Dressage - The Familiar Story of the April-October Romance
You've seen it before in the Star and the Enquirer, "Older Female takes up with a Younger Male". Most people point to some sort of mid-life crisis or a lack of financial security. Your sister's drycleaner's husband's sister did it. But that is about as close as you think it has gotten to you. WRONG! If you are a dressage rider, or indeed a rider in most equestrian sports today, you know someone involved in a situation like this.
By this time you are thinking, "What is she talking about and what does this have to do with dressage?" Does this situation sound familiar - a dressage rider in her 40's (usually a woman) has been riding for years. She has made her way through the FIRST horse and the SCHOOLMASTER/GOOD JOE until she now is "ready for a REALLY NICE horse". She goes shopping for a seven to ten year old with the type of training she would like to reach in the next several years and then, her jaw drops. The price tag is way out of her price range. Every horse she looks at is the same story.
So, what is the alternative? Buy a young horse (usually a gelding, hence the younger male) at a much lower price and train it to the level the rider wants to attain. "We can learn together". Is this starting to sound more familiar?
Before I go on to say that I have found this to be a recipe for disaster, let me say that there are always exceptions to this situation. "I bought Gonzo when he was just three and I still have him ten years later". My first response to this would be "Haven't you been able to sell him in all that time?" or "How old were you ten years ago?" I am sure that there have been middle-age amateur riders that have bought a young horses with limited training and the pairing has been a success. But I think the place to look for the evidence for such success is more like to be in the Guinness Book of World Records or on Ripley's Believe it or Not, rather than at a dressage show.
The idea for this article came from a friend, who has been there and wanted to share her story. She had bought first a young mare and then a young gelding and invested money and a lot more time, in trying to enjoy these horses. She finally "got religion" and owns a 13ish year-old gelding that she describes as "a Blast".
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