Natural Dressage

When I was growing up, dressage was relatively unknown in the United States. In my twenties, I found a German instructor who helped me reschool my hunter in this art. My book, Practical Dressage for Amateur Trainers, was published in 1974. At that time, very little material was available in the English language.

It contained two unusual features. First, it had a detailed analysis of the aids based on linguistic principles. It is still the most comprehensive study of this unusual method of communication. Second, it dealt with physical, commmunicative, and psychological qualities separately. In my opinion, this separation is essential for setting training goals and resolving problems. It also introduced the concept of management styles, as applied to horses. This concept has been further developed in my articles on the philosophies of riding.

Since I have to board my horses, I had always begun with horses who were old enough to ride. In this book, I assumed that the horse had already been trained to accept a rider and that other amateurs could use basic dressage to help their horses function better under saddle.

When I got tired of dealing with problems that had been caused by other humans, I decided to start with a foal. When Skan came to me, he was a weanling and a range colt who had never been handled. Taming, gentling, and training him was an educational experience for both of us. A Marvelous Mustang takes him to the point where he discovers he can enjoy playing the riding game. Practical Dressage begins at this point. The foundation work described in A Marvelous Mustang is not discipline specific, but is needed by every riding horse. Sadly, all too often, it is badly done.

In Skan’s training, I used both conventional and unconventional ideas and techniques. The unconventional ones were drawn from what is now called natural horsemanship. To turn my wild colt into safe and well behaved riding horse, my approach combined what worked for me from this field and the discipline of classical dressage. I call my approach, natural dressage.

To get the best results with a horse, his trainer, rider, or handler needs to be able to think like a horse. I wrote Skan’s memoir from his viewpoint to help my readers develop this essential skill.

More information about my published work can be found on my website, www.jladendorf.com.

Horse’s Point of View

A horse has been the central character in many stories. Classic examples are the ones by Marguerite Henry. Most of these novels are about horses and told in the third person, but some of them have been written from the horse’s point of view. They are told by the horse in the first person. The classic example is Black Beauty. A Marvelous Mustang is a memoir and one of the first non-fiction books to be told from the horse’s point of view.

Whether a horse story is told in the first or third person, the horse is always well described physically, but generally has little personality and shows no emotions. My Spanish Mustang, Skan, is a real character and has many problems to face and resolve. A Marvelous Mustang could well be described as the story of his coming of age.

As I worked with him, I tried to identify the thoughts and feelings behind everything that he did. Extensive research has now been done on wild horses. My study of it really helped me understand what was going on inside his head. I believe that horses can and do communicate with each other. They can also learn to communicate with humans. Their language is mainly non-audible. To understand it, I have spent years watching and studying them. This experience also helped me understand Skan’s behavior.

In writing his memoir, several techniques have been used to describe communication between horses. At times, a horse’s actions and body cues have been translated into English quotations. Such communication has also occasionally been described as a mental contact in the form of pictures. Some of the research on autistic people suggests that animal communication may take this form. To explain instinctive behavior, racial memories have been presented in the form of dreams.

Language is used for communication and does not stay static over time. Traditionally, grammatical rules do not allow references to animals to be personalized. This rule is changing and has been ignored in this memoir. In my opinion, sire and dam are depersonalizing terms and I choose not to use them. Skan often vividly describes himself as “marvelous me”, “frightened me”, “lonely me”, etc. Despite the use of “me”, these phrases have been used as subjects of a sentence.

More information on this memoir can be found on my website, www.jladendorf.com.

Heart of a Falcon

My historical western, Heart of a Falcon, will be published by Whiskey Creek Press in Dec. 2011 in e-book format. In 1830, my heroine travels by keelboat from Virginia to Oklahoma to find the silver mustang she has ridden so many times in her medicine dreams. For more information, see my website www.jladendorf.com