At What Point "No"?
As an equine blogger I, and a bunch of other people, spew on and on with all that “horses being a partner” stuff.
I would like to bring up for your consideration the next logical part to that way of thinking. And more importantly if that next step isn’t feasible or logical, consider that it just might all be a bunch of bull.
Any thinking person, open to shifting sands, must be willing to acknowledge that at certain points in their life, their logic shifts and their way of thinking changes.
So what methods or belief we held as truth twenty years ago is something we’d never do today. We’ve evolved. Think of all the dubious things you've done with a horse twenty years ago and say that you would do it ALL today. For most of us (myself included) the answser is an unequivocal NO.
So today we are far more attentive to and wanting to “listen to the horse”. We preach of being a partner in the equine dance between horse and rider, blah blah blah.
But now what? What next?
Okay, so now we ride the horse. We work him day in and day out, trying to perfect ourselves and in turn, perfect the horses way of going.
We practice rhythm and our timing of the aids and the application of them. We do everything we can short of lighting candles, putting on Asian mood music, and praying to any entity who will listen in order we the Ying to better ride Yang.
We achieve equine nirvana and we begin to show. We advance quickly at first, and we’re able to place well too. If we're lucky and we've spent enough time and money we start to show with the big boys.
Then one day things become a little harder. But we’re doing so well showing and we’re leading in points even if it's just a small lead. We find ourselves in the position that one bad show with low test scores can be the difference between Yes and No. We have become serious and competitive.
So we push. We look for shortcuts. With a world watching (except maybe some FEI stewards because they can’t do a damn thing about it anyway) we MAKE things happen as opposed to the loftier mantra of allowing things to EVOLVE.
We have become that which we once loathed, though often we do not see it.
And often there’s nothing we can do about it. We’ve developed ourselves and our lives around showing and winning especially if we're a trainer. Winning gives us prestige and prestige gives us money. And we need that money. We have to pay the farm rent or mortgage, pay the sky high prices and fees of showing and be able to (in lieu of spending our own money) convince someone else to either buy a horse for us to ride or allow us to ride their horse and to pay us for riding their horse. And we have to keep them convinced because at any time that person can wave buh bye and move on to the person who is doing the winning if we aren’t.
Everything depends on winning. EVERYTHING.
Pressure mounts and so does the pressure we put upon our horses. Some of us try and cheat a little when the horse starts coming up sore because coming up sore is just something that happens when you MAKE it happen instead of allowing things to EVOLVE.
People start to notice and begin to say things. Then some of them get mad at you and begin to say things on the internet. Global conversations begin with you as the topic and you find yourself being blamed for the demise of dressage as we know it and in some circles, the holocaust too. We become the subject of videos and of conversations about said videos.
We step up and defend ourselves yelling for anyone to hear that will listen stating how much we love our horse and how much education we have. Of course we love our horses because we speak nicely to them and feed them carrots and bananas when we're not contorting them in bizarre, unrecognizable positions.
Our education with some of the top folks in the world has taught us that we are more knowing than others as to what the real deal is, what the realities of living in this world entails in the horse world. We give ourselves the excuses we need, we give those same excuses to the world and we speak of how much more we know than every one else.
We have become that which we once loathed.
It’s apparent to others that now we’ve lost our way. Somewhere, at some point, things went askew.
How do we keep that from happening?
Remember at the very beginning I asked what the next step was? Well this is the point in the equation of things that the question must be both asked and answered.
My answer: The horse must always be the driver. The horse must always lead the way.
Next question:
Given todays show environment, is it even possible for the horse to lead the way?
I think maybe no, it isn't possible all the time especially as we reach higher levels.
It is my belief that as soon as the showing becomes complicated and entwined as an integral part of life’s set up that at some point it is no longer possible for the horse to be the driver. When things develop to the Olympic or World levels its obvious that showing has become quite complicated and has become entwined as an integral part of our lifes set up. And then there's the money. Always the money.
So I would ask, is there a point where the sport developed to preserve “training” has now become the very vehicle of its destruction?
At what point do we say “No”?
The answer is different to different people. I can afford to make my answer to completely listen to the horse and allow him to be the driver. I’m not currently showing or even driving towards some goal and time destination.
I have the luxury of my mantra being “I’ll do what evolves based up my frequency and intensity of rides and the horse wanting to and enjoying the training”.
Others are striving for some goal and that goal might be on a local, regional, national or global level.
The ones striving towards some goal are feeling the pressure. What will they do? What will we do?
In the end when we speak of being in harmony with our horses and of allowing the training to develop we can always talk the talk, but can we walk the walk?
Come back real soon now, ya' hear?!
Greed, love and happiness are rarely compatible......
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Sad, but true.
But the dreamer in me thinks that the possibility exists where riders have found the proper coexistence between greed, love and happiness.
I wish I remembered who it was (last name of Ikle maybe?) who was a rider qualified to go to Hong Kong. She was from some European team. Due to the conditions in Hong Kong she refused to subject her horses to the environment and backed out from the Olympics. This caused that countries team to also have to withdraw for being short a member, so that country ended up with no representation at all, and her teammates all stayed home.
