(“Very often a mistake is simply a mistake.”)

No importa.

Mittel nichts.

It doesn’t matter.

In every riding language these phrases remind the student of an essential fact of training. When something goes wrong, be careful your “cure” doesn’t make things worse than the original problem!

This is the Law of Unintended Consequences as it applies to dressage. Example: I was helping a woman with her sensitive FEI horse as she tried to teach the mare her one tempis. She could do “over and back” pretty well, but when she wanted to add the third sequential change, the mare would make a mistake and then hollow and retract. It reminded me exactly of a horse that nips at you and then immediately flinches and draws back, knowing that a whack on the nose is about to follow. This horse knew that a mistake would be punished by a sharp check with the rider’s hands and often an abrupt halt. That expectation practically assured that the third or fourth change would fail.

Yes, we all know there are behaviors that need to be punished. A “gangster” who is trying to take advantage or intimidate his rider needs to be reminded of just where he stands on the food chain—presumably somewhat below his trainer. But very often a mistake is simply a mistake. Gloss over it and repeat the request, and many times the horse is happy and relieved to get the answer right. The less fuss this rider made, the more she just continued to ride the canter rhythmically forward, the more the mare regained her confidence and was able to make the 3rd, 4th, and even 5th and 6th change in a row.

One of my favorite images which I inflict without remorse upon my students is “make your horse like a vending machine.” Make him universally prepared to instantaneously dispense whatever movement or figure you wish to execute. If he’s on the aids in shoulder-in, you aren’t supposed to have to write him another whole treatise just to make a canter depart or a medium trot. Everything is supposed to be percolating right under the surface awaiting your permission to come out.

On the subject of unintended consequences, note that your horse’s vending machine has one unusual feature. Ironically, when it comes to restocking it, you don’t have to reload the items that you have used. You need to replenish the one’s you haven’t used enough!

This is particularly the case as you proceed into more advanced work. If you only practice the fancy stuff, the “tricks” may work, but their quality will inevitably diminish. I remember one PSG horse who would get late behind in his changes, especially in a line of four-tempis. Over-riding him in the change didn’t help, but if I’d go back and make sure his trot-to-canter transitions were prompt, clear, and through, the flying changes would immediately be better. The Law of Unintended Consequences lesson: what you don’t do can hurt you!

In a related matter, I met another talented mare being prepared for the FEI Five Year Old Test. She had plenty of animation, suspension, and a high, round frame. But her rider explained that the mare ground her teeth, didn’t like the sitting trot, and had difficulty making fluid transitions. Here the issue was another rider too eager to practice the “finished product” without stepping back to solve the original causes of those behaviors. This was a hot horse who ran against the hand and internalized her tension. For ten or fifteen minutes I asked the rider to forget all about impulsion and the volume of trot. Keep the horse in front of the leg but slow her down enough to relax and learn to wait for the pushing aids. Be able to stabilize her in a trot without constant restraint, even with her frame open like a hunter’s.

“No one is judging this part,” I kept reminding the owner. “Establish a different relationship now and it will be easy to put the extravagance back into her. Fail to do this, and the two of you will always be at odds.”

Yes, it takes self discipline and some faith in the system to go back to basics, especially if your friends are watching and they expect to see you doing all the fun stuff. But I’ve discovered this Dressage Fact by watching TMZ . . . I now know that those celebrity babes from the magazines don’t look like movie stars when they’re at the Safeway or picking up their kids at daycare. On the wide screen or on the red carpet are the only places where “the look” matters. The rest of the time—did you know?—they’re at home practicing transitions like everyone else.