I don’t believe that Cowboy Dressage was meant to be ridden only in an arena. The word “Cowboy” has to have a place in the discipline.
You know me. I’m the one with the horse that looks shell-shocked in that indoor arena. My horse watches the stands and notices any movement by spectators. He turns to look every time the gate opens to see what other horse is coming or going. You assume that we don’t even ride often. Even though we have practiced at home countless hours, Partnership on the Ground in that indoor ring causes him to misbehave looking to me for support in those strange surroundings.
I live on a farm surrounded by hills and prairie. My arena is not a groomed surface, but open land dotted with rock and gopher holes. My spectators consist of my dog and cattle although sometimes, like today, the Canadian Forces Snow Birds tip their wings as they practice above me. I ride alone. There was a time here, not too many years ago, when we used horses almost exclusively to sort and move cattle. Now the ATV’s make the job faster. Progress isn’t always a good thing, if you lose a piece of your history.
If you are only riding in that arena and you get a chance to ride out, take it. See what your horse can do in his natural surroundings. Let him run, loose on the rein, without having to turn every 40 meters. Let him plow through a snowbank where sometimes he is held by the hard snow and the next step he sinks up to his belly. Learn to trust him when you encounter a minefield of badger holes. Instead of pulling up, give him his head and see what he can do. Ride through a few hundred cow/calf pairs and move a cow and her calf out of the herd. All the while, you can be riding what you have learned in Cowboy Dressage: Soft Feel, bending into the turn, maintaining balance, listening to your horse and feeling that partnership you have built.
I believe that by riding in both settings I will end up with a well-rounded Cowboy Dressage horse.
Vivian lives on a homestead ranch nestled in the hills on the natural prairie near Cardross, Saskatchewan. She brings us a unique and refreshing view of Cowboy Dressage horsemanship.