Cowboy Dressage: An
Evolution in Horsemanship.
In my reading, I find that the word Dressage
means “training”, and since all horsemen have seen a little
of Dressage, it is not completely foreign to them.
Since this form of horsemanship is ages old, (knights in
armor practicing a little of it), we know that control of
movement is the basis, and old world horsemen developed it
and brought it to an art form. There were many of these
great horsemen practicing intricate movements on their
horses one thousand years ago and they surely did not have
the quality of horses that we do today. Here are a few
of them: Xenophon-200 BC, Pluvinal-1200,
Carriciolo-1600, Newcastle-1675, De la Guerinere-1751 and
Baucher-1865. These men could do fabulous things with a
horse.
Dressage
is not new, but its beginnings are much in evidence today.
Through these hundreds of years Modern Dressage has evolved
and during the last century it has become competitive.
Since I am by no means an authority on the
art, I still hold an avid interest in it because it is the
only form of pure horsemanship that I have ever seen; the
only one there is.
In my observation however, I feel that
modern day Dressage experts are highly opinionated.
They feel there is only one way to train a horse and that
you must not do this or that and their judges feel the same.
It is a ridged formality and your horse must be trained and
shown in the prescribed manner. Exactly as they were
years ago: body straight, no leaning, ride with seat etc.
Surely in modern times with better horses we
can discover new or better results with some variations in
that ridged protocol just as cowboys found a better way to
start colts. As an illustration: 60 years ago
there was one standard method of starting a colt. You
pulled up a hind leg and whipped on him with a sack.
All cowboys knew about “sacking him out.” It was
based on restraint. Today our colt starters can walk into a
round pen and be riding the colt quietly in 45 minutes. They
discovered a new method.
I am thinking there can be new innovations
in training Dressage horses as well. Horsemanship does
not have to be a one way staid method of training a horse.
I think there is such a thing as creative development, and I
think there are new innovations soon to appear in the
Western horse world.
This brings me to the point of my story
which is Cowboy Dressage. Why can’t we apply Dressage
training to a Western horse? He would surely be a
better horse. We can! And we can do it without
the Classical Dressage fraternity’s approval. Our horses
might not be painstakingly perfect, but they will be pretty
good evidence that we can make pretty Dressage movements
under a Western saddle and they will surely be “broke”
horses.
Of course we will use old Dressage training
techniques because they are proven, but why not try a few of
our own or a few innovations that are part of Western
horsemanship? Why not develop a few unique Dressage
based movements that are adaptable to the Western horse?
This can surely be done and we can also have fun,
satisfaction, and results doing it.
Today we have living proof of what can be
done with Dressage movements under a Western saddle.
He is Eitan Beth-Halachmy, who lives in Grass Valley,
California. Anyone who has seen his video’s, “Dancing
with Cows” and “Poetry in Motion”, can surely attest to the
viability and beauty of Dressage under a Western saddle.
Eitan has shown the world what can be done in this area, and
it is my firm belief that Cowboy Dressage could be a
revolution in Western horsemanship. It is waiting to
happen and it needs serious consideration by all Western
horsemen. This is true horsemanship and its benefits
are unbelievable.
There is no reason why our Western horses
can’t do the piaffe, half-pass, pirouettes, tempe lead
changes and do sliding stops and spins as well. These
things can happen and our horses will be far better doing
anything we ask.
I have watched good and great horsemen for
75 years and I feel qualified to express my opinion, and my
opinion is that Cowboy Dressage is surely the way to go
under my saddle. I am a believer. Cowboy Dressage
could easily be an evolution in Western horsemanship; for
true art knows no boundaries.
