1.6 – Both Cowboy Dressage and Western Dressage owe their existence to the magical partnership of a man and a horse. In this photo, Eitan Beth-Halachmy and Holiday Compadre compete in Western Pleasure at the 1992 World Championship Morgan Horse Show. Although no one knew at the time, the efforts of Eitan and Compadre would sow the seeds of a new discipline.
CHAPTER TWO
PHILOSOPHY
Horse training is an art, not a science, Eitan insists. A horse-person paints the picture of the perfect horse in her mind’s eye. Then she sets out to work with the horse she has in front of her, molding him to fit that picture.
Of course, the painting is never finished, because it changes and adapts as the horse develops. No horse is ever finished. The horseperson’s art lies in the ability to see the potential in a horse, and to foster the rider-horse partnership that will allow both to work toward that potential.
2.1 – Horsemanship is an art, Eitan explains. You choose a blank canvas, and start adding colors. If you have the artistic vision of a true horseperson, you look at a horse, see what he is comfortable with and what he is going to be, and you start painting. You add each layer, bit by bit and step by step, sometimes adjusting your inner vision to the new reality of your canvas. Slowly, very slowly, the picture that began as a dream in your mind begins to emerge on the canvas.
The better a horse gets, the more idealistic the picture you hold of him in your mind. You add to the original, change it when you realize that perhaps when you drew on the blank canvas you were thinking of some other horse, not the one you are getting to know better each day. The horse you are working with will change; he will change the rider, as well, and that perfect picture, that never-reached goal, will become more and more beautiful. But, never finished. Every time you ride, you create art; art is movement made from the partnership between horse and rider (fig. 2.2).
2.2 – “The art of riding can only be found between horse and rider.” (Eitan Beth-Halachmy) Every moment horse and rider spend together contributes to their partnership, and the benefits of a carefully forged relationship will be seen in everything they do, from the show ring to the trail. Here, Eitan and Cheyenne Gold enjoy the freedom and relaxation of the countryside.
Debbie is always quick to say, “Eitan is the artist. The rest of us make it possible for him to do his art, and to share it with as many people as possible.” Before Cowboy Dressage, before the felicitous meeting of Deb and Eitan and his union with Holiday Compadre, Eitan already had a mental picture of that perfect horse. He had come to the United States from Vienna, Austria, with visions of cowboys and the Old West, and he had sought to meld the Western tradition with his knowledge of classical dressage. When Compadre responded so well to his method and began winning ribbons and hearts, the art was clear for all to see. As people began to learn about and do Cowboy Dressage, they too became artists: everyday they paint their own pictures, and work with their horses toward achieving that goal.
Zeitgeist
Cowboy Dressage has remained true to the idea of rider and trainer as artist, but it has also evolved. Deb and Eitan’s willingness to move with the times has been part of the new discipline’s success. In the horse world—any horse world—it is easy to ignore the news. Horses do not care, and horsey friends tend to be beyond politics. Horse people are so happy to find others whose eyes don’t glaze over at the mention of gaits or tack, or the latest training methods, that they are willing to overlook all sorts of things that tend to polarize other people.
2.3 – This beautiful Friesian stallion is called Knight Invader or “Vader.” Every horseperson has a list of names she is waiting to bestow on the perfectly matched horse. Maybe that horse is a delicate chestnut mare, a rugged grey gelding, or a magnificent black stallion with long rippling mane. Near the top of my list is Zeitgeist, in German, literally “time spirit” or spirit of the age: the dominating social and cultural current of an epoch. If I ever get that horse, he will have to do Cowboy Dressage, a discipline that so ably captures the spirit of our time.
Sometimes they also ignore new ideas that bring people together, define the current social environment, and have the potential to contribute to their relationship with horses and other horse people. What makes Cowboy Dressage so appealing is Eitan’s attentiveness to what is going on in the world outside the arena. Cowboy Dressage is successful because it adapts to and fits within the paradigm outside the world of horses.
The philosopher Hegel believed that people could not escape the Zeitgeist, or the prevailing social and cultural
2.4 – “No man can surpass his own time, for the spirit of his time is also his own spirit.” (Hegel)
Talking with Eitan can be a strong reminder of where we stand in history. We know from academic research, for example, that corporal punishment does not work with children. That does not mean spankings never happen, and it does not mean that anyone has found an alternative that does work, but we do know that we ought to avoid physical punishment as means to ensuring good behavior. The same goes for a horse—it is not that there will never be a time when a whip is necessary; for starters, whips and spurs are used to enhance the precision of rider cues. There will be times when the trainer needs to be determined to establish her alpha status with a sharp word or touch of the whip. But no-one, horse or person, learns effectively when the teaching method relies on pain or punishment. Thus the central tenet of Cowboy Dressage: Be kind to your horse (fig. 2.5).
2.5 – Jessi Morrill pets her horse To the Maxx at a Cowboy Dressage show. Kindness is rewarded directly in Cowboy Dressage competition through points awarded for Soft Feel, Harmony, and Partnership.
Similarly, the emphasis on negotiating a relationship that pervades today’s culture (one negotiates with children, spouse, pets…) is reflected in the give-and-take with the horse in Cowboy Dressage. We know that the best way to get results is not to demand, but to negotiate. The relationship between horse and rider is a partnership; the rider, in training her horse to listen, must listen even more carefully to her horse. This sensitivity to the needs of the horse is part of Soft Feel, the guiding principle of Cowboy Dressage. The constant communication between horse and rider is the foundation for training in the Cowboy Dressage fashion.
Partnership
The Cowboy Dressage methods that go into making a horse your partner (discussed in chapters 5 and 6) are very important. Soft Feel and the seemingly effortless communication that it facilitates are essential to both partnership and method. The relationship between rider and horse is the focus of the Cowboy Dressage method and all of its offshoots that are so successfully spreading the message. Just as important, however, is the way we talk
