I finally did it and I've joined, I've been meaning to join for the last year or so, so here I am at last
I've been getting more and more fed up with 'competitive dressage' which reached breaking point for me when I got my new mare (who's not so new now, it'll be a year on boxing day) who seemed very unhappy with the way she'd been trained on the flat, she was getting scores of 18 and 19 in her eventing dressage but no one seemed to have noticed that she seemed really tense and unhappy, backed up in my mind by all the tail swishing and flicking, I've recently started riding her in a more sympathetic way and refused to 'pull' her into an outline by sending her forward then holding her head rigid and wiggling the reins to make her listen, she was unhappy and it wasn't right in my mind, she's a much happier girl now, the tail swishing has stopped and she has a lovely relaxed outline which is the result of HER taking the contact instead of being forced into one.
Anyhow, this is how I ended up here ........... that and Yvonne recommended the forum after I told her about my concerns with the way I was being taught
