One Thing Leads to Another: Pt. 4 - A Book Encourages Me

Now that Khemo and I were going to be “doing dressage” -- at least during our scheduled lessons -- it seemed like a good idea for me to figure out exactly what this dressage thing was. Really, all I “knew” at the time was what the rider’s outfit looked like -- I could recognize a dressage rider by his clothes, and that was pretty much it.

Because of intervening horse shows and other scheduling issues, there were some weeks to wait before our first lesson with the Morgan mare’s person’s trainer. In the meantime, I began to educate myself in this subject we had so haphazardly taken up.

This was in the time before Google. In fact, it was a few years before I bought my first pc. So, I did what we did in those days -- I laboriously sought out hard copy sources of information by combing tack stores in the area, and the big Miller’s catalog, for books, videos (for you youngsters, they’re what came before dvds), and magazines on the subject. I read and watched everything I could get my hands on.

It was a fortuitous time to begin a study of dressage history and theory. So many dressage books were being published in the early 90’s -- re-issues of “classics” as well as new work by contemporary practitioners and would-be masters. There were books that gave me a thorough historical overview of the subject, new translations of books that represented the life’s work of “old Masters”, and many books that went into great detail about specific movements and various methods and techniques for training them.

If it had "dressage" in the title, I snapped it up. I read one book after another. This voracious reading and video viewing on all things equine became a habit of mine that continues to this day....

Some months after I began my intensive study of dressage, I came across a book that stood out from all the others: “Dressage for the New Age” by Dominque Barbier. This book spoke to me. It gave voice to vague thoughts and feelings I had been having about riding and about being with horses -- thoughts and feelings for which there was absolutely no recognition or support in my environment or in the other material I was reading.

(What I would say now, with hindsight, is that I was learning things directly from Khemo because of the bond between us, and I had no frame of reference for knowledge obtained this way.)

“Dressage for the New Age” openly condemned forceful riding that relied on whip, spur, kicking and pushing. It directly addressed the relationship between horse and human and the nature of the communication between them. Barbier recommended that we acknowledge the horse’s ability to read our minds, and develop the ability to use our mental images, visualization, as the primary aid in our work.

One photo in the book that inspired me then shows Barbier riding the stallion, Dom Giovanni in piaffe. Instead of a double bridle with its two bits, Dom Giovanni’s head is nearly bare, he has only a string in his mouth. This photo fanned the barely flickering ember of my childhood dream of bridle-less riding. Barbier's book helped me keep that dream alive through all the years when books and lessons and various “experts” seemed to say that such a thing was impossible.

Here are some quotes from the book to give you an idea of how different it was: From Barbier's short 3-page Introduction:

“...riding should consist of asking the horse politely for what you wish. No kicking, driving, spurring, or whipping. Think first, then ask your horse for what you want.....”

And, “... If you force you contract the horse. You actually make him worse, not better, because you create mental and physical stress.”

And, still from the Introduction: “...Nor can you train without love. this will sound airy perhaps, but only deep love and understanding coordinated with refined tact will give you positive results with horses.”

From page 31 of my edition, under a sub-chapter titled “Attitudes Needed by the Rider”:

“...Horses have all the changeable qualities that human beings have. Treat them as equal beings. Try to feel and understand your horse physically and mentally on any given day....”

Imagine that! Someone -- an “expert” -- was talking about loving the horse and communicating mind to mind! It was such a relief to read that. It validated some experiences I was having with Khemo, experiences that made me certain he was reading my mind. And it was such a pleasure to be reading about horses as thinking, feeling equals, ( Barbier comes right out and says this !!) rather than as large pieces of meat -- or unfeeling puppets -- to be manipulated.

My riding lessons at the time (I was on trainer #2 by then -- more about that in another entry) were not at all supportive of Barbier’s way of seeing the horse and working with him. On the contrary, underlying the dressage instructors’ talk of “harmony” and “lightness” was the belief that the horse had to be “forced” into this attitude by driving him with whatever means were necessary into a fixed rein. Whip and spur were necessary “inducements”. Two “trainers” in particular (more about them in a subsequent post) seemed to assume that the relationship between horse and “rider” was an adversarial one. It was the old “he needs to be shown who is boss” mentality. Much of this has become clear to me only with hindsight, but even at the time I felt a “disconnect” between the kind of relationship I wanted with a horse and the kind my “teachers” were fostering. Under the circumstances, the affirmation and encouragement offered by Barbier’s book was a most welcome gift.

Most of “Dressage for the New Age” concerns itself with points of riding and training, so I have not had occasion to refer to it in many years. But, as I was leafing through the book recently, to remind myself of why I liked it so much at the time, I found the following passage (on page 31 in that sub-chapter titled “Attitudes Needed by the Rider”) -- a passage that is still very relevant to me today:

“Generally, since body attitude reflects mental attitude, change your mind first -- your body will follow. Completely relax your mind and body. Let go of the worries that you have at home or at the office. Create that very special little space in your mind where you are quiet, at peace, in communion, full of love and appreciation.”

Good advice indeed -- even now, nearly 20 years later.

The moral from this part of the journey:

Make it your mission to always relate to horses from that "very special ... space... where you are quiet, at peace, in communion, full of love and appreciation."