In a message dated 1/5/2006 6:27:04 A.M. Mountain Standard Time, Ray
O'Donohue wrote:
I saw
almost no slack reins on either the 3-day or Gran Prix dressage horses,which I
thought was perhaps a dissapointment.
You know, I thought the same thing, Ray.
I think there was a time when "dressage" was method of schooling a
horse in such a fashion as to be able to communicate to that horse when the
rider wished to perform movements which tasked certain physical and
reactive/emotional elements of its being.
Upon witnessing certain Great Riders and Trainers who were able to do such
a thing, I believe there came an element who never truly understood what they
were seeing. Sure, they saw the horse flexed at the poll; sure, they saw
the horse in a rounded frame; sure, they saw the horse able to rock back and
unload the front-end thereby seemingly being able to dance about...but, for some
some reason, unable to grasp the causitive actions on behalf of the rider, they
one day tried a very tight cavesson (noseband), then added a shanked curb bit
(hidden behind the guise of a double rein), then, (if that wasn't enough) one
day added martingagles, draw reins, spurs that could either slash the
hide or blunt ones so used to bruise rib fascia, hours of drilling in
twenty meter circles with no relief until "perfection" was achieved, and other
elements to help in imparting rider desires to the horse.
Somewhere along the line, the schooling method of making a great riding
horse (Dressage) became Competition between trainers and riders, so created to
determine who the better trainers and riders were. Scores were used to
indicate the winner.
Somewhere along the line, it grew and became a competition between
countries to determine who would win Medals.
It seems to me that Dressage was once about a rider and a horse. It
seems to me that the better trained a horse is, the less the rider might have to
rely on a double-bridle...perhaps with NO cavesson tighten so mandibles cannot
be released, thereby giving the horse a chance to truly relax. Maybe the
Higher Levels of Dressage should be ridden WITHOUT any bridle, and the training
could then be truly judged. But, then the Laws of Physics couldn't be
applied in such a fashion as to make the rider's desires more readily and
easily understood.
There have been and ARE great Dressage trainers and riders and horses
in the world. This is not comment on them or their methods...True Dressage
is a beautiful tool to see used properly which allows the
Apparition of the True Beauty of the Horse/Rider relationship.
Perhaps, just maybe, more of us should aspire to make willing partners in
our endeavors.
AND, don't get me wrong, in our society, in the Hierarchy of Species,
animals can just be servants and something to eat. That's seems perfectly
acceptable and in keeping with issues of "Dominion".
Each of us is free to ride the horse we make. And
that's how things are in the Hierarchy.
