I am snob, and strangely comfortable with it.

[cowpuncher]

This is probably not the best post for my first real post on this forum, but everyone tht knew me the other place knows I'm a stuck up snob on horses, so.........THs is an article I wrote recently for a local horse paper.


Two Schools of Thought: Some Ideas on Good Horsemanship


There is a great deal of antipathy between riders of the English (or more properly, European) disciplines in their flat saddles, and the “cowboys” of the western stock saddle culture. These differences, which are the foundations of often blistering argument and debate, seem blatantly obvious to the neophyte. The flat-saddle dressage rider “hangs on the reins” in order to hold the horse’s head in position, attempting to gain “collection.” Meanwhile, the “cowboys” insist on a one-handed hold on a loose rein, and consider “collection” to be something that occurs when they pass the plate in church on Sunday morning. They are, in the end, apparently diametrically opposed views of horsemanship, and bear the horse as the only common denominator.

If we look objectively at the two cultures however; their history, development, and causes, we see and interesting relationship. There really is no English or Western. There’s only good horsemanship, and bad. Until the age of mechanization, the ultimate goal of all formal horsemanship was to produce a cavalryman and warhorse. In light of this view, and the resultant horsemanship as we know it today, amongst experienced horsemanship, there are really just two schools of thought. In the view of “good” horsemanship; making a good saddle horse and good riding, each has it’s rather vocal following. In both the flat-saddle world and the stock saddle culture, each has it’s adherents. Every single horseman in the world, whether consciously or not, subscribes to one of these schools. Fortunately, while both have significant drawbacks, each also has a great deal of validity. The important issue is not to determine which is right and which is wrong. Rather, the important issue is figuring out which school of riding offers a particular rider what he is seeking in horsemanship.

The more common of the two schools of thought is popular amongst weekend recreational riders; trail riders, backyard horsemen, county fair showmen, and “wannabe” cowboys on their team penning and team roping horses. It does however gain a degree of respectability in the world of professional horsemen by its ready acceptance amongst cutting horse folks, many ranch horsemen, and outdoor events competitors in the flat-saddle culture. In the flat-saddle world, it has evolved from the campagne or cross-country school of riding. When cavalry warfare became less a matter of valor in the individual horse soldier, and the mounted forces became more a mobile “shock” force, it gained a great deal of popularity. In the stock horse world, it is commonly called the “Texas” style.

The ideal of this school is aptly expressed in the views of the Italian legend, Federico Caprilli. He stated that “we must strive to leave a horse as nature fashioned him, with his balance and attitude of head unaltered.” He also said, “a horse has never fallen because of galloping on the wrong lead.” It is believed that the horse already knows how to do most of what we might ask it to do in the course of regular riding. The walk, trot, canter, turns, and even the rollback; these are all movements that the horse does on its own, at play, in the wild or on pasture. The underlying philosophy of this school of riding is that all a rider really needs to do is be a good passenger by “staying out of the horse’s way.”

The idea of this school is proven to have a great deal of validity by its application to jumping horses, many ranch horses, and the ideal of the loose-reined cutting horse that works so well with little or no apparent guidance from the rider. There is a great deal of good to be said for this school of thought, especially for the recreational rider.

High caliber horsemanship demands a great deal of regular, hands-on experience. Cowboys say, “it takes lots of wet saddle blankets.” Experience alone however is not enough. Being “born in the saddle,” or having a “lifetime of experience,” can be as bad, or worse, as it is good. Practice does not make perfect if you are practicing the wrong things.

With ample practice, even the wrong practice, anyone can become a good rider. He can learn to sit firmly on any kind of horse, on any terrain, under any conditions. Professional saddle bronc riders are an apt demonstration of this. They can “ride anything with four legs and fur!” To become a skilled rider however, requires more than just good balance and lots of enthusiasm. It takes a hunger to improve. Being a great horseman demands ample experience, but perhaps more importantly, it demands sound theoretical knowledge as well. The horseman, to become a master, must constantly ask, and learn, the Why? of everything he does. In the event that he cannot discover a sound answer, he searches elsewhere to find a better question.

[cowpuncher]

The great horsemen do not just ride horses. The eat, drink, sleep, and breathe horses. They live horses. Great horsemen are consumed by horses! The best horsemen do not simply accept a method because “Grandpa done it this away!” Or “this is how I was taught.” The search incessantly for a better way, and if none exists, they make sure they know why. Videos, clinics, lessons, books, and even conversations with other horsemen; the aspiring master of horsemanship leaves no stone unturned in his quest for the ideal of perfect horsemanship.

Unfortunately, there is a vast majority of riders, especially among the weekend “cowboys”, but sadly, also among “professional” trainers, who do not have this hunger. They fall back on having “grown up a-horseback,” and refuse to be bothered to learn anything new.

