… Let Fathers … see to it that their sons pursue the study of letters assiduously and let them teach them to understand and write correctly. Let them not think they have taught them if they do not see that their sons have learned to read and write perfectly, for in this it is almost the same to know badly as not to know at all. Then let the children learn arithmetic and gain a sufficient knowledge of geometry, for these are enjoyable sciences suitable to young minds and of great use to all regardless of age or social status. Then let them turn once more to the poets, orators, and philosophers. Above all, one must try to have good teachers from whom the children may learn excellent customs as well as letters. I should want my sons to become accustomed to good authors. I should want them to learn grammar from Priscian and Servius and to become familiar, not with collections of sayings and extracts, but with the works of Cicero, Livy, and Sallust above all, so that they might learn the perfection and splendid eloquence of the elegant Latin tongue from the very beginning. They say that the same thing happens to the mind as to a bottle: if at first one puts bad wine in it, its taste will never disappear. One must, therefore, avoid all crude and inelegant writers and study those who are polished and elegant, keeping their works at hand, reading them continously, reciting them often, and memorizing them … Think for a moment: can you find a man — or even imagine one — who fears infamy, though he may have no strong desire for glory, and yet does not hate idleness and sloth? Who can ever think it possible to achieve honors and dignity without the loving study of excellent arts, without assidous work, without striving in difficult manly tasks. If one wishes to gain praise and fame, he must abhor idleness and laziness and oppose them as deadly foes. There is nothing that gives rise to dishonor and infamy as much as idleness. Idleness has always been the breeding-place of vice …

Therefore, ideleness which is the cause of so many evils must be hated by all good men. Even if idleness were not a deadly enemy of good customs and the cause of every vice, as everyone knows it is, what man, though inept, could wish to spend his life without using his mind, his limbs, his every faculty? Does an idle man differ from a tree trunk, a statue, or a putrid corpse? As for me, one who does not care for honor or fear shame and does not act with prudence and intelligence does not live well. But one who lies buried in idleness and sloth and completely neglects good deeds and fine studies is altogether dead. One who does not give himself body and soul to the quest for praise and virtue is to be deemed unworthy of life ……

… [Man] comes into this world in order to enjoy all things, be virtous, and make himself happy. For he who may be called happy will be useful to other men, and he who is now useful to others cannot but please God. He who uses things imporperly harms other men and incurs God’s displeasure, and he who displeases God is a fool if he thinks he is happy. We may, therefore, state that man is created by Nature to use, and reap the benefits of, all things, and that he is born to be happy ……

… I belive it will not be excessively difficult for a man to acquire the highest honors and glory, if he perseveres in his studies as much as is necessary, toiling, sweating, and striving to surpass all others by far. It is said that man can do anything he wants. If you will strive with all your strength and skill, as I have said, I have no doubt you will reach the highest degree of perfection and fame in any profession …

When I read this text I relate it to how idleness can also affect us as equestrians.  How often do we allow ourselves to become idle in respect to learning, practicing, staying alert when we work with our horse so we do not ride on ‘auto pilot’ and so forth? Do we push ourselves to learn from only the best, the most eloquent of teachers (where a teacher is not automatically synonymous with an eloquent rider), we learn the language and practice it, we look to the sciences involved in horsemanship so that we can make personally well-informed decisions?

Out of that place the quality of fame and wealth is also a genuine place of happiness. Alberti talks about fame and wealth and happiness being synonymous with working hard, but also by being useful to  other people. Are you a rider who gives back or do you ride just for yourself without being concerned for the future welfare of horsemanship?

Wonderful questions to ponder on and I would love to hear your own thoughts on this passage and what your own interpretation of it is in respect to horsemanship.

Isn’t it always the abuser who claims “see what you made me do to you,” to the abused? Why should they take responsibility for their actions? We see political leaders make the same claims – it is always some other factor which dictates why their decision was forced rather than their own inclination. Horse culture has inherited this long-standing tradition, afterall we are only human; and it is not new. It still trickles down that we are a “dominant” species over the horse – therefore we are all wise and knowing and the horse should respond to our directions as a result of his lesser intelligence. Sound familiar? The same was claimed towards African-American slaves, natives, even peasants were viewed this way by the minority of ‘educated’, wealthy, political and religious leaders of their time.

