I had great trainers who came and taught me lessons and in their teaching, they were giving me tools to train my horse - exercises, figures, confirmation of the correct feeling in the training…I’m very analytical, so I’d read, watch, and apply to my rides using some trial and error and then get corrections to my “training” during lessons.
I had an image in my head of what a GP HP looked like and then would try to replicate it. This actually caused me some problems and frustration for my horse and I - I couldn’t replicate the perfect picture in my head right away and my trainer was always telling me to lessen the degree of difficulty and work my way up.
Besides having trainers correcting my training throughout, I also showed through I1, which I feel confirms that my training aligned with my goals (earning my medals) and was “correct.” I hid the piaffe and passage from my trainers for a long time until I had enough video to be pretty sure we were doing something recognizable.
I always think of advancing on horses a matter of time vs money. I have plenty of time but not so much money, so I just plugged along making incremental progress. If you want to do it faster, it’ll cost more money (new horse, more training, lessons on schoolmasters, etc.).
It’s very true about time versus money, and as a teen/ young adult, we often have way more hours in the day and the energy and stamina to use them, than we do as an older adult. Hours riding a horse correctly outside of the arena are not wasted, either.
Also, some folks are better at training animals, period. There is some element of tact or feel or timing that makes some folks be able to obedience train their dogs, and others not. Also there is the luck of the draw, if you get an animal that is trainable and has talent for a particular discipline. I say this because my current mare has turned out to be genius at ground work and clicker tricks , and then I watch friends trying to teach a clicker trick and keep seeing that they just can’t quite get the timing right.
You’re going to make mistakes, and you’re going to have a horse with some “holes” in the training. That’s the short answer.
The longer answer is that as you improve and refine the work, you patch the holes you didn’t know you made and you do better next time. You allow less latitude in the quality of the gaits/straightness/etc. when you introduce new movements, because you know that it’s going to catch up to you sooner rather than later so you may as well fix it now.
But that’s after you’ve gotten to that point. Before you’re there, you make mistakes… and it’s ok! Apologize to your horse, be fair in your expectations, and get better.
I took my guy from 2ndish to GP with weekly lessons for the first 2 years, and then monthly or so clinic-type work after that. I had ridden through 3rd level when I got my guy. I was in a similar life situation to theresak (btw, sorry for probably mispronouncing your screen name for years; it’s just now striking me that it’s probably “theresa k” and not “there sak” or “there’s ak”). No relationship, no kids, so my time outside of work was all mine to focus on training and showing.
The trainers I worked best with gave me tools to recognize potential pitfalls on my own, and exercises that were designed to diagnose connection issues. Invaluable.
Excuse me, but did you read my next sentences? Here they are:
There are probably some young ones out there like her on their way. (I hope so! I love her story.)
One in a million is rare, but there are millions out there trying, so I don’t think it’s impossible, just really tough odds given the number of obstacles and challenges… Still there are more Cinderella stories out there. Wasn’t there a young woman who was a waitress who succeeded in getting her horse to the Olympics. It was something I read somewhere, I don’t recall what discipline it was, (jumping?) but for anyone on their own with their own horse(s) who can achieve that high pinnacle of success without substantial money backing them it’s worth cheering on with tears and stars in your eyes! (at least I do.)
Not everyone wants to compete or compete at the Olympic level.
But getting a horse to GP may be more possible than people think.
Will the horse be “internationally competitive” with today’s singleminded focus on gaits? Probably not.
But that does not mean that your basic Appy, QH, or other “non-WB” breeds could not learn to produce a workmanlike FEI test…or even a reasonable 4th Level test.
Bill Steinkraus, put it best…
Excerpted from the Chapter “Rational Riding,” in Reflections on Riding and Jumping [INDENT]For me, rational riding is riding that depends on thought as well as feeling, on the brain as well as the body. Rational riding starts with the idea that it’s easier to do something if you know very concretely what you’re trying to do, why you’re trying to do it and how it functions mechanically.
Today I can’t believe that every rider wouldn’t benefit from spending some time consciously addressing his and his horses’ strengths and weaknesses, and trying to find ways to exploit the former and correct the latter.
…
… It’s surprising what a big deal it is for most people actually to try something new. Thinking about it is one thing, but having to try it out on your own horse or with your own body means abandoning what you have always done before. Many riders can’t bring themselves to do this, when they’re seeking advice in the first place because they aren’t having much success with their old techniques. Consequently, most riders display the same faults year after year, their progress blocked by their own resistance to change, forever bogged down at a lower level of success than they are capable of achieving.[/INDENT]
I see this in spades at all the barns I have boarded and worked at. Horses are not progressing. Riders take lessons from clinicians. The horse improves in the clinic, but then there is no follow thru to maintain the suggestions of the clinician.
I was reminded of this thread today when I saw exactly what Steinkraus describes with several riders at a barn. And then they complain that they and their horse is not making progress.
