08/27/2024
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Whenever we talk about trail riding versus schooling and showing, I’m always surprised at the polarizing nature of these topics.
This shouldn’t be, folks! If we were talking about children, we wouldn’t be arguing whether schools should offer only gym time and field trips, versus schools that offer only mathematics. We wouldn’t be having the discussion because we would see that either curriculum would create very unbalanced students… with either their mental wellness or their physical health compromised.
And yet, we horse people stay firmly in either one or the other camp, all the time. We tend to say that we're either 'serious'... or we 'ride for fun'. Our poor horses.
I was at a dressage show once, when one of the advanced competitors caused a tremendous stir. Her horse wasn’t competing until just before suppertime, so in the morning, she took him out, dressed in her cut-off jeans and jodh boots, for a play in the nearby river. Early that afternoon, they came traipsing back to the show ground, he walking along on a loose rein, ba****ck, she with an inner-tube around her waist… and chaos ensued!
People were annoyed that she was scaring their horses. They were also astounded that she would ‘risk’ her art (the advanced dressage horse) on such a meaningless trek. It made me sad because both the horse and rider were so comfortable with each other. They should’ve stood as a beacon to all that might be possible, if only we would keep an open mind.
I needn’t have felt badly for them. They swept the boards when it was their turn to compete.
On the flip side, who has trail horses or working ranch horses who, after a haircut and a shampoo, head out on the weekends to show? These horses seldom, if ever, darken an arena door for schooling. Instead, their classrooms are found along the trails and the windswept hills.
My old teacher always maintained that if my horse couldn’t do the movements in a wide-open pasture, he wouldn’t put forth much of a test in a roped-off competition arena. And so, our practice schools were often performed from near the gopher hole at ‘A’ to the yellow w**d at ‘C’. The square halt was set to be just opposite that pink-coloured rock dubbed ‘X’… and so on, just for fun.
We miss a huge opportunity when riding our horses out, to sneak in a little schooling here and there, rewarded with a mile or two of time on a loose rein. We miss out on mixing experiential learning with the joys of building real relationship. Bottom line, those of us who aren’t interested in upping our horsemanship game are missing out on just as much as those of us who don’t want to ‘waste time’ on the trails.
More than ever, my vows to enjoy my horses '50/50'—both out on the hills and in mindful schooling—feel right.
Here, a great summertime memory captured by our friend Maggi, of Cinnabar and Mike, while riding in the Ranch Pleasure class at the local fair. Let’s face it. Neither horse nor man were exactly over-the-moon to be riding in public but they pulled it off with panache. I firmly told the pair that cultivating a little style would not take away from their ability to ride out and find a cow!
The better schooled our horses, the more fun it is to ride out. The more we ride out in nature, the better our horses will do in lessons, or at the shows. Do both environs require the same amount of time and enthusiasm? You bet they do.
Photo: Maggi McIvor.
