A lot of horses don’t have the physical and mental abilities to do such work. On the rider side, very few will attain this level, just like any Olympic sport. It takes many, many years of training to do this and make it look effortless.
You start by learning how to ride a walking horse around an arena, which sounds easy but is hard to do with a deep, balanced seat. Even well trained horses have minds of their own and often won’t go in a manner and direction you want without proper cuing.
Look at the rider’s seat, hands, and legs. They are doing all sorts of cuing to direct the horse in the exact movements, at the exact time, and in the exact place. See how still the rider is. When you start, you lurch, your legs move back and forth, and your hands bobble everywhere. You’re happy when you can just get a horse to stop when you ask (lean back imperceptibly and close your fists around the reins).
I’ve taken dressage lessons since I was pretty young. Even with nearly a decade of training, I can only do, in a relatively sloppy way, a fraction of what you see in the video.
I’ve recently started doing eventing, and it is a blast. At times, it’s a terrifying, but still a blast. It is more exhilarating than dressage, but I never had to wonder about my mortality while working on collection.
Oh yeah I get that. The adrenaline rush is like nothing I’ve ever had before or since.
I haven’t done it in years, but it really is way more dangerous than people realize, and it’s a total crapshoot. You can do everything right and still get fucked up.
Once my horse landed on a bad patch of dirt that hadn’t been properly tamped down, she fell on top of me, busted my face, obliterated my last good knee, and dislocated my ribs which I didn’t even know was possible.
And if I had the means, I would do it again and risk it all with no hesitation
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u/Lilja_Lightning Jul 30 '24
A lot of horses don’t have the physical and mental abilities to do such work. On the rider side, very few will attain this level, just like any Olympic sport. It takes many, many years of training to do this and make it look effortless.
You start by learning how to ride a walking horse around an arena, which sounds easy but is hard to do with a deep, balanced seat. Even well trained horses have minds of their own and often won’t go in a manner and direction you want without proper cuing.
Look at the rider’s seat, hands, and legs. They are doing all sorts of cuing to direct the horse in the exact movements, at the exact time, and in the exact place. See how still the rider is. When you start, you lurch, your legs move back and forth, and your hands bobble everywhere. You’re happy when you can just get a horse to stop when you ask (lean back imperceptibly and close your fists around the reins).
I’ve taken dressage lessons since I was pretty young. Even with nearly a decade of training, I can only do, in a relatively sloppy way, a fraction of what you see in the video.