From: Robin
Hi Jessica, I have written to you several times in the last couple of years since I bought my first horse and have appreciated your opinion and expert advice so here I go again in hopes that you'll have time to respond.
For the last year my horse and I have been working with a wonderful trainer who is teaching me the basics of dressage. She trains my horse 2x a week and I take 2 lessons a week. Simon, my horse, gets at least 2 days off and we try to get out on the trails as much as we can. Prior to buying my horse I had only ridden Western, off and on, and had no formal instruction. My 13 year old thoroughbred has really progressed, having originally arrived at the barn, traveling hollow in his back with his head held high and needing ALOT of leg. Now he works from behind, has muscled up, has a cresty neck and goes on the bit. He is smart though and does not have a terrific work ethic. Still taking alot of leg the rider must constantly remind him to move on and must really keep wiggling the bit to keep him from popping his head up.
My trainer is now doing lateral work with him successfully. He is becoming more supple and we see real progress. Sometimes we hit days where we take a couple of steps backward but these seem short lived. My trainer makes him look like a million bucks and I love watching her ride him. It takes alot of energy though and I appreciate how much effort she has put into him. Measuring my own progress, however, seems to be in question since I am very hard on myself. When I first came to the barn my riding was quite a sight to behold. My trainer recalls thinking, after seeing me canter, "how am I going to fix that!" Since then I have really made lots of progress in many respects but can't seem to put all the pieces together to ride my horse consistently.
I am learning how to use my aids independently and still have trouble keeping my reins steady enough to keep my horse, who likes to evade on the bit. Keeping him moving is a job unto itself so I am really trying to put the whole package together in my head so it flows but have not yet been able to do this successfully. I question my progress. Every lesson is a major learning experience with some things improving and others not. One day I am good at one thing and the next day another! It is frustrating. When I am asked how my lesson went I usually say, "Simon was being Simon" and point out what worked and didn't.
Is dressage that hard to learn? Should I, as an adult, expect to be further ahead now after a year? Am I being too hard on myself? Today someone suggested that maybe I'd be a better rider on a different horse but I LOVE my horse more than anything in the world and couldn't fathom trading him in! I promised myself when I bought him that I would learn to ride him no matter what. My trainer says that I definitely will and it just takes time. Do adults take longer to learn than children? Is dressage something that comes along at a slow pace? Over the summer I was in several schooling show and won my very first blue ribbons, one in dressage and one in long stirrup, walk/trot so I think, well, how badly could I be doing? What do you think???????? Thanks, Robin
When the subject is dressage, adults have some advantages over children, because in addition to the physical side of dressage, there's also the intellectual side. When it comes to understanding theory, adults have an easier time of it than children. The tricky thing about dressage is that you need it all - physical skills, technique, and theory. You also need - and this is absolutely essential - to be able to put the horse FIRST. Without horsemanship, there is no dressage, there's only riding.
Learning to ride well DOES take time, and the more ambitious you are, the longer the process will be. Note that I said "ride well". If you're satisfied with "one leg each side, kick to go, yank to stop", as some people are, you can take ten lessons and announce to the world that you now "know how to ride". Or - if you have, say, Olympic ambitions - you'll be taking lessons and clinics all your life, and working hard every day to perfect your skills and timing and communication.
The best riders are invariably lifelong learners. Many riders begin casually, by thinking "I'll just take a few lessons so that I'll enjoy trail-rides more", and then become addicted to the process of learning and improving. But DO be aware that learning to ride is a PROCESS. Trying to rush through it and become an "instant rider" simply doesn't work - there are some places you can only go if you're willing to take the time to travel correctly, and this is one of them. No matter what you're trying to achieve in the short term - backing without using your reins, performing a subtle half-halt, jumping an oxer, getting a good trot-canter transition - "getting it done" isn't the point, and "getting it done and crossing it off the list and moving on" isn't the point either. "Getting it done CORRECTLY, with understanding, and then repeating it CORRECTLY hundreds and thousands of times so that it becomes a habit" - THAT is the point. Without that, there's no real improvement possible.