This thread of thinking is a majority, but not universal; and consciousness is beginning to change in all ways of life. People are waking up to be more curious and questioning of health, education, politics, human welfare, etc. Included in this is the horse. 

Kudos to so many programs that make sound use of communicating with the horse in a fair and conscientious manner to teach lay-people about relationships, leadership, communication, etc. Approaches such as clicker training, bridleless or bitless riding, “Natural Dressage”, Associations and Groups promoting ‘lightness’ in riding, endotapping, etc address training the horse using alternative approaches and ideas – which are extremely valuable in pushing horsemanship as a whole to base itself off of education vs. tradition.

Do you see change happening in the approach of riders and riding methods to promote less force and more communication / relationship building? And where are popular trainers/clinicians talking this language while still employing methods of force and intimidation?

The benefits of riding without stirrups go beyond the traditional hour long longe lesson. There are a number of subtleties present communicating to the horse with your hands, legs and seat and by separating the aids (i.e. hands without legs, legs without hands) you clarify to the horse your exact intentions as well as simplifying the work you do. Riding without stirrups immediately makes evident just how much you balance on the stirrups and the reins just the same as riding with one rein gives away how much you are correcting your one hand aid with the other hand.

Have you ever known a rider, or been one yourself, who has had an awkward moment on their horse resulting in losing a stirrup and either directly or through trying to regain their lost stirrup they come unseated and end up on the ground? I’ve witnessed it and nearly made it there myself before. Relying on the stirrups can put you in a dangerous position and in order to move on to more advanced riding it is important to remove as many obstacles and chances for failure or injury as possible. The same for removing as many distractions as you can which can impede communication with the horse. What does it say to the horse when we struggle to maintain or regain our foot’s placement in the stirrup during a ride or press into them side to side to maintain our position in the middle of the saddle?

I was riding Jobi last night, ponying Aligarh with Jason aboard when I began thinking about this out of the blue. At some point I recall realizing that riding with stirrups now feels more awkward than riding without, a large reason why I only reach for them when I’m faced with a 12 mile trail ride consistently largely of trotting. An honest confession – although I have the capability of posting and two-point sans stirrups I am not self-loathing enough to force myself to do long periods of either unless necessary.

I was also thinking about the initial trepidation I felt with the thought, “I won’t have my stirrups to fall back on for security,” in 2005.

What might your thoughts or reservations be if you were faced with the idea of never riding with stirrups again? Do you think that you would be more willing to do it if some circumstance were different (if you were a teenager, if you had a quieter horse, if you rode in an enclosed area only, etc)?  I’m not sure I would have been so open minded to relinquishing my stirrups were I faced with the decision today vs seven years ago – but then again I also had a fellow friend and rider to keep me motivated in doing so in the beginning. Love to hear your thoughts…

• Ponying accustoms both horses to being in close proximity to one another and helps to desensitize each other to being bumped by another horse and having their personal space more closely occupied.
• Ponying builds your skills as a rider to manage control and direction of two horses simultaneously – encouraging a greater use of the voice to communicated with the horse being ponied and having to develop more subtle aids in directing the horse you are riding.
• Ponying can be effective in teaching both horses to take turns being the leader and the follower on rides just by adjusting the length of your ponying rope periodically, encouraging a more relaxed atmosphere during group rides.
• Ponying can be used to maximize the quality of physical conditioning during periods of limited riding time. If you are a rider with only a short block of time to exercise several horses in a day and find it increasingly difficult to give each horse the best physical routine ponying can help supplement this by doubling the length of exercise vs. time available.

For me, ponying first became a habit on solo trail rides. My goals were to a) condition two horses for 25 mile rides, and b) train a green horse to become a reliable trail horse. My dilemmas were limited time and the fact that I could not consistently rely upon other riders to join me when taking my green horse out on the trail. To solve the problem I turned to ponying off my experienced trail horse, which allowed my green horse to become comfortable outside of the arena, familiar with differing terrain and new stimulus on the trail, and to build muscle without the stress of a rider initially. Once it was obvious that the ponying routine was working effectively for my green horse I began switching horses for the return ride; riding my experienced horse out to the half-way point, changing tack and riding my green horse back to the trail head. Since my green horse was already in a state of mind to be relaxed about going down the trail and having some miles under him before we switched out he was more than happy to mosey back to the trail head in a relaxed state of mind, while also becoming comfortable having to take over the lead of ponying another horse down the trail.

