Limiting Self-Beliefs

I once heard a sobering statistic, and I doubt it has changed much. Some 80% of USDF members ride at Training Level, and something close to 80% of that group believe they never can or will get past that. That’s over half of the members of the USDF believing they will never ride lateral movements, flying changes, simple changes… just walk/trot/canter with 20m circles.

That statistic makes me a little sick inside. How many other dressage riders are out there that have the same belief?

The sad thing is: it’s simply not true. Most if not all riders are fully capable of making it beyond that. Shoulder-in is not some magical thing that is reserved only for the top riders; it’s an exercise, a tool like any other. What’s more: it’s not nearly as difficult as it seems at first.

One thing that has kept me passionate about classical riding and even mounted fencing is that someone at some point broke things down into a systematic approach that is easily adapted for different horse and rider bodies to make the job easier. I draw on a lot of fencing technique in even regular dressage lessons because it simply works.

A barrier that I constantly find that simultaneously breaks my heart and frustrates me is riders confessing that they believe they’ll never do a shoulder-in or a half-pass because of whatever reason. When you place that limit on yourself, you stop your own progression. Historically, these movements were necessities on the battlefield, and as such, were taught to riders who may have been a bit less-than-talented. Even more encouraging, some of the exercises laid out in old manuals can unlock these exercises in riders who may have struggled physically from battle wounds (including spinal cord injuries!). But, if you limit yourself and say “I never will aim that high,” you never will get there. It’s not aiming that high; it’s well within the reach of the average horse and rider. There are riders who say, “I have no need of learning leg-yield/shoulder-in/haunches-in because I’m not aiming to compete that high,” and to them, I’d say that those movements are not just for competition but for helping your horse work in better mechanics as well as make your horse more maneuverable and controllable in situations outside of dressage. I’ve used shoulder-in and haunches-in so often with spooky horses, and I’ve had a few last-second leg-yields save me or my horse from an injury out in the field or on the trail. Would being able to ride these exercises on purpose not be helpful for even just some of the basic riding?

Does that mean it is easy? Of course not, but it is a lot easier than you might think. It does take work to get there, no doubt, but if you allow yourself to be open to putting in the effort and being vulnerable as you learn, it’ll happen a lot faster than you would have thought.

Don’t fall into that statistic; keep adjusting your goals higher and higher as you reach them. You don’t have to be a competition rider to have goals and aspirations; you just have to be vulnerable enough to be ready to keep learning.

-Emily Wright

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