A while back I did a writing on Dressage, it's ways and beauty, I then did another one expressing my opinion of the way Dressage is done now, which I find despicable with the double bridles and harshness of the riders hands and reins. I know that's not 'recent' recent development, but Dressage wasn't always like that. It was a beautiful partnership between horse and rider. Together they became one in a series of poetic dance moves. The rider horse combination made Dressage look easy amd attractive. It was beautiful. Now, it seems, that just isn't the case. I watch all the horse competitions that air on tv. Whether its jumping, reining, cutting, equitation or even Dressage I watch them. Watching them from your couch and in person are two totally different things. But still, I've noticed the Dressage riders and Horses aren't as attractive to watch, in my opinion. I watched a video someone put up on youtube, comparing modern Dressage to 'old' Dressage. The difference? In the old Dressage the rider maintained a light grip on the reins and was, as I've been told, quiet with the reins. He sat straight and tall but looked relaxed and content at the same time. His horse looked smooth and happy. His tail didn't swish constantly, his head wasn't tucked tightly and his movements were free and relaxed. My biggest pet peeve is the excessive amount of foam in the horse's coats. I was recently enlightened on why we riders want horses to foam at the bit, but that much foam seems like a bit much. That was not the case here. The horse had foam but it wasn't flying in his coat and anywhere else it could reach. The duo looked like beautiful ballet dancers,perfectly harmonized. They made Dressage look easy. Then came the next video. This rider was a woman and her horse a handsome gelding. She used a double bridle and her boots had spurs(while I am not opposed to riding crops, I am DEEPLY opposed to spurs) on. Her hands were tight on the reins and the horse fought for his head, which was tucked tightly against his chest. While she did sit straight and tails she looked stiff and harsh in the saddle. Her face did not look relaxed or content but tense and very focused. They did not make Dressage look easy or enjoyable. The horse was flecked with foam and he constantly chewed and pulled at the bit. They did  make Dressage look easy or enjoyable. It seems to me from watching more and more Dressage shows this is becoming the New way of Dressage. I am no expert, especially on Dressage, but that doesn't seem right. 

So, allow me to introduce you to Tom Poulin, a genius at Dressage. Tom Poulin learned the secret to Dressage by doing ballet. It's true. He did ballet exercises and then mastered Dressage. It started when his friend, a ballet instructor, came to watch Tom ride. His comment when done watching, 'The horse looked great but you look terrible', then he convinced Tom to come do ballet with him. So, for six years Tom did ballet. Nothing significant like The Nutcracker,just the exercises that ballerinas do. There he got to know his body better, that, in turn, molded him into a fantastic rider and Teacher. Tom's brother and other riding instructors came to his stable, there he convinced them to do the same as what he did.Tom’s brother Michael Poulin and visiting instructors from the American Dressage Institute trained some of the institute’s horses at the Poulin family’s Hillside Farm using these new techniques of body control and balance. Michael was initially hesitant to adopt the methods. “Of course there would be resistance. Who would go to a [dance] studio to learn to ride? That’s kind of crazy, right?” Tom admitted. “My logical answer was, ‘If you can’t control your body, how are you going to control a 1,200 or 1,400-pound horse?’ If you don’t have body alignment, control, and know where your body is and give coordinated aids, how are you going to be able to control this beautiful animal that is under you?”~courtesy another blog website....... 

Tom's theory was that, when one got to know their body, and learned to move like a dancer, then that allowed the horse to have freer movement and the rider to not resemble a porcelain dull. It makes sense. I used to have an issue trotting, I explained this to another rider who told me this: "When riders trot, their hips move back and forth, it is the same at the walk and canter. If you sit straight and stiff then your hips go against the motion of the horse, which causes bouncing. Relax and let you body flow with the motion of the horse's movement, then the both of you will be free in your movements". I tried it, at the walk first, just to get a feel for it. Then I tried it while trotting, it was a much easier time. The next time we cantered I tried what was said and noticed I had less issues staying seated. So Tom's theory, of staying loose and free in the saddle, flowing with the motion like a dancer, would make sense. 

Tom’s students soon benefitted from the new program. “We’d have them work in the studio under Robert’s tutelage and then we’d put them on the lunge and use similar language. We wouldn’t say ‘sit up straight,’ we’d just say ‘lift’ and they knew exactly how to lift [their upper body] because we had accomplished these exercises in the studio,” Tom explained. “Then they’d have a riding lesson at the American Dressage Institute.” The intense work was practiced daily and lasted at least eight hours.

“It’s a logical order to learn how to control your body in the studio without the horse, how to move and align your body and feel the differences in your weight distribution: the elevation of your upper chest, the lifting, without tension,” Tom explained. “Then you can transport that to the next session, which would be on the lunge line. You can use exactly the same terms. On the horse it could be a little bit different but it all worked out to produce an elegant and effective rider.”

After seven years of perfecting their technique of adapting the muscular control and body alignment exercises of a dancer to the dressage rider, Tom and Robert formalized their method into a six-week course. It was taught during summer 1973 as part of a series of seminars sponsored by the American Dressage Institute at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. ADI founder and President Margarita (Miggie) Serrell helped organize the course and later referred back to Tom and Robert’s method in her book on dressage fundamentals, “Free, Forward and Straight,” which was published in 1991.~same website, same courtesy.

The Tom Poulin Dressage Method is a brilliant one. Dressage is often referred to as the ballet of the horse world, it makes sense then, that both horse and rider need to know how to do this dance properly. But, I don't think just Dressage riders should practice his ways. Jumpers and Western riders can benefit,I think, from his way of riding. It is, after all, poetry in motion. 

I give Dressage a hard time because I can. I don't plan on ever doing Dressage as its not what I like. When done by the right rider and horse it is beautiful to watch, done by others its rather ugly. Perhaps a Dressage rider will correct me on this, and hats off to them for doing so, I enjoy the correction as it means I'm also learning. But todays Dressage as compared to yesterdays is a lot different. 

Go dance and have a Happy ride ~