Now, that green horse of mine is the experienced trail horse ponying young horses.

I am writing this post under “Project Horse” as well because this evening marks the first genuine ride, not just sitting in the saddle, of Aligarh. Things have settled down after a particularly busy holiday / new year season and with the graciously mild winter weather starting this week I had it in my mind to get some ride time with both Jobi and begin it with Aligarh while the mild temps remain. I have a particular distaste for starting youngsters when the temps are too much below freezing – my hands don’t handle the cold well so I have a tendency to lose grip strength.

Aligarh did well, I have not ponied him before so spent some time walking and trotting around the arena with him, changing directions, speed and moving into his space to get him accustomed to being directed by the lead horse, in this case it was Jobi. He was a true natural at it and after 15-20 minutes my boyfriend Jason marched out donning his helmet (standard attire around here for any rider, worth the investment of $30), went through the routine of patting the saddle, making noise with the stirrups, moving the saddle back and forth a bit, jumping up and down, weighing each stirrup and then finally getting on board.

There are some horses that after a time you get a feel for how they are likely to react when first ridden. I have always known in the back of my mind that Aligarh is the sort that will offer a few bucks, not so much out of fear or lack of preparedness, but based on his personality. He is the sort of horse who bucks when he plays, when he is challenged, when he is presented with anything new to his body, when a blade of grass blows in the wind or if the temperature is just cool enough to feel crisp. We got a few walk steps in and then he offered 4-5 bucks, not major, then he stopped. Everyone okay, safe and sound, Jason still soundly aboard and feeling calm about the situation. So we proceeded walking around the arena, changing directions, looping around some intentional obstacles that have been set up for some time. We asked him for some calm halts and then returned to a nice forward walk. As soon as he gave a truly “this is a comfortable thing for me to do” walk and halt I had Jason dismount and that was the event of the night.

I want to come back to what ponying offers when working with the young horse and starting a horse under saddle. I like to compare it to lunging a horse and using leading as step between catching the horse and teaching him to lunge. If you have a young horse who has never been taught to lead you would not expect to catch him and begin teaching him to lunge without first teaching him to be led in from the pasture. Ponying can be like that – a bridge for communication when transitioning from leading/lunging the horse to sitting on his back and giving direction.

A big hurdle for some in training a young horse under saddle is to go forward properly and to respond to the aids quietly and lightly. Ponying allows the horse to be guided in the proper direction and speed while the rider implements the aids they wish to use to communicate these things to the horse. Slowly the rider begins to direct the young horse more and more and the lead rider less and less until the green horse is able to understand clearly what the rider wishes from them. Lunging the young horse with a rider up can also be very effective in this way if the horse has been trained to walk, trot, canter, halt and change directions on the lunge before putting the rider up.

Out of curiosity – do you use ponying yourself and if so how and what benefits do you find in it? Any that are similar or different from what I’ve expressed above?

Of course movies depict similar cases of complete breakdown in the edit button and even in a person’s moral code – movies where people are somewhere out in the woods, terrified and being chased and pretty soon they are murdering their friends. I actually watched one last night come to think of it. One of the characters was attempting to rescue his friend who he thought had been kidnapped and in the end he tried to saw her in half. Believe it or not, humans are capable of being more animalistic than civilization would like to believe or allow.

Having something public, such as a blog, puts a person in the face of criticism at any time they decide to post any opinion. I have known this and I take no issue with criticism – true and real criticism that is. What other kind of criticism is there? Well, there are comments which begin by calling me an “utter MORON” and go south from there including cursing. I wonder at times, would the people who write this sort of stuff have the gall to express those same sentiments to my face if we met in person at random? Say they ran into me at a dinner somewhere in public, would they yell and shout, scream curse words at me and call me names to express their dislike of my opinion?

I cannot take their comments or proposed opinion seriously now, they have committed a cardinal sin among arguments – if you have a reasonable and true argument you ought to be able to win your case without behaving like an upset toddler in the sand box. Don’t throw sand in my face, it only disinterests me further in the case you are pleading. Have you ever seen the mothers trying to win an argument with their child in a store – the child losing it to a temper tantrum and the mother obviously losing the battle by even entertaining the notion that her now irate tike could possibly find sense in her reasoning. I always feel bad when I watch those transactions, and do not believe in entering into them in face to face meetings or online.

