Training in the Right Way: Olympic Dressage – Where Do We Go From Here?

So much has already been said regarding the recent video of Charlotte Dujardin, some of it has been quite thoughtful, some not so much. Although I wasn’t sure that I wanted to add to the noise, I ultimately felt that I would like to offer a potential path forward.

Dressage training is supposed to be the process of training ANY horse to be a better riding horse. The more the horse learns, in theory, the easier it is to communicate with and therefore complete more complex tasks with. Although competition dressage training often is more focused on training for the dressage test, that is not what the original intention (and original judging requirements) were for competitive dressage. Initially, it was designed to give riders and trainers a way to determine how their training measured up to the theoretical ideal of the training process. That said, it is critically important to understand the meanings and reasons for some of the terms we use to describe dressage training and what to look for when observing training and competition (and videos and photos), regardless of whether you intend to compete or just train your horse to be a better whatever you do with him. That, ultimately, is the main purpose of my articles. To provide education and knowledge for riders to understand and improve their eye and understanding of what dressage training is supposed to be. While there will always be some differences in practice and theory, good horse training is always recognizable to the educated eye. That said, it absolutely is necessary that we remember and understand that limited knowledge is limited judgment.

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I love horses, and I have loved them since before I could say my first word, which was horse. I am a dressage student, competitor, instructor, and trainer, and I have dedicated my life to learning the history, theory, and techniques that embody dressage training. While I love competing, and I love winning, I also love taking care of my horses, sitting with them, and simply spending time quietly in their presence.

Me, meeting real horses for the first time on trip to Boulder, Colorado. Photo (c) Gwyneth McPherson.

One of my most favorite things to be able to do is to help a horse find confidence and harmony in his work. And, while I hate that it is necessary, I love retraining a horse that has been mishandled by humans and is fearful or angry. There is nothing like the feeling when a fearful, sad, or angry horse finally recognizes me as a friend and not an aggressor and reaches out to me when he is uncertain rather than wanting to fight or run away; moments like that solidify why I do what I do.

 A quiet moment with Flair, a Westfalen mare I trained and competed at Grand Prix. Photo (c) Gwyneth McPherson.

I am human though, and I have had periods in my career where I have been more focused on the result than the process. I have put my goals higher than my empathy and I have tried to force results from my horses when I should have educated them, but I have learned many lessons from these mistakes. As I moved forward in my training and competition career, and aged and matured as a person, I have continued to receive excellent tutelage in dressage training and riding, much of it focused on the process and mindset rather than simply the end goal. Because here’s the thing, the ‘how you do it’ matters even more than simply that you made it happen. For the past 15 or so years of my education, my trainer (yes, I still get help regularly from my own trainer) has repeated over and over, “remember, be kind. […] Use your education, don’t be rough” and the tagline you see in each of my columns, “Limited knowledge is limited judgement.”

The thing that you need to know about my education, and especially my most recent training, is that it has a system. This system is based on classical training from both the French School and the Spanish Riding School. It also has a sprinkling of old-school German training and a fairly large helping of US Cavalry in it. I have researched these roots and I enjoy knowing when I am doing something specific that I can trace back to them. The most important takeaway that I have learned from all of these branches of training is that there is a very old, very capable system to train horses: dressage. Dressage is the system that has the answers to all the problems that people have with riding and training horses. With the exception of a physical injury or deficiency, the problems that horses have with being ridden generally come from the training or the lack thereof. And dressage, as the training system, can solve them. Sometimes the elements of time and money get in the way, but the system remains the answer. In this system, it is widely known that “force begins where knowledge ends,” which should highlight for you all just how vital this education is in the first place.

Gwyneth McPherson and Later On at Dressage at Devon,  1989. Photo (c) Gwyneth McPherson.

There is also a sport called dressage. The sport is supposed to be based on the training system, but it is not. At least not enough anymore and it is trending in the wrong direction.  Riders who have enough knowledge to ride the movements, who are bold enough to compete, and who have enough financial backing, can buy trained horses and compete at the top levels and win. Thirty years ago, this was also true, but the horses were not so talented and purpose bred and more of the riders competing at the top levels had to be better to get the results that many talented horses today can provide if you just don’t get too much in their way. More importantly, we previously had and revered the “masters” of the training, the trainers that the trainers worked with. These were the trainers that everyone agreed knew how to fix the problems that not everyone knew how to fix. These masters were not necessarily Olympians, or competitors, or wealthy. They just did what they did because they knew and carried on the traditions. Was there abuse and bad riding in past? Of course! As long as people have ridden horses, horses have been abused. Not all of them, and not by everyone who rides, but it has never not been so. Unfortunately, people tend to do what they want and are hard to train (any riding instructor that is reading this is agreeing right now). The point is, it was easier to tell who REALLY knew what they were doing, and who was a MASTER who trained the people who really knew what they were doing. Who are our true masters now?

