Rather than try to make the horse understand what they want, mechanical riders try to make the horse do what they want.
--Mike Schaffer
There is no "easy button" for dressage. Or is there? Mike Schaffer (
mikeschaffer.com) has a new book out, and he was kind enough to send me an electronic copy of
Riding in the moment: The hidden language of dressage. I have his book on training young horses,
Right from the start, and found it very down-to-earth and readable.
About Mike
I only know a little about this guy's bio. He is a follower of the French school/Baucher style, whatever the heck that is. You won't hear about his performance in the show ring--don't think he competes. Mostly, he teaches and trains, and his style is unique. It is just my perception, but he seems to bridge the gap between cowboy dressage and classical dressage. I was interested in seeing what this book, which is more rider-focused than
Right from the start, had to say.
The premise of the book intrigues me -- as a lover of language and words, I have been frustrated at times by the terms dressage trainers use. Some trainers live in the world of the ideal--not always where I am in my riding ;-)--and their advice doesn't always feel relevant.
More bend! Activate the inside hind! Lift the shoulders! I'd hear this and want to quip back, "Lady, I can't even steer right now!"
The "hidden language" of dressage
If Schaffer doesn't have an easy button, he does speak in a language we can all follow. He laments the use of phrases like "ride from the inside leg to the outside rein." While it might be meaningful to the schooled horse and rider, it can be misleading for the average rider on the average horse. At worst, the imprecise language of dressage deprives us of corrective tools, and can turn us into "mechanical riders." To ride mechanically is to use force (same aids, only stronger) when things go wrong rather than finding new ways to communicate what is needed. Like talking louder to someone who is totally deaf, it simply won't work.
Mechanically ridden horses never become submissive or calm. Rather than accepting the rider as the leader who will guide them safely through a worrisome world, they see the rider as just one more worrisome thing in the world.
That phrase alone is worth the price of the book.
Schaffer describes how riders must help horses understand what is being asked of them by breaking complex movements (e.g., half pass) into simpler, more basic moves. In the old school Skinnerian behaviorism I think this is called shaping, and Schaffer describes it here when he refers to cognitive, or thinking riders:
Their techniques vary but their method is the same — they keep chipping away at a concept they want the horse to understand by making tiny little advances
followed with immediate, frequent reward.
What you don't get with this book
The answer is jargon. There's no renvers, no fill up the outside rein, no intimidating metaphors. He lists five basic building blocks that are the foundation of these movements: go, stop, turn in, and move out. He helps the reader perform these basics, giving simple directives, and then he helps us put the basics together to do things like form a bend on the circle, shoulder-in, and other complex movements. The whole time the emphasis is on riding cognitively (as opposed to mechanically); instead of
doing a movement you're
helping the horse to understand what is being asked of him/her.
It's a pretty unique book, and one that I'd recommend especially for any rider at second level and below (which is most of us). I'd urge any rider that is struggling in their riding efforts to read it. If you've lost confidence in your ability, if your understanding of dressage seems to drift in and out, and if you feel the things you thought you understood are eluding you now, this is the book for you. It's also a great introduction to dressage for the very beginner or child beginner. I applaud Mike's mission to talk about dressage in a language that we can all "get" without dumbing down the sport itself.
