(“A schoolmaster isn’t necessarily a shortcut to blue ribbons.”)

My YouTube channel (which can be accessed through www.woodsdressage.com) boasts more than two dozen videos. Among the popular ones are a schooling session which Reiner Klimke did with Biotop at Aachen, the 12 horse Grand Prix quadrille at Berlin, the less than serious Dressage for Husbands, and the (more serious) Ins and Outs of Haunches. There are also judged test rides with commentary at many levels.

As is customary on YouTube, viewers are invited to add comments about what they’ve watched. This week one such post required an answer from me. The subject was a Prix St. George test performed by Laura Herndon, my student, on Kasper at the Regional Finals in Ocala in 2011.

Here is a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbtLFPsII4s&feature=youtu.be

Here are the remarks left by the viewer:

That is a very generously judged test. I would like to see an example of an amateur riding a horse that does not do all the work for her, rather than yet another amateur on a schoolmaster. It would be more useful to see how an amateur can deal with the the difficulties of riding PSG on a horse that requires more riding.

You might guess that her point of view rubbed me the wrong way. How unlikely for me, Mr. Levelheadedness, the possessor of bountiful calm, tolerance, and patient self-assurance to be irritated by another’s opinion? Well, here’s what I wrote back:

Alison, I appreciate your comments. At the same time I would point out that the scores given (which approximately coincide with mine) were awarded by an FEI “I” / USEF “S” judge and are not unduly high. This is the prevailing standard, and the horse in question was USDF Adult Amateur Horse of the Year at PSG for 2012; so the opinions which I relate were shared by many other judges. Second, while it can be worthwhile to see a rider work through problems, my intention here was to show a reasonable representation of what an amateur can aspire to. In the time of the USDF National Symposia when I was involved, if we used accomplished demo riders, we got your criticism. If we used “regular horses” the criticism was “Why should we come all this distance to see the problems we’re so familiar with back home?” Finally, unless you rode this horse you might not appreciate the tact involved in presenting him successfully. It is unfair to assert that he does it on his own. While he does not require a lot of physical strength to move him around, he does in fact demand to be ridden every step and with considerable precision and awareness. A horse which “requires more riding” might not really be a legitimate PSG horse. Just a thought.

Let me say that I have great respect for riders who don’t have access to a trained horse and still are able to follow the rocky road to eventual success. It’s doable but it’s the hard way, and you’ll waste a lot of time, make a lot of mistakes, and screw up a bunch of horses in the process. By my reckoning, having a schoolmaster is nothing like “getting things handed to you.” A schoolmaster isn’t necessarily a shortcut to blue ribbons. It’s more like having a mentor who knows what’s right and can help you discover how to find it.

Working your way up on your own and learning as you go, frankly, is overrated.

If all you ever did was buy made horses to show beneath their level and blow away the competition, I wouldn’t be impressed either. But being able to acquire the correct feelings of suppleness, swing, self carriage (and on and on) from a schoolmaster so you can then competently bring a horse along from scratch only seems sensible to me.

And as I said, don’t underestimate how hard it is to ride a made horse. To make the most of one, you have to learn tact, sensitivity, and develop the skill to be appropriate with your aids at all times. Such a horse deserves no less.