The Little Horse That Wouldn’t Go

The quintessential Quarter Horse! We are celebrating these horses as our October Breed of the Month on YourDressage!

Did you know that dressage riders who choose an American Quarter Horse as their dressage mount are eligible for special awards through the Adequan®/USDF All-Breeds Awards program, as the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) is a participating organization?

When this rider’s horse started showing signs that his heart just wasn’t in their chosen discipline, she and her daughter decided to listen and began teaching their Quarter Horses how to dance in the one place that made sense – the cow pasture!

By Jennifer Larsen

The Jersey Boy (aka Chip) came into my life in 2021 as a two-year-old. He is a registered American Quarter Horse gelding by AQHA Hall of Fame inductee Kissin The Girls. I was looking for a young horse that would be smaller, quieter, and was pleasure-bred. I needed a partner who was willing to let an amateur train him, and Chip looked like the one!

I grew up riding and showing horses through 4-H and local organizations. After I had my children, I had to step away to care for my kids and my career. I often hear that the love of horses is inherited. I certainly got it from my mom, and my daughter must’ve got it from both of us! My daughter started begging to ride as soon as she was old enough. Finally, when she was in eighth grade, we decided to re-enter the show scene. 

Her interest evolved into a passion for the AQHA trail classes. I hauled her and her horse for numerous lessons with trainers as she developed her knowledge of this class. Through all of this, my own passion was rekindled. So, in 2021, I purchased The Jersey Boy as my own project. My goal was to develop an all-around horse for myself to compete in western pleasure, horsemanship, and trail. 

Chip had other plans.

The first couple of months were relatively easy. Chip proved to be everything that I had the goal of acquiring: he was quiet, willing, and had the coolest little jog. 

To train him, I was relying on previous equine knowledge from my youth, as well as what my daughter and I had learned through our lessons with several AQHA trainers. But Chip was not developing as would have been expected. As he grew, he became more “downhill” in his stature. This made it hard for him to carry his weight over his hocks. I took him to a trainer to get some help, but he would just stop dead in his tracks. We worked and worked to get him to go forward, but he would just stop. 

He would trot and walk all I wanted, but forget trying to lope. We evaluated him for lameness and soreness. I checked his saddle fit and made some changes. While he would sometimes agree to lope for a short distance, or maybe in one direction, ultimately, he would just plant his front feet in the ground and stop. And, if you continued to press him forward, it would quickly get ugly. 

About six months later, in his 3-year-old year, I took him to another trusted pleasure trainer, who rode him for about 90 days. The trainer got him to go, but it wasn’t a “willing” go. More suggestions were made, but there still was no sign of any physical issue that was making him stop.

I brought him home, as minimal progress was being made. I figured we’d just ride and try to get through it. It was recommended that I sell him on numerous occasions, as nobody felt he was going to develop into the show partner I had hoped.

However, Chip had worked his way into my heart. While he wasn’t the sweetest horse (he liked to nip), he had some really good qualities for me. He was quiet and reliable. Plus, his gait was very comfortable. He preferred to go slow. 

He was still downhill, which I suspected had something to do with his reluctance to go forward. 

I joked that he was named correctly, because I was just going to have to slowly “Chip” away at his training. We worked on western pleasure and horsemanship, but he didn’t have much aptitude for trail. He gave me something to work with and learn as I hauled my daughter and her horse to AQHA shows. He had gotten better about going forward, but he was a long way from being a finished horse. 

Going into his five-year-old year, I changed our feeding program to a completely forage-based diet. With this change, I saw the most positive improvement in his willingness to go forward (and it fixed his nipping issue). It appeared that his stomach had been bothering him, unbeknownst to us. His symptoms had been very subtle. However, the effect was profound. 

Now, we were going forward more reliably. We started showing in some horsemanship classes, but we really couldn’t maintain collection around the rail for pleasure. He was still downhill. His lopes were still a struggle while riding. On a lunge line, his lope was beautiful. He had learned to carry himself – his gait was slow, cadenced, fluid, and balanced. No matter what I did on top of him, I couldn’t figure out how to achieve the same lope under saddle that I saw on the ground. 

