Breaking Down The Grand Prix Dressage Horse – Bad Behavior VS Bad Riding

What are you doing to recognize your horse when they’re afraid, and stop it?

The pandemic has made live streams more available than ever in the dressage world. That means we are able to watch and learn more about what is happening in dressage. Which is awesome! It also means that we are able to see where things are going wrong in grand prix dressage test as well.

Recently we have run a series of videos labeled dressage disasters. This series showcases Grand Prix tests that have had some issues in some form or another. The biggest challenge when it comes to the equestrian community is that riders are only able to understand these disasters through their own personal experiences and conception.

This came to light when during the Ashley Holzer and Valentine video we posted which you can see here. In this video the horse is no longer simply spooking at some flowers it is running for its life.

Hot Horses Need Good Trainers

As a rider who loves hot horses, the claim is certainly not that all spooking horses fear for their lives in this matter but rather to understand the escalation of fear that leads to that point and how to recognize it.

As riders and trainers, it is our obligation to train horses in such a manner that entering a show ring does not trigger some sort of PTSD in a horse, especially in the grand prix. (Yes Karen, I know horses don’t get PTSD)

The PATH

After reading the comment section filled with a variety of pleasure and disdain, I reached out to Brie Simpson of PATH Equestrian. She has a great way of explaining, when a spook is simply a spook and when a spook is a horse running for its life.

We will be doing more videos in this series so make sure you subscribe and hit the bell. We are always looking for ways to improve horsemanship. Let us know what you think.