1988, Oxridge Hunt Club. Quadrille of Lendon Gray’s working students at a fundraiser to support her and Later On heading to the Seoul Games. Photo (c) Gwyneth McPherson.

Given all of that, the events of this past week are nothing less than discouraging to me. I am so sad. I’m sad for my sport. I’m sad for all the people who have lost a hero. I am sad for the horses that continually get abused instead of trained in the name of money and sport. I am sad for the British Dressage Team. I am sad for the future of horse sports in the Olympic Games, and I am sad that one of our most amazingly talented and skilled competition riders, who has excellent training behind her, has had her career so damaged. I am sad that all of this is because she didn’t have the right answer in the moment, acted with force instead of knowledge, lost her empathy, and did not use kindness and education to solve the problem.

Force begins where knowledge ends. When a trainer resorts to force, it is instead of using their knowledge. I don’t know what the precipitating event was and I don’t know how she ended up resorting to the methods that she chose. But, without a clear aid with a clear intended effect, without use of the base of the training scale (rhythm, suppleness, and contact), and without any pause to allow the horse and rider to respond and understand the point, there is no learning for the horse or for the rider. I don’t think any good (kind, capable, and well-educated) trainer can say that they have never made a mistake and used too much force at some point in their life. Which of course doesn’t make it ok, but it is not as if this one rider is the only one, and is definitely not the worst example on video of abuse in dressage training.

I can appreciate watching something happening that makes you feel uncomfortable and not knowing what to do, or being uncertain how to address the problem. I’m not sure that I would know who to give a video of that nature to and be certain it would be addressed in a productive and timely way. I can also understand being intimidated in the moment and not knowing if, or how, to stop perceived abuse, as well as why a person might be afraid to report such a well-known rider. But I do know that two years later, right before the Olympics, definitely feels as though this is not purely a horse welfare concern.

There are two other recent cases of videos being released of multiple, much more abusive practices, and both practitioners continue to have access to horses and riders. The timing of this video required that British Dressage and the FEI take immediate action and has resulted in this rider paying a very severe and immediate price that the others have not. It feels a bit as though the lesser crime has received the greatest punishment.  While we have to be able to intervene effectively when we think we see abuse, we need a better system of addressing it rather than releasing a two-year-old video right before the Olympic Games to specifically prevent that rider from “getting another medal.” Certainly, the latter reeks of ulterior motives at best, but at worst it does not protect the horse and rider involved, or any others that might be exposed to it, from abuse.

If you have been following this column, you already know that I feel deeply and strongly that we have to refocus our sport more on the quality of the training. I know that dressage that is practiced with education and empathy is not an abusive pursuit. I know that horses (and riders) can benefit both physically and psychologically from excellent dressage training. And I know that competition can be a healthy activity that helps riders and trainers become better riders and trainers. As such I am deeply concerned about the future of dressage as an Olympic sport and what that means to all the these truths.

This is a moment in which we need to act to make a more positive and accessible sport. We have to revamp our system so that excellence in training and education is more identifiable and gets more reward than simply riding raw talent. Additionally, we need to find a way to identify publicly the best practices rather than trying to point out the worst ones after they happen. We will not solve this problem by indiscriminately trashing trainers, riders, and judges on social media. We will only solve it through educating the eye of riders, trainers, and observer. When students of dressage have clearer examples of best practices and can see for themselves who is training with knowledge, they will have much better judgement of whether someone is training in the right way.

Remember: Limited knowledge is limited judgment.

Gwyneth and Flair in competition at Grand Prix. (c) flatlandsfoto.

Gwyneth McPherson has over 35 years experience competing, training, and teaching dressage.  She began her education in in the late 1970s, riding in her backyard on an 11 hh pony. Her first instructor introduced her to Lendon Gray (1980 and 1988 Olympian). who mentored Gwyneth for a decade during which she achieved her first National Championship in 1984, and her Team and Individual Young Rider Gold Medals in1987.

In 1990 Gwyneth began training with Carol Lavell (1992 Olympian) who further developed Gwyneth as an FEI rider and competitor. Gwyneth achieved a Team Bronze in 1991 and a Team Silver in 1992 in the North American Young Riders Championships, and trained her stallion G’Dur to do all the Grand Prix movements while riding with Carol.

In 2008, while Head Trainer at Pineland Farms, Gwyneth began training with Michael Poulin (Olympian 1992). Michael was trained by Franz Rochowansky (Chief Rider for the Spanish Riding School 1937-1955). Michael has shared much of Rochowansky’s knowledge and wisdom with Gwyneth, completing her education as a Grand Prix rider, trainer, and competitor.

Gwyneth’s teaching and training business, Forward Thinking Dressage,is based in Williston, FL. In addition to teaching riders and training, Gwyneth also loves sharing her knowledge of the sport and art of dressage as well as discussing relevant topics pertaining to the training itself and the current competitive landscape.