Regardless of its inarguable value at the elite level, it is this apathy amongst riders that really provides the “Texas” style its greatest value. In today’s fast-paced internet and text message world, few people care if they really ride well. They are satisfied with the status quo because they lack the patience, perseverance and intestinal fortitude that is needed to become a skilled, finished rider. Because they are not knowledgeable enough to ride a finished horse, they proclaim that such an animal simply doesn’t exist anyway.

That is the benefit. The horse is saved from the tragedy of being “schooled” by some self-proclaimed “trainer” that doesn’t know an eighth of what he thinks he does. Instead, the horse learns just enough to get by, at a level equal to the rider’s, and both remain there, relatively satisfied with their lot.

That is completely okay. The only drawback to this is that it leaves so much knowledge undiscovered. The rider never bothers to learn that there is so much more available, and that he can improve himself and his horse. The horse then, never has any incentive to move better, with more refinement. This sad mediocrity is reinforced when the half-broke but “gentle” horse goes out and manages to win ribbons and buckles at the local fair.

The alternative is found in the dressage school. It’s the “Californio” method of making a stock horse. This school of horsemanship views riding as a symbiotic relationship. The rider possesses the brains, and the horse has the brawn. The bridle horse man recognizes and acknowledges that a horse can do many of the maneuvers that we ask of it long before we ever saddle it.

They point out however, that adding the weight of a saddle and a rider, even a skilled, balanced rider, drastically alters the horse’s balance, agility, and natural athleticism. The bridle horse man believes in teaching a horse to use its body and natural athleticism in the most efficient manner possible, while packing a rider. They believe in teaching a horse to be collected and supple, and to softly yield to leg and hand; this makes the saddle horse more responsive and enjoyable to ride.

The dressage rider, pulling on the D-ring snaffle bit is ideally, using a constant but slight pressure and release to “pick up” the horse’s face. At the same time, the leg cues are used to ask the horse to “drive it’s hindquarters under,” in order to obtain true collection with the elevated forehand. The goal is to be able to place any part of the horse’s body in any position desired, with minimal effort.

Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere published his manual Ecole de Cavalerie, or School of Horsemanship, in 1733. It is widely accepted as the foundation of dressage type horsemanship as we know it today. The stated goal of this “school” or menage training is “to make a horse more supple and obedient, and to come back on its haunches.”

Dressage, as a discipline, was developed as a series of tests in order to determine how well a cavalryman’s horse could work. At the upper echelons, n the double bridle, riding progresses to being one-handed. This was critical in the eras of the horse soldier, because he was a warrior. He had to be able to ride into a melee of loud, screaming masses of man and horse, and still have one free to fight with sabre or lance. Life and death might reside on how easily a rider could ask his horse to turn or sidestep in order to avoid the thrust of another’s weapon. If the cavalry horse was not well-broke and responsive, with a solid foundation of proper training, the soldier has little hope of survival.

The “Californio” method, carried on by today’s buckaroo cowboys, is the stock saddle descendent of classical dressage. The original buckaroos were vaqueros of Indian or mixed-blood mestizo descent. They were the cattle herders on the mission ranches and land-grant ranches of the Spanish Colonial system. They learned their horsemanship skills directly from the noble-born cavalrymen who were their lords. The demands of the local environment led to modification of materials, but the skills remained. The piroutte became the reining spin. The lance and sabre were replaced by the reata. In a land short on metalworkers, the bouble bridle was replaced by the two-rein of the bosal hackamore and spade bit. The melee of loud, screaming masses of men and horses were replaced by a melee of loud, bawling longhorn cattle. Nevertheless, the life was just as dangerous. If the cowhorse was not well-broke, with a solid foundation of proper training, the vaquero had little hope of survival.

These men knew good horsemanship. They revered it. The men who owned the large land-grant ranches were wealthy noblemen with few cares in the world. It was a culture tailor made for flashy but deliberate horsemanship, with flashy, high-stepping Andalusian horses, and the showy maneuvers of the schooling arena, all performed by men in fancy clothes, with superbly adorned horses, in saddles and bridles highlighted with engraved silver, and decorative leatherwork. Unlike the peasantry of Europe however, here the nobleman expected the working vaqueros who were his retainers to demonstrate the same skill and bravado in their horsemanship.

The menage horse, whether a haute ecole (high school) horse of the Spanish Riding School at Vienna, a grand-prix dressage horse, or a “Californio” Spade Bit horse, is a fine, well-made, finished horse. It is soft and supple. It is the most responsive of horses under saddle. It is safe for anyone to learn to ride. It is a horse that is enjoyable to ride.