As for your rate of progress, that's different for everyone. People who are very fit and coordinated, who have money and time to spare, who have access to good school horses and top-quality instructors, and who spend many hours in the saddle practicing in between lessons (and take multiple lessons every week) are going to make progress much more quickly than people who are not very fit or very coordinated, who ride only in weekly or monthly lessons (or who ride between lessons, but do it in an inattentive, sloppy way), or who are given poor instruction by teachers who may have bad school horses or even no school horses at all. It's not just a question of comparing apples and oranges, it's apples and oranges and lemons and kumquats and blueberries. Every rider and every situation is different, so it's not generally a good idea to compare yourself to someone whose physique, opportunities, and situation are unlike yours. It's also not a good idea to compare yourself to some imaginary ideal student - you need to compare yourself TO yourself, and you need to be fair. Being self-critical in a positive way is useful - for example, if you say "I'm still not quite there when it comes to posting trot, I need to ask my instructor for some new exercises that will help me improve", then you're helping yourself. If you say "I'm a disaster, I'll never get the hang of posting, I should be able to do it by now and I can't", then you're not doing anything but make life unpleasant for yourself and your horse. When you have a problem, try to analyze it in terms of what's going wrong (timing? strength? flexibility? endurance? preparation? recovery? communication?) and then discuss it with your instructor and ask for help. Meanwhile...
I suggest that you keep a riding/lesson journal - that's the best and most effective way to track your own progress. Before every lesson and every ride, write down your goals for that session. Afterward, write a description of the session, what you did, what the horse did, what the instructor said, what you thought and felt. If you'll do this every time, you'll soon be able to look back at earlier entries, read about problems you were having three months or six months ago, and say "Oh, I can't believe there was a time when THAT was something I couldn't do! I must have improved, because now I do it easily without even thinking about it!" Every few months, review your long-term and medium-term and short-term goals, discuss them with your instructor, and record that information in your journal as well. Once you're able to see that you ARE making progress in many different areas, you'll be able to relax more and enjoy the process of learning to ride - and once you can do THAT, you will improve much more quickly.
Don't focus on shows. Schooling shows can be fun, but what matters is your actual progress, not whether or not you win a ribbon. Enjoy a schooling show as a day out and as a chance to acquire some experience riding away from home, but don't take the results too seriously, and above all, don't let them determine the course of your riding. If you are too strongly affected by the results of schooling shows, you may want to avoid them entirely for a few years. Some riders find themselves tied in emotional knots because they interpret a first- or second-place ribbon as "proof" that they've perfected something, or a seventh-place ribbon (or no ribbon at all!) as "proof" that they're hopeless. 100% of the time, neither is true. ;-)
Right. All that said, there are three things that worry me in your letter. First, there's the notion of the horse's work ethic - more about this later. Then there are the ideas that (a) you have to use your leg so strongly all the time to keep your horse moving, and that (b) someone has told you that you should wriggle the bit to keep his head down.
The first shouldn't be the case - your horse should be learning to respond to lighter and lighter aids, and you should be using less pressure, less often, from month to month as you and your horse both improve.
The second is simply WRONG. Your horse's head will come down naturally when his belly muscles are working, his back is lifted and stretched, and he is using his hind legs with energy. There is only one correct way to achieve the head and neck position you want your horse to have - you'll have to train and ride him in a way that helps him develop his strength and balance until he's physically capable of doing what you want him to do. If you develop him correctly, he will OFFER what you want as soon as he's strong enough, because at that point, it will be the most comfortable option for him. If you demand something that he isn't yet physically able to offer, such as a particular head position, you won't get it. Pulling his head down with draw reins or see-sawing the bit to make him curl his neck and duck behind the bit will create a painful parody of the silhouette you want - and instead of being made stronger, more flexible, and happier about his work, you'll make your horse stiff and lame and very unhappy about being ridden.
And that brings me to your horse's "work ethic". Horses are typically eager workers and very willing to learn, provided that they are not in pain, afraid, or confused about what the rider wants. If you want a horse to be eager to work for you, FIRST eliminate all possible sources of pain, fear, and confusion, and THEN MAKE THE WORK FUN. "Fun" for the horse means that it (a) feels physically and mentally comfortable with whatever the rider is asking it to do, AND (b) feels liked and appreciated by the rider. That's it. That's all. Horses are straightforward animals with relatively simple agendas. "Work ethic" is a phrase that is generally employed by humans who are trying to justify forcing a horse to do something when it's either in pain, afraid, or confused - they have the (completely erroneous) idea that the horse somehow OWES them work and effort because they pay its bills. If you want to become a truly good rider, you'll forget about your horse's "work ethic" and focus on making your horse's working CONDITIONS as good as you possibly can.
However, it's a good idea for riders to pay attention to their OWN work ethic - not just occasionally, but all the time. If you're aware of your goals, make a conscious effort to learn everything you can about riding and horses and horsemanship, if you'll focus on your horse and always make the effort to do everything you do as accurately and correctly as possible, and if you don't allow yourself to become sloppy during practice rides or on the trail, I promise you that your riding will continue to improve, not just this month or this year or next, but forever, and your enjoyment will improve right along with your riding and your horsemanship. That's really not such a bad deal. ;-)
Jessica
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