Show season is rolling all over the country. Let the games begin indeed!  Western Dressage tests are being ridden in competitive venues all over, especially in the more temperate areas of the nation. Not the northeast!  Riders are already sending test sheets in to the “NAWD Trax” year end award program. IPHDA has already completed 2 cycles of virtual shows with entries due for the March V show on Monday April 1st. USEF Morgan tests have been ridden in the first dressage schooling show of the year at Donida Farm near Seattle Washington. Debbie Beth-Halachmy promises a complete update on what is happening in the Cowboy Dressage arenas for next week and I look forward to attending and reporting on the upcoming Judges Forums and Light Hands Horsemanship weekends.

We are finally taking this thing seriously and last weekend went to the 4H Tack Swap here and bought three, yes, three Circle Y saddles for the school program.  New cinches, rugs, show pads, bridles, reins and bits all went into the cart. Last night I had an Appaloosa stallion, a pinto, and an Arab all in the arena working figures. What struck me were the similarities in the quality of their work, yet the presence of significant differences due to conformation and movement styles. All worked through the back, relaxed, yet energetic, moving freely forward, but each in its own capacity. The Appaloosa was flatter moving, because he is. His jog trot has less natural lift and spring, but beautiful swing and such ease covering the ground. So smooth and flowing, a baby can ride that lope! The Arab, a Russian son of the great  Moment and 28 years old this year, sound and beautiful, still capable of swing through his back and showing such a lovely bounciness in his stride. His tempo is too slow for the dressage ring, “Needs more forward” they say.  Maybe… but when he is this rideable at this age, I think we must be doing something right.

And finally the pinto. Actually a spotted Dutch Warmblood/TB. He loves Western Dressage! His body is compact, his neck is high and round, his movement style tends toward roundness, his hind legs bend well underneath his body. He is working NAWD Level 4. Does it look like dressage? In as much as he is soft in his topline, so sittable, light over the ground, balanced…. Yes. Does it look western? Well, yes… He’s wearing one of those Circle Y saddles! His tempo is slower than we typically see in the dressage ring, he is so relaxed his ears flop gently with each stride. Is he “jogging?” Not if we define the jog as a gait without suspension or your expectation of the jog means “peanut-rollingcrookedcrawling with the legs moving in diagonal pairs” or if you expect reins so long there is no contact and the horses body is sprawling apart in the name of…. whatever. Is this pinto beautiful, rideable, watchable, and fun? YES! The student dismounted at the end of the ride, patted his neck and said “I love this horse!” THAT to me is Western Dressage.

Herein lies the biggest obstacle Western Dressage faces. As we enter the show season again in 2013, we still have had few judges training programs that have already trained judges to see what WD is going for. Fewer judges still know what connection over the topline actually looks like in different breeds of horses. That is why the USDF judges have such an important job for WD. There are horses of every breed and type under riders of every skill level bravely riding in front of judges who are doing their best to understand Western Dressage and help the competitors understand too. Even I wonder still if WD knows where it is going. In the infancy of the discipline we still see horses in the rings jogging around with saggy reins and saggy backs, horses trotting around with stiff backs and hind legs artificially elevated in curb bits, lengthens that look like hurried sprawls because there was no proper connection over the topline...  We also see more and more horses working the dressage figures in relaxation, rhythmic, connected, balanced, and round, flowing beautifully through the movements of the tests. As far as I can tell, no organization except Cowboy Dressage has set forth an ideal way of going to which to aspire. However, the more time I spend working with all of the organizations (sorry guys), the more I believe that the ideal way of going that each is looking for is very much the same. 

Remember, this blog now has a video component. As show season begins, I encourage you riders to submit your Western Dressage story and videos of your tests, especially if you received a good mark! I will post any organizations tests. We want to see what WD is looking like anywhere you are riding it.  No critiques, no “helpful suggestions,” no kudos either, just riding. Of course, to see a Cowboy Dressage Challenge Test, the first vid posted, check it out on the blog channel at http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5wCjvq53-kHybrTVawJDKg.

I welcome your input regarding anything you have read in this blog, your rescue horse’s story as well as your western dressage story at [email protected].

For more information about Western Dressage, to read articles, explore the 2013 Rulebooks, see the tests, or start your memberships visit NAWD at http://www.northamericanwesterndressage.com, and join them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/NorthAmericanWesternDressage.  Find Cowboy Dressage online at www.cowboydressage.com, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/eitanbethhalachmy.  Locate International Performance Horse Development Association at http://www.iphda.com/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/IPHDA1.

Michelle Binder-Zolezzi is the founder of the Relational Riding Academy. Relational Riding is a program that utilizes dressage as fundamental training for all horses performing in all disciplines. She has been an ARIA certified Instructor since 1989. She is currently working on her second book “Relational Riding: A Horsemanship Tutorial,” and has completed work on two professional video productions, “Any Horse, Any Rider: Relational Riding: A Universal Foundation” and "Understand Riding From the Ground Up."