This message is from: laurie with <[email protected]>
i am finding the discussion about fjords and dressage very interesting, but from a different perspective. when i got Oz, i got started in dressage because in many cases that’s the only type of boarding facility you can find in a certain area. you have very little options, at least where i was, to do anything else. and most barns expect you to take lessons, since that is their source of income. Oz had dressage experience with his former owner, so it wasn’t a bad thing for me to learn. it taught me balance and the value of a good seat, etc., but it was never my goal when i got a horse. it was just what was where i was. i think, and this is just my opinion, so please don’t flame me, that dressage seems to get elevated to the level of being the pinnacle of what you can do with your horse. it’s nice to see western dressage coming along, which gives us a more relaxed version of it, though i know that some dressage riders look down on it as not real…….hey, dressage means training, and that’s what it encompasses, no matter what the saddle and clothing look like. so…..what did i want when i got my first horse, was back in 2001? a horse. a horse i could ride around our pastures, and have a nice, relaxed time. i didn’t even know what dressage was. and i am not saying i didn’t love all the time i spent with my beloved Oz, even though we were at dressage barns until he retired. now, at almost 68 (and i don’t know how that happened!!), i have the lovely Skylar (nicknamed short-round) at a little private place, where i can ride her or not, depending on my day, not being required to take lessons, but able to just hack her out in her pasture, the hayfield or gravel driveway…..or just the indoor and free lunge her, letting her buck, canter and squeal. Can she do dressage? Yes, she has. but now is our time to just be. laurie with [email protected] Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw FH_L Shirts: http://tinyurl.com/8yky94l
