31/03/2016
Ritter Dressage
"The horse learns every day from every ride, and every interaction with humans. Unlike many riders, the horse learns something from each aid and each movement, whether the rider likes it or not, regardless of whether the rider has any training ambitions or not. Riding always equals training. So, the rider always has to ask himself what he is teaching the horse right now, on purpose or by accident, and whether it is helping or hurting the overall training, because the horse always gets better or worse as a result of what the rider is doing.
For instance, if the rider keeps changing direction at the canter on a crooked, stiff, strung out horse, that is neither on the bit nor through the back, so that it changes leads in front only every time, he makes it not only stiffer and more resistant, but he also teaches him to change leads only with his front legs, so that the road to the correct flying change becomes longer and more difficult, until it has become entirely impossible.
If the rider allows the horse to invert in each change of gait, and to go against the bit, the horse will think that this is the way it has to be, and actually starts trying to be helpful by inverting on purpose. The corresponding muscles will grow stronger, the corresponding body awareness will become more deeply engrained, until it is almost impossible to ride transitions in which the horse stays on the bit and through the back."
(Thomas Ritter)
