>>> I went up the road one day to watch a very well-respected dressage >>> rider/trainer take >>> a lesson from an even more respected instructor who had been flown in. He >>> astually >>> had lots of corrections to make to her riding style, but no one cared that >>> the horse's >>> tale was wringing like a hand pump. The mare is a very successful upper >>> level >>> dressage horse.
Yes, we see bad riding in all disciplines, and the higher the level, the worse it seems to get - at least as far as caring about the horse's mental health. I suppose I can at least see how the dressage riders can learn to tune-out the tail-wringing, etc. - not excusing it, but at least understand. We've talked about it before, but it doesn't hurt to review - and you probably know this, Nancy, so this isn't specifically to you. There are certain traits in a horse that signal "tension", and some degree of tension isn't ALWAYS a bad thing in an athlete. The mid-upper dressage movements are difficult to do correctly, no way around it. If I see a minimal amount of "tail-tension" in a horse doing piaffe, then I don't worry about it - I think it was Laree who once drew the comparison to a child who might chew his lip while taking an important and difficult test. In that situation, that's nothing to stress about, but if a child is showing strong nervous behaviors on a daily basis, when doing less-stressful exercises, that's a different story. Then it's time to take notice. Why should it be so difficult for a talented horse to do walk/trot/gait/canter on a flat oval track, difficult enough that the tail-wringing and bit-fighting keeps resurfacing? Does that compare in difficulty to a Grand Prix level dressage test - or even a 4rd level test? I think not - not by a long shot. When we see the good dressage riders riding, even the top ones, their horses' tails may show tension for a few seconds as they show their most difficult patterns, but with the GOOD riders/trainers...you'll see that tension melt away as soon as they move on to a less-demanding part of the test. Most of all, the tail-wringing and bit-fighting is generally not ignored in dressage, not by the people who understand the sport - sure, maybe some ignore it, but in the many videos I have, the announcers will often point out tail wringing, with a comment that this part (piaffe, passage, lead changes, whatever is happening at the moment) is the horse's weak area. It's a known fact to watch for that to see how easily the horse can do certain things. Contrast that to the competition in this breed, where it's seldom mentioned... outside this list. Karen Thomas, NC