As equestrians we see this as well – riders getting into fights with their horse for whatever reason when there is no real reason to fight with the horse. Those are all real world examples however, and where I am pointing is the web. How does the disconnect between people on the web make it the perfect breeding ground for hostilities? I blame it on responsibility – or the lack of. There are a lot of things that people are willing to do on the web, that they would shy away from doing in person, under the guise of believing that no one outside of that small interaction will ever know. If you have never used the Wayback Machine, then you may be in for a surprise believing that simply using the delete button solves every problem…

The use of anonymity and usernames instead of real names helps people mask themselves from being instantly identified. A small fish in a big pond in the real world can mold and bully themselves into the big fish in a small pond somewhere on the web. I encourage you to visit any number of horse forums on the internet to see this phenomenon – generally the smaller the membership on the forum the higher ranking one individual is over the rest. And this is great, an ego stroke for someone who so badly wants it that they seek it out over the web.

I wonder, if someone knew that every person they would meet in real life were going to perform a thorough Google search on them, completely trace their background interactions across the internet – would they say they express themselves in the same way? Would they scream at others who disagree with them, call them names and otherwise throw a virtual temper tantrum?

Further still – what occurs in their barn when no one is watching and their horse expresses an opinion they do not like? Do they lose it with their horse, yelling and screaming, perhaps yanking and whipping them because name calling is not punishing enough? If I lose any respect for a person who first insults and then attempts to argue their opinion, what does that say about their horse’s opinion of them should they use that same tactic in the barn?

My all time favorite has always been the person who goes overboard in insults, cursing and name calling while interspersing it with an argument that they take the best care of their horse, their horse loves them and its work, their horse is the most well cared for and loved animal. Why does this sound like political banter to me? You say you do x, y and z for your horse, all while you are clearly unable to control your anger and upset over a simple opinion.

Digressing a bit – what does it mean to be an honest and responsible equestrian and what does that have to do with online interactions? I will refer again to the movies, only because most everyone has seen a movie like this before. The angry, insecure man who yells and screams, throws tantrums and beats on his wife/girlfriend/etc. What does everyone who is watching the movie know about this person? That his argument holds no value – he is resorting to the lowest form of response which has absolutely no connection to the original subject matter. His girlfriend thinks that tonight would be a great night for chicken and rice but he thinks it should be steak and potatoes – so he breaks three of her ribs and gives her a black eye while screaming that she is a less than honorable woman so to speak.

If we are honest I doubt that this kind of anger builds – why would it? When a person is honest and responsible for their opinions, ideas, beliefs, etc then why should they have to resort to bullying tactics in order to convince others. Better yet – what does it matter if others disagree with you?

When I blog, I stand behind my opinions unless someone can reason to me in a way that makes me think differently. I hope that most of my readers know I am fully open to their differing opinions should they give me a fair argument in return and in return I encourage others to do likewise. If we want horsemanship to progress for the better this is a means of doing it – not by throwing sticks and stomping our feet like toddlers, but by using our thoughts, ideas and words.

15 Excuses for NOT Making Ideas Happen

I don’t know about you, but I am a really great procrastinator and this list seems to just emphasize just how great I can be at rationalizing why later is better than now.

We shall never have more time. We have, and always had, all the time there is. No object is served in waiting until next week or even until tomorrow. Keep going… Concentrate on something useful.

- Arnold Bennett; British novelist, playwright, critic and essayist

I stumbled across this list, there are supposed to be 99 Excuses but unfortunately the link for the remainder is dead. Still, the 15 Excuses presented are enough for me to tackle for this first portion of the year. I have found that planning to accomplish one MAJOR task (i.e. greater than washing the laundry, etc.) each day really helps to kick procrastination in the pants and grease the wheels of motivation.

1. I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME.
Extra time, like money, rarely just materializes out of thin air. We have to work for it. If “finding creative time” is a struggle for you, consider getting proactive about carving it out, and doing the most important work first.

2. I’M AFRAID OF FAILURE.
If we really push ourselves, we will fail more than we’ll succeed. But that’s how we gain experience, how we learn, how we grow. The greater failure is to never risk failure at all. Choreographer Twyla Tharp: “If you do only what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won’t fail. You’ll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that’s failure by erosion.”

