D,N: Exercise 1 and Pre-Reqs

Last night I began reading the exercise section of Dressage, Naturally again, and realized at once I was guilty of never having actually done Exercise 1: Assess Your Horse. This, you see, is exactly why I feel the need to declare this "big commitment," because I want to do something other than my usual pattern... which is doing the reading, but not doing the work. So, I went and did it.

For the exercise, Karen asks you to go out and assess your horse, pretending you've never seen the horse before. The idea is to try to look at the horse as objectively as possible and record your observations so you have a clear idea of where you're starting from. After playing with the horse for approximately 15 minutes, Karen instructs the reader to "pretend I call you on the phone, and you must tell me, as concisely as possible, as much information about the horse." (D,N, 48)

As suggested, I played with Finn both on the ground and in the saddle, for about 15 minutes each, and if I had to summarize it as concisely as possible, this is what I'd say:

He's a good-natured horse with an attitude of partnership and a strong basic foundation of relaxation and understanding. He has a steady rhythm and basic balance at all three gaits, generally even and swing-y movement, but lacks energy and freedom. Tight through his back at the trot and canter. He hasn't found his power.

To sum-up the exercise, Karen poses three questions, again to be answered as concisely as possible:

1. What is a positive feature that I would like to keep? His goodwill and desire to connect.
2. If only ______ was better, I think everything would be better. If only Finn had more enthusiasm for energy, I think everything would be better.
3. How would my horse answer those questions about me? "I like that my human ______," and "if only my human changed _____ I think everything would be better." I like that my human is attentive and understands my ideas. If only my human consistently kept her cool when we're confused I think everything would be better.

Some thoughts worth dwelling on right there, for sure! Some interesting vocabulary choices. Thinking about developing Finn's enthusiasm is sure different than thinking just about getting more energy out of him. And looking at my emotional fitness issues as a simple instance of us both being confused makes it feel a lot more fix-able... and a lot less like an excuse to beat myself up. Which is a good thing, trust me. Being aware of my flaws is helpful; beating myself up is not.

After my initial assessment ride, the ride sort of morphed into checking on the prerequisites Karen lists for beginning the D,N exercises, and I'm happy to say that Finn actually exceeded my expectations on that front. Many of the pre-reqs are more directed at the human's understanding of the principles of natural horsemanship, and while I ran through them quickly, I also took them to heart as an always useful reminder to stay true to an approach based on psychology and understanding. The two that gave me pause last night were these:

1. You are comfortable riding bridle-less walk, trot and canter.
2. You and your horse can do all the basic yields (forward, backwards, HQ, FQ and sideways) without using your reins.

On the one hand, the answer to the first is, "No problem." I'd ride Journey bridle-less anytime, anywhere. Also, having ridden bridle-less as much as I have, I'd be pretty willing to get on most horses bridle-less and tool around in a small arena if I've seen enough to be confident they aren't going to do anything too out of whack. On the other hand, I had not actually ridden Finn without a bridle yet, so it was tough to just say "check!" to that.

As for the closely related number two, well I've checked out most of those yields without using my reins, I haven't spent nearly as much time working on that as I had with Journey at this stage of her development. Thus I didn't feel confident to say that they consistently work, and, believe it or not, I had never actually asked Finn for direct sideways before!

So, I started by checking on those yields, with my rein hand fixed on Finn's neck, and lo-and-behold they all worked, even the sideways after a few steps of trial and error on Finn's part. I was also able to steer in figure-8s, circles and around the rail at the walk and trot. In fact, this went so well, I figured I might as well just take the bridle off and prove to myself we had number one down as well.

And that's how my first bridle-less ride on Finn happened, and it was really a non-event. We rode at the walk, trot and canter, and even popped out a few simple lead changes. I had to use a neck rope for some steering corrections, which I will definitely take note of for the future, but if the pre-req is to be comfortable bridle-less, we're definitely there.

So, all in all, I now feel I can confidently declare we are good to go on this Dressage, Naturally journey. It's a nice feeling... let me explain: I've mentioned before that foundation before specialization is a primary tenet of my horsemanship. But, developing Finn has been really different from developing Journey. I'm no longer following the cut-and-dried Parelli path, and while I love what I learned with Journey, among the lessons were a few about what I didn't want to repeat. Primarily, I didn't want to allow or encourage Finn to move with unhealthy posture for several years before I felt "ready" to discuss posture with him. This is a major reason I have ridden him so much in the bridle from early on in his development - it has helped me encourage better flexion from the get go.

I also wanted to spend more time in the saddle with Finn, so haven't done as much elaborate ground work. These things combined often make me doubt whether my foundation is really strong enough to progress to the next stage. Well, based on my ride today, I'd say it is.

Which is not to say my foundation is finished or perfect, but Karen allows for that. Her thoughts on this were so helpful for me to hear. First, that as you progress to the beginning of dressage training, you may find holes in your foundation, at which point you have the opportunity to go back and fill them in. If we practice our dressage artfully, we will continually expand our foundation. So, if I find something missing along the way, it's no reason to be disappointed. It's part of the process.

Secondly, Karen says if your foundation is strong in the arena, but still needs work on the trail... well, practice your dressage in the arena and continue to work on your foundation on the trail! Simple as that. This was definitely a good reminder for me, because the fact that Finn and I lose some connection outside the arena shouldn't prevent us from beginning to discuss physical things that will be beneficial to his health and well-being. Our ride today definitely confirmed that our foundation is solid in the arena, which makes it a safe, promising place to begin our conversation about dressage.

So, that's that. We're doing this. And I'm awfully excited about it!!!