what are the inherent
dangers in dressage? I only play around with it and other than my horse
spooking at those dang letters on the side of the arena, nothing dangerous has
occurred yet. 'Course I am to dressage as you are to endurance -- never
done it competitively.
The dangers are less
obvious than those inherent to endurance and eventing. Basically, what
sometimes happens, particularly with talented and (usually) large horses is
that people push them too fast and ask for collection too quickly. This
places strain on young joints, particularly, I'm told, the hocks.
A vet once told me that he injects
more dressage horses' hocks than any other equine athlete. That's quite
scary.
If you take your time, and do it
properly, there should be no dangers (unlike the other equestrian sports,
which are probably "dangerous" in and of themselves, and all you can do is
minimise the danger).
Unless, of course, you were doing
dressage with Toc in his younger days : then it was an inherently dangerous
sport for the rider <g>
Tracey