I'm sure she suffered all sorts of criticism for that especially as it affected her teammates as well, yet if concern for her horses health in Hong Kong was really her reason, you'd have to SUPER respect that and hold her in the highest regard.
So maybe the three (greed, love and happiness) can coexist.
Hey, a girl can dream can't she?
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My personal mantra is, "I have no deadline". Which is probably why I've never done anything more than a local schooling show, and have no plans to change that. I'm competitive with myself, not with others (which, by the way, is how the whole dressage show scoring thing was originally supposed to be designed--complete with judges comments for your edification). It's all about how well my horse and I can work together--and it's not important that anyone else (except my trainer) ever sees us do so. As soon as you start comparing yourself to others (i.e., get the competition show bug) you'll find yourself sucked into that vortex which ignores the horse's well-being and extorts huge quantities of money from everyone involved with the horse.
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Which is exactly how I, a fellow amateur, feels.
I'd love to hear stories from riders of the higher end of things and how they feel they themselves have done, or their contemporaries have done. If you ask me to, I'll block your identity if you wish.
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I don't know what criticism had to be endured (the team trainer resigned, don't know if it was in protest or what), but here's a report on why she withdrew from the Hong Kong Olympics:
The Swiss Equestrian Federation has withdrawn its dressage team from the 2008 Hong Kong Olympic Games following a statement by its top dressage rider, Silvia Iklé. Iklé announced that she will not take her 14-year-old gelding Salieri CH to the Games, nor would she allow her second horse, Romario, ridden by teammate Veronika Marthaler, to compete. Iklé cited the humidity, distance and time difference of Hong Kong as reasons not to take her horses.
In a press statement, Iklé said, “Participating in Hong Kong would place extraordinary stresses and strains, exertions I do not wish to impose upon my horses.”
After Iklé’s statement, the Swiss Equestrian Federation decided to withdraw the entire Swiss dressage team from the Games, pointing out that, without Iklé, the team would be weak.
Swiss team trainer Jurgen Koschel has resigned as a result of the Swiss Equestrian Federation’s actions.
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Thank you Alli for the specifics!
I'm debating whether I should take your post and give it a blog spot. I believe what she did was very noble and a sign of hope. As such her act should be featured and the story told in a space larger than in the comment section.
Do you mind if I do this?
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Go for it.
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Around 40 years ago dressage started taking over jumping, and now I see people jumping like they did before the forward seat was developed. Nowadays, instead of seeing horses clearing a fence by inches they clear it by a foot or more, greatly adding to the wear and tear on the horse's legs. Why? Because someone won using dressage techniques.
Now the same thing is happening to dressage. Instead of working on the flexion of the hocks (in an up-and-down movement) the dressage riders now use the old Forward Seat technique of using the front-to-back engagement of the hind legs. Is it surprising that the dressage riders, using this Forward Seat technique, now all run their horses on the forehand?
Dressage is wonderful (properly done), and, properly done, it seems to be something that very few riders can do well. Forward Seat is just as wonderful, especially for cross country and jumping, or even just hacking. Combining both methods is HORRIBLE, and has led to all types of (unconscious I'm sure) abuse of the horse and unnecessary wear and tear on the horse's whole body.
Very few people still seem to think that light hands are the sign of a good rider, instead nowadays I see top dressage riders saying you should have 5 pounds of pressure on the bit. The only time the horse should need 5 pounds of pressure on the bit is at a FULL GALLOP cross-country, not riding around a small ring!!!
I NEVER thought that I could get my hands better (lighter) than most dressage riders, especially with my MS. But nowadays I think that my hands are lighter and more responsive than the vast majority of dressage riders, especially those who show in dressage.
My riding teacher agrees. She is a hunt seat instructor who values light hands.
I no longer look to dressage riders for inspiration. Instead I read the old masters of dressage and wonder how it all could have gone so wrong.
I ordered the Zettl (sp?) book. I am hoping to find inspiration in it. I will never ride dressage because I know that I am just not good enough because of my MS (balance, coordination, and endurance). More than one instructor has called me a good rider in the past decade, my horses obey me promptly and usually no-one can see my aids. If I am not good enough to do full dressage I absolutely refuse to compromise my horsie moral code in order to fool a judge into thinking that I am a lot better than I am.
But that is just the way I was taught horsemanship 40 years ago. My, how times have changed!
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True partnership--and allowing the horse to set the terms by which he will compete and cooperate with the rider, goes straight out the window when competition and drive to win take over. How can this be changed without a radical shift in the mind of the competitor?
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Maybe the standards of judging should be changed in another showing venue apart from what is around now, like FEI competitions where a horse can score a 90% with an extended trot isn't even parallel much less extended.
Maybe if the standards of judging were changed so that the primary focus was harmony within the movements and not just the pizzazz of the movements this can be done.
Maybe if the standards of judging weren't to place horses 1st, 2nd whatever but instead focused on more etherial aspects like relaxation and schwung and harmony things could be different.
But what do I know, I am just a stupid ammie LOL.
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