The saying is that a picture is worth a thousand words, yet so many involved in Dressage want to deny what the pictures tell us. The most common complaint is that a photo is “just a moment in time” – yet, without the “moments in time” that Eadweard Muybridge gave us, we would not know the … More Fun with photos: the trot
If you hang around the classical Dressage crowd for any length of time, you will hear someone say something to this effect: “Horses already know how to do the movements, in the field; training only consists of teaching them to do them with a rider added.” It might also be slightly modified to include “on … More What is the goal of training?
In this era of learning everything by YouTube video or Facebook posts, people seem to rarely have the patience to spend time learning anything in depth. I have read many an article that says we no longer need experts because we have so much knowledge at our finger tips. I hope those authors never need … More Apprenticeship
The barn I spent so many years riding and teaching in was nothing much to look at. It was your typical dusty pole barn, so common in the Western U.S. Built by cowboys for year round roping practice (there was still a holding pen and remnants of a shoot attached to the indoor), it was … More Be eclectic!
We all have a line. It is invisible. You may not be aware of your line, or think much about it. But, you know when someone has crossed that line. Everyone’s line is in a different place. Take the recent scandals of sexual misconduct. Harvey Weinstein’s behavior crossed nearly everyone’s line. Al Franken’s crossed some … More Where is your line?
If you stay around the horse world for any length of time you will probably hear generalizations about other areas of the horse world. “All Dressage riders have hard hands.” “Western pleasure riders can’t sit anything past a jog.” “Event riders all hate Dressage.” The phrases you’ve heard may differ, but it’s likely that you … More A Tale of Two Barns
Horse Crazy Once Again 