Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> "...a classical dressage standpoint, one will improve ANY horse--even if
> one never sets foot on an endurance course or in a dressage ..."
>
> If my understanding Dressage started as a way to train European Cavalry,
> both the noble riders and the horses.  That tradition produced some of
> the finest horses (Shagya Arabians and Polish Arabians come quickly to
> mind) and riders that the world has ever known.  Unfortunately, the show
> circuit has changed things greatly in the good old USA.
The roots of classical dressage go clear back to what's-his-name the Greek
(whose name is escaping my old-timer's brain at the moment--I'll probably
remember it as soon as I hit "send") who was considered the father of
modern horsemanship and who wrote back in 400 BC or so.  And yes, it was
to have an optimally functional cavalry unit.

You are correct that it often bears little resemblance to the show
ring--and not just in the good old USA, alas.  My husband gets extremely
fed up with "modern" European dressage as well, which is where he has most
of his background.  Dressage is supposed to be light and subtle, but too
many times it becomes warped into a heavy-handed forcing of the horse
"into a frame" which was not the point of it at all...  (But that's why I
qualified my original comment as relating to "classical" dressage....  ;-)
)

Heidi


============================================================
The two best drugs to have in your kit are Tincture of Time and a Dose of
Common Sense. These two will carry you through 99.999% of the problems
associated with horses and endurance competition.
~ Robert Morris

ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/

============================================================