Feel

This article made its way around facebook recently- http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/oh-what-feeling

It really got me thinking about feel itself, as well as what things feel like versus what they look like and how important it is to have eyes on the ground (or at least mirrors or a willing minion to video). Feel is a very important part of dressage and I want to go on about it.

I want this clock

How would you even define feel? I'm curious. Before defining it myself, I would argue that there are some basic requirements to be met before you can really start to develop feel. The main one, I think, is an independence of the seat and aids. We know that feel is disrupted by rider error, such as a seat that is too hot (me) or a rogue left hand that does what it wants (also me). My hot seat makes me think that horses are tense over their back when it's really me. My left hand makes me think that there is no horse on earth that is capable of bending left.

Of course, perfection is unattainable (dressage riders, I'm lying, it's totally attainable, keep up the good basically pointless work), so I would argue that an understanding of where rider position is lacking would be key for developing feel. Knowing, essentially, that I will always want to pull on the left rein like my life depends on it and that this causes me to sit to the right and feel like my horse isn't bending left allows me to still have feel through my errors, which is difficult but possible.

At my first lesson with Tracey, my left hand is RIGID as I was
trying not to yank on it..

So what actual is feel? I believe it is the ability to interpret what is happening underneath you in a helpful way that allows you to evaluate it and make the necessary corrections for improvement. But I'm sure other people have other, better, definitions. But I'll go off of that.

I think feel is something that can be learned. I know that some people don't think that, they think that it's natural and that some people have feel and some people don't. But I think with hard work and a good trainer, feel can certainly be developed. It's like learning anything, learning to recognize what is happening, define it, figure out what to do in response, and execute it. It's like learning to drive- you see a stop sign, you need to stop there, you need to put your foot on the brake, so you do. At first it takes a while for you to think about but eventually it becomes automatic like seeing a stop sign and stopping the car. If only dressage was like driving a car!

Not a BMW... but close to it

What this article talked about is when feel doesn't cut it. How certain horses can trick you into thinking that they are doing a movement properly and how eyes on the ground on these horses are incredibly important.

I would definitely agree with this- that some horses give you an amazing feeling while others feel kind of ho-hum even if both horses are going equivalently well. I would also agree that moving up the levels gives you a discrepancy between feel and what is actually happening as well. I'll talk about both.


First- I've had experience showing two FEI horses now. Leo, my previous trainers' Grand Prix horse, who I successfully showed through Intermediare II (and attempted Grand Prix) in 2011, and Rico, that weird brown horse who lives in pasture and is perpetually covered in mud (who happens to be my own horse who I trained from Training to Grand Prix and got my Gold on this year). Rico and Leo were as similar as I was going to get with two Grand Prix horses, and I was lucky that way.

Little Leo and I at our last PSG- earning
my USDF Silver Medal!

Both Rico and Leo had similar issues in the pirouettes- they wanted to get hollow and behind the leg. They also both had easy zig zags. They had an incredible ability to collect but the laziness prevented them from getting out of the collected movements easily. Both had great passages that would sometimes be "all back" and no leg (as in, not enough lift but they both were good at faking the feeling of it).

Weird... that the horse who I trained ended up being VERY similar to the horse I learned on, huh? But that's a discussion for another day.

But they were different in that Leo's changes (and everything) were incredibly easy, but slightly flat, while Rico tended to jump too big in the changes and back himself off of the ones and twos. Rico tended to be heavy in the bridle while Leo tended to get too light.

BIG changes

The main problem with my feel when I switched from Leo back to Rico was that my feel was ALL wrong for a horse coming up the levels vs an established Grand Prix horse. When I taught Rico piaffe, I expected it to be very much on the spot. When I taught Rico pirouettes, I expected them to be much smaller. My feel was way off. The piaffe Rico needed (half steps) felt like a jog, even though he was sitting well for his level of training. The pirouettes Rico needed (working pirouettes) felt like haunches-in on a circle with no collection. I was so used to that big SIT moment that would happen with Leo.

I couldn't recognize that Rico was sitting as much as he could given his level of training. I remember when I moved up to Prix St George, I was thinking gosh our pirouettes suck and our zig zag is so shaky and our tempis are big/sideways and then we got a 65% and second in a large class. My perception was off. Just like it is when I pull on the left rein or sit like I'm riding a cannon. But this problem was due to not being experienced enough on green FEI horses (you know, because there aren't just a bunch of those laying around).

Eventually my feel got better, Tracey was adamant that I not hold Rico to Leo's standards and I valued that a lot. Rico eventually caught up as much as he could to Leo and we were able to show Grand Prix.

And it was awesome!

Second- there are some movements that just feel weird when you're first learning them (and forever). I have a lot of analogies. Pirouettes feel like you're trying to ride your dinosaur out of a tar pit and you're failing at it (thanks COTH for that). Half pass feels like you've decided to roll a bag of bricks sideways down a hill and then regretted it so you're running after them. The zig-zag feels like you're throwing a bowling ball sideways, running to catch up to it so that you can throw it the other way. And don't get me started on tempi changes oh my god.

Passage was the only movement that I actually liked the first time I did it. The only one I could recognize was good. Until I showed it to Tracey a few weeks after Rico learning it and having her tell me that he was crooked, uneven behind, and drifting to the right. We then worked on rolling bricks sideways down a hill and the best half pass I got that day felt TERRIBLE but Tracey said it was great and I got a 7 on it at our next show. Whaaaat?

HATE half pass

These experiences have led me to believe that feel is incredibly complicated, not necessarily natural (maybe those with "natural" feel are just quicker learners in a kinesthetic sense), and is something that can be learned. One horse can give you a certain feeling that you can't apply to another horse (Leo to Rico). Movements can feel horrible when done right (half pass for me) and amazing when done wrong (passage).

The one thing I've learned is that eyes on the ground are important. Whether it be a trainer (but make it a good one), someone willing to video, or even just the luxury of having mirrors. Relying on feel alone, unless you're incredibly well versed in the issues that you are addressing, can be problematic.

I'm interested to see how this will apply to my next horse. I don't plan on working with a trainer very often (my once-a-week lessons the last two years were a fluke! I rarely take lessons on horses I train), but I feel pretty knowledgable about my own issues and I feel capable of bringing a horse along at least until second or third level without much help. But you never know. The horse may give me a bad feeling that I need help seeing past, and then I'll be giving Heidi a call!

Next horse will be far less talented and far less fun than this one

Looking forward to seeing if anyone has anything to add.