Welcome to Solo’s Weekly Newsletter.
Facebook - 2022 - Some random dressage forum
“Hey Carl, your horses are too tight, the neck is too short, piaffe is all wrong. If you pay for my flight, I’ll come give you a lesson at no charge.”
This was an actual comment posted under a video of Carl Hester riding, and they were serious. They commented on other posts about how they’ve offered Carl free lessons in the past and they can’t understand why he hasn’t taken them up on it.
The person who left the comment is a self-declared riding master, but ironically you can’t find a single photo of them sitting on a horse.
That’s kinda weird, right? So why does this happen?
Present Day - 400 meter race track
If you told me you were a super fast runner, it’s easy to assess. I’d hold a stopwatch and time you running from point A to point B. Then you take that time and compare it against others who’ve run that same distance. If you’re fast, you’ll have a quicker time than those who have tried before you. It’s also super simple to discredit someone who claims to be fast. The judge is the stopwatch.
That’s the beauty of objective sports. They are easy to follow and easy to understand. You don’t need to be a runner to comprehend who’s faster than who.
But there’s a problem with subjective sports.
We remove the external judgement apparatus (ie. stopwatch) and replace it with humans who judge the performance based on a set of criteria. This works generally well if we all buy into the same criteria.
If you’re a serious competitive dressage rider you generally accept the current judging model. You’d have no problem agreeing that Carl Hester is a better rider than someone showing at training level and getting a 42%.
But what happens when you don’t buy into the current criteria for assessing what is good?
The floodgates open and it becomes the wild wild west.
The person who got a 42% in their training level test can argue that the current judging system is all wrong and that’s why they scored so low.
“It’s because judges don’t reward “correct” riding and don’t follow their own objectives!”
This person can still claim they are good (even better than Carl Hester), it’s the judging that’s bad, not them.
Everyone is an expert when you can’t prove or disprove their ability.
I see this happen often in the world of dressage. People who don’t buy into the criteria of assessment for what is good, yet are obsessed with commenting and critiquing those who do.
If someone wants to be a self-proclaimed dressage master with their own rules and definitions, have at it! All the power to you. But if others have no criteria to assess your riding, keep it to yourself. Do your own thing. Pat yourself on your back. High-five yourself. Kiss yourself against the mirror every morning. In your world, you’re a god or goddess that’s even better than Carl Hester. That’s cool, good for you!
But under no circumstance should you expect others to regard you as an expert in an activity where you make up the standards and don’t play by the same rules as everyone else.
It’s their fantasy, but others aren’t obliged to live in it.
Unfortunately, this will always be an issue with subjective sports.
So what are we to do?
Find your tribe and surround yourself with others who share the same vision. Dressage is hard enough without these self-proclaimed masters trying to tear you down.
But hey, if you engage with these people, you might get a free lesson out of it.
All you have to do is cover the airfare.
SOLO NEWS
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Solo Summit - White Padding
QUOTE ABOUT DRESSAGE THAT’S NOT ABOUT DRESSAGE
“No matter how hard you train, Somebody will train harder. No matter how hard you run, Somebody will run harder. No matter how hard you want it, Somebody will want it more. I am Somebody.”
- Steve Prefontaine
Thanks for reading! We will see you next Saturday!
