Re: dressage/endurance...

[Sue Brown <sbrown@wamedes.com>]

Renee said:
>Okay, okay....
>    Where did anyone ever get the idea that endurance horses couldn't do 1st 
>level dressage???  I knew that post would get lots of "well, for your 
>information" responses.  I think lots of endurance horses are trained in 
>dressage to keep on top of things, as well as other disciplines just because 
>their riders happen to like other things.  

At the PNER convention this last weekend, both Nancy Elliot DVM and Nancy
Spencer recommended, during their lectures, that dressage be an integral part
of the training and conditioning of endurance horses.  (This was nice to hear
since my subspecialty in teaching riding is teaching dressage to those who
don't necessarily want to go to a show, but want to ride and train their
horses
more effectively and help their horses stay sound for many years.)  What
amazes
me, however, is finding so many riders that don't really know what dressage
is...or they have a vision of the top hat and tails and don't want anything to
do with a discipline that's so hoity-toity...or they think that, because you
"ride (or teach) dressage", you don't know much about other aspects of riding
(trails, hills, tack, horsemanship, etc.)  

The best horses and riders are those that are cross-trained with dressage...no
matter what their primary discipline is or will be!  The word "dressage" is
from the word "dresseur" (sp) which means "to train" and is the logical,
step-by-step, proven over the centuries method of educating the horse to use
his body correctly, build his muscles correctly, and learn to do increasingly
more difficult athletic (gymnastic) exercises.  This education starts by
educating the rider to ride in an effective, balanced seat using legs, seat,
body position, and weight for primary cues.  When adapted for other
disciplines, it's like the football players taking ballet.  Doesn't mean
they're going to be ballerinas...but their lightness and grace during their
movements will improve.  With dressage basics in place, you can ride the horse
in any kind of tack or any kind of discipline and have a horse that's much
better balanced, can bend nicely (and correctly), uses their rear end better,
and lifts their weight with their top line instead of throwing themselves
forward with their front end.  Buying a horse that has been schooled in
dressage is a plus...but if the buyer isn't also schooled in dressage, the
horse can lose what it has learned.  No matter what level the horse has been
schooled to, it will always deteriorate to the level of the rider!!  Many
people have been disappointed, blaming the horse for not being as good as they
thought, when it has been the poor, uneducated riding that has caused the
decline.  Absolutely the horses should have dressage basics...but the riders
need it as well in order to correctly maintain the training.

Sue



sbrown@wamedes.com
Tyee Farm
Marysville, Wa.