(“Do only a few things but to do them right.”)

Pick, pick, pick. You will be assured by on-line videos, magazine articles, and perhaps by your own instructor that you’ll never succeed at dressage without scrupulously attending to every conceivable detail of your position and the way you communicate with your horse at every moment. On some levels this is an indisputable piece of advice. Every little thing does matter . . . unless trying to think of them gets in the way of your riding.

This is another chapter in the ongoing There’s a Time and a Place (and a time to refrain from . . . ). I believe Pete Seeger found advice to that effect in Ecclesiastics.

Studies have been done which verify the limits to which you can clutter your brain and still function effectively. That’s why at an instructor workshop years ago when a PI told his guinea pig student, “When performing a turn on the haunches, you only have to remember nine things,” we collectively rolled our eyes in despair.

The speaker may very well have been correct in the list he composed. But the fact is: there’s a big difference between knowing something and thinking about it. The key is to categorize and compartmentalize information. There’s a reason ten digit phone numbers are divided into an area code, a prefix, and the last four digits. Remembering three things is much easier than trying to recall ten. Then you must learn to pull the stuff out of your mental files when you need it, use it, and put it back. As it were, dump what’s on the clipboard to make room for the next project.

Nuno Oliveira counseled, “The secret to riding is to do only a few things but to do them right.” He didn’t have only a few things in his head. He just knew when to maintain an overview and not be bogged down by minutia. Pilots follow this principle when they scan their instrument panel. When the needles are in the green, their eyes just keep going. Only something which doesn’t look or feel right gets further attention.

On a larger scale, you should measure your progress as a rider in the same way. Lofty goals are nice, but many people can’t really expect to perform optimally at the stage they’re in. They just need to get better first. You can make the Dressage Hall of Fame later. In the meantime it’s okay to aim for the Hall of Pretty Good.