More than any other, dressage is a sport of incremental success. Like invisible benchmarks marking our path up the levels, every step of forward progress becomes a victory to be celebrated. At times that forward progress is so infinitesimal, you’d scarcely know you were even moving, until you stopped and looked back, and saw how far you’d come. At other times, it’s almost like you’re flying as you only briefly touch down before moving ahead again. You are giddy with the joy of overcoming training obstacles and learning new skills, and you wonder to yourself why you ever thought it was so hard. That is…. until reality bites and you crumble once more to earth, wings singed and melting; ego flattened by the harsh realization that this so called “discipline” is in fact aptly named.

So what is to be gained by striving to achieve the next rung on the training scale if the victories are so fleeting and the commitment so great? If your equine partner is that hidden gem of international talent, national acclaim, or even an NCDCTA superstar, the appeal and the reward are self evident. But what if you are among the vast majority of mere mortals who have taken up dressage and whose horse is of the backyard variety or whose breed isn’t one traditionally valued in dressage? Is dressage simply an expensive exercise in frustration at not being able to achieve the high scores, blue ribbons and medals that seem to come so easily for some? Or is dressage in essence a character building journey of a lifetime, during which time the growth we experience is rarely measured through external means, but through the transformation of our inner selves into the kind of person we aspire to be: Honest, patient, kind, forgiving, strong, and wise.

No worthwhile goal was ever won without pain, discouragement and self doubt, or the courage and tenacity to overcome them all in pursuit of our own personal excellence, one small step at a time.

Suzanne Mullen President, NCDCTA