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What are the basics? Why are they important?
I had an interesting conversation recently. A friend asked the question, " Do you find people focus too much on the “finish” product and not the process to get there?"
My answer to this is, absolutely yes. Very few equestrians know the steps to produce a finished horse. Most equestrians focus on 'what they think proper riding is supposed to look like'. But there is very little understanding of the steps necessary in training to help a horse get there. To acquire the 'finished' image. What has become popular in recent years is the 'fake finished image'. So much so that incorrect image and incorrect movement is being normalized.
A finished horse should carry himself in balance, of course with proper riding. But along the way in training the horse will go through many, many steps to get there. Many of those steps are unbalanced steps, because the horse lacks the strength, training, understanding. But these steps in training are necessary specifically to gain the suppleness, strength and understanding, then finally lightness and balance. Gradually the horse gets better / stronger. Those training steps cannot be judged the way we critique a finished horse. Equestrians who do not know or understand the progressive exercises and steps to create a finished horse will throw criticism at a horse in stages in training as though it is supposed to show the criteria of a finished horse. There is an incredible obsession today on the signs of unbalance. But very little understanding. Unbalanced horses fall in, out and forward. They hollow, over bend, speed up and load the shoulder. They go above and behind the vertical. Some horses ridden aggressively and with force are being held BTV. But not all horses who do this are being ridden cruelly. This misunderstanding causes a great deal of confusion among equestrians today.
Riders and trainers knowingly and unknowingly rush training, omit and skip proper steps. Development takes time. Basics are pretty boring. Foundation exercises, like lunge and working in hand, have been disregarded and forgotten today. In order to give the appearance of higher training, horses are often forced into a 'fake' frame. Pulling reins, or sawing the reins (even a little) or using auxiliary reins to fix/force the horse's head in place are common practices to create this false look. NONE of these things are going to teach a horse to use his haunches! None of these techniques will produce a balanced horse. The horse never finds balance because he is pulled down in front, and he can not lift his shoulder. The haunches cannot reach under. He is doomed to be always heavy in the hand and on the shoulder. Musculature of horses ridden like this develops poorly. Muscles Do. Not. Lie. Neither does movement: If you give out the reins to these horses - they cannot hold themselves in balance. They speed up and hollow. They do not have the basics.
An interesting thing about basics.
I recently participated in a webinar with Master of Classical Dressage guest, Bent Branderup, who at one point spoke about the idea of the basics as they relate to training. One of the participants in the webinar explained that he and his horse had attained the Pirelli level 5 but there is little direction after reaching this high level how to train more advanced maneuvers. Although he said they had 'good basics' he was not sure how to progress further.
Bent's response was really interesting. His comment was that, "basics are only basics in the way they lead to the advanced. If basics do not relate to advanced - they they are nothing" You can only call something basic as it relates to the end - the goal - the advanced.
Let's unpack that.
In the English language we have the alphabet. In elementary school we learn the ABC's - the basics to language. The ABC's lead eventually to reading / writing and eventually stories/essays/novels etc..
In Mathematics we learn numbers. Numbers are the basics in mathematics. Numbers form patterns. We learn addition/subtraction/multiplication and division. Those are the basic algorithms which then can lead to advanced applications algebra/calculus/physics.
Basics are only basics when they relate to being part of system that leads to advanced applications of those skills.
The basics are the are the foundation of the entire system. They need to be well understood, and well practiced. You can't start to alter the shape of letters or numbers just because you want to be creative, or they are too hard to write, or don't like how they look. You can not add random new characters and expect this to fit into the existing system. Words would not make sense. Calculations would not be possible.
Getting back to the original question from my friend ' Do you find people focus too much on the “finish” product and not the process to get there?
Yes, I do. It seems there is fixation on the image of the round, balanced horse and yet a reluctance to learn the steps to get there. The basics. I think there is a lack of knowledge. People resort to force to make a horse look round, or they abandon the contact altogether and ride hollow. Neither of practices are basic to anything. They are nothing. And lead to nothing.
Correct basic foundational exercises relate to all the advanced equestrian maneuvers. The aids are the ABC's. The circle is the birthplace of the lateral exercises. Lateral exercises lead to the suppling and strengthening of the hind quarters and back. Advanced maneuvers that require strength, suppleness and proper connection, like the Levade shown here with Élix, cannot be managed without mastering the basic foundations. This means they are performed consistently and without deviation.
A lot of equestrians struggle with levelling up in their sport because they don't have the basics. It's really that simple.
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