Coalescence

There are 4 elements of the Dressage Rider Training System:

Suppleness, Stability, Stamina & Mindset.

They combine to achieve Coalescence.

COALESCENCE

Coalescence: "To unite so as to form one entity".

Dressage is a team sport. We work with our horse to train & perform beautiful dances together, creating a common language & forming an unbreakable team bond. Our ultimate goal is to synchronize, to move as one with our horse. This coalescence is the pinnacle we strive for.
This is the DRT Training System, a model to help you understand the 4 elements that combine to achieve the ultimate goal of dressage, that of coalescence.

We are currently looking at COALESCENCE.

In coalescence, you see co-, which should tell you the word means “together.” The other half of the word comes from alescere, a Latin verb meaning “to grow up.” As we form our bond and team unit, we grow together and our language becomes more subtle. Our communication gets stronger in understanding yet softer at the same time.

Within our dressage training, we are working on our training to create straightness, correct contact, suppleness, engagement and collection. All of these things require clear communication from the rider and the right sort of training over time to develop. As we work on the horses training, by working on our own alignment, correct core engagement, suppleness, stamina and stability we can then have to ability to move with the horse.

Just as you can miss basic fundamentals of a horses training and find gaps in their performance, you can also find this in riders. All you have to do is head along to a competition and you can see riders who move with their horses and riders who don’t. Just as you can see horses who use their backs and have correct elastic performances and others who don’t. Sometimes you can reach the top and have holes and there are plenty who do. But in order to create that magical picture I am sure you will agree there is just something magical about watching those riders who do move as one with their horses and there is this lightness about how they move together.

Where I come from with my training is I want my horse to be able to perform without strain and prevent injury, so correct training and posture within the horse is pivotal to allow this happen and prevent risk. Same too for me as a rider, I want to be able to have many riding years to come and prevent strain and injury. So for me to teach my body to be aligned, supple and strong at the same time I am asking my horse to all makes sense.

In doing so we can then enhance the horse’s posture and strength and at the same time enhance our own. Then when we perform our beautiful dance together we move as one, with lightness and elasticity. Coalescence.