(“Don’t fall into the trap of always playing a defensive game.”)

This is a tale of two hairy horses. One: a white PRE mare with “a mane down to here “; the other: a black full Percheron gelding of massive proportions—neither at the top of my list as a candidate for upper level dressage. Were I to choose, however, the mare was somewhat better built for it.

I saw each of these horses in recent lessons, and their manner and the attitude each brought to the work spoke volumes about how training can affect way of going.

As giant draft horses go, the Percheron was relatively willing to go forward and not sticky to the leg. He would allow himself to be ridden in a positive way with the rider’s aids granting him permission to move freely forward. As a consequence he covered ground well and more than tracked up.

On the other hand, the mare’s tendency was to want to rush against the bit. Her owner in the past had let the horse brace on the hand and flatten her topline. Her trainer in this case had rightly slowed her, made her much rounder, and while developing a better tempo had backed her off from seeking the hand. This was an improvement over what had gone on before, but as I explained, it still left her being ridden in a “prevention” mode. She did not offer to track into her prints or be willing to let her back swing.

This is a classic case of the need to teach the horse to “wait for the leg.”As the tempo stabilized and the mare learned to keep it without restraint, “prevention” could be replaced with “permission, “and she began to show some of the good qualities that the Percheron had exhibited. Her strides got longer, her neck got longer and the entire picture became more elastic.

While I certainly encourage you to size up each horse you meet and to ride him as an individual, you also must make sure that you don’t fall into the trap of always playing a defensive game. By restructuring the mare’s relationship to the aids, she could then be ridden more positively and freely to the benefit of her movement and their mutual comfort.c