Last week I read a great blog post written by Nancy Kotting entitled The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Dressage Riders. I requested and got her permission to reprint here on my blog so I could share with you her wise words that apply to anyone wanting to be really good with their horses in whatever discipline they seek to do well. Thank you Ms. Kotting... N. Rojo
Ms. Kotting writes:
Over the years working a never-ending multitude of horses, great
Dressage riders develop habits, ways of achieving consistently high
performance and excellence in the daily work. These are not training
how-tos but rather personal habits adopted by riders to set themselves
up for success every day. While there are endless training
pearls-of-wisdom the Masters kindly pass on, it is inevitably up to the
student, through endless hours of practice, to confirm the path to
success. There is no sport, nor art form more difficult than what we
attempt every day as practitioners of Classical Horsemanship. None. It
is up to us to support one another in this endeavor, giving and sharing
what works and what doesn’t.
Below is my list of ten habits of highly effective Dressage riders.
It is my hope that you find them helpful in your daily practice.
Good Luck and ride well-
Nancy Kotting
The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Dressage Riders
1: An effective Dressage rider looks upon each failure as a ladder rung: step on it and lift yourself up.
Great riders know that failure is a constant on the road to success
and they train themselves to use it in their favor. Failure provides us
with critical information which we then use to improve our work. Embrace
it. Welcome it. Study it and learn its lesson. Each time you fail, be
thankful for the information, put it behind you, raise yourself up to
the next ladder rung and try again. Failure is not the end, it is the
beginning.
Photo: Nancy Kotting
2: An effective Dressage rider leaves their personal issues on the ground, approaching each ride emotionally neutral.
What is energetically in us, goes into the horse. If you carry your
emotional refuse into the ride, ie; bad day at work, family problems,
etc., it will inevitably effect performance. Be very careful what you
put in as horses are like computers, if you write bad code, you will
have to rewrite it at some point. L
earn to neutralize your emotions BEFORE you get on the horse. This will give both of you an opportunity to begin the ride clean.
3: Effective Dressage riders make themselves the calm baseline that their equine partner can rely upon at all times.
The psychology of the horse requires a partner willing to assume a
leadership position. This assumption of the leadership position by the
rider in the partnership translates to the horse via the language of the
body in all circumstances, all scenarios. A rider who remains mentally
AND physically steady when the horse experiences confusion, fear and
perhaps resulting chaos, will very quickly gain trust, confidence and
devotion to the work from their equine partner. A skilled rider quickly
proves his or her leadership ability to a new horse, who then, greatly
relieved in such capable hands, will confidently trust his rider and
attempt to work
with and not
against. Trust is earned not given; work to deserve it from the horse.
4: An effective Dressage rider owns their personal space both on and off the horse.
Closely related yet different from habit #3, maintaining ones space
communicates leadership. A dominant stallion does not mosey into a herd
head down, tail low, back soft. Oh no, he is up on his toes, tail
flagged, every muscle pumped full announcing his arrival…his presence is
known. His body language virtually screams ‘follow me!’ This type of
presence must also subtly be in a riders body language when working both
on the horse and off. Our equine partners rely on us to lead them and
we communicate our worthiness of this responsibility with our body
language, with the feeling of resolve within our bodies. Effective
riders maintain exemplary posture both on and off a horse, we carry
ourselves, we own our space with a steely intention, communicating our
empathetic power and ability to lead to those who rely on us: our equine
partner.
5: An effective Dressage rider has trained their ‘inner voice’ to be either positive or constructively negative, never defeating.
An effective Dressage rider approaches the ride with a sense of
wonder: what will the ride bring? What is the legacy of yesterday’s
work? Will it be fair to push the horse just a bit more today?
Problems, resistances that arise are addressed constructively, not
reacted to emotionally. It is the supportive ‘inner voice’ of the rider
that keeps the ride ‘on the rails’ and productive, ending always on a
positive in preparation for continued success in the next ride. It is
the burden of the rider to maintain an emotional ‘thru-line’ that
directs the ride steadily toward completion.
6: An effective Dressage rider knows success happens one ride at a
time, day in and day out, remaining consistent and realistic in their
daily goals and expectations.
The work is a continuum, each ride building upon the last. There are
no short cuts. You cannot buy it, you have to make it with consistent,
correct work, realizing nobody can do it for you. The amount of success
you have as a rider is directly related to the amount of effort you put
into it. Rome was not built in a day and neither is a Grand Prix
rider/trainer, nor a Grand Prix horse. Get up, dress up, show up and put
in another day’s work. Then do it again, and again and…again. The
river of trying never stops flowing.
7: An effective Dressage rider has the courage to be creative in
their problem solving, the courage to go beyond the text-book and think
independently.
An effective Dressage rider innately understands that every horse is
different. Every rider is different. Every moment is a new moment, a new
opportunity to create quality.
An effective Dressage rider has the courage to experiment and try
something different in approaching the problem, all the while adhering
to the core premise of the Training Scale, placing the mental and
physical well-being of their equine partner first and foremost.
8: An effective Dressage rider knows they must be an athlete in
their own right before they can expect their equine partner to be one.
The foundation of the Training Scale is the rider’s seat. Every rider
strives to be in control and command of their physical being, able to
independently apply the aids effectively in both calmness and chaos. A
Dressage rider uses every single muscle known to man, and then some! It
is imperative that we cross-train, building our own strength, endurance
and dexterity
away from the horse. Cross-training keeps the
muscles ‘fresh’ ie; not locked into the sole muscle memory of the ride
itself but rather neutral, able to break old ‘muscle memory’ response
patterns easily if required. Poorly trained horses effect the muscle
memory of the rider just as poor riding effects the muscle memory of the
horse. Cross-training assists the rider in both developing athleticism
and neutralizing undesirable muscle memory.
9: An effective Dressage rider knows there is only one direction to go: forward!
Horses are built to move, they are born to move and most love to
move. Effective riders know how to use this base instinct in the horse
as a key ingredient in the work each and every day, much like flour to a
baker. As it is in life, so it is in Dressage: if all else fails, GO
FORWARD! In this way, an effective rider creates a fresh moment, a fresh
opportunity to try again toward understanding and success.
10: An effective Dressage rider works for their horse, not vice versa.
Great riders do what they do for the sake of the horse… and nothing
else. ‘Dressage’ encompasses all that we do from the moment we rise in
the morning and enter the stable aisle to the final night check at the
end of the day. Highly effective riders know they must stay close to
their horses each and every day in order to build the intimacy required
for the Grand Prix. They know their partner’s moods, their idiosyncrasies, their likes and dislikes. The transition from the aisle
to the school is best seamless: true partners from the stall to the
aisle to the schooling arena to the show ring and home again.
Remember, Dressage is an art form in motion, therefore it only
survives as such when practiced correctly on a daily basis by both
Master and student, through the grace of correctly trained horses.
Strive to develop good habits, for the sake of the sport, for the sake
of the horse and for your own future as an accomplished rider.
Written with gratitude to ‘the trainer’s trainer’, Michael Poulin.
© 2013 Nancy Kotting All Rights Reserved Reproduction by Permission Only
http://watapama.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/the-ten-habits-of-highly-effective-dressage-riders/
