On this Page Gina and Lara would like to talk about the heart of their profession/passion as horse trainers: HOW and WHY do we train horses? In what do we believe in? With what do we agree or disagree in the sportsworld of this discipline?
DRESSAGE
The beautiful sport of Dressage is the longest way one can choose in the Equestrian World. For people who do not have the passion it is indeed as boring as watching grass grow. Sometimes the progress that we as trainers strive for even feels exactly THAT SLOW. But for all of us who once felt this one incredible moment of being completely ONE with your horse, the moment of perfect mutual (!) understanding and harmony - all these people know what we are talking about and will undoubtedly agree that one wants to have this feeling back - no matter how long it takes. And if it takes two years to get it again - we are going to try for two years. Every day. It indeed is an addiction and it is more the feeling that you get out of it than anything else. People who ride dressage are fascinated by watching it, because they know how it feels. People who are non-dressage-riders seldomly understand the hard work that it takes to bring the beauty out of the horse. Almost everybody is impressed by a half-pass or one-tempi-changes, but a correct halt or a relaxed even, elastic walk does not thrill a lot of people that are not infected with the virus of dressage. We also want to clearly underline that we believe Dressage is not only for warmbloods. It is beneficial for any breed and for ANY discipline one might ride. Warmbloods are bred for this sport and because of that often succeed due to their confirmation and movement. But there are so many non-warmblood breeds who go all the way up in the levels including breeds such as Haflingers, Welch Cobs and Connemaras.
HARMONY and APPRECIATION
More important than moving up the levels as fast as possible or high scores is the harmony and partnership with the horse. Obviously a harmonic ride earns higher scores, but the point is - we dont want to get a mechanic dull mover - we want a trusting horse with charisma, that maybe stays one year longer in a level, but is happy. We have to learn how to listen to our animal and understand his grace and generosity. The horse is our partner, not our slave. It is not an art, neither is it impressive, if one beats a horse up and makes it so scared or numb so he is forced to perform with a broken will, because his spirit is taken away by violence. Where the knowledge of a trainer ends, violence begins. Violence clearly shows the helplessness of a person. We do not support this style of training but fight against it in every way.
TRAINING AND RIDING DRESSAGE
Respect. Trust. Integrity. Basics.....Foundation.....Basics.....Foundation. It is worth it to take the long road. If the horse is healthy and the training is consistant and correct - you basically can not avoid a horse that climbs up the levels happily and willingly! A correctly trained horse is not magic. So how come there are so many people stuck in training and first level? Because one or the other is missing - consistancy or correctness. In addition, the first 12 to 18 months of a horse's training are crucially important! TAKE YOUR TIME and it will pay off in the future development of the horse. The mind of the horse is much more difficult to train and to keep clear than it is to teach the movements to the horse. When you lose the horse's mind it is like breaking a horse's leg. You might get it back with long recovery - but it will never be the same. Unfortunately we have two problems standing in the way: The ego and money. A lot of trainers do not have the luxury to take it slow, whether they have owners to push them or think they need to sell x amount of horses within a certain time to stay competitive. Often trainers even brag about bringing a horse up one or even two levels in only a few months --- and unfortunately they get admiration from people that say 'WOW - what a trainer - he/she is fast' confirming this kind of behaviour instead of earning a deserved skeptic look and a turned back. No wonder when people also support this by buying a young-horse-champion when he is 5 for a tremendous amount of money - and are stunned when he is completely sour by the time he is 9.
INSTRUCTION OF DRESSAGE
We believe that beneficial instruction does not have to include yelling and patronizing people. The concept of motivation and encouragement works better for us. Since riding Dressage is all about the feel for the horse (and every horse is different - and one horse can be different from day to day) we strongly do not believe in the "don't question authority" attitude. We like to guide and help our students on the way to become partners and friends with their horse, yet be the leader in the dance. In the end, the rider/owner needs to achieve this goal. Instructors should be aware of their role to be respectful, patient and compassionate. There was a time when we all did our first rising trot and we all did not look graceful for quite awhile.....
THE GREAT MYTH OF GRAND PRIX
Grand Prix is wonderful. It is what we strive to get to with our horses and it is a thrilling harvest after many years of daily hard work. BUT: it is not all about GP! In fact 90 - 95% of the trainer's daily work is not GP, not even with their GP-horses. The majority part of one's training are the Basics and Foundations. If you neglect the foundation work you will never even get there. Often, beginner riders give up because this goal of riding GP seems out of reach and discourages people because they feel incapabe about themselves when they are still struggling to get the right lead canter. To everybody who is prone to give up: we can only encourage that you surrender to be on a never ending journey as a lifelong student. One will never finish and reach the end of the path of dressage. Not when you have won the World Cup and not when you are Richard Smith from no-name-city. Nobody does.
May we include a favourite famous quote by Master Eggert making a statement when he was dying in his 80s "Now I start to understand what riding is, and now I must die."
We want to state that the above mentioned first 15 - 18 month of a horses training is much harder and needs more discipline and skill than any of the following years and movements.
ETHICS
The German rule book opens with a list of ethic guidelines for how to treat your horse, competitors and how to be a good horse(wo)man. Unfortunately in Germany as well as here in USA this common sense of how to treat your partners is too often not reality. Actions are determined - again - by ego and money. Not that we believe High Mountain Dressage will change the world of that sport, but we want to do what we can to make our little world a notch better.
CLASSIC vs. MODERN/ENGLISH DRESSAGE
Classic Dressage and Modern/English/Competitive Dressage are two different branches of Dressage. The classic riders/trainers emphasize even more on lightness and true collection, self carriage and do not perform extended gaits. The modern or english Dressage unfortunately often teaches a more 'influenced' tension in the topline of the horse with stronger driving and restraining aids. We believe that combining and adding the classical methods as much as possible into the english Dressage training is leading to an even happier horse.
