https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/where-do-we-go-from-here/
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Oh wow, that was excellent. I’ll read again more in depth.
I’m not new to horses, having 40 years under my belt. New-er to dressage, but have been studying it for 15 years. And that piece touched on so many things I have thought myself. “They must ride what they have and prove their worth with their training”. That says so much to me.
The skills are the skills and they are priceless. The talent and athleticism of the horse is either luck or deep pockets, it seems to me.
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Breeding luck, or having the luck to have a sponsor who buys top horses for you ?
(sincere question).
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@kenyarider Great article! Thanks for sharing.
I think ‘luck’ can come in many forms. Breeding that perfect horse, finding a diamond in the rough, born into money, riding well enough to get sponsors (although that kind of luck is more 95% work), working student in the right place with the right trainer, etc, etc, etc.
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That’s a good question, but I might say both?
Having a sponsor must be part luck. Lucky in that you had the means to obtain the education that led to the skills that led to the wins that led to the sponsor. The average up down lesson kid who scrounges up $1000 to buy their best friend and then has to sell it to go to college… that kid isn’t getting a sponsor.
And breeding is surely luck. I used to work at a standard bred breeding farm who foaled out so many babies every year. Not many winners.
This isn’t sour grapes, I know how the horse world works and it isn’t unique to dressage. I’ve just grown a lot in my latter years with horses and realized… it’s a bigger accomplishment to me to take the non-typical breed up the levels (or jumping the courses or riding in endurance etc) than it is the horse who was piaffing in the womb, lol.
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Honestly, what frustrates me the most is that it’s so difficult for even the average person to be able to LEARN the skills they need to bring a young horse up the levels… there’s so few schoolmaster horses available to take lessons on unless you know the right people (or can afford a schoolmaster). I think it’s very difficult to move up the lower levels if you haven’t had the opportunity to ride a schoolmaster and really get a feel for what the more advanced movements are supposed to be like. It feels like the blind leading the blind some days 
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Oh yes, how true is this. Average riders don’t have 5 or 6 figures to throw at an aged horse with limited riding years left who needs $$$ in annual maintenance just so they can learn what it feels like.
I’ve been lucky to ride some nice lesson horses who are well trained… but they’re like a brick wall. The lesson programs make them such a hard ride. My one rider before me gelding is more supple, but completely uneducated.
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It definitely has me at a bit of a loss. I bought a now 3 y/o WB because that’s the only way I could afford something nice… but I’ll definitely need to figure out something in the next 2 years to somehow get myself up to snuff. After 20 yrs of riding, I don’t find much value in taking dressage lessons on your average school horse… there’s only so much you can fairly ask for them outside of the basics!
I have decent connections so maybe I’ll get lucky and an opportunity will fall into my lap 
Even just a couple lessons on a schoolmaster… I think even that much would be invaluable education wise.
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This is an excellent article, and thoughtful responses here on this forum–but it seems to me that the real problem here is that competition is the big end goal…the term dressage means training, and competition dressage does not seem to be about training but more about winning and ribbons–whereas if it were more about a place to be able to demonstrate your training ability rather than what the horse can do–that is, you have to school your own horse from the ground up and dressage shows were simply a way to showcase your work and get feedback (from judge) on it, then people would be trying to learn more how to produce a horse. When dressage becomes all about the ribbons and appearances, then you end up with the issues you currently have in the dressage world.
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YES. I naively believed this is actually what dressage competitons were. “Dressage is for every horse”.
Only to be met with breed bias and European buying trips as the norm in my search for a coach.
Thankfully I’m closer to 50 than 40 so can form my own opinions and path, so for me it will be about taking whatever horse I’m lucky enough to own, as far as we can go.
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If you are well connected it seems a schoolmaster won’t be too hard to find! I have a few DQs on my Facebook friends list that I keep in my back pocket, just in case I’m ever lucky enough to be in a similar position.
I read that a week or two ago. I think there are worlds apart from an AA bringing a horse up the levels for local/regional competition, maybe earning a gold medal vs. being nationally or internationally competitive. The first doesn’t require a world-beating horse, and can take all the time in the world. If things continue at a steady pace, who cares if the horse is pushing 20 by the time they actually make it? I can’t really comment on the latter, but there is a lot more pressure for sure, and more money involved, and the sponsors aren’t going to want to wait 20 years for something to happen.
