From Eric:
Stand outside the warmup arena of any show. Dressage, stadium, or cross-country, anyone can look from the outside in, and observe complete chaos, no order, and a bunch of riders fighting for something they did not bring to the show. I’m not talking strictly about the amateur or the novice level rider, but also the advanced professional. The riders working with their horse in harmony are far and few between. There are riders sweating bullets, others mumbling profanity to their equine friend while trying to get their head down, still others feeling the need to tell the whole world how wonderful their horse is (slapping them on the neck and riding a track that could not be described as a straight line or a circle), and then you have the trainer yelling “half halts” and other “coming from behind” sayings all the while dictating every move of their student, but of course the student has no resemblance to what their coach is saying. The warm-up could not even be described as a warm-up, but a war zone of tension and insecurity. Are we loosing touch with what we intentionally wanted to train the horse to do?
As soon as you throw your leg over your horse’s back, ask yourself, “What is the overall goal you want from your horse.” I have been asking this question to every rider that has ridden with me in a clinic for the past 3 years. After watching them warm up for ten minutes, I make my assessment of horse and rider pairs, and then I have the rider describe their warm-up and ask the infamous question. Their answers have been 100% identical! Every rider described a small portion of the overall ideal. Common answers were, to get relaxation, and to get their horse’s attention. Some comments focused on getting the horse in front of the rider’s leg, to get the horse to submit to rein pressure. Some answers where so creative that I don’t care to mention them. But overall the answers I received were not wrong answers; they were just such a small portion of the overall picture. What happens next when you have your horses attention, relaxation, or get him in front of your leg? The ideal answer I was looking for was a “balanced horse.” Then, what is important to reveal, is what makes a horse balanced?
A dressage judge has a one dimensional view to a horse, and the blind judge could see a horse’s head come up. Unfortunately the rider is immediately focused on the head instead of the balanced horse that allows for the beautiful picture in the end. If one where to give their equine partner a little more credit and treat them more like a dance partner, I think we would have many more sympathetic riders thinking about placing their horse’s feet, rather than dominating the head placement. Whether jumping or on the flat, riders associate control with the horses head being down. Because the rider is not centered or balanced, they are relying on the reins for their handle bar to the horses mouth. There would be a deeper understanding of accountability of balance from both parties, if one were to take the reins with the same feeling and respect you would have with your dance partner. One would, of course, start by working with the rider.
If we as riders are going to domesticate a horse and ride for our own amusement, I think the least we can do is respect the horses natural way of going and train ourselves to listen to our equine partner instead of getting caught up in asking them to do something that they are not ready to do, let alone able to do. We live in an instant gratification society today. There is a huge market for artificial aids. Some help in a positive way to magnify your natural aids, others make up for shear laziness on the riders part, such as putting the horse in a false frame and unnatural way of going. One can get caught up into the fast track, goal setting, gotta get there attitude before looking back and enjoying the balanced, harmonious dance with your horse. Nine times out of ten, you are not getting what you want because you are out of balance, which causes your horse to be out of balance. Take a breath, respect what your horse is trying to tell you, and do your best to follow through with your horse. Then reward your horse for their effort.
