and purchase horses for resale.

In 1989 he took a position at the Lakeside Riding Academy, West Hempstead, New York, as General manager, where again he was the head instructor and trainer, in charge of all business activities of stable, staff and instructor education. At Lakeside he met and married Rita Kapetansky, a marvelous trainer and instructor who partnered with him in developing the business together.

 The couple was offered a position in 1992 at the Shibui-Ni equestrian center in Virginia, where he and Rita taught dressage and three day eventing.

One characteristic of Craig was that he was never done learning. He took the time and paid the dues so that he could take lessons with the best trainers in Classical Equitation, trainers such as Michele Henriquet, Katherine Durand, Joao Oliveira, and masters from the Cadre Noir.

In 1995 Craig returned to the west coast, and Rita and Craig purchased their own facility in Snohomish, Washington. He and Rita trained and taught from their home together until the marriage ended, an Rita went on to teach and train at other facilities in the Seattle area.

In 1997 Craig’s comments about equitation in an internet chat group attracted the attention of a Swedish couple from Stenbro who were interested in Natural Horsemanship and its applications to Dressage.  They invited him to Sweden to try giving a couple of clinics on Classical Equitation, and he took them up on the offer. The first clinic was almost fully booked with curious students from the area. When that clinic was over, all of those riders signed up for the second scheduled clinic. Finding space for new riders in Craig Stevens clinics in Sweden became a matter of higher mathematics ever since, and he had riders in Sweden who considered him “their” instructor, and who would make the pilgrimage to Snohomish whenever they could to do the intensive.  

Craig Stevens offered clinics in Sweden, Finland, and the UK for many years, he also taught in Germany, France, New Zealand and Australia, as well as across the US and Canada.

Craig Stevens published four DVDs on classical equitation, three in English, one in Swedish currently being translated. He and his partner Mary Anne Campbell, co-authored a book on the theory of classical equitation that is expected to be published this year. 

In addition to his travels, Craig Stevens continued to train horses at his school in Snohomish. He met his new partner, Mary Anne Campbell, in 2004 and married her in 2007. Together they instructed young professionals in the art and business of horsemanship. The National School of Academic Equitation had a busy lesson schedule, as well as horses in training from young colts just starting up to seasoned competitors needing re-training. “Typically owners present their horses with behavioral issues, and we teach both horse and horse owner how to sort out the conversation so that both are more happy with the result. Very ordinary horses can do extraordinary things, as long as the people working with them are willing to learn to relate to them better. I keep a busy schedule because I’m weary of seeing unhappy horses and frustrated riders, and I know there’s an alternate approach that has all but been forgotten in the modern world of equestrian work.”

 Craig and Mary Anne worked together at the farm in Snohomish until 2020, then the couple split and Craig moved to their student Megan Sorentino’s place in Colorado, where he would become “artist in residence” living happily with his new fiancée, Gail, enjoying a light teaching and training program and generally taking it a little easier. He was not finished with his teaching and scholarship though. He continued to work online teaching students privately and offering courses with Mary Anne Campbell as well as working on translations with the Foundation for the Equestrian Arts until his death in 2024.

(And by the way, having met at his memorial in Fort Collins after Craig’s death, Mary Anne and Gail have become great friends.  He always had great taste in partners!)