3. I’M NOT INSPIRED.
Inspiration comes from action, not the other way around. Our friends at Red Lemon Club shared this insightful tidbit from leadership guru John C. Maxwell: “The whole idea of motivation is a trap. Forget motivation. Just do it. Exercise, lose weight, test your blood sugar, or whatever. Do it without motivation. And then, guess what? After you start doing the thing, that’s when the motivation comes and makes it easy for you to keep on doing it.”

Continue Reading Excuses for NOT Making Ideas Happen >>

The Artist’s Way

When I studied French Classical Dressage in the Northwest the most wonderful barn manager I’ve had the pleasure of meeting rounded the small gaggle of us girls at the barn together and walked us through a modified version of The Artist’s Way, a program written and created by Julia Cameron. She personalized it a bit to apply more cleanly to working with horses. One recollection of this 12-week period of time that I have is just how in sync I felt with every aspect of my life for that short period of time.

If you are unaware of what The Artist’s Way is, it is 12 weeks tailored towards inspiring your creativity, no matter what kind of artist you are (even if you wouldn’t label yourself an artist at all). Each week has a different challenge or task to practice, and perhaps my favorite was the week in which I was allowed no outside influences – i.e. no radio, television, newspapers, etc. Julia Cameron (the author) also offers an online course through her website which promises of great value..

Pick Up A Copy of “The Artist’s Way”

Visit Julia Cameron’s Website

Geocaching

Geo-what? Geocaching is a sort of treasure hunt with the help of community. Why treasure hunting, well it is something to inspire my innate curiosity and is a great reason to get out on the trail more often or take my dogs out for a run / hike / exploratory trip. The rules are simple – plug in coordinates to your gps, pay attention to any clues provided, and then start searching once you reach your destination.

To make things simple, there is an app for your phone to make finding potential geocaches simpler – but who doesn’t enjoy a good old fashioned treasure hunt? Exactly.

Visit the Geocaching Website

Haute to Trot Magazine

If you are unfamiliar, it is a horse art magazine that I began in 2009. Following one issue I had to set it down to continue pursuing other ventures in my life that were a bit more pressing. I have not forgotten or forsaken my endeavor towards artistic inspiration for equestrians and it is one of my goals in 2012 to release the second issue of this little gem. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to check out the first issue and always appreciate feedback!

Read the First Issue of Haute to Trot Magazine

Visit the Haute to Trot Magazine Website

Your 2012 Equestrian Plans

It’s true, I want to know just what you plan to make your 2012 the most memorable year yet as an Equestrian! Will you be trying something new, picking up where you once left off, setting aside what you have been working away at for many years or…? Go on, share with the rest of us just what makes you get out of bed now that you are chasing after the end of 2012!

Ivy – Inspirational Equestrian #1

I read the Classical Dressage yahoo group where Ivy posts frequently asking questions and showing her progress through video. She rides this wonderful Quarter Horse named Jackson and I readily watch every video she sends to the group. In some ways she reminds me of myself, but in all ways she encompasses the spirit that I hope to always approach my horses with. Together they are doing really incredible things, which is why she is on my list of Inspirational Equestrians. This video is a culmination of a year of video clips rolled into one, and at the end the piaffe work is just lovely.

Visit Ivy’s Website

Anja Beran – Inspirational Equestrian #2

Anja Beran, a student of Marc de Broissia, Manuel Jorge de Oliveira (seen riding with Anja in the many online videos) and Luís Valença, is without a doubt an inspirational equestrian. She has a thorough background in Classical Equitation / Dressage and it shows. What I love a great deal in her work is the obvious relaxation and correctness of work. All things are done in lightness and thus appear seamless.

Visit Anja Beran’s Website

Carl Hester – Inspirational Equestrian #3

Recently I compared Carl Hester’s style of riding to that of Edward Gal, needless to say Edward Gal is not one of my inspirational equestrian references. I quite like a quote of Carl Hester’s - “You can’t blame your family for everything,” which I see as an extraordinary ability to take responsibility for your own life and its direction without blaming every fall or scrape on your upbringing. There are few Dressage Competitors at his level that I can bear to watch ride, but his rides have gone on to make me smile in enjoyment. Carl Hester has a sort of repertoire with his horses that is not commonly seen in the sport, and in doing so has earned a place in my heart as an inspirational equestrian.

