Progress Business Company

We are a group of friends who enjoy the challenges of historical equestrianism. We come from different backgrounds but tend to be either riders who are interested in historical reconstruction, or reconstructors who are interested in riding. But we all enjoy horses and the discipline of riding.

There are many different aspects to historical riding. Clothing and equipment must be researched and reproduced to the highest levels of authenticity. It is not costumn but needs to be fit for purpose. It needs to be able to cope with all weathers and realistic conditions. But most of you need to be able to ride in it, and it needs to be able to cope with the wear and tear that comes with riding horses.

Horses need to be well schooled and well cared for. We want them to enjoy the experience as much as we do. And we need horses that conform to those used by our ancestors. Generally that means horses that seem small to many people today.



Our tack needs to be as historically correct as possible, and this is not always easy. Most of us own tack from our preferred period of history, and some of us own several saddles from different periods. Greek and Hellenistic riding requires no saddles at all! But riding in an historic way encourages us to research period saddles and tack and discover their attributes.

Last but not least we need to ride in the correct historic manner. It is useful to know how to ride in a modern English fashion and some skills are transferable to other periods. But there are many historical documents teaching equestrianism and even more examples of iconography that show us the correct seat for each period.





We train at Mark Atkinson's yard at Eastrington just outside Howden, East Yorkshire.
Atkinson's Action Horses are a family business offering a range of horses for hire, carrying out
film work, re-enactment and stunt work, as well as working for the Royal armouries in Leeds.

Mark and his son Ben have a large string of horses suitable for various historical periods, all excellently prepared and brilliantly trained.