From: Katelyn
Dear Jessica, I probably sound like a spoiled brat but I really need some advice about how to gently explain to my Dad that the horse he bought me for dressage is probably not going to be a very good dressage horse.
I've been looking for a new horse for dressage for the last year and a half, and my Dad thought that this one would be perfect for me. He made the deal by himself and brought the horse home last week and kept him hidden in the back barn. It was a great idea for a birthday surprise, but there's just one problem. The horse is very cute, bay with four matching socks and a straight blaze, but he is four years old and has hardly done anything at all. It will probably take a couple of years just to get him up to where he can do a good First Level test. My instructor thinks the horse is very cute and has nice gaits, and she says that he will make a nice dressage horse for me, but she likes my Dad a lot and so I don't know how much of her opinion is actually about the horse and how much is just that she doesn't want to make my Dad feel bad by telling him I need a different horse.
Don't get me wrong, he is a very cute horse and I think it was really sweet of my Dad to do this for me. He is a great guy. But I rode this horse twice last week and again on the weekend, and my instructor rode him on the weekend, and I didn't like what I felt or what I saw. I'm not the biggest expert in the world but I've watched a lot of horses at some pretty fancy dressage shows, and I KNOW that this horse is on the forehand, and he takes shorter strides than you want to see in a dressage horse, and he has NO elevation at all, he moves more like a hunter, very flat. He seems like a nice, willing horse, but I just can't see that kind of movement doing great in competition. We're not rich so I pretty much knew that I would have to spend some time training my horse to get to Third Level (that's the level I want to ride at someday) but I don't know if this horse will even make it that far. My instructor says he won't have a problem getting there or going on from there, and I know she has trained several horses to higher levels than Third, but like I said, I think there's the whole "doesn't want to hurt Dad's feelings" thing going on with her.
I know it isn't fair to ask you this when I didn't send you a tape to look at or even a picture, but I think you can pretty much tell from my description that this isn't a dressage horse. How can I break the news to my Dad?
Katelyn
You're right, it's not fair to ask me to evaluate a horse's dressage potential without seeing the horse, and I'm not even going to try to do that. But I wouldn't reject this animal as a potential dressage horse - and that opinion is based on your own description.
He's young and he's green - which, in dressage terms, means that he is UNBALANCED and UNSCHOOLED. These are not faults - they're just characteristics of youngsters. These are also not permanent conditions. Young horses are still growing, and their balance changes over time - not just over months or weeks, but sometimes from one day to the next. Because they're unbalanced, and because putting a rider on board unbalances them even more, they will typically go on their forehands and try to balance on the reins. That's all perfectly normal. Unschooled horses attempting to find their own balance whilst carrying riders do not typically take long strides or show collection and maximum elevation - they tend to move downhill, or at best flat, with shorter strides and very little visible "spring" to their gaits. That's all normal, too. What you're seeing is NOT the way this horse will move when he is fully developed, mature, trained, and schooled. When he has learned to balance and carry his own body plus a rider, and when he has been carefully and systematically developed in a way that builds his musculature and improves his balance (and eventually helps him develop self-carriage), he'll look and feel very different.
Why not just take a reasonable amount of time, say the next six months to a year, and take your new horse out on the trail? He doesn't need hard work right now, he just needs to be encouraged to develop balance and strength whilst he becomes more mature. He's too young, green, and undevelopedYou can't really ask him to do any intense work at this point, so why not just take the classical approach to his training? Keep him happy and moving forward off your leg, do large ring figures, take him out on the trail as often as you can, and let him figure out his balance over terrain. You won't be wasting your time - your horse will learn to move calmly and quietly on the flat and up and down slopes, and to maintain good balance at all times. If you try to drill him in the ring this year, all you'll have a year from now is an older, tense, ring-sour horse. Instead, take him for long, enjoyable rides outside. By this time next year, your horse will be stronger, better balanced, taking longer strides AND showing more elevation. He won't be tense or bored, he'll be interested in where you're going and what lies around the next bend in the trail. He'll be much more mature, physically and mentally, and much better prepared to begin more focused work. NEVER give up the trails entirely, though.
Even if you're a very good and considerate rider, and you know how to make arena work fun for your horse (and I hope you do), you and your horse will both need to work outdoors whenever possible, and go out on the trail whenever possible. Trail riding doesn't have to mean sloppy riding - your horse can be learning to reach and use himself more, and you can do lots of transitions and lateral work on the trail without ever causing your horse to shorten his stride - or his attention span.
Remember that classical training - the "gold standard" for horsemanship - involves developing the horse physically, mentally, and emotionally, and that no matter how quickly or how slowly you progress, three things should always be true:
1. your horse should become better-looking all the time 2. the communication between you and your horse should steadily become easier and deeper 3. your horse should enjoy his work
If you give the horse a chance, trust your instructor's judgement (and her honesty), and really try to learn how to work with a young, green dressage PROSPECT (as opposed to a made horse), your new horse may surprise you quite a lot.
If, after six months or so, you still don't like him or the way he moves, and you're still convinced that he isn't the horse you want, you'll be able to tell your father just exactly that. Tell him that you're very grateful to him for getting the horse for you, and that the horse is very cute, but that you just don't think he has the potential that you're looking for, and that you just don't "click" with him. Your Dad is an adult - as long as he knows that you appreciated his effort and gave the horse a fair trial, he will probably deal with the situation quite well. But I think it's far more likely that six months of sensible work - which, at his age, would really be nothing more than regular hacking out - will inspire you to continue for the rest of the year.
DO give the horse a fair trial. He's very young, and he hasn't done much, remember? Since he has nice conformation and three good basic gaits to go with those perfect markings, and your instructor (who, after all, has trained horses to levels much higher than you've yet ridden) feels that he has the potential to go to Third Level and beyond, there seems to be no reason in the world that he couldn't do well in dressage. It's not fair to compare the balance and movement of a young, green horse to those of mature, trained, well-schooled horses - if you do that, EVERY young horse you try will ALWAYS be a disappointment.
Get someone to videotape one of your rides now, and put the tape away to compare with the one you'll make a year from now. I'll be very surprised if you don't see a huge change in your horse's balance, movement, and energy level - and I'll be very surprised if you're still "disappointed".
Jessica
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