Sdp Dressage

11/06/2024

Signing off for now. May be temporary, may not be

11/05/2024

In the list of things that cannot be bought, I do not think a person can have proper and thorough feel without numbers 1-6

Horse world things that CAN be bought---
1. Fancy horses
2. Fancy farms
3. Good saddles and equipment
4. Fancy horse clothing
5. More lessons
6. Ability to travel to ride in temperate climates year round
7. Trucks and trailers

Some of the things that CAN’T be bought
1.Courage
2. Strength
3. Agility
4. A good seat
5. Intelligence
6. A calm and kind nature
7.Feel
8. Perseverance
9. Drive
10. Athleticism
11. Horsemanship.

So which list is more important?

10/31/2024

You must be strong enough to keep from compromising the athleticism of your horse, in the very least

Physical Fitness

My guess is that if a comprehensive survey could be made of the average sports team, irrespective of which sport, at the high school and college levels, one common denominator would be an emphasis by the coach on physical fitness, strength, endurance, general “toughness.”

So here’s a question to consider---“Is physical fitness high on the list of the average horseback rider?”

And if not, why not? Wouldn’t a fit rider have a far easier time than someone who lacks strength and agility? And yet we see so many riders who the average coach of any average sports team would tell us need to get on a fitness program.

This is the ONE THING that anyone who rides has a degree of control over. And it comes right down to another question----“Are riders athletes?”

Each rider has that to decide.

(Barring, of course, illness and injury.)

10/31/2024

To follow up on my last point

10/31/2024

On the daily 🙄

So simple yet so complicated 🫠

10/31/2024

No tipping left or right, no compressing or collapsing sides. No unparalleled sides.

🐴DRESSAGE SOLUTIONS:🐴 To post more efficiently for forward motion …

Imagine your body as a box with hinges at the hips. Keep your box square as you rise freely in the posting trot. This “squareness” (no tipping left or right) will keep your horse’s body traveling straight and forward, too.

— Janice Dulak, dressage rider and pilates instructor

10/30/2024

The problem with training horses is that society is designed to believe that you can buy a service and have things the way you want in a period of time. People think of training horses as if they are spending their money on a product. And yet, even the best horse trainers will tell you that the horse takes his time, and no one can guarantee that a horse will do what you want when you want it. The other problem is that even though your trainer can do it with your horse, it doesn't necessarily mean you can. Getting the right horse requires some commitment from the owners to develop the same type of relationship with the trainer. Otherwise, how can you expect from your horse what your trainer gets from himself, when they are the ones who programmed the number of hours, sweat, patience and desire to be with that horse?

The fact that money is at stake leads people to believe they deserve something for what they paid for, and that's what they do, but it's happening at the expense of animals, not humans.
I think any good trainer would say he would do it for free if he could, just to help horses and staff. And yet we all must eat.

~Amy Skinner

10/25/2024

Agreed

William Funnell: “We need to produce horse people who understand horses”

"If we are not careful, we will have less and less real horse people in the future, which is something I worry about," William Funnell tells WoSJ.

Read the latest WoSJ Exclusive ➡️ https://www.worldofshowjumping.com/WoSJ-Exclusive-interviews/William-Funnell-We-need-to-produce-horse-people-who-understand-horses.html