Comments on: Competition dressage vs ‘working’ dressage

By: The Horses' Advocate

The Horses' Advocate — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:51:07 +0000

Agreed… unlike days of old…

By: Allan Buck

Allan Buck — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:24:10 +0000

Great videos that clearly demonstrate the inadequate schooling of the competitive dressage horse versus the working dressage horse.
Notice that the bull fighting horse was always fluid in the shoulders and hindquarters with his back up
Notice that the rider used one hand…I dare say there is no FEI compeititve rider that could test with one hand.

By: The Horses' Advocate

The Horses' Advocate — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:31:16 +0000

Hi Kate,

Yes, the Spanish and Portuguese horses are something else, aren’t they?! But also, the training!

Modern competition dressage, developed with a heavy German influence, favours breeds such as Hanoverian and Holsteiner. Then too, the judges are trained to reward these specific types of horse and movement.

I too saw Stephen Peters ride and teach recently, and he was very much about getting the horse responsive, not sitting on heavy hands – but to GIVE with the hand when the horse responds to a slowing aid. I felt that he showed how it should be done, and was constantly telling the riders to get off their horses’ mouths.

It is good when sometimes we get to see someone applying the aids, and the release of the aids so that a horse is able to understand. It is actually quite hard to locate role-models one would want to follow! That is where the best we can do is to remain a ’seeker’, always seeking to understand, identify, modify, compare and improve.

Enjoy your day on Orcas Island!

By: kate wood

kate wood — Thu, 13 May 2010 05:50:03 +0000

I have Kiger Mustang who moves like the horse in the first video. That horse looked like he was having a blast! He was designed for collection and his core and his rider’s core were both so strong! It almost makes me wonder why we in America and much of Europe choose TB/Warmbloods.. seems like the Andulusian/Lusitano/Spanish Horse is much more suited to dressage. I have seen Stephen Peters ride and it is beautiful and sublte, but much of what I saw in the second video was upsetting. Yanking, pulling, kicking.. the horses upset. It does not have to be that way. I like to think of dressage as ‘the athletic development of the horse.’ I have several young mustangs and one who I have been bringing along for 4 years now. He is happy in his work, in front of the leg and round with very light contact. It took a lot of work and waiting for him to progress on HIS schedule, but his physical developement is beautiful.

By: Iris Shields

Iris Shields — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:06:19 +0000

Lightness is also a big difference between the two! The first horse is truly collected the whole time and very light, as is the rider, very light (independent seat Molly indeed mentioned) overall the combination works in lightness and is totally balanced.
In the second video the horses don’t move with lightness, not only because there is no independent seat and no light aids but probably also because the horses are just trained totally different (with tools and rush rush). The horses are not collected but crammed together, front and back of the horse almost doing two different things, moving separately… There is no balance what so ever