It is enjoyable that is, for anyone that has the desire to improve their own riding skill. The bridle horse has this as its one major, glaring drawback. Once fully trained and finished, it is rather easily spoiled. Taught to rely heavily on the rider for guidance, the horse can only work as well as the rider asks. A finished horse, ridden only by unskilled hands, will quickly fall apart and “come untrained.”

Riding a finished horse successfully requires one of two types of rider. It demands either a skilled, finished rider who knows what he is doing and why, or at least, a novice who is eager to learn. The novice, to succeed, has to be willing to “do the work;” to study, observe, question, ponder, and reason in search of the why?. It also helps a great deal if the novice is intelligent enough to learn at least as fast as his horse can.

If the rider is neither of these, he will not be successful riding the bridle horse. Further, in such a case, he doesn’t deserve to ride such a magnificent animal anyway. For this reason, the trainer of the menage horse who rides for the public has a moral imperative. He must teach the rider as well as the horse. It is a relatively simple matter to make a well-broke, nice handling horse. The trainer though, must make certain that the owner can ride the horse up to it’s level of training. Failure to do so is either negligence or incompetence. Either way, both the horse and the rider are done a great disservice. If the trainer doesn’t teach the novice, no one else is likely to. This snobbery leads to not only misunderstanding, but dissatisfaction with the menage horse. In such a case, the novice really is probably better off with the “Texas” style horse. He doesn’t know what he’s missing, and after all, the horse will go forward, and usually stop. It will even turn right and left, sort of.

In order to approach the subject objectively, by looking a the schools side-by-side, there is only one fair way to do it. This is by looking at two well-trained horses, each from a leading trainer of each school. In order to set the standard, they should be ridden by a single expert horseman.

In such an equal contest, whether flat-saddle or stock-saddle horse, the menage horse wins, hands-down, every single time. Tested to the standards of the campagne or “Texas” school, the two horses will, at worst, perform equally. On the eventing course, time has proven that the dressage trained horse holds it own, and more often than not, outperforms the competition. The reined cowhorse is asked to perform herdwork, just like the cutting horse. Even on the Sunday trail ride, down a favorite path, the bride horse proves softer, more responsive, and safer.

In the dressage ring though, the outdoor horse does not begin to even approach the menage horse in finesse or control. Anyone who has ever tried to run a reining pattern on a cutting horse will attest that it’s not the most enjoyable of experiences. A cutting horse is just a horse once you take the cattle away. That’s why it was often derided as a “Texas Trick Pony.” There is simply no fair comparison.

[cowpuncher]

In the end, determining which school of riding is best for a particular rider is not a matter of right and wrong. It comes finally, down to questions. Are you willing to strive to achieve the highest level of riding skill that you are capable of attaining? Or, will you settle for a place amongst the masses in their numbed mediocrity?

[WashingtonBay]

Cowpuncher, I'm glad to see and read you again. :)

[Arrow]

Welcome!:)

[JackieB]

Hey! Great to see you again!

[lisakaye]

Howdy!!!! I missed you and was thinking about where you were hiding out...Welcome back... Now post some pics...

[rockyridge]

very nice

[cowpuncher]

Welcome back... Now post some pics...


www.myspace.com/powderriverbridlehorses

[rocknK]

CP, glad you posted this. I copied it & showed it to two of the biggest DQ's I know. They were speechless (for once). Keep up the good work.:cowboy:

[cowpuncher]

Hey Pard,
Why were they speechless? Did they disagree with what I said?

[rocknK]

CP, I guess they didn't think western folks knew much about classical types of riding. "Some" dressaggy-type folks think they actually invented the discipline. Kinda like Al Gore.:cowboy:

[cowpuncher]

CP, I guess they didn't think western folks knew much about classical types of riding. "Some" dressaggy-type folks think they actually invented the discipline. Kinda like Al Gore.:cowboy:

That'll happen. Poor misguided fools. They are probably pacifist granola eaters who would never imagine that good horsemanship was designed to kill people more efficiently either, huh?

[rocknK]

Well.....they are quite "natural" about what they call horsemanship, if you know what I mean.:rolleyes:

[cowpuncher]

"Natural" huh? That's funny. I've watched wild horses in Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Wyomng. The only rider those horses ever packed around in their "natural" state.....was the mountain lion that jumped on their back right before it had them for supper.

There's nothing at all "natural" about a horse packing a rider, regardless of what anyone claims. If you look at what the Dorrance's taught, it was straight in line with Classical Horsemanship from Xenophon righ up the line through Gueriniere, to modern dressage. I've always thought it mildly ironic that people are so arrogant as to think that, after millenia of people having domesticated horses, they might be able to come up with something that someone else has NEVER tried. It's not like I'm lacking in ego either. I'm just not blindly vain.

