Fact Friday

Fact Friday: The word dressage originates from the french word, dresser, which means to train, period. With that being said I would like to remind everyone that good training is good training and that there are many paths that lead us to our ultimate goal of having a well trained horse that will never be "finished" but will continue to learn thoughout their entire lives. As riders we tend to think that our disipline or style of riding is the only way and tend to lose sight of the fact that we can learn valuable information from other riders. After all, every horse is created equal, but through selective breeding we have developed their movements to fit our riding style. The movements, functions and understanding of anatomy and mechinics is universal and will never be changed from horse to horse. As riders we can influence these but never change them, thus truely rendering our thoughts of one style of riding being better than another pointless, except only in our minds. A well trained horse and rider will always be able to compete with success, no matter the disipline or sport. Our horses do not care what style of riding we do, how we dress, or the amount of money we spent on our trailer, they just want to be treated fairly and with respect. Remember, as soon as we close our minds to learning, we are finished as riders.