Why Dressage?

Is dressage natural? That depends on how you view dressage. The word “dressage” simply means “training.” Is training natural? Absolutely – training/teaching/learning are part of adaptation as a species. Horses’ ability to learn and adapt determines their survival in the wild. Mares teach their foals, sometimes directly with a warning nip when the foal gets a little too rough. Sometimes indirectly, through example.

Photo Credit: Jess Mayfield Photography

What about humans training horses, is that natural? In one sense, yes. Horses observe other animals and learn through those observations. In another sense, no – it isn’t a typical practice for one species to set out to specifically train another. But horses, like dogs, can thrive on learning and cross-species interaction. They are extremely intelligent animals, and many find great joy in working together with humans.

So back to dressage: why is dressage such a hot topic these days amongst animal rights activists and even within the dressage community itself, if training is actually natural for horses? Because although the movements the horses do in dressage are found in horses in nature, the training methods used to get horses to perform them under saddle are not always natural, or humane.

When it comes to mid- or upper-level dressage, for some horses, the movements we train them to do come naturally. For others, only certain things come naturally. Then there are the horses that find most things to be a struggle physically and/or mentally. Sometimes, these things are only a struggle in the beginning. Once they have learned them, many horses can then excel at them. Other times, there are things that may always be beyond a horse’s mental or physical capabilities.

Flying changes are a great example of this, as they are a prerequisite for mid-level dressage, as well as achieving higher levels in many other disciplines. While some horses will catch on to them almost immediately and change leads with ease, others might struggle with the mental concept. There are also horses that physically struggle to perform flying changes (or clean flying changes), due to conformation, movement, or physical limitations. These horses may develop the ability with time, patience, and good training, or they may never reach the point where the changes are comfortable for them to perform, so they stay at a level where they are comfortable.

Even foundational skills can be hard for some horses. The basics of the training scale are rhythm and suppleness, two things that any horse untouched by humans would hopefully have to make their life more comfortable. Yet these can be two of the hardest concepts to master; some horses are extremely stiff, and not only does this impact suppleness, but it is hard for a stiff or crooked horse to have an even rhythm (and therefore be comfortable in movement).

Lacey is a great example of a horse who is not naturally talented at certain movements. She has struggled a great deal to learn the piaffe and passage, which we have been working on for many years now. Her conformation makes collected work and sitting far more challenging for her: she has a long back, is slightly camped out behind, and is bum high. The way her back slopes down from her croup to the base of her withers, I sit exactly in the low point, making it very difficult for her to lift her back compared to a horse that is built more balanced. She also did not naturally passage, even in the field. Her full sister would passage everywhere, tail flagged like an Arab, but Lacey would just trot around flatly, flinging her legs straight out, with below average suspension in her trot.

The interesting thing was, once Lacey learned to passage under saddle, she started doing it in turnout as well. It made me so happy to watch her prance around the field with a new sense of pride in her ability to show off her footwork. She has yet to develop the quality of passage that would earn her 7’s in the show ring, but she has a great deal of fun offering to spring higher off the ground both at liberty and under saddle than she naturally did before.

I have seen this happen on more than one occasion with a horse, where it would take the things it learned with groundwork or under saddle and use them at leisure or play. One gelding I worked with many years ago had been started as an endurance horse. When his new owner purchased him, he was extremely stiff and anxious and would go around with his head in the air like a giraffe. He even carried himself this way in the pasture at liberty.

He also had rhythm issues, hopping and flinging his head up every third step. It took a long time to rehab him mentally and help him learn how to relax, soften, and use his body in a different way. But the coolest thing happened – once he learned how to stretch over his back under saddle, he started to be more relaxed in the pasture as well! He would walk around the field with his neck in a natural position instead of inverted, and his anxiety dropped. He became a wonderful all-arounder who excelled in both the show ring and on the trails.

This horse is a great example of why I love dressage. When it is done well, it helps horses to feel better physically and mentally. Great dressage training for your horse is the equivalent of having a great physiotherapist and therapist. So many of the horses that I have worked with over the years have come to me in need of physical and/or mental rehab. I do a lot of behavioral work, not just dressage. However, even if you don’t have a background in behavioral training, helping horses to feel better in their bodies naturally helps them to feel more confident and less anxious.

Being prey and flight animals, a horse that is in pain due to dysfunction in its body doesn’t just suffer from the physical pain, it also lives its life in a heightened state of fear. Horses that are sore feel far more vulnerable to danger than horses that feel free and comfortable in movement. By teaching your horse to move better biomechanically, carry themselves in better posture, and to flow freely with relaxation, you are helping them to feel more comfortable mentally as well as physically.

That’s where dressage comes in. When we teach horses to move better so that they feel better, we are enhancing their lives. Being a crooked couch potato has never made anyone’s body feel better. And while vegging can be important for mental health short term, people and horses both need quality exercise to feel good mentally and physically. Horses that live in captivity, which is most of the horses on the planet, are often living in far less enriched environments than horses in the wild.

Where dressage gets a bad rep is when it is not done in the best interest of horses, but rather for their riders. There are, unfortunately, people out there who care more about their own achievements than their horse’s well-being. Gimmicks and harsh training techniques might be used to train the horse to move in an unnatural way, which we do see even at the highest levels in some cases. These methods of training can be identified by the way the horse moves, and often by its mental state.

I had ridden for many years before I started to see these things for what they were. Prior to that, I was wowed by the flashy gaits of leg-movers, in awe of all of the riders and horses who were winning Olympic medals. My eye has changed over the years. Now the ones who impress me are the ones who train through correct biomechanics and enhance their horse’s gaits naturally by truly developing the horse properly through the training scale with a correct foundation that honours the horse’s body and mind.

You can buy a leg-mover. You can also buy a horse that does all the tricks. But it takes true skill to develop a horse through the levels and teach it how to move freely and symmetrically through its body, swinging through its back, and enhancing its natural beauty versus teaching it tricks. Unfortunately, it takes more time and skill to do it right, so many people take shortcuts. Not always because they’re in a hurry, sometimes simply because they don’t know there’s a better way out there that will actually yield a better end result. Others are so focused on the end result that they don’t realize that they will actually go further in the long run by taking their time to build a better foundation.

How do we change the culture? By teaching through example. Building a better body and mind, one horse at a time. Demonstrating to the world that biomechanically correct horses are happier and healthier and will reach levels beyond what they could ever have achieved through force or restriction. Showing the beauty and harmony that turns dressage into a dance with your equine partner. And above all else, by honouring the true purpose of dressage: training.