Obviously you just want to nit pick and argue with someone. I don’t want to, but here I am responding to you anyway…shoot… I never said lots of people can’t aspire to ride GP, I said few make the grade to Olympic caliber. I sort of associate most people aspiring to GP to aspiring to being the best of the best. I guess you don’t. OK.
I remember long ago when I first started with dressage, I remember reading somewhere that Jumping was 98% horse and 2% rider and dressage was 98% rider and 2% horse. I loved that saying because it meant the rider created the best out of the horse, so most horses could be brought along to their full potential with dressage. (Of course YMMV depending on conformation, temperament and ability to train obviously.) I noticed that with how things appear to be going that with the advent of horses with an incredible natural talent of movement it stacks the odds on the horse’s side in higher level competition and those percentages appear to have changed. So OK. It does change the game some. I guess that’s where one in a million comes in to a certain extent to become the best of the best. You need that genetic bump.
That doesn’t put anyone else out of the running from just trying to be the best they can be. I don’t know about every dressage rider, but I like to think I aspire to be a 98% rider. I don’t have an overinflated ego, I know I’m not, but I want to try to be that. That’s the best I will ever do, just aspire to be the best I can be and work at that. I don’t have an Olympic or International caliber horse. I have a good horse that I adore. However, it’s not up to my horse how far we go, it’s up to me and my ability to train him taking into account what his innate potential is. In training him I aspire to be doing the best work possible. I treasure our journey. It was my bucket list to train a horse as far as they could go, and that’s what I’m happily doing. At this point, we are very far away from achieving whatever end game we are possible of, but I’m not worried or a defeatist. I’m taking it as it goes, training what I can and enjoying the journey. I never said people with various different breeds can’t get to GP or whatever level. My breed cross is definitely not the norm to begin with, but I’m out there working with him, his huge booty and dinner plate size feet, hoping his potential someday is as crazy great as GP. (He does lift, push, has a nice natural rhythm and balance and is sweetly obedient, so maybe he can go farther than most in his gene pool.) Overall though I never said anything about limitations getting to any level with any breed. You did. Don’t put words in my mouth.
I don’t know what your deal is, but please back off. This started as an attempt at a pleasant conversational addition to the thread. You are the only person offended by my innocuous comments, that obviously should say something to you.
Honestly, I see most ammie horses stalling out at First Level, because they aren’t being schooled in a way that allows collection to start to develop. I would think that a horse that got up to say Fourth Level with decent scores and a correct foundation would stand a good chance of going up one more step to PSG, at least.
Now no one says it’s a “one in a million” ammie trained horse that gets to Fourth Level, but honestly it’s also relatively rare.
As far as Grand Prix being the best of the best, there are tiers of competition. It’s certainly a huge achievement for a local trainer or trainer/ammie rider combo to get a horse to Grand Prix on the local circuit, getting scores in the 60s and 70s. That is legitimately a Grand Prix horse, and it’s probably the best of the local or even regional, depending on how many Grand Prix riders your area has (varies a lot).
But it is not a Grand Prix horse on the international circuit, doing CDI 4* and getting a ranking on the FEI international list and getting scores in the 80s or 90s.
Agreed. I’ve seen this as well. Sometimes to me it appears as though the horse is not ready (injury; fitness) and sometimes the rider is not ready (injury; life things that derail plans). But I also wonder how much responsibility we assign to the trainer and coaches?
Do do we have the people out there that are willing to train and encourage people to train up the levels?
Or do we have coaches that encourage their riders to stay at training for a year to “get experience”? I watch these trainers, and often their path is quite different from the path they are dumbing down for the army’s. That ammy may need a year at training … but maybe allowing them to progress faster will build momentum and motivate them better?
I have been impressed by two locals ammys who train relatively independently. I have watched them progress - one up to solid PSG on a ‘normal’ horse (TB cross she bought when mare was 5). I have also watch a hunter rider, again fairly independent as not aligned with any specific coach or barn, take her horse to succeed in the 4’ foot hunters.
I’m not sure any of our local coaches would have encouraged that. Pretty sure if she was in a typical riding program her goals would have been stunted.
Love this. What a fantastic article. Learn to ride the horse you have, well, to the best of both of your abilities. And don’t allow the glass ceiling to be installed.
But clearly these two ammies have skills and determination above the norm. Good for them though!
In dressage I absolutely think that some of the shortcuts trainers take to get a horse and rider going at First level (or indeed training) end up not providing a foundation for future progress. Plus sitting the trot on a huge moving horse is a genuine hurdle for many ammies at Second Level especially if they are unfit and over horsed.
I’m sure there is similar stuff in jumping that lets you get around ,2 foot 6 but you would need to fix your seat to get above 3 feet.
, and then I watch friends trying to teach a clicker trick and keep seeing that they just can’t quite get the timing right.