I don’t completely agree with this either. I don’t ride fancy dressage horses. Until recently I rode castoffs or other people’s backyard-ish sorts of horses. My own horses have not been trained dressage horses. I am not an upper level rider or especially talented. But I do have a fairly correct dressage seat and with my stiff dressage boots I’m not in the habit of gripping with my lower leg. Every horse I get on moves out a little bit more if I get on them and use that position. Just last week I rode a pony who is usually really sucked back and a super kick kick kick (nag, nag, nag) ride for his owner. That pony has no idea what fired up/energetic is, but after I rode him for about 10 minutes in my stiff boots without squeezing his guts out, he was moving with very nice reaction and relaxation. I am not any sort of excellent rider but my point is that those boots help me get the point across to the greenest of horses. The boots/position creates the kind of sensitive horse we are all looking for. People can wear whatever they like but I find stiff boots an essential tool in my riding.
Who said anything about having super fancy horses? My more advanced horse was given away after his failure of a racing career, and the other is more eventing-bred, so she covers ground but isn’t all flashy.
it’s VERY hard to get them that reactive without inducing tension. I get it more often when they start out electric and I have to get relaxation but don’t have to get them fired up/energetic.
Yup, stiff dressage boots were’t made for walking! As soon as I can after dismounting, those buggers are off me. I DID walk around the house in the new stiff boots to help break them in. The worst part was the pressure and rubbing at the back of my knees. The aforementioned heel lifts eased that somewhat. Miserable experience, but now they’re pretty darn comfy.
Still wouldn’t go hiking in them, though!
I may have misunderstood your post. I interpreted it to mean that if you started out with an electric horse stiff boots are easier to use than if you have to create that energy. I somehow made the leap that you meant fancier/aka more trained horses. My answer is still the same though. I think that stiff boots help create the responsive and forward we are striving for, rather than the other way around.