One thing I really appreciate about my long-time instructor is that she has brought her own horse up from green broke, and is finally within striking distance of GP. Now she is bringing another one along that I think was around 2nd level when she got him, but she’s having to go back to basics a lot with him. She has patiently worked with me and my tricky mare since I started her at 4. I have not had any schoolmasters to ride, so I’m figuring it out as I go as well. We have most of 3rd now, and my mare’s canter is finally improving enough that I think the changes will come this year too. She is nine and will be under saddle 5 years in August. I’ve had people tell me something is wrong with her, or that I should sell her, but we’ve steadily progressed, and I do believe we’ll make PSG, though it might take another 5 years.
However, I will say that as a boarder, doing it this way is HARD. The places that have nice facilities want you to be in a program. And often culture is to go to Europe and get a horse that’s already trained to 4th. I don’t have the deep pockets for that, and it seems that barns with DIY types who are serious about their training just don’t exist. I feel lucky that I’ve found a barn that accommodates us, caters to my mare’s care and has good footing, albeit no indoor, which makes winters tough. And I’m allowed to bring in my own trainer and not get locked into a training program that I don’t want and can’t afford. I would love it if I could find a similar barn with more like-minded riders I could train with, but at least around here, it just isn’t a thing.
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It’s the same in the H/J world (at least in my area). If you aren’t at a show every weekend (or even every month), you’re looked down upon and it’s nearly impossible to get new clients. I’d prefer to spend my money on clinics and lessons and spend my time training for the next level instead of prepping for the next show.
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But isnt it true that many big time European riders dont really bring along young horses themselves? They may buy young horses, but they have trainers and riders at the farm that do the early training.
Competition riding is a skill and career itself. Correctly starting babies has overlap but is often a separate career, whether for sale or for the in-house competition rider.
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Contact Forrest Hill Farm in Lafayette Indiana. Lots of VERY nice schoolmasters down there, available for lessons once you prove you aren’t going to fall off.
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I almost always love Jeremy’s writing (no secret that he’s an ideal of mine.) This is no expectation. My opinion means diddly squat in the world of super competitive international dressage. But as an amateur that’s been in the horse world a long time, I agree that the direction it’s going is troubling to me. The whole world of international dressage doesn’t interest me much because it feels like it has little to no relevance to me, the average amateur on an average horse. What I’m interested in is the training. I admire good trainers first and good riders second.
As far as the lack of schoolmasters, yes it’s hard. Dressage in itself is super hard and meticulous. But honestly that’s what I love about it. But I’m a very patient person and I’m in it for the journey. I was lucky to have some access to some “schoolmasters” that topped out at PSG. Still what I learned was very valuable. And maybe just as valuable having some professional rides put on my own young horse has helped a lot. He has high standards which helps me.
I also do know many trainers locally that trained their own horses up the levels. But I do think there is a difference between the local GP trainer and international dressage. But the trainer that I got started with in Dressage I think got all of her medals on her own trained appendix QH? And my current trainer trained her own horse from a foal to GP.
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Actually, something I like about dressage is that I feel like I’m “in it” without a ton of showing. This year I might do 3-4 local recognized shows to get my bronze scores and call it a year. Some people seem to love traveling around and hitting all the shows, and more power to them, but it’s not for me.
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Thanks so much!! It would definitely be worth the drive for a couple lessons.
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Thinking of Steinburg’s point of a sponsor buying multiple nice young horses to be trained for US riders, someone Michael Barisone is the perfect pick. He’s available, since he can’t compete (yet) but has an excellent reputation for training so he could be bringing dressage horses up to 3rd or 4th level. Yes? No?
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Steinberg’s article discusses how buying U.S. Dressage horses up to the Olympic level instead of training them, is becoming the norm and how that contributes to the inability of some of our upper level riders (Juniors included), to train horses to the upper levels.
From the article:
"If these riders are as good we believe them to be, and they want us to know they are, we should see multiple horses being produce to a top level. Not all would be of international quality, but they would all get good training and become good partners for someone along the way, even if an Olympics was not in their destiny. The horses that did not turn out to be of enough caliber to compete for an Olympic team could get sold, then in turn repopulating income to the sponsor, creating resources for another young horse to get put in the pipeline, and also producing well-trained horses for others to ride and learn on.
It is a system where the best are tasked with producing the best instead of just riding the best. I understand completely that some of the horses would not fulfill the riders’ aspirations of being a team rider for the U.S., but since they are or would be producing multiple horses, they would still be able to have their helmet in the ring over and over and would be contributing to the greater good in the U.S. in regards to developing well-trained horses. They would be feeding the village."
He’s correct in the belief that producing well trained horses is the mark of a good professional and he believes that our upper level Juniors should be capable of training at the level they’re riding.
Steinberg is not anti-competition. He believes in training horses to the upper levels instead of buying them already trained.
You took x’s sentence completely out of context.
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