BILL– I would venture to say that it might just mean you’re normal. Admittedly, there are those among us who slog through their riding come rain, shine, personal misery, famine, or pestilence, and really, more power to them! But if you don’t relate to your riding that way, you are no less a good person.
Category Archives: qotm archives
Past Questions of the Month are listed below in chronological order. Just click on the Question to pull up Bill’s Answers.
I give the aids for the half-halt and my horse either objects by coming above the bit or responds by going faster. What am I missing?
BILL– Yes, the Goldilocks paradigm could be in play here—“this one is too hard; this one is too soft; I need to find the half halt that is just right!” I could be suspicious, though, that you need to approach the problem a different way. The issues (as usual) are connection and thoroughness.
Why are spurs mandatory in FEI competition?
You would think that since a primary goal of our sport as expressed in the rulebook is “that the horse should appear to do of his own accord what is required of him,” and if the pinnacle of dressage training is supposed to be displayed in the FEI levels and especially at the Grand Prix, that that the reliance on artificial aids and appliances—force multipliers as it were—would be frowned upon rather than required.
This is off Facebook from Dressage at Devon. What should I think about it? [photo attached]
Begin by holding your head in both hands, letting out a good vibrato Munch, and saying a brief prayer of forgiveness for the person who posted this travesty on-line. This isn’t the first time a suckographic image has been held up as desirable. The old Dressage magazine ran an Absorbine™ ad for years which showed much the same egregious faults, so clearly they must be appealing to somebody.
Do you find dressage varies very much in different parts of the country?
As I travel around the country to judge and teach, I see riding which varies greatly in quality and style. But there are not particular regional styles or degrees of proficiency. Everywhere the degree of talent and skill I see mirrors the pyramidal structure of the numbers of riders showing at each level. The lower level riders form the base. Generally, there are fewer participants as horses climb through the levels. In a populous area where the whole pyramid is large, the breadth at the higher levels reflects that greater number who began at the bottom. In remote areas where the base is small, the top is similarly small although the overall shape of the pyramid is approximately the same.
So what should I make of all those “How to” articles in the dressage magazines?
The best thing that a magazine article can do for you is to crystallize into coherence a thought or feeling that you’ve already brushed up against. I think it’s quite rare that you’ll pick up an article, find some brand new principle, and—boom—just make it a part of your consciousness.
Why don’t you dressage people talk about crossing a rein over the neck?
BILL— We do a lot of things that we don’t talk about, mainly because we wish we did them less! If I go back to my early days of riding when flatwork in jumping length stirrups and “dressage” were fairly interchangeable, we heard a lot about the so called “five rein effects.” They were the Direct Rein, the Opening (or Leading) Rein, the Indirect Rein in front of the withers, the Indirect Rein behind the withers, and the Bearing (or Neck) Rein. Each was rather rigidly prescribed for particular situations.
Am I really supposed to keep my heels down all the time?
BILL—“Head’s up, heels down!” sticks in the mind of every rider of a certain vintage as the title of a C. W. Anderson horse book and as a phrase that was shouted constantly by beginner hunt seat instructors for decades. If you grew up riding in that mode, then it must seem blasphemous to see dressage riders ignoring it. So let me go on record as saying you should not try not to put your heels down!
My horse is scoring pretty well in Training Level. When is it time to move up?
Years ago the conventional wisdom was “If the judge is giving you seventies, she means you should be able to move up to the next level.” Turns out that isn’t really very good advice anymore. There are horses who can be presented nicely enough to get a good score in Training or even First Level but who haven’t mastered the skills required on the next rung of the ladder.
Do draw reins and other auxiliary aids have a place in dressage?
The short answer is a qualified “yes.” In the World of My Dreams they aren’t necessary. Everybody’s horse has suitable conformation, a good attitude, and no baggage. Every rider has good hands, a stable seat, the requisite strength which she applies only as necessary, and all the training required to communicate effectively with her horse.