Are dressage horses 'happy' horses ?

horseygirl123

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Feb 10, 2007
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I've often wondered whether dressage horses are happy in their work?
When I look at horses jumping whether be in or out of the school, or out hacking I find myself thinking that they must be alot happier to be doing something 'fun'.
Do Dressage horses also go out for a bomb around the countryside and have a good gallop to let off all that steam?
Because a dressage horse has to be so much more disciplined and restricted with its movements (ie skipping) I cant help but think are they like a springed up coil with all its impulsion and energy contained :rolleyes:
Whats everyones opionion on this??
 
of course dressage horses are happy, they dont just go around in circles all day. different movements keep them enthused, they are learning the whole time. they do get hacked and some riders, eg carl hester, take their horses for a gallop once a week. they have to be as fit as an intermediate eventer.
 
i've often wondered that myself.

M was an advanced eventer then did dressage at a high level, he is happiest when we have our weekly lessons, he works really well and seems to enjoy himself. The longer we go without lessons the sillier he gets on hacks, so i think for him he enjoys 'working' in the school as he knows his job, and likes relaxing hacks to chill out
 
dont forget horses are like people not all horses are suited or like jumping as it can stress them easily if not taught correctly. they are like a coiled spring however they are worked for a long time as well and fed accordingly.
 
I think most horses "like" doing whatever gets them the approval of their human. When someone says to me "my horse gets bored in the school" - I often think that it is the rider who finds it boring and it rubs off on the horse. If you find galopping exciting so will your horse.
Likewise if you have a teacher who is an enthusiast for their subject students are more likely to develop an interest and "like" the subject.
What makes ahorse happy is not so much the discipline the rider chooses - it is having enough turnout, horsey company and a human to entertain them and give them attention.
 
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I think most horses "like" doing whatever gets them the approval of their human. .

i fully agree with you, horses love attention and seek it from their rider (good or bad), if they are being rewarded for whatever they are doing they are going to be "happy"
But we must remember animals dont experience emotions like humans do, they are frightened, angry or content.
 
my boy has competed up to Grand Prix level dressage and he's the sort that he won't do something unless he wants to.. which must mean he's happy at doing it!

Alot of Dressage riders along with other riders in other spheres obviously do worry that if the horses go for a bomb around a field that there is a chance of injury. But i'm pretty sure all of Richard Davidson's horses go for a hack before they actually go into the school.
At the yard we have alot of dressage horses and to be honest most of them live out, go for gallops, go up the bings for a fun session, do roadwork and enjoy their life!
 
Mine hack, play in the field (grey one is currently broken with an over-reach from playing too hard), loose-jump (my back doesn't 'do' jumps). Peri evented in her younger days.

It comes down to treating them as individuals, Peri likes to do something every day. She is happiest being ridden and was a nightmare when pregnant as she did get bored quickly and went looking for trouble. A 20 minute tootle up the lane and back in walk was enough to keep her (and me :D ) sane. She love going places and competing, gets very upset if the horsebox goes off without her.

Tavia is the original person pleaser, as long as she gets loads of love and approval she will do anything for you. Equally as long she gets the attention she is quite unbothered about being ridden - until I work one of the others, at which point she stomps and piaffes at the door in disapproval :rolleyes:
 
I'm a real dressage baby, so take my comments with a huge pinch of salt ... but when we had our first lesson with the new dressgae lady last week, and joePony 'got it' and started to move well and rounded at trot ... the joy in him was very obvious. He loved this new, flowing way to carry his rider - he really felt good about himself.

I know that before that, when we do all our bending and lateral work on our own - he loves to do that well too.

There are a couple of things in the dressage world though, that send off alarm bells. There's definitely an element of win at all costs - rollkur, stallions dropping dead with stress colic all over the place .. things like that spring to mind - but I suspect that's more a reflection on over-competitive people rather than the particular discipline.

The other thing that does depress me, is the over-specialisation. It's as if dressage is the ONLY thing the horse needs to do - the ONLY thing they've trained for. For example, every time I've taken him out to meet a dressage instructor (we've ridden with 2 or 3 before finding the good one :) ) ... I'll see the same thing. I'll leave joseph to go get something ... and when I turn back around the lady will be holding onto his reins with a vice-like grip. As though the pony wasn't capable of standing still on his own ! Or when I'm going to load him up, they'll be right there, being busy wanting to shoo him on ... as if he weren't capable of walking onto his own trailer ! There's a definite lack of expectation of good sound basics.

As for ridden work outside the arena :eek: I think it's often majorly neglected. I rode out with the last instructor and it was just a fiasco, with her constantly making excuses for her 12 year old horse ... couldn't go in front of him, couldn't go behind him, he couldn't allow a car to pass him :rolleyes: ... No matter what the discipline, I think every horse needs to learn to be a good citizen in order to be happy.
 
Not all horses like going for a gallop. I know one horse, born and raised as a western pleasure horse. If you asked her to gallop, she'd throw you off. Some horses like jumping, some don't.

Coquette loves diong lateral work and extensions. She just lights up and shows off. Doesn't seem like a terribly interesting thing, but she loves it.

At the top levels of any discipline, the horse is expected to do hard work. In order to get to that level, hard work is required, which is why all riders at the top levels know when the horses need a break. I don't think it's fair to single out dressage as needing more concentration and more work then any other discipline.
 
I think most horses "like" doing whatever gets them the approval of their human. When someone says to me "my horse gets bored in the school" - I often think that it is the rider who finds it boring and it rubs off on the horse. If you find galopping exciting so will your horse.
Likewise if you have a teacher who is an enthusiast for their subject students are more likely to develop an interest and "like" the subject.
What makes ahorse happy is not so much the discipline the rider chooses - it is having enough turnout, horsey company and a human to entertain them and give them attention.