[rocknK]

CP, sometimes you just gotta be your own best friend!

[cowpuncher]

CP, sometimes you just gotta be your own best friend!



??????

[shynbvs]

its awesome!

[rocknK]

CP, Just meant that when you're confident in your knowledge & abilities the only person whose opinion matters is your own.

[luvs2ride1979]

Hey CP, can cross-post this? Do you have any credits you want included if I do?

Very nice! I am a reformed H/J and DQ. Now I ride to have FUN and hope my horse does too! What a concept... :rolleyes:

My saddle is a western style endurance saddle without a horn or a tree and I usually ride in a bitless bridle. I like my horse to go loose-reined at a jog or lope, or collected with contact at a working trot or canter, depending on my mood. What does that make me? Confused? :huh: lol

[cowpuncher]

Not at all Luvs! I have no problem letting my horses go on a loose rein if we're just trotting across a sagebrush flat or down the road. I've found that if you keep the horse collected at all times, it leads to a pretty tired horse, pretty quick....especially by mile forty or fifty when you're making the big, outside circle. My big thing with collecting my horse is that ANYTIME I ask a horse to perform a maneuver, I want them collected.

As far as the bitless bridle; while I would never ride in one myself, as long as you can get your particular horse to work in it the way you want, don't let anyone tell you it's bad.

[rocknK]

Most excellent 2nd article, I'll have to run it past the DQ's again. Show them that all Western folks aren't knuckle draggers. Oughta take some purty pictures & send them off to Dressage Today!!:cowboy:

[luvs2ride1979]

Not at all Luvs! I have no problem letting my horses go on a loose rein if we're just trotting across a sagebrush flat or down the road. I've found that if you keep the horse collected at all times, it leads to a pretty tired horse, pretty quick....especially by mile forty or fifty when you're making the big, outside circle. My big thing with collecting my horse is that ANYTIME I ask a horse to perform a maneuver, I want them collected.

As far as the bitless bridle; while I would never ride in one myself, as long as you can get your particular horse to work in it the way you want, don't let anyone tell you it's bad.

Good, glad I'm not just confusing the poor horses, lol. Both are very "brain-y" horses and get bored quick if you don't teach them new things, or at least do different things all the time. So, my Appy/QH mare has been shown Dressage, Hunters, WP, Western Riding, Trail, and we did some fun team sorting. She's also been on the trails for days at a time. My husband's Arab/TB (:eek:) is just too smart for his own good and still isn't "broke" yet after quite a bit of training, lol. We're hoping some maturity (and maybe some valium) will eventually get his mind settled down and on one track at a time, lol.

I only use the bitless bridle for short trails, just riding the pastures, or when I have friends on my horse that aren't accomplished riders. My mare's mouth is VERY soft and I'd like to keep it that way, but I love to have friends over to ride. She responds very well in it 99% of the time, though she knows she can avoid collecting too much with her big ole head, lol. She performs nice on a loose rein with it though, and doesn't get all bent out of shape if someone snatches or balances on the reins.

[Me'N'Chic]

Great posts CP you seem like a very interesting person! Reading over them--if you are outa work in NY, I honestly think you could do writing on the side--have ever looked into it??

[cowpuncher]

Luvs,
There is probably a great deal to be said for letting your friends that just want an occasional ride to ride in a bitless bridle for the reasons you mentioned....not thrashing a good mouth. If they want to learn properly though, I like to start them riding with a snaffle bit until they learn to use their aids properly.


And if you want to repost it, just attribute it to the author as copyrighted by Anthony J. Karain, 2008.




Me'N'Chic,

Thanks for the kind words. I'd like to get some more publishing credits in my portfolio, but for the time being I'm going back west to somewhere that what I do with a horse is appreciated. THen I can make the time to write as well.

RockNk.......


Thanks for the words Pard. I get the own best friend thing now. Our conversation about the barn owner got ugly tonight.



For the rest of the horse world........If your entire horse experience is riding well trained walk-trot horses in a ring at the local fair, do yourself and the rest of the world a favor, and don't tell guys that have been training for years that they don't know what they are doing and that they should train the horses differently.

[RackinRudy]

WOW! Can't believe I read the entire article! :cowboy:

Coming from a boarding stable thats half jumpers / half DQ's ... and then there was me.
Yes, I ride in a dressage saddle but only for comfort ... I would do some arena work but after 10 minutes I'd be out of there and on the trails. With 40 some horses there, it's all show. Who's got the tallest horse, jumps the highest (even with hock injections) ... or who can collect the best.

I just enjoy it ... it's just in my heart to ride and have fun and not to hurt my horse.
Finally I got my own place and my horses are home. It will be nice to just get on and go without the "show".
Oh, I'm also a bitless bridle rider ;)