I really enjoyed riding Chip, but I always wished I could figure out how to help him more. He had become my partner. Whether or not we ever got a ribbon really didn’t matter. I just wanted to find what was best for him.

I have always had a strong conviction that everything happens for a reason. Earlier this year, my daughter had some difficulties arise with her horse. We suspected the difficulties were related to our discipline’s training methods and expectations. We took a step back, and looked for a more meaningful path with our horses – something mentally and physically healthier for our partners. 

At this point, I felt like we needed to completely pivot away from the breed show scene. I mentioned to her that I had always desired to do dressage, and that there were some western dressage opportunities around us. My daughter loves riding and studying how to help horses (she is working her way toward veterinary school), so she and I dug into studying the dressage method, and we got started. Within the first week, my difficulties with Chip and her difficulties with her horse began to improve. Our eyes were opened!

The little area where we rode was too small to create a small dressage arena, so we went out to the cow pasture. We found the most level spot and then placed some corner poles on the ground, and cones to create our small dressage arena. We would come out the next morning, and find the cones scattered all over. This would happen over and over. We joked that the cows must like dressage, too, because they performed dressage tests at night! 

Between some online shows and local schooling shows with our local association, we were able to obtain some excellent feedback and additional starting knowledge. We utilized the abundance of instructional videos available online to help us understand the science behind dressage and how to improve our horses. 

We – and our horses – were hooked! My daughter and I both found that the feedback we received on these few tests provided more insight and understanding into our difficulties with our horses than all of the lessons we had taken with trainers of our other discipline!

We were welcomed into the local dressage club with warm friendship and smiles. We immediately felt a kinship with the other riders. The focus on education and improvement in your own riding for the betterment and health of your horse was absolutely refreshing.

My daughter and I dove into educating ourselves about the systematic training scales. We appreciated the incredible foresight of the test developers in incorporating the scales into the tests. We had come from a discipline where the pattern tests had no rhyme or reason, and oftentimes, a lower-level pattern class would require movements that were not conducive to our horses’ training levels. We were so appreciative of the western dressage tests and how each one built on the next. The standardization of the pattern size was revolutionary, coming from the breed show discipline. 

Despite all of the riding and showing we had done, we found that our horses were still at the basic level due to “holes” in their education. But, that was ok! This focus on redevelopment has been refreshing for both us and our horses! 

My little horse that wouldn’t go now goes everywhere! He absolutely LOVES dressage and tries his heart out. He loves to stretch his little front legs out and swing his big bum underneath him. We are having so much fun learning dressage. Sometimes, he still stops, but he is stopping due to tiredness – not frustration. He tells me that the movements can be hard and exhausting! Ha! We take a break, and then try again. 

People who watch us now comment on how much try he has, and how this style of riding “just fits him.” It feels like he just loves showing off his big trot! And, his lope is now balanced! I didn’t have to perform any tricks, and I didn’t have to pull or get ugly with him. His lope developed from simply following the western dressage training scales and working on the tests. It is no longer a struggle! He has gotten so much more confident (and so have I)! The systematic training scales have provided Chip, and myself, with the missing pieces in our knowledge. The system makes sense in my head, as well as his. 

I recently stepped back to look at Chip, as I felt like I was having to stretch up higher to get into the saddle. I also noted that he was starting to develop more of an uphill stance with his dressage movements. I had measured him when we changed our discipline several months ago. And, just this weekend, I measured him again. He has come up 1” in his withers (or should I say “thoracic sling!”) with his dressage training! This is just incredible to me, and so helpful to him!

I have difficulty putting my appreciation for dressage into a few words. But if I have to narrow it down, I am just in awe of the incorporation of the science of equine biomechanics into the training scales, the tests, and the ongoing educational opportunities for horses and riders. Dressage is not about a trend or a “look.” Dressage is about respect for the well-being of the horse, which further develops harmony between the horse and rider. Dressage doesn’t discriminate against the breed or the size of the horse. I have learned that the language of dressage is spoken by all horses! Inside leg to outside rein is a language that needs no interpretation for them! 

Chip is a poster boy for the benefits of the dressage process; it has breathed new life into a little horse that everyone had given up on – except me! He is now my best partner, and we have so much fun learning dressage together. I am so excited to continue on this journey!