May 2007 • VOLUME 21 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

Dressage Does Not Equal Drooling

Watching the FEI World Cup, I truly was struck by one thing again and again as I watched horse after horse go through the arena. And it left me wondering - when did dressage become equal to drooling?

If we believe that dressage is not only to be harmonious for the horse's body and brings out the very best in each horse, creating a truly capable and beautiful athlete, then beauty is one criterion that we should look for when we look at the horse in the arena. And if we are looking for beauty - how can drooling fit in?

Dressage done properly should take the most common cob and make him more beautiful. It should literally revamp his entire musculature and even his skeletal structure and conformation as he learns a new way of going and a new way of moving. Dressage can be stunning in its ability to take any horse and make the best of what that horse can be. Every horse should be able to show us special moments of beauty that can amaze. And dressage is all about bringing out those moments.

But how is it, as horse after horse came into the arena, that all I could see was bits of gob on chest and legs that riders had not yet taken an opportunity to wipe down before they entered the arena? Or during the test, watch as it came dribbling down from the horse's mouth.

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