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'A' - 'B' - 'C' - 'D'ressage I didn't think I was ready to venture into dressage, & to be honest, still don't -- But despite my thoughts, my trainer insisted that I take my first dressage lesson yesterday on Sultan, it was so much of a pleasure that I could barely put myself to sleep last night hoping that today would come sooner than it should. Dressage, the epitomy of the art of horse riding and sometimes labeled as 'horse ballet' stresses on the connection between the horse and its rider, the harmony they have together, and; essentially treating horse and rider as One. The truth is, Sultan and I were anything but one, but I'm still utterly pleased with the outcome of our introduction session, and with an Ecuyer -better translated as squire- from the Cadre Noir I have no doubt that dressage will unfold beautifully in it's own time as it should. The Cadre Noir du Saumur is perceived as one of the most prestigious horsemanship school in the world. For months, I've been mesmerized with their in-hand training techniques; much like the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, horses are trained in hand first without the weight of the rider on top where long-reins are used to control and aid the horse, except in the Vienna way, the trainer is so much closer to the horse, and training is often formed in linear shapes, where as in the Saumur way, its often shaped in the form of circles and the trainer is farther away.   The Saumur way of long-reining   The Spanish Riding School of Vienna way of training in hand With Sultan, I was eager to try the long-reining method, I had no particular preference on which method to follow, but given that his trainer is a Saumur-er all the way, I decided to adopt his methods of ground training. Faced with the fact that our UAE-based tack shops are rather primitive and catering to the more popular equestrian sports (i.e. Endurance, Racing, and a tad bit of jumping) all of my attempts to find a pair of long-reins went down the drain, and pretty much like everything else, I logged online and ordered a pair off of Dover Saddlery, along with a decent surcingle fitting of Sultan's big belly lol *fdaita x 100000* haha! -- Meanwhile, I'm using 2 lunging ropes as long reins (seriously!)    Another thing that I absoluuuuutely adooooored about horses of the Cadre Noir was the way they groomed their manes with white and magenta ribbons and little crown rosettes on the head, & they're stunning magenta saddles -kinda like pink heaven for me lol- The colors in fact are a categorizing mechanism: Magenta for flat-work horses, and white for jumping horses. I stood still staring at my screen for several minutes thinking how to express all that is going through my head, where to start, and what to say -I couldn't. There's just so much to say I don't even know how to express it, I love that place.. I love the way they love their horses; starting from the small little white-heart breastplate up to how long it takes to prepare a horse for Les sauts d'écol (Airs above ground) work: The Courbette, the Courpade, and the Cabriole -BEAUTY! I returned home yesterday feeling like I've been run over by a truck, but extremely happy nonetheless; pilates in the morning, first dressage lesson on Sultan after noon, and jumping a course with IB in the evening drained out my physique, while my asthma likes to remind me that she dwells in the tucked away corners of my surroundings ready to visit any time she chooses to - I hate her, but I'll never let her come between me and the things I love. Never. Labels: Pony Tales $6 in my moola box | link | email this post |
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