DRESSAGE CAN’T BE TAUGHT – IT MUST BE LEARNED

This is specific to dressage, as I am a dressage rider.

I’m not aiming this post at an absolute beginner, who would require teaching on basic horsemanship and position skills.

This is directed at intermediate level riders. These are riders with enough skill to control their horses and deal with most behavior issues.

If you are afraid of your horse, or are just starting out, yes you need a trainer. But if you are trying to learn the nuances of dressage, unfortunately it is a learned skill. Nobody can teach it to you.

I find that teaching someone how to ‘ride dressage’ is difficult if not impossible. The reason is that skilled dressage trainers rely on feel and timing to train their horses to respond. Feel and timing can only be learned by doing, including hours and hours of repetition.  Since we are dealing with an animal, this limits the amount of time you can spend in the saddle developing these skills.

I read a book called Mastery by Robert Greene. In the book, he discusses how much practice it takes to truly master a skill. Some say 10,000 hours, others say up to 20,000 hours. So if you only ride one horse five days a week, that’s 240 hours a year at best. Two horses brings you closer to 500 hours. So for horse riding, at that clip, it would take 41 years to master. Of course nobody ever masters dressage, it’s impossible. But it’s easier to do if you have balance, feel, and timing, and you’ll only get that by riding.

So many people are looking for some magic dressage success formula, like if you just uncover the secret key, you’ll be a success, win at the shows, and be able to train horses with ease. Or they think they just need a fancier horse and then they will be on their way.

The truth is, yes, all of that will help. Trainers will help you see things differently, and find more effective ways to train the movements. Talented horses find the movements easier and learn them faster. But so many people forget that they are also part of the equation. If you don’t ride well, the horse will never reach its potential.

I go out to the barn every day and ride without fail. I even had three horses for a while. I never wanted three horses, I even told myself it was impossible to ride three horses and keep a day job.

But I managed to do it because I saw the bigger picture. That third horse was increasing my time in the saddle. Hour by hour, day by day, weeks to week and month to month, I was adding to my knowledge base. That’s why even when I was tired, it was cold out, or I just plain didn’t feel like it, I still rode. Being excellent at something is quite a reward, no matter what sacrifices you need to make.

The problem when you rely on a trainer is that it shifts your attention from you getting better, to finding a solution outside of yourself to get better. This will never work out.

Whenever I relied on trainers, it took something away from me. I find dressage to be unique to each person, everyone has their own flair. It might be right, or wrong, that’s really not the point. The point is it works for them. If you want to reach the pinnacle of achievement you may have to let go of some of your wrong habits. Whenever a dressage trainer would dismantle my entire system, I would get upset. Then I would try to embrace their vision for my riding. I eventually learned that was a huge mistake. I had to be smart enough to know what to take, what to discard, and what simply wasn’t going to work, right or wrong. I have to work so much on my own I can’t allow my training to become frozen because I’m trying so hard to be right.

I have position problems and I’m grateful for the many people that have taken the time to relentlessly tell me how wrong I am over a period of days until it’s drilled into my head. I can take that back home and keep it up. Yes, it’s hard without someone harping on you every day, but you have to ultimately take responsibility for improving, and it’s not just practice, but ‘perfect practice’ The fact that I could be potentially wasting my time learning a bad habit is enough to scare me straight.

A recent clinic drove this concept home. I was told that yes I needed to practice sitting up straight and not leaning back, but there was no way I would get enough repetitions just practicing in the saddle. I was told that when I was at work I was never to lean back in my chair, to sit on the edge of it always straight. That doesn’t seem difficult until you try to do it. I was exhausted after the first hour. But I kept my awareness up. Every once in a while I have to relax and lean back in my chair, but it feels like a very strange thing to do now.

The reward for all of this hard work and sacrifice is to become truly excellent at something, to master it. I love to go ride now, because I know each day I have a plan, I have the skills to get there, and I’m not afraid to try new things or make mistakes. That makes every day a pleasure, and I’m grateful for the chance to try.