Hi. This is my first ever post on this blog. I have felt for a long time that there are problems in dressage that too many people involved with the sport are reluctant to try and solve. This is because the same people are benefitting from these problems. The sport is almost run by the top riders and their whims. Take the rollkur issue: Despite all the evidence to the contrary, because ruling against the exercise penalised Anky Van Grunsven, amongst others, it was decided that there is nothing wrong with using the exercise.
You may wonder what this has to do with the ordinary public. Well, the fact is, the people who do not understand the truth about the training techniques used in dressage, think that horses like Salinero are amazing to watch. The truth is that Salinero is never relaxed in his performances, he is tense, unwilling to co-operate. He only does the movements out of habit, because it is what he has been trained to do - obey the rider at all times. He has no trust in his rider what-so-ever and has run away with her many times, refusing to listen to her despite her hauling on the reins.
What I am going to try and do in my blog is to strip away the illusion of "beautiful" dressage and show the reality.