Well said! I'd agree with that too:)
 
I think horses are happy doing whatever discipline as long as it doesn't cause them pain etc, and as long as they are allowed to be horses outside of thier work ie. being left outside to run around with other horses and interact with others and just chill!!
There is nothing worse than horses that are kept in all the time, do thier chosen discipline, and then put back in thier cage, often because thier owner deems them too valuable to leave be a horse.:mad:
I don't think you can single out any one discipline I think it applys to all from show jumping to racing. A horse is still a horse at the end of the day and still has its basic needs wether it be a shetland or a grand prix horse. I don't class having a hack or going for a gallop once a week as being able to de-stress for a horse - it still has to do as its told and is still carrying a weight, they need time out - it would be like asking a person to be on thier best behaviour 24/7 and only allow them to go to work and stay at home and have almost no contact with other people except the odd hello in passing - they will eventually crack or develop weird behaviours!!!:D
 
If a horse is ridden properly, its not going flat and hollowed out like so many hunters and jumpers allow their horse to go-therefore, in actuality, its getting less back pain. It allows them freer movement. They's why the GOOD jumpers have at least a fundamental background in dressage - in fact, in Germany, you aren't allowe to jump unless you pass the equivalent of 1st level dressage.

I think assuming dressage horses never do anyting else is a bit of a stretch. Sure, I've come across barns that lock their horses inside because they're so valuable,they only ever see an arena, ect. However I've seen jumper barns do the same. Many of the top notch dressage barns take their horses on gallops, jump them occasionally or just go for a little trail ride-maybe not as often as the happy hackers, but so what? Maybe the happy hackers you think are so happy would be happier mentally and physically if they had more structure!

Personally, a happy horse is one who is treated well. Fed, watered, allowed to socialize and run. The rest is just extra.
 
In a way, dressage is an extension of what horses do in the field. Watch a stallion court a mare, and you'll see extension, collection, piaffe, passage, lateral work - the lot. All with back rounded and nose nicely on the vertical! Ok, so the display he puts on is not technically correct and wouldn't win you any dressage classes, but that showing off to impress another horse is certainly something most horses are born with. What dressage does is take that and develop it into a discipline in the same way racing develops the ability to run (or flee!), cow-horses use the herd driving instinct, endurance uses the horse's natural inclintaion to travel miles.

And yes, that's a horrific over-simplification, but any ridden work is basically utilising what resources a horse is born with in order to survive and breed in the wild. Dressage is no more unnatural than any other discpline in that respect.

So yes, those horses do enjoy it. And yes, there will be those that don't - those whose lives are goverened by dressage anad no regard for anything else, for example, just as horses whose lives are goverened by jumping and naught else become stale and stop enjoying the job so much.

Whether a horse enjoys work depends on whether he has the aptitude for it (trying to force a hefty cob with a thick throat, long back and weak thigh and hocks to do really well in dressage will usually result in both horse *and* rider getting very fed up very quickly!) and how good his trainer is. A good trainer will work at a level the horse is happy, while still knowing how to ask for more without making it too much. They will also know when to take a break, when to do other stuff, basically how to read the horse's feedback. In that way, work suits the horse, and they are happy in it.
 
My boy is a lusitano and dressage is what he does best and he does enjoy it...believe me he's not the type of horse that'll bend over backwards for you but in his flatwork he wants to please !! and he does :)

In his training i still use pole work and lunge him over fences...but i'm not jumping now due to an old injury and he's never jumped with a rider on his back other than once with me....so not really missing out on much..he and i love our dressage and hopefully we will move up the grades...;)
 
Thanks so much everyone for your reassuring comments :D

I think the one thing that made me wonder about dressage horses being unhappy is a stable I was once offered to work at (top dressage stable) as a 'stablehand' and the YO said that there would be no riding involved as the horses are only ever ridden in the school and ONLY do dressage, they live in their stables, no turnout (in case they injured themselves or heaven forbid got dirty :rolleyes: ) I was told that they didnt have the time to groom off muddy horses, and needed them 'on tap' 24/7 nice and clean and ready to be ridden :confused:

I can only presume that this one Yard is a 'one-off' and this doesnt happen to most other dressage horses.

I'd like to add, I refused the job for several reasons including the above ;)
 
the horses are only ever ridden in the school and ONLY do dressage, they live in their stables, no turnout (in case they injured themselves or heaven forbid got dirty ) I was told that they didnt have the time to groom off muddy horses, and needed them 'on tap' 24/7 nice and clean and ready to be ridden

Poor horses:( I bet they aren't 'happy' horses, but that has nothing to do with the dressage.
 
The RS owners main horse is specialised in dressage, and thats what he loves doing. He's so incredably intelligent that dressage and all the concentration and control that has to go into it suits him best. He'll pop a jump, and hack, but even when hacking and doing something where he's supposed to relax and have fun, he'll be thinking and controlling himself. Flying changes in gallop, voluntary lateral work, keeping his mind ticking.

Im not saying that jumping horses dont display the control and intelligence, but IMO (please dont shoot me down!) dressage can create more of a mind occupying challenge for the most intelligent horses than any other discipline, and that is what they are happiest doing.
 
Agree with you Blackhorses, whatever discipline horses do they should at other times just be allowed to be a horse and to my mind that doesn't include a nice hack round the lanes or even a gallop over the hills with their rider - it means time out, with no rugs, no headcollars, no time limits and no separation from their buddies and most of all no jockey! Then, at least you can feel justified asking them to put in some hard work.
 
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