Mmm - MMM! I love a sweet lemon, don't you!

I have had a change of heart.  


I know, I know, a while back, I said one of the most idiotic things I hear said often with respect to dressage is that "dressage is just flatwork", usually uttered by hunter people.


Well, I was doing a little bulletin board surfing in preparation for my next few posts to refresh my memory on what made me decide to look at the laundry list of crossbreeds that I eventually headed out to see next on my shopping spree of 2003.   


And while reading, I recalled a sentiment which is even stupider than this. 


Someone, somewhere on Chronofhorse, said this regarding riding off-breeds:

It's fun! Anyone can do well with a great, expensive horse, a good trainer doing all the work for them, and enough money. Those people are a dime a dozen. 

Face it, nowadays, you just have to have a bazillion dollars to compete with the big boys who are too chicken to try to deal with the non-standard breeds.

MMMmmm!  MMMmmmm!  Oh so SWEET!

(I particularly love the "too chicken" part)

Fortunately, I was not partaking in the thread at the time - because my answer would have been something along the lines of:

ARE YOU ON CRACK

And responses like this are generally frowned upon on bulletin boards.  Some people find them rude.  


When asked why I ended up buying the cross I did, the answer is pretty simple. She was the fanciest, most athletic horse that met my requirements - and with the most potential for dressage - that I looked at within my budget. And she turned out great.  

But I am not too proud to admit that if I had the money, I would have flown on over to Holland and picked out a Sandro Hit x Gribaldi dam line or whatever the hell was trendy that year.  Well, If I had the money I wouldn't have been buying a 2 year old in the first place, I would have bought... well, something like my horse is now, years and $$$ later, and ready to show PSG - you get my drift.  I didn't seek out the breed, the horse just fit the bill.  

But contrary to this attitude... there seems to be this hard core contingent of people out there who, for some reason, like to wear the "off breed, not meant for dressage, downhill, ewe necked, bench-kneed" horses like some sort of hair shirts to be proud of.  "Yes, it's not easy being me, but I suck up the challenges and not only that...I LIKE IT THIS WAY.."


Stop doing this.  You sound like idiots.  


Now don't get me wrong, I have no issue at all with people who own horses not particularly well bred for dressage who love them, and do their best with them, face challenges, some days want to kill the horse and themselves and those around them, but eventually enjoy getting to wherever it is they end up along the dressage spectrum.  Good for them. (I consider myself to be in this group).  


But this holier-than-thou, off-breed riding rebel thing is just weird.  

Imagine that you decided to pack your things and head out for a nice day of skiing at Whistler, or wherever it is you ski, and on the gondola you ran into someone who looked at you with slight disdain, and announced that "yah, any asshole can ski black diamonds on those new fangled shaped skis..Pfft.  Wimp.  What are you, chicken?  Real skiiers prefer the challenge of tackling the slopes on 1973 Rossignols.  The kind with the tethers, instead of brakes on the bindings, so when you fall, the skis flail around and peg you in your helmetless head.  Now THAT is skiing".  

See you back at the chalet, pussy

You would think this person was a total whackjob, and if they turned left off the chair, you would make a point to turn right, staying as clear of them and their hot tub time machine getup as you humanly could for the rest of the day.  


But somehow, in the minds of this weird little contingent of dressage nutbars, this line of thinking is honourable, even preferred. 


Somehow they have this strange belief that announcing  "Yah, we bought horses not bred for dressage because we are HARD CORE. Not warmblood riding pansies like Anky and Edward".  


Or...


 "Yah, I am a middle aged, out of shape woman trying to master an Olympic discipline - but that just hardly seems to be setting the bar high enough.  I think I will buy totally inappropriate equipment to make it just a bit more of a stretch goal... who wouldn't" will totally explain the fact that they are not yet short-listed for the national team, and goddammit, that is exactly the way they want it. 


(You really couldn't get away with this in any other Olympic sport, as you would quickly be called out as being...full of smoldering crap.  You can either run fast, jump shit, whatever... or you can't.  There is no horse to blame your inadequacies on).  


Here are a few of my thoughts on this, if you care:


1.  You are wrong.  Not anyone can "do it" with a good horse, a good trainer, good karma, good luck and enough money.  


Just ask Katie Price.

My Crank is really coming along. I will practice Spank later tonight  in the bedroom

2.  There is a reason this sport IS an Olympic discipline.  It is really hard. 


Just ask one of the many higher level trainers out there, who, despite good horses, good sponsors, good opportunities - still just never seem to be good enough to make the cut.  


THESE people really ARE a dime a dozen.  Funny that...


3.  Lastly - the thing I really don't get... If their horses really are impossibly poorly designed for dressage - why do they feel it is anything other than cruel to try to force them up the levels?


Why is it something to be proud of?  At least the wank with improper ski equipment is likely just going to kill himself.  If these people really do get some kick out of pushing an inappropriate horse up the levels - they are also hurting the horse. 


Frankly - you might want to do everyone a favour and pick a horse that is built to do the job - whatever breed it may happen to be.  Or at least pipe down about your weird "self flagellation in the form of dressage" fetish.  If you want, I can suggest some others that are probably more fun.