That Horse Is NOT Spooking It Is Dying!
How Did We Get Here
Over the past few weeks, we have posted several Dressage Disaster videos of horses spooking in the Grand Prix at the Global Dressage Festival. While most riders can relate to a horse casually spooking here and there. It needs to be addressed that there is a difference in how and why horses spook. Today we are going to take a look at what the difference is between a Grand Prix horse frantic and fighting for its life and a random spook which you would likely encounter at home with your own horse.
Dressage Disaster
Last week we posted Dressage Disaster: Valentine Loses Heart. In this video, Valentine, ridden by Ashley Holzer walks into the stadium looking like a pack of wolves was chasing her. It was not a cold or windy day and it was not her first time in the arena.
Valentine generally has a pretty boring Grand Prix, in fact, if you watch the Grand Prix test from two days before you see a horse that is lazy off the aids and lazy in the Grand Prix as it fails to piaffe the full amount of required steps.
What happened between the two rides?
A Different View
Instead of saying the horse is having a bad day and spooking, let’s ask the question “What did the rider do to elicit the change?”
I know, in the equestrian world trainers and riders LOVE to gaslight reality to pretend like it is not their fault that something happened. What if we change the narrative for just one moment (humor me Karen). If that horse was in the field would it spook at the same thing? Did that horse spook the last 8 times it was in the same arena? If the answer is no then perhaps it is time to ask a different question. What is the horse trying to say? What is this behavior an indication of? Might be a good place to start.
In this video today, we are watching a clip from Dr Andrew McLean in a seminar he did on Dealing With Resistance in horses.
He states that dressage horses spook more than any other type of horse and it is not breed specific. There are two reasons horses spook in dressage. The most common is that their head is too low and they are unable to see in front of them. The second is due to Anoxia and are literally fighting for their life.
Ashley Holzer openly admits to training with Sjef Janssen who is one of the glorified founding fathers of Rolkur. You do not have to be a rocket scientist or an Olympic medal-winning dressage rider (stop gaslighting this Karen), to see that Valentine is frantic and running for her life in that video.
That horse is not spooking, she thinks she is dying.
Final note:
My concern is that for those who do not see it, the system is failing you in horsemanship, or you have witnessed enough abuse in the horse world that this has become acceptable. And that is sad.