Stonebrook Equestrian Center

So True!!

Credit goes to Stephen Forbes, but this is so damn accurate. I will be crying in my truck because the wind changed directions. 😂

Dressage is absolutely, unequivocally dumb.

We spend decades and life savings trying to convince a horse, an animal that would rather nap or fart in a field, to perform controlled interpretive dance… while we wear white stretchy pants and pretend we’re not crying inside.

We argue online about nosebands and neck lengths.
We watch slow-motion trot videos like they’re Oscar-nominated films.
We talk about “feel” like it’s a sixth sense, and nod solemnly when someone says, “He wasn’t truly through in the right rein.”

Nobody knows what that means. We just say it so we don’t feel alone.

“Needs more schwung.”
Schwung????
Apparently it’s German for "make it fancy and pray".
We all pretend to know, then throw money at a new saddle pad hoping it comes with free schwung.

Special this month: Every new Solo bridle now ships with 3 ounces of authentic German schwung. Use responsibly.

And we obsess over the perfect halt.
THE. PERFECT. HALT.
As if a square halt will heal our childhood wounds.

We film our rides. Watch them back. Cry a little.
Zoom in. Rewind. Cry again.
"Why is my left leg doing that?!?"

We whisper sweet nothings to an animal that just tried to murder us because the wind changed direction.
We spend fortunes, literal fortunes, so a stranger in a box can frown at us and say: “Tension throughout.”
(You mean me or the horse?)

And speaking of showing.
There's you, before your class, sitting in the front seat of your Subaru, white breeches slightly transparent in the wrong places, eating a granola bar, listening to whale sounds to calm your nerves, and somehow believing this will help you nail that medium trot.
(It won’t. But you keep listening.)

And the wildest part? We take this seriously.
Like Olympic-level seriously.
Like, cry-in-the-stall-because-your-horse-has-a-poo-stain seriously.

But here’s the twist:

There’s something addictively beautiful about devoting your life to something this ridiculous.

To whispering with your body.
To the micro-conversations.
To trying to talk to your horse in French… with your seatbones.
It’s composing a symphony using only your spine, breath, and unresolved anxiety.

But that's just it, the best parts of life are kind of dumb.

Love is dumb.
Poetry is dumb.
Art is dumb.
Pursuing perfection you’ll never reach? Extra dumb.

But that’s what makes it holy.
So yeah, dressage is dumb.

Which makes it kind of genius.

In 2019, the USDF issued a revision to the Dressage Training Pyramid, changing “relaxation” to “suppleness," Brenner Klenzman writes. The pyramid is a translation from the original German, where the word in question is Losgelassenheit, a term that does not directly translate to “suppleness.”

I majored in German in college, studied in Graz, Austria, and am a “new” rider, having started in my fifties. As I learn more about how to ride, this incorrect translation made me wonder: Have we in the U.S. gotten off track with the overall intent of the pyramid? Did we translate it incorrectly, and then revise that translation in a way that moved us even further from the original meaning?

Losgelassenheit literally translates to “being in a state of having let go.”

- Losgelassen is the past tense of loslassen, meaning “to let go.”
- The suffix -heit means “a state or condition of being.”
- The entire word literally means “being in a state or condition of having let go.”

Does this sound like “relaxed”? It actually feels closer to “relaxed” than “supple,” but even “relaxed” isn’t quite right. It describes a mental state of non-grasping, of letting go. It’s the absence of external anxiety, a state in which learning and performance can happen freely.

What stands out when comparing the correct translation of Losgelassenheit with “suppleness”? The original meaning is psychological, not physical. “Relaxation” was closer to the intended meaning, while “suppleness” moves even further away. “Supple” is purely physical.

The purpose of the pyramid, as described in German, is:

Basis der Skala ist die Zwanglosigkeit – die physische und psychische Entspannung –, die in jedem Stand der Ausbildung erhalten bleiben muss, um die volle Leistungsbereitschaft und Leistungsfähigkeit des Pferdes zu erhalten. Ein Verlust der Zwanglosigkeit hat meist auch einen Verlust des Taktes, immer den Verlust der Losgelassenheit zur Folge.

This translates to:

The basis of the scale is Zwanglosigkeit (freedom from tension)—both physical and mental—which must be maintained at every stage of training in order to preserve the horse’s full willingness and ability to perform. A loss of Zwanglosigkeit usually results in a loss of rhythm and always results in a loss of Losgelassenheit.

A literal breakdown of Zwanglosigkeit is also informative:

Zwang: force, compulsion, coercion
-los: without
-keit: state or condition of being
Zwanglosigkeit describes a state free from force, compulsion, or coercion.

While the USDF interpretation of the scale leans heavily toward the physical, the original intent clearly carries a psychological component. Looking more closely at the first three steps of the scale reveals a very different, and arguably more complete and humane, understanding of the pyramid.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/04/16/what-losgelassenheit-really-means-and-why-it-matters-for-the-training-pyramid/
📸 © Olivia Danielle Photography

Clinic Announcement!!

Stonebrook Equestrian Center is hosting FEI 5* International Judge, Trainer and Author Janet Foy April 29th-May 1st.

Pm for info on riding opportunities
Auditors always welcome.

Ready to begin our second day at the Janet Foy Clinic.