Allthesilver

Anyone who knows me, knows I have been a horse person since birth.  I started trying to get on any horse that would hold still since about the time I could walk.  When I was little, my mother took care of a handicapped woman who had a mule and a donkey.  I had to climb up on the fence to get on, bareback, and hang on to their scruffy manes with both hands.  They had no bridles, and did not wear halters. 

If I got on the donkey he wouldn’t move unless I had a stick.  He wouldn’t let me get on with a stick.  So, I usually rode the mule.  He didn’t move whether I had a stick or not.  I used to put a halter on him and lead him out into the back pasture where I could climb a stone wall to get on and he would trot back to the barn.  If I was lucky, I could turn him a little and make the ride last longer, but really, he was in charge.

When I was nine, my mother decided I might as well have riding lessons.  One of the things I have learned in the decades of horses since, is that people who say they know “all about horses”, don’t.

This is me on King, my lesson horse, when I was nine.

To the casual observer dressage may seem boring and difficult to understand.  Unless you know what the horse and rider are trying to achieve, it is hard to see why one horse scores well while the pretty one you liked, did poorly.

Those people who “do dressage” are constantly learning as they are also training their horses.  It is a slow process, and the best horse and rider combinations are generally older, very experienced teams.  And they are still learning.

Today, I heard it said that the television coverage of the olympic equestrian events was limited because people found it boring.  For those who agree, I invite you to watch this video of a beautiful grey dressage horse.  I don’t know anyone who has seen this who found it “boring”.  If you think this horse is boring maybe you’d rather watch a 12 inning baseball game…