11/21/2021
The work we ask our horses to perform does not need to be fast work to cause them great stress and anxiety. Of the many things we do, the one that I suspect that has huge hidden potential for abuse is, of all things, dressage training.
Dressage training is essentially weight lifting training. We are asking horses to engage their hocks underneath their bodies, and to lift themselves into lightness in front.
You want to suffer? Yes, you, the rider? Go get on a stair climb machine, or do squat thrusts. Weight lifting is really hard work, and that is if you are fit.
If you are not fit, weight lifting is brutal.
If we feel our horses resist, it is so easy to think, "This horse is resisting me. He is being bad. I have justification to punish him."
Go watch dressage training "sessions" if you want to see some struggling horses and riders. Some are harmonious and graceful, but some resemble prize fights.
So be careful about "dressage". Dressage SOUNDS "pure", but it has the potential to be anything but. Give the horse the time he
needs to get strong enough to carry himself.
There is a saying that every trainer should paste on the wall---"Build a horse like an onion", one layer at a time, each successive layer based upon the establishment of the preceding layer.
Watch out for dressage, because it is based upon weight lifting, and weight lifting hurts. Be slow, slow, slow, give breaks, be humane, be patient. Then be patient some more.
(It took me too many years to "get" this.)
