I have never thought of good horsemanship as a discipline in itself. In my mind, it has always been a foundational element of everything we do with a horse.
I am very pleased to see that nowadays more people are teaching the importance of taking their horse’s opinion into account during the training process.
When I was a kid and working at a riding school owned by dressage trainers it was a golden rule not to rein back a horse until it was well established in all the forward paces and shoulder in.
I have encountered a few instances where the goal of perfection has hindered its achievement. You might think that doesn’t make sense. You might think that if we don’t aim for perfection, how will we achieve it?
