We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine July 2019 | Page 39

New articles are posted nearly every day about how to ride your horse with a long neck in front of the vertical

Horses in western tack performing dressage are no longer considered strange or inferior

Dressage, while once reserved for the elite, is accessible to anyone (especially through budget-friendly virtual and online horse shows)

Backyard riders are learning that dressage gives them goals and a great sense of achievement. They are no longer saying “I’m just a trail rider”

Equestrians are beginning to understand that dressage can be performed by any breed.

In 2016, NAWD declared a war on BTV (behind the vertical riding) by requiring a mandatory score of 4 or lower when a horse is ridden with his nose behind the vertical plan.

Since then, we have heard of several other organizations doing the same. Indeed, we have a long way to go. However, as the late great Steve Jobs said.

To learn more about Western Dressage, virtual shows and how you can get involved, visit North

American Western Dressage

www.northamericanwesterndressage.com

healthy and sound. I discovered that there are many hard-core dressage enthusiasts who are actually very dissatisfied with the way that the sport has evolved, that the biomechanics involved with the huge extended trot, the plane of the face behind the vertical and the neck broken at the third or fourth vertebrae cause physical and mental damage. I learned that there was a growing number of people fighting to ban rollkur and overly tight nosebands. These were the people that flocked to Western Dressage. Because they saw it as a chance for change. And changing we ARE! Perhaps not at the FEI Level, perhaps not even at the USEF, but back in 2010, there were very few people talking about riding with a long neck and face in front of the vertical. A sea change IS happening, here is a short list of what I am seeing as evidence.

and the neck broken at the third or fourth vertebrae cause physical and mental damage. I learned that there was a growing number of people fighting to ban rollkur and overly tight nosebands. These were the people that flocked to Western Dressage. Because they saw it as a chance for change. And changing we ARE! Perhaps not at the FEI Level, perhaps not even at the USEF, but back in 2010, there were very few people talking about riding with a long neck and face in front of the vertical. A sea change IS happening, here is a short list of what I am seeing as evidence.

at the USEF, but back in 2010, there were very few people talking about riding with a long neck and face in front of the vertical. A sea change IS happening, here is a short list of what I am seeing as evidence.

Vaquero Training Center

Photo by Alessandra Mele