Shortcuts

Anyone that’s a complete perfectionist shudders at that word. Often shortcuts are not without problems, either in the execution of a task OR in the final product. I’ve been turning my attention the past few days to shortcuts in riding, or horses more specifically. Two things have sparked this:

*Reading an article on Anky van Grunsven. (famous dressage Olympian for those not familiar – Google her and be prepared for a bunch of controversy)

*Reading the blogs about rollkur (again, Google, it’s a method) on the Writing of Riding site.

The writer of the blog pointed out our patterns of taking shortcuts in training to produce a faster image of dressage ‘finishedness” (collection). And how many of the methods (cruel and/or just plain frivolous) are really not the issue – taking shortcuts and impatience is the issue! The thought had never truly occurred to me. The article I read on Anky solidified that statement though, and I was shocked (I had read the article before I read the blog on rollkur).

While often the press twists words to make a viewer feel a certain emotion and thus a certain opinion regardless of whether it’s truthful and accurate I don’t believe this was the case with the Anky article. It was very pro Anky and honestly focused on her home life with the horses and her famous horse Bonfire. But amongst the glitz and glamour the article conveyed, talking about what a lavish lifestyle the horses lived and what a scheduled and dedicated life Anky and her family led in working on her riding goals, I caught a glimpse that confirms my newfound opinion on the shortcuts we take with horses.

Even Olympians are not above this.

Anky felt that turning to breeding [note I am not saying she should run a breeding stable] would be rather useless for her, as she had much rather have an already 5 or 6 year old horse that is ready to ride and suitably trainer for saddle so he “doesn’t buck her off”. While enemies of Anky might scoff at the seeming yellow-belliedness I think the more important implication is the impatience of wanting something handed to you on a silver (or maybe bronze) platter, a third of the work is already done, now she gets to put the more esteemed and revered work of strength and high level movements into the horse for the glory and rush of competition.
-No bonding from early youth with the horse – she doesn’t have time for that.
-No bonding over being the first one on it’s back – no time for that either.

It’s like saying you love children and want to raise them, but you’re not willing to spend the time with them building those crucial bonds in early stages of development. If you truly care that much about them wouldn’t YOU want to be the one to show them the way when they’re young? Heaven knows I’d rather have that than have to undo some of what someone’s already put in their head before I could work on the current issues with them…
*shakes head*

I don’t get it - and yet - I do. Impatience.


Everyone who knows me really well is smirking and raising an eyebrow at this. I’ve been pegged as a rather impatient person myself. But what good am I if I can’t overcome these faults in myself? What do I contribute to life if I continue on with them affecting everything I do and never working to change that?

So that’s my rant on impatience. I’m quoting the one main section of the article that got me but there were slight hints elsewhere that to me spoke of an impatience to ‘get the training on’ so Anky could then ‘get the competition on’. *sigh* I’m sure she loves her horses, but it’s a question of degrees – for years I loved my pony – but I loved myself and competition more. I tuned her occasional quiet protests out because I wanted the rush and thrill of competing, because I knew what was best for her, etc. We can all blindly tell ourselves we love our horses, kids, pets, spouses, etc. but when it comes down to truly listening and observing – if given another choice from what I give them now, what would they choose? That’s a question everyone should reach at some point. Even now though it makes me slightly sick to my stomach: because for me and my horse, it has meant the end of a lot of my horse and competition dreams. On the otherhand I believe it is the beginning of his own dreams that he’s never before been able to believe were possible. Until Anky, and others all over the world sit down and ask themselves if their dreams are more important than truly listening to see if the horse wants something different? They will continue to take shortcuts at the expense of the horse to reach their goals, and this cycle will continue.


On another side note – the article mentioned the horses were pampered to the extreme : their description of the care made me wonder if the article was even from a horse magazine or not because of the level of ignorance about care! Kept in stalls all day and “taken out” 3 times a day? Fed grain? Only the special/current horses being handwalked? (the rest were resigned to a hotwalker…gee how personal.) Sure they’re groomed, have plenty of human interaction etc. but what about BEING A HORSE??? Geez! Years ago I might have accepted that picture as 'pampered', but nowdays to me “pampered” means grass – space – social time with others, along with regular grooming and human interaction. What are we DOING to horses? Uhg!