But that’s not correct. My younger horse freely, naturally gallops downhill like a bat out of hell then uses his neck as a handbrake in order to avoid smacking into the fence.
through careful, planned, managed gymnastic riding he’s maintained that relaxation while learning to pick himself up more deliberately through stronger abs and balance front to back. He’s happy …and we still don’t smack into the fence.
winning.
Laughed out loud at that visual. Using his neck as a handbrake is the perfect visual for most horses at liberty. In addition, I know plenty of horses who are happy to cross canter, tranter, or do all sorts of unbalanced things because without interference, unbalanced is their natural state of being.
Or rather, the unbalance they show at liberty is functional without a rider. Counter bending, running around with their head in the air, neck upside down, or plowing to a halt on the forehand. By and large a horse on open land goes in straight lines, or the kind of gentle curve that might as well be straight in terms of balance. In turnout they need to brake for a fence but in the wild they could just jump or avoid most people obstacles.
We ride them extensively on circles so need to build up their athleticisn for that. Most often a green horse can’t even trot a good circle without some development work. We need to change their way of moving right away.
I didn’t actually get ‘in to’ dressage until I was quite an accomplished child rider (in a way). I did the flat work because my trainer told me to, but it didn’t fuel my fire. Then all of a sudden it clicked and that round, back up kind of movement was just the best feeling ever. Still is! If dressage isn’t doing it for you, go find a good hunter jumper barn and keep riding fun. A good h/j trainer will be able to get you balanced and strong enough to get a horse going over it’s back. Then dressage will mean something. But it’s no good to go drill at things if it’s taking the fun out of your horse time.
But it may take a few rides for OP to get to this point even in a schooled horse. Need to stick it out!
Keep trying. It sometimes takes a bit of time. You might also try a different instructor or even someone who specializes in western dressage as a change. Dressage can be dry and some barns do keep a bit of that rarefied air thing that takes much of the fun out of the learning aspect with perhaps a bit of the holier than thou thing. We came from the breed/saddleseat thing and after rolling our eyes for years at some of the anal retentive ladies have really come to enjoy dressage. We have been down quite a road and have really become pretty careful about instructors. We show to national level and really have enjoyed the journey and all we have learned but it is quite different from the saddleseat breed thing. We do avoid some of the anal retentive, lemon eating ladies as we do this for fun not a biblical calling but for some ladies that is their thing. Learning can be fun and when you find a barn/instructor that works with your personality it really can be a joy. Keep trying!
The lemon eaters made me.laugh!
I appreciate all the insights! I took a lesson at a h/j barn, and decided I want to keep dressage in my life (1 lesson or so per month), but I don’t want it to be my primary focus. (The h/j barn is also closer to my house, 1/3 of the price, and tons of options for leasing/part-leasing so I can get in some saddle time.)
I definitely see the value of dressage and working on the basics - and I’ve never been more sore or tired! After a lesson recently, I collapsed in bed for an hour when I got home. And I know I want to continue with that and gain a better understanding. But after popping over a couple of jumps, I’m headed for the dark side. I do feel that the handful of dressage lessons gave me more confidence and courage in my riding, also.
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