Throughout the years I have mostly been reading more than participating in discussions about riding on the internet. I have always found it difficult to discuss something that mostly is about feel. Because a feeling is a thing that you never can describe fully to another person. Not so the person understand to a hundred percent what you feel. Everyone has their own definition (words) of a feeling and that definition differs slightly. Take lightness for example, my experience is that the definition of the feeling of lightness is very different for many riders.
Also throughout the years I have been listening to people talking about their riding. Some talk about how they have soft hands and legs and only ride from the seat, others that they have too soft or too hard hands. There are riders not believing in their own ability and there are riders believing too much in their ability. Some talk about how the horse should move correctly according to biomechanics, some are only interested in placing the horses head so it looks good. Some think the horse should be ridden with driving legs into a resisting hand and some think the horse should carry itself without any physical effort from the rider.
The interesting thing is to watch people ride after you have heard them talk about their riding. Sometimes it match and sometimes it doesn’t. The rider not believing in his or her own ability could be a very talented rider, the one thinking that he/she rides with just a thought could be riding the horse as a visit to a gym class.
I met a very nice lady several years ago who in her mind rode her horse only with whispering aids or just the riders thoughts. I saw the horse being ridden out in the field after several months of talking to this lady. My first thought was, my goodness who has she put on her horse. The horse was severely pulled in the mouth with see sawing hands and ridden with leg aids with much spur and it was a very disturbing ride to watch. When I came closer I saw that the rider was the lady, still thinking she rode with aids of whisper.
Another rider, thinking she should sell her horse because she think she is untalented, unbalanced with hard hands is right the opposite in her perception of her riding. I was equally surprised about the enormous talent I saw in that rider as of the un-talent I saw in the lady’s riding.
My above experiences makes me think about how I perceive my own riding. Do I only think that I have a soft hand and a quiet following seat as several other riders do? Do I only think my horse move correct when it feels good. Could the reality be crap? I know that to some onlookers it looks great and to some it is probably crap. So who’s reality is the right one? And does it really matters what other people think, well no, not really. The only individuals opinion about my riding that matters is my horses.
That brings us to another interesting subject. When looking at other riders with their horses, for example when talking about famous competitive riders, we see different things. Some see relaxation where others see tension, some see horses correctly ridden and other sees the completely opposite, some see collection were others see quarters trailing behind. They all think they are correct, but who of them is correct? What is the reality? Only the horse subjected to the riding knows….
So how can we discuss riding and dressage with all these different perceptions? I have no idea really, because as long as we have different perceptions of how we ride and what we see it is difficult to discuss it. We can only talk about our own reality, which to another person using exactly the same words could be a totally different reality. Which in turn leads to misconceptions and sometimes heated debates. In life I have met people for whom it is very important in a discussion to win the person over to their side, to their truth. For me in discussion riding and dressage I have no need to win anyone over to my side. If they don’t agree with my thoughts about riding, it is not my problem. 🙂 What do the horse wants us to do, I think… Be true to ourself, listen to the horse and every day learn something and strive to be a better rider. As simple as that.