Sydnor never said you can’t find a nice horse to have fun on for less money, or that you can’t have a lot of fun.
But she’s entirely being realistic when she says really competitive horses aren’t cheap. I just spent 3 years looking for a very special horse, and gave up ever finding anything in my price range. I spent all that time and had some real expert people beating the bushes for me, I looked at hundreds and hundreds of horses; it is just not all that easy to find a really super competitive horse that is not expensive. They have only gotten more expensive. They have not gotten cheaper.
No, Sydnor is not trying to preserve the top end of the market, as one of you accused her of. She is not some conniving operator like that.
Expensive horses aren’t selling as quickly as they used to, but the prices aren’t coming down.
Ever.
Unfortunately, and I know everyone here is going to scream bloody murder, but riding better horses DOES make one a better rider. I have learned from not riding such talented horses - they DO cause a rider to ride badly in certain ways. And lesser movers simply don’t challenge the rider to develop a more supple, athletic seat and position.
Less able horses CANNOT maintain the collection needed for the upper levels and stay sound. Either they do the upper level work in a sort of fake ‘working’ gait, not collection at all (this is VERY common in fact) or they become unsound and are retired or dropped down.
Sure, one gets that basic experience on almost any type of horse, but when it comes to some really more ambitious higher level goals, the trouble does start.
I agree that most people could do what they want to do on a cheaper horse. I was the POSTER CHILD for doing as much as you can on a cheap horse. I did that nearly all my life. I rode free horses, 800 dollar horses, I-can’t-stand-this-one-here-you-ride-him horses. That was ALL I rode for a very long time.
Horses without natural balance and ability DO cause the RIDER to struggle constantly to artificially create that balance - he gets up on a more naturally talented horse, and he drives it completely insane, he has to completely change how he rides, and it isn’t easy; many people can’t make that transition after they ride that way for so long, I have seen plenty of people not able to change. years and years of habits are not easy to kill off.
Less able, less balanced horses, horses with less natural impulsion, horses that roll the rider all over the saddle - they cause riders to create lifelong - BAD HABITS.
Someone who’s never had to make this transition just isn’t going to understand what this means.
Yes, there is a difference. I recall when Klimke came here in '86 I think and told one of our riders, ‘This is just not an appropriate horse for this job’ she burst into tears and was freaking out at a clinic, she just couldn’t believe it, so unfair, so CRUEL, so MEAN, so UNTRUE! It was a LOVELY horse, right? What was the bastard trying to do! What horrible evil philosophy does such a cruel unthinking mean old man have!!!
Well, no. It was not the right horse. Not for what she wanted to do. She just couldn’t accept it. And she wound up VERY angry and very unhappy after that meeting. And she was telling the world about it.
And there was only one problem.
Klimke was right.
Years ago a friend of mine had one of those lovely, agreebable, kind horses who was just a sweetheart and would do anything for you - the horse was a very nicely built horse, quiet, obedient, nicely bred, moved nicely, plenty nice enough for 99% of people.
But he was just not a top class horse.
A very astute trainer I knew was watching this gal compete at a local show, and of course, this gal beat everyone at that regional type show. Trained it herself, that rider did. We were all as proud as punch of her. Fairy tale come true, right?
I watched the sweet old horse go around and the trainer said, ‘There’s only one problem with that type of horse’. I watched dreamily as the rider went around performing upper level movements in the test…dreaming I had that sort of horse…and the trainer said, ‘Only problem is, that sort of horse makes you ride like a god damned butcher’.
I turned around and STARED at this genteel woman who I had never heard talk that way. HOW HORRIBLE a thing to say.
“But, but he’s LOVELY…” I said.
The trainer just smiled. “You’ll learn - you have to learn to think for yourself.”
Lacking balance, he was hard on himself. Every step put twice as much wear on him. He gave as much as he could, you could see how hard he tried. He was never over worked or exhausted. She was as kind as a mother to him. And oh how he tried. And how she tried. Before anything bad happened, he was dropped down.
Over many years I cliniced and showed now and again with the rider, and as she worked so hard over time to move up the levels, and got each new horse (no, she didn’t break them down and sell them to the knacker, if that’s your next accusation), I watched how she chose horses and how it went. She was very forthright and would tell anyone the process she was going through.
She got horses that were more and more reactive and sensitive, and had more and more natural balance, their gaits were more and more balanced. She seemed to be going thru a process, largely on her own but with some guidance, of totally remaking herself as a rider.
The horses stayed sound.
She began to win at other shows. Not just our regional shows.
We didn’t see so much of her locally.
We started reading about her in the magazines, instead of the local county paper.
And to my complete amazement, 10 years later, when I see her ride, she is unrecognizable. She has a finesse, an elegance, ,and a body control and a posture and position that was never there before. Watching her ride, says my SO, ‘is like watching waves break on a beach’ - smooth - elegant - classical dressage at its best.
She has given everything to do this. Money that could have been spent on other things - vacations, new cars, furniture - went to this. No, they didn’t go into debt or have dramatic problems. But they did make decisions. Mainly, “This is what we want to do with our lives”.
No, she probably will never compete in the Olympics or the world championships.
And she as well as her family all worked hard and gave up other things to help her achieve what she has done. And she worked very hard.
And what a wonderful way to spend a life, in the pursuit of excellence.
