Dressage in Nature

 The other day, I was turning horses out, and the wind had blown one of the doors closed that usually is open. Bellangela, one of our homebred Lipizzans, immediately went into travers (haunches in) when she saw it, arching her neck and snorting but never breaking stride while we went by.

This is one of my favorite observations of dressage in nature: spooking. Different postures show different mental processes, but just the fact they go into a lateral movement at all when spooking is fascinating in itself.

It makes sense, when you think about it. Between their vision and their desire to protect themselves while getting away, it would make sense that they'd take these postures. Generally, they adopt a shoulder-in when retreating and a travers when approaching. They'll spin around their haunches, shoulders, or midsection (which we generally dislike in dressage) to quickly change direction and get a good view of the scary thing. When you think about it, they even use these postures when socializing. Stallions especially show off the advanced dressage movements, and foals love using them in play. Some breeds show off more than others, but it's natural across all breeds.

You could argue that a dressage horse may do these movements more, but that's only because they've had the physical training to make it easier. They recognize the nice feeling they get in their own bodies when performing the movements, just like we might recognize how dancing feels. It's not something created by human influence; it's enhancing what nature gave them and humans saw.

This also means we can use these exercises to our advantage. I can't count the number of times I've used shoulder-in or travers when going towards or away from a spooky object, and I've even used shoulder-fore and "canter position" in the show ring when they suddenly notice a spooky flower (or a kite flies overhead because... well... shows).

Even more important: it shows that these movements are within reach, even for the least gifted horse/rider pair. I've worked with riders with neurological deficits, whether from congenital causes or injury, and they've all learned to ride the lateral movements using classical principles and biomechanics. So don't limit yourself with beliefs; set a goal and break that bigger goal down into bite-sized objectives. You'll forever thank yourself that you did.