1. In competitive dressage, extension is asked for at FIRST level.
COLLECTION is asked for at second level.
2. Therefore, it is not necessary for your horse to be collected in
order to do an extended trot. In fact, collection and extension are
exact opposites of each other (extension is the lengthening of the
stride, while collection is the shortening of the stride). Diane may
have meant engaged rather than collected, when she said that in order to
do an extended trot the horse must be collected.
3. Dressage is a word of French origin from the verb _dresser_ which
means, in essence, to train. And the things that dressage horses are
expected to do include: walk, trot, canter, turn, halt...you get my
point.
The goