How Dressage Is Like Religion
by Alison Child
I was talking with a dressage buddy of mine about our various journeys in this crazy sport we love. I told her I thought dressage is a lot like religion. And I don’t mean to be disrespectful here but my point is that we’re all trying to get closer to dressage “God” – meaning that feeling of throughness, carriage and connectedness that is so elusive and so hard to describe to a non-rider. We seek it desperately at all times, horse heroin addicts trying to capture that softness, feeling of power and oneness with our horse.
And like religion, we’re all arguing about the correct path to get to dressage heaven. Is it through “the classical method”, the cowboy way, with this trainer or that clinician? Is the correct path with this exercise or that judge? Do we let our horses go out in a pasture or do we keep them in a stall? Do we use that shoer or that vet? What is the “one true path”?
Like religion, we’re all so positive our way is the only way and we spend lots of energy trying to convince others that our path is the only path. I would argue that there are many paths to dressage heaven and sometimes one path works one day and another path works another day. The idea is to learn as much as you can by keeping yourself open to all paths and to avoid the temptation of judging others for their “dressage religion”.
alisonchild
Totally agree Alison.
I might add that what you describe above is the support system for ones self to reach the communication and trust of one’s partner to, together, attain in mutual respect, the beauty of what the individual horse can do in freedom, given it’s build and developed muscle, the same freedom in the show ring with partnership with it’s rider under duress of performance.
There is no “one way” only the way that works for each horse and rider which could be different with each individual horse at many individual times.
IE – as the Mother’s of the World say – if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it !
” I would argue that there are many paths to dressage heaven and sometimes one path works one day and another path works another day. The idea is to learn as much as you can by keeping yourself open to all paths and to avoid the temptation of judging others for their “dressage religion”.” Excellent
Thanks for your comments Sally!
Excellent comments Sally!!! There are many roads to Rome and it would be nice when we can all go our way and meet successfully at our destination!
Amen to that Alison!!!
Thanks Alison. This Dressage quest is quite a journey and halelujah we are all so different, each horse, each rider, so many personalities and thoughts and atoms! A Buddhist tenet suggests that all desire brings suffering. I think many of us do suffer in our desire for throughness, the attempt for a “10″ in all aspects of life, including dressage.
There are many ways to the “10″, therefore all of those skills of many good people are valuable and important. I appreciate their knowledge. I want those skills. We live, we learn.
The most difficult aspect of our dressage world, for me to witness, is the lack of professionalism. This hurts and cause suffering. It hurts the reciever and the giver and everyone within earshot.
Behaving in a nonprofessional manner must come from the blind desire to be so important about what they know, that one can’t shut up because they only see their way, they only can see themselves. Their tiny little world… It sounds a little like terrorist suicide bombers, you know, that kind of knowledge.
Great metaphor, dressage as life. It’s all a journey and so personal and individual. We should celebrate our uniqueness and our differences.