Emotions & Teaching & My Top 10 List of Comments to New Students

Since I first turned pro back in 1978, my teaching has astonished many and received positive compliments. After conducting hundreds of seminars and clinics all over the country, I have found that many of my riders have come at first into the training pen completely petrified of me!
Here are my  top 10 comments to riders:
1. I don't kick or bite or wield a lunge whip. I am human, and not a dressage queen. I am here to help you learn.
2. I will not show emotion to you or your horse. I do not believe that riders need to be yelled at to learn. If you believe that, then you must enjoy it. I don't.
3. If I cannot convey my comments or wishes in a normal tone of voice, then I should not be teaching.
4. I will not be-little you. That is uncalled for and disgusts me that anyone teaching should even attempt to stoop so low.
5. If you do not understand my conveyance to you, please ask. There are many roads to Rome and I have more than plan A in my back pocket.
6. If I explain something and you don't understand, please ask me to. Theory is key to learning skills correctly.
7. I will not ask you to do any more than you are capable of. If I get wrapped up and you need a break, just stop. I don't need to be calling 911. My cell phone does not work in all areas of Canada. :)
8. There is never a dumb question, and definitely never a dumb answer.
9. We are all in this for the enjoyment of the horse and for the education of you and your equine partner. I am not a serious person. We have fun and let's keep it that way. My students are National and World Champions and never needed to develop a stuck up attitude to do so well.
10. Do not impress me with your book smarts, and show me what you are capable of with your horse.
I do not pass judgement to a rider until I have seen you ride.

Many years ago I had the honour to learn from a man called General Albert Stecken. He was a great dressage trainer from Germany who had riders on the Olympic and World teams back in the 70's and 80's. This man inspired me to teach the way I do. As a student,  I have been yelled at, ridiculed and generally had every emotion known hurled at me from back yard wannabe coaches to Olympic Champions that have taught me.  While riding with General Stecken, I stopped and asked him a very life changing question. "Why is it when you teach me General, you do not yell at me?" He answered "My dear, an instructor who shouts at his students is only showing signs of his own weakness". I have lived by that statement for 34 years! I vowed never to yell at a student or become emotional. If I cannot convey my wishes to a rider in a normal voice, then I should never have become a riding teacher. I better know the answers!
I am proud of my riders and thrilled with the results that I have achieved with my riders. I do not assume anything and take each horse and rider at face value. I do not have visions of grandeur, but only wish that my riders and horses improve at a slow and steady pace. After all, riding is the sport of millimetres!

Western Dressage: A Renaissance or a Revival? © by Elaine Ward

In 2011 I discovered a new way of riding...Western Dressage. When I researched it further, I had discovered that this “new discipline” actually had a name. Ironically I had been doing Western Dressage for years, just never putting a name to what I was teaching my Western clients.  Even back to the 80’s I had been working with Western Horsemanship, Cutting and Reining riders to put some dressage concepts into their riding habits. It worked, and I never gave it a second thought until I found that someone had actually put a name to what I was doing for so many years.
It was not very long until I had joined the new movement and encouraged more Western riders to think outside the box all across Canada. 
Now almost four years later, and countless hours of researching, teaching, and traveling all over Canada I have come to an amazing epiphany.  Most often, something that is new is never original. Western Dressage is not an exception to that rule. Western Dressage is actually something that has already been discovered and over time has been lost, only waiting for someone to find it again.

There has always been something about Western Dressage that was missing in my mind. Why did the dressage techniques improve horses and riders when I taught or trained them? Was I really going in the right path with my teaching? All I had to do was look into the history of Western riding to find my answer.  What was old is new again.

Western riding has had basically two main influences, although other influences were possible: Spanish (Vaquero) and European (Military). The vast majority of Western riders were ex-cavalry riders who if they survived the wars up to the 1930’s went to work on the ranges and ranches of the west training horses and working cattle.  The ex-cavalry soldiers were also the influence of many riding schools in the Western Hemisphere. It is the ex-cavalry riders that are really the answer to Western Dressage.  The Cavalry instructors whether they came from the US Army or Europe were trained and heavily influenced by some of the most famous Classical dressage instructors of the time such as Baucher, Fillis, and De La Guérinière. Otto Lorke in Germany also taught many Cavalry riders.  Baucher and De La Guérinière were from the French School, Fillis the British trainer also learned from the French, and Otto Lorke was a German who was considered a trainer of the lightness concept, and was also heavily influenced by the French way of riding.  Perhaps the best proof of this finding came from looking back at the US Cavalry Manual, which is still available today, and was adapted to civilian use. The book is entitled The Cavalry Manual of Horsemanship and Horsemastership by Gordon Wright. The concepts are all based on classical dressage. The saddle of choice in the US and Canada was the Western saddle due to it’s purpose of working stock and performing the needed tasks of holding a lariat and horn to rope and restrain cattle and horses.

