Lessons from the Arena: Why the Basics Are Your Best Teacher

When I started to be interested in the Academic Art of Riding in 2014, I saw that Bent Branderup had some online classes available. Guess which one I bought first? Of course, piaffe I didn’t know that I didn’t have the right basics for collected work, but I thought: I can ride basic gaits and some side movements, so I would like to learn piaffe next.

On my first live Bent Branderup clinic I was glued to my chair when students worked on school halt, piaffe, passage, canter…. And I left the arena to eat cake when there was work on the basics (going correctly over the back, aids, correct side movements in walk). 

The thing is, I didn’t know that I still had to learn a lot about the basics until I actually had lessons with Bent. My perception of what I thought I could do and what I could actually do were two different things. I wasn’t aware of the many nuances, didn’t know how to use my seat as a primary aid, and I also didn’t have correct secondary aids. My horse was compressed in the spine and maybe moved his legs sideways, but we were far from correct side movements. 

Once I had learned more about the basics, I was still glued to my chair at a clinic when there was work on piaffe. I thought: I have these basics down so the next step is piaffe, and that I could learn anything about it by watching. However, I don’t think you can learn anything about advanced equestrian work through watching it done. Even though I wrote down a ton of notes, and I certainly schooled my eye for correct collected movement, which still helps me when teaching, I learned very little about what it actually means to work on piaffe.

Looking at an exercise being performed and doing it are two very different things. You might think you know what to do, but then when you actually do it, so many things happen at the same time, and problems might appear that you weren’t aware of. Your horse might also not show any of the challenges other riders have when working with a certain exercise. 

As students, we are mostly interested what lies ahead of us. When we can ride with a correct bend, we want to know about side movements. When we can do the side movements, we want to know about collection. That’s what interests us most during a clinic and that’s when we pay attention. We are disappointed when there isn’t any work that’s further advanced than what we do and we have the feeling it’s boring and we didn’t get our money’s worth. 

However, I believe that we most benefit from watching work that’s on the same level as we are. Or even work that’s on a more basic level. Because we need the actual experience in order to understand it fully and be able to apply all the tips and explanations. 

Once I started teaching, I realised the importance of the basic work and I didn’t leave the room anymore when someone did the first groundwork steps or worked on correct bend. On the contrary: I observed exactly what was being done and what the steps were, so I can teach it better. I was glad to get some tools I can use with a certain type pf horse or a certain problem. The more experience I have with teaching, the more interested I am in how others teach the basics. 

So I would like to encourage you not to leave the arena during basic work at a clinic and seek out those lessons in which work is done that’s similar to what you’re doing right now. You will be able to get a to more out of it. Watching advanced work is nice and can be inspirational, but it won’t help you how to get there with your horse. It helps to school your eye, but not how to develop feel and timing.