In dressage, we strive for self-carriage of the horse - that is, when the horse carries its own weight rather than relying on the rider to do it for him. Being as young as he is, my horse, Esso, is just learning to master this task, and our main focus during my riding lessons this week was to achieve such self-carriage. My trainer, Krisi, would first have me put my left hand forward so that there was slack on my rein, then my right hand, and then, if Esso had been holding up his head nicely, both reins.
At first, this exercise made Esso a little mad. He was used to having my hand there to support him, and then all of a sudden it would be gone, leaving him with nothing to leverage on. He would still rest on me in between releases, so his head and neck would jut forward and out every time I let go of one rein. We worked on it all week, and Esso got better and better at holding up his own head.
On Saturday we had our last ride of the week. As soon as we picked up the trot I gave right, gave left, and then gave both. Esso's head never moved an inch, proof that after a week's worth of hard work, we had finally achieved our goal, and Esso was in perfect self-carriage. I gave him a huge pat and made a big deal out of him. I myself couldn't have been happier! For those little moments of victory, that's why I do dressage.
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