There are two main schools of dressage in Canada and the US.  The German concept of training is still based on the heavy almost draft bred horse of the late and early 20^th century.  The riders had to also ride these horses with very heavy leg and hand. The philosophy required the riders to encourage forwardness, as the horses were of substantial bone and size with a slow mind.  Once the horse was trained to move forward then the half-halts were used to bring the horse off the forehand.  Applying those concepts to the Western style of riding would not prove as successful to the Western type horse.  The dominance of the rider on the horse would not be a successful way of training a horse that would be required to be light and sensitive to the riders’ leg, seat and hand to perform tasks of the ranches. The French School requires a focus on basing the training on lightness and balance.  Instead of using a pyramid to illustrate the training scale, the French school is based more on a circular diagram. The requirement is for the horse to become light to the leg, hand and seat starting from the halt, and then advancing to the gaits and using lateral movements to develop the collection and overall performance of the horse. For each skill that a horse is taught, the lightness has to be trained to the horse to achieve lightness and sensitivity to the rider’s aids.   
When one makes a comparison to the French school of riding, and then observing a well trained Western horse, we can begin to see a parallel.  I’m not talking about the stylized Western horse of today, but the basic trained horse of the mid 1900’s. Perhaps one of the best illustrations of this is a book entitled Schooling of the Western Horse by John R. Young.  Horses worked with the poll at the highest point, forward, willing and sensitive to the riders’ aids and balance.  If you removed the Western photos in the book, it could have been a dressage book!  This was the actual birth of Western Dressage.
So, as I have illustrated, Western Dressage is not a renaissance, but the rejuvenation of the original way of Western riding. 


Elaine Ward owns and operates Kirkridge Farm in Lynden Ontario Canada and conducts clinics all over Canada. She is also offering Western Dressage Camps at her farm for horses and riders in the summer of 2015.

The Suspense is Killing Me! AKA Let's Talk About Suspension!

Deciphering the gaits is a bit difficult somedays. Many internet articles are out there claiming that the Western horse does NOT have suspension. 

If you read the rule book of USEF Western Dressage it states this:

WD 104 The Jog

1. The jog is a two-beat gait of alternate diagonal legs (left fore and right hind leg and vice versa) separated by a moment of suspension.

WD105 The Lope

1. The lope is a gait with three equal, regular beats with time of suspension after the third beat. One stride equals 3 beats, or three footfalls. This gait may be demonstrated on right or left lead. Footfall sequence in right lead is: left hind, right hind and left fore together, right fore, then suspension. Footfall sequence in left lead: right hind, left hind and right fore together, left fore, then suspension

It's not problematic to see this in the rulebook, but in where the issue lies is determining exactly what gaits are required. 

Regardless of what tack is used on a horse, the jog is a 2 beat gait. In English riding it would be called a trot. A Lope is a 3 beat gait, and it is a Canter in the English world. 

People who claim that a Western Dressage horse does not have any type of suspension in my opinion have not done their homework. 
Our gaits are deciphered by definition. Collected, Working and Lengthened Stride in the Jog and Lope. 

Suspension is increased by amplitude. This means that the increased energy and thrust will lift the horse's body off the ground. The would be easily see in a Dressage horse when they are executing an extended trot or canter. 

The suspension can also be considered a lift of the horse's body weight between the strides of the gait. It does not have to be a levitating hesitation. A jog is defined as a 2 beat gait. How could you ascertain the horse has 2 beats is there was no suspension or reasonable amount of lift. To have a 2 beat gait, both the front and opposite hind leg land at the same time. If the horse's hind legs were to switch the weight first, then the gait would be a 4 beat movement, and easily seen in a Western pleasure class, and even against the definition of gaits in their division. To switch from one diagonal to the other there has to be a moment of "suspension", or lift.  The same goes for the lope- If you did not have a moment of suspension, you would not have a 3 beat gait. You would be 4-Beating! The less the amplitude of the gait, the lower the moment of suspension which in fact is an upward lift of the body of the horse to lighten the feet in order to move the legs to the next stage of the gait. Remember, increased amplitude, increased suspension.

 Moment of Suspension: Lengthened Stride in Canter on a Basic Level Dressage Horse

Moment of Suspension: Lengthened Stride in Trot on a Basic Level Dressage Horse

So, what's the big deal?

In horses that are ridden balanced, and light in contact, the horse is going to lack somewhat of the amplitude in the collected jog and lope. When I see a horse that is supposed to the collected ridden with a constant half-halt and restricted hand we end up seeing the horse perform the false passage, which the horse appears to be "floating" in the collected gaits. The back of the horse is rigid and tense and is almost impossible to sit. This may be fine for the appearance of a fancy horse in the dressage ring, but is not what we are seeking for Western Dressage. Our idea Western Dressage horse is one who is light and happy, in self carriage without an interfering hand and seat.  A horse that appears to be performing the job it's self, and not "yanked and cranked" into a false position. 

Conformation has not even come into the equation yet. For the most part the typical Western horse is built a bit downhill and somewhat lacks the upward build. The Western Horse is built for getting down and dirty so to speak and not built for climbing up walls in a single bound. 

We should never forget that. 

I'm not saying that all Western horses are built downhill, but for the most part they tend to be, or at best level. 

Take for example this horse who may be an exception to the rule. 

Can this horse lengthen and increase suspension? Absolutely! The horse is not being forced by the hand and is balanced in the length of his body. The rider is sitting in a position that is not inhibiting the horses' movement. The rider is sitting in a correct line of shoulder-hip-heel. 

Collected Jog. Light and through.

A correct jog with self-carriage and lift
I think the other side of the story should also be told. Why to we ride in Western dressage? What horses do we use? The answer to many is plain and simple: For the enjoyment and development of forming a partnership with our horses. We are not all running out and finding what we think is the ultimate Western Dressage horse. For many of us, and me included, it's about taking the horses we have and helping them perform the best that they can!