Ann Romney = Animal Abuser

[magical thyme]

90. dressage training is based on the horses natural behavior

I'm not talking about winning money to justify the expense. I'm talking about getting something in return besides looking out the window at them or patting them on the nose and hugging them.

Again, I linked to my blog which has a picture of my horse doing a perfect canter pirouette on his own in his pasture for the fun of it. He showed me almost all the movements on his own, for the hell of it. So did my very first horse. And I've seen video after video of foals demonstrating all the movements. All of the upper level movements are natural to horses. Watch foals and you can see them all.

I don't think you do understand what I am saying and I don't think you understand dressage at all. Correct dressage training does not require hours and hours of training at a time. It's hours of training added up over years, and not all the time either.

Endurance riding requires hours and hours of training at a time. Cowponies are out on the range for hours and hours. Combined training horses need longer training times for the cross-country endurance phase.

One of the great modern dressage trainers, Reine Klimke, trained his string of horses during his lunch break. 15 minute warm up by his wife and children, 15-20 minutes "training," then 15 minute cool down.

When I was barn manager for a budding USET rider, she rode half a dozen horses within a couple hours. How does that square with horses being trained for "hours and hours at at time?" It doesn't.

When I was a student at the American Dressage Institute, back in the 70s, I spent hours of my time watching future stars (and a classmate who gave it up). I never saw anybody spending hours and hours at a time. They spent an hour tops, with half of that warm up and cool down. In between, they hacked out on the trails.

Some horses require more practice, others less. But if people are spending hours and hours at a time, they are either doing it wrong or overfeeding their horses.

And, btw, I've seen plenty of what I would call abuse by trail riders who haul on their horses mouths, have bad seats and bounce heavily up and down on their backs, and kick them in the sides to get them to go forward. A major part of dressage is about is learning to not pull or jab your horse's mouth, not bounce up and down on their backs, not kick them to go forward. It's about getting out of your horse's way so they can do what they do naturally when they don't have 150 pounds or so of human sitting on their backs. Yes, we give them direction and ask them to go one way or another...just as their herd leader would give the direction in the wild and say run now or stop and graze now or lets go get water now. It's more of a private partnership...I hate to use the word dance, but it is like a dance. An intimate relationship between the horse and human, with communication by touch and weight and muscle tension and relaxation.

My old boys ideal session was 20-30 minutes warming up by walking and trotting down a trail, maybe a short gallop to get the beans out of him, then 15-20 minutes training, and then free walk for 15 minutes to cool down. Hell, the majority of his training was in an apple orchard, interspersed with trail riding (which also included "training" as in perfecting my use of the aids and our timing).

"Preparing for standard horse shows does not require the horse to act in ways that are unnatural."

I'm not sure what you mean by "standard horse shows." Are you saying horses naturally go around jumping obstacle courses? Because they don't. They may jump a single obstacle if it's in their way, but entire courses? Nope. Are you saying they naturally run barrels? Nope. Naturally trot around in circles over and over? Nope.

Btw, in Europe, dressage *is* the standard horse show. Stadium jumping is just dressage with obstacles in the middle. Combined training is dressage with endurance and jumping added. There is also driving dressage...even with teams of horses.

Dressage is simply a system of training based on the natural movements of horses and their natural behavior. It facilitates communication between horse and rider, balance under the rider, and overall harmony. This is from the most basic levels up to the most advanced, including movements and gaits you can see horses perform when they are at play.

Dressage competition is intended to test the level and quality of training. Ideally, the competition is with yourself. That some people abuse it is not due to the discipline, but the individual. Same as *all* disciplines and *all* competition and *all* animals and people.