The Art of Natural Dressage

Hello, I am Anna and I currently live in Arizona, USA. I am 16 years old, and I have been riding, taking lessons, and learning to train horses for 5 years. Because of financial reasons I have never owned a horse, but I sometimes lease horses, excersise horses for local barns, ride with friends, ect.
I am from Seattle, WA, USA, where I got my start riding. I learned to ride at a tiny farm in the mountains, using methods that were kinder than most barns in the area but still not as compassionate as AND. I came to Arizona three years ago, there was a bigger horse scene here, but the trainers here use harsh methods, lots of gadgets to make fancy show horses. Long story short, I have worked under (learning training methods, excersising horses) three trainers in the past three years, and I still haven't found anyone using methods even close to AND. So, I quit working for others, am trying to find my own way to be with horses the AND way, trying to work up to buy a horse in a couple years. I ride a friend's horse about once a week to keep up my riding skills, and occasionally get to play around with different horses and try out some basic AND stuff.

I have always ridden western, and I know nothing about dressage, but I still really want to learn AND! I've read a bunch of the forum, and there is some really good stuff on here

Sorry for the long intro and the bad spelling...can't find the spell checker Thank you for the wonderful, educational forum!




Anna E.

Hi Anna,
welcome to a very fun place to learn about horses. There are a number of people on here, including me, who ride western and the term dressage is for many more used in the sense of gymnasticizing the horse, which all horses benefit from. So, enjoy looking around and feel free to ask questions.
Birgit

Welcome, Anna!

Looking forward to reading more from you and I hope you will have a wonderful year.

Warm Regards,
Romy

Thank you for your warm welcomes! I am glad to hear that there are other western riders here, and I am also excited to hear more about the "other side of the world," english riding. Already I have learned a lot from reading posts on here...I just wish I could put them into practice more with a horse of my own...

Thank you again!


Anna E.

Hi Anna and welcome!

For me it does not matter much if one wears a cowboy hat, an english hunter cap or a doma classica sombrero during riding... all that matters to me is that a rider rides the way of his horse

Warm regards,

Josepha

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www.equusuniversalis.com

Hi Anna! Welcome.

As Birgit says, the term Dressage is used loosely here in terms of collecting your horse and making them fitter without the use of all the gadgets out there. I learned English riding first then spent most of my riding career in a western saddle, though I prefer no saddle at all.

Take a look at some of the topics in the groundwork section. Maybe you can work on some of those with your friends horse? You can explain to him/her that it helps the horse become more supple and fit.

Keep looking around, there may be just the job out there for you to work with horses in a kinder way. Personally, I wouldn't be looking much at competition stables as they are usually the ones that use all those gadgets. If there is a local horse newsletter that gets printed in your area( a local stable might know) you could maybe place an ad for the type of place you are looking to work at.

Welcome again and have fun looking around, lots to read and learn here

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The best views can be seen from the back of a horse.