Visit Carl Hester’s Website

What inspirational equestrians push you to go out and become a better rider?

I love discovering and adding to my list of Inspirational Equestrians and would enjoy finding out who inspires you!

What you came here wondering about is Edward Gal’s involvement. He is the famed Dressage competitor who rode Moorland’s Totilas to the highest score ever awarded in the Grand Prix Freestyle. Did he use Rollkur with Totilas? That I cannot tell you, what I can offer however is video of him riding other horses though. Enjoy -

Edward Gal aboard Rubin Cortes in France, 2011

My neck gets sore just watching. It is only during a poorly developed (read spoiled) walk that Edward Gal allows any freedom of the neck to his horse, and during the rest of the ride he keeps him round, round, round. Keep in mind that not only FEI rules but also Classical Dressage Masters have noted that the position of the horse’s face should be anywhere between 45 and 90 degrees depending on the horse’s individual conformation, this horse is well beyond 90 degrees.

Edward Gal’s heavy-handed training of Asther de Jeu

It is hard to watch this, particularly after watching Carl Hester videos just recently. The striking contrast between Carl Hester, whose riding is light and quiet, and that of Edward Gal cannot be missed. I feel as if his horses miss the basic element of balance, in the previous video his horse came lunging out of a canter pirouette and seemed unsure whether it should come or go through the lateral work. This “training” video is no different but it is more obvious to see how heavy of a rider Edward Gal is in it. Heavy handed, heavy legs.

Naturally, we will probably see Edward Gal continue many years of raging success on the laurels of Moorlands Totilas, who I am still convinced is a fluke. He is, or I should say was the horse for Edward Gal. The two were indeed a matched pair and seemed in unison. I don’t see that in any of the other horses that he is riding, training or competing.

Classical Dressage has two veins attached to it. One vein leads to the die-hards – the equestrians who study and practice and study and practice and try to perfect based on the teachings of the various Classical Dressage Masters. Some you may be familiar with include François Baucher, Comte d’Aure, François Robichon de la Guérinière, and the recently deceased Nuno Oliveira. Many of these equestrians choose not to compete but instead rigorously pursue the principles of Classical Dressage for no other reason than to be the best they can with their horse.

The other vein is not frequently addressed – and that is the marketing vein. It is every Competitive Dressage rider who realizes they can snag more students or clients by invoking the magic of “Classical Dressage.” Perhaps they studied under a “so and so” who took a lesson or two from someone else who had at some point trained under a Classical Dressage purist. Somehow they will find a way to prove they have an inkling of education linked to a Classical Dressage Master’s teachings. The truth is that every Dressage rider – whether Classical or Competitive – has some connection to those old dead guys. This is where the lines cross a bit.

Classical Dressage principles are what Competitive Dressage is built upon, it is merely the nature of competition and money that has turned it sour and removed from the art it was once meant to be. The two are intrinsically connected, but the motivations will always be different. I like to compare it to buying an original piece of art vs. buying a mickey mouse poster.

Competitive Dressage riders may wish to invoke the power of “Classical Dressage” because the image of the competition rider today is not what it once was. Dressage riders no matter their background were once considered elite, perfectionists, the die-hards who practiced the most mundane of arena figures for years on end and somehow never grew tired of it. And then along came Anky. No, she was not the first, and now is not even the most prominent, rider to use Rollkur and hyperflexion – she was just the one who made it scandalously popular and publicly acknowledged / promoted / sold it. Competitive Dressage riders were taken down off their high horse and the sport is no longer regarded by all as a sport of the elite. Perhaps a sport for those with deep pockets or numerous sponsorships… but the image of the faultless rider is no longer status quo.

The difference between Classical Dressage and Competitive Dressage.

Does Competitive Dressage need an overhaul? It does according to Dominique Barbier -

From New Zealand Horse & Pony :

To French classical dressage master, Dominique Barbier, the problems faced by modern dressage run so deep they are virtually insurmountable, and he’s suggesting a radical overhaul of the sport.

