10/21/2021
Developing The Dream
The dreams of every rider, amateur, junior or professional are always lofty, we are a passionate group, all equestrians. But the road for any of us, whether it be the olympics or the first time in the saddle, is extremely complicated. The road map has an infinite number of possibilities. Every horse and rider are different everyday. One can write colorful, elegant explanations of how a horse should travel and use himself, or drone on about what the perfect equitation of each rider should look like.
But unfortunately there is also a reality. Each horse has strengths and weakness and deals with challenges differently. Each rider has a myriad of limitations and too compensates in a host of different ways. Add the two together and we have a puzzle involving horse and rider, that has to be taken apart, on a daily basis and slowly put back together.
So where do we start. Hopefully with a horse that is not perfect, but exceptionally willing and kind, because in the pursuit of dreams, if all riders were honest, the miles of honing their actual riding skills should be endless.
Second, there is no true success in developing an intimate partnership without a humble rider.
The rider needs to learn to know exactly what they expect of their horse every step of the way. Then when something doesn’t feel right from a simple walk halt transitions to pirouettes, it’s the rider’s responsibility to asses his/her communication. More often than not the rider has inadvertently given too many aids at once, confusing aids, or not asked for a succinct enough reaction to a light aid. The successful dance between horse and rider is an exact, fluid conversation, one step at a time.
