This dressage post is an essay that I wrote for our book study, in response to Pam's essay question: "Imagine you have trained your horse, who is now six years old, no previous injuries or training, and she will be solid First Level this summer.
How do the principles that Steinbrecht discusses in this chapter affect your riding when developing your training level horse into a First Level horse? I found it very helpful to have an assignment that encouraged me to reflect on my riding experience and view it through the lens of Steinbrecht's teachings.
My essay response which I am wrote from memory – when I was in the early stages of dressage and showing at dressage shows
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Raznik – 16 year old Mustang/Arab gelding
I had anxiety about the canter, and without a good place to ride (at that time my “arena” consisted of a relatively flat spot which had chest-high grass. I mowed a somewhat round path where we could canter. The drawback was kitties who loved to lurk about in the tall grass…giving Raz a good excuse to spook!
I am inserting some of the quotes that would have helped me with my training at that time, had I been aware of them.
Through some limited clinics and lessons, I had gradually learned the importance of straightness, and could ride my horse down the Center Line. (My first efforts at this had been mediocre, with Raz consistently drifting to the left. I think I knew instinctively that I needed to guide him straight with my weight and my leg, but I didn’t understand the physiology or the fine-tuning that could/should have gone into the process.)
I was largely ignorant of the importance of corners and bend.
Training the horse to take a particular degree of bend and maintain it allows the rider to train the horse to accept more weight on the inside hind leg, “enabling him to work it successfully” (p 73).
Thus, my main focus was getting past my own nervousness about canter, and trying to reconnect with the joy that I used to derive from that gait. I could have helped my horse develop more relaxation and suppleness in his spine, which would have felt more comfortable to me, and would have resulted in harmony, rather than clashing tension between horse & rider.
As we developed our working canter, we did begin to have some harmony, but any loss of attention by him, or any disruption in the environment which took my attention resulted in my reliance on my hands to “make sure I wouldn’t lose control”…which of course is an illusion!
Even if the hands are passive, they must not hold back uniformly. They should guide the legs correctly….keeping them from escaping inward or outward, so that the straightness is maintained.
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