- Jean Llewellyn, July 2009 ‘It’s Anti-Dressage’

It would take more effort than there presently is from individuals who practice the art of Classical Dressage to invest in competing. There are too few making that effort, but as someone who has competed before and since given it up I sympathize with a disinterest in that world. Making Classical Dressage more readily available for people to see does not mean one has to do it through the competition scene, and trying to do so may not actually be as beneficial as one would imagine. Most people involved in Competitive Dressage hold tightly to their methods and do not wish to see or try anything different, anything that could take longer to succeed or even mean compromising their success in the show ring. Judges are no longer rewarding the most correct Dressage Competitors (according to the FEI rules) as it turns out anyhow.

The Masters used to perform in the Circus if they wished to publicize their talents, perhaps it will be by seeking alternative outlets to bring Classical Dressage to more people that it will gain some measure of widespread popularity. Then again, like breeding dogs because it is a fad this could sour that avenue of Dressage as well.

My experience with keeping a barefoot horse began in 1998 when every farrier available only managed to lame my horses more, even foundering one of them. This in turn was met with advice to use more “therapeutic shoeing” methods to fix him coupled with complete stall rest to fix the founder caused by poor therapeutic trimming. My gut feeling, as usual it seems, fought tooth and nail against this and it was not long before a good friend of mine made me aware of the barefoot movement of the time, including all the talk of Dr. Strasser‘s newly published books.

Fast forward a bit, I’ve trimmed my own horses since that fateful introduction and even done a fair amount of rehabbing of horses which were written off due to navicular, founder, severe club foot, unknown lamenesses and so on. I’ve seen nervous, spooking horses become relaxed and calm just by turning them into a properly trimmed barefoot horse. I’ve watched their entire body muscling change during the process and their posture. It is quite amazing to see really, and brings me to an observation I made of Jobi when he came home recently.

This is a horse who had always been barefoot, his entire life, until the last year. When I bought him as a coming 2 year old his hooves were long in the heel, compared to how I trim him, but not in any way horrible. His movement was always silky smooth as he pushed himself forward energetically at every gait and no notes of body soreness or stiffness.

The first thing I noted about him when I saw him for the first time in a year was that his entire topline lacked muscling. He was not skinny and had not been sitting without work – to the contrary he was being ridden regularly and in good flesh, but still the muscling along his back and hindquarters was not there. He had front shoes on, and the way his hooves were trimmed in the back seemed illogical – in the angles, lack of contouring to relieve pressure on the quarters, overgrowth of the bars and the length of the toe.

When he moved it was strangely out of balance – a horse who always had the most amazing balance was falling all over himself when he moved, like some kind of awkward 2 year old again. His front legs flung out in front of him at the trot only to land on them harshly.

I had his shoes pulled a week after coming home and proceeded to trim his hooves. It has been some time since trimming a freshly unshod horse and I forgot just how grotesque their feet smell. He also had a lovely case of thrush flourishing in the depths of his hooves and frogs that were obviously decayed and unhealthy – far from being the plump and luscious pads of the foot. His bars were also overgrown and his heels have become contracted to a great degree, all in just one year. The angles were off as well and the toe long, the shoes fitted too largely for his hoof.

In just a week following the trim, he is like a different horse again. With no work his topline has filled out by itself. He does not move like an awkward 2 year old but instead knows exactly where he is placing his feet again. These are qualities I want when I ride my horse, so if I see they are missing when he wears shoes why wouldn’t I keep him a barefoot horse?

Unfortunately I’m not sure that most people notice these details about their non barefoot horse. They entrust all the education of the hoof to their paid farrier and whatever education, or lack thereof, they may have. I guess I have learned throughout the course of working with horses that it is always in my best interest to be as informed and educated about every aspect of their care that I can be, and to in turn encourage the same.

Barefoot horse trimming has progressed a lot in the years I have been involved, from the time when Dr. Strasser was terrifying farriers and vets by advocating barefoot horse trims for foundered and laminitic horses as well as by trimming down the sole area of the hoof. The measures are not as extreme but they are also becoming more common place and accepted. Some good places to get started researching are listed below. I highly encourage anyone who is serious about horses to check them out.

• Natural Horse Trim – Treating Founder (Chronic Laminitis) Without Shoes
• The Horse’s Hoof – News for Barefoot Hoof Care
• Barefoot for Soundness
• Pete Ramey – Hoof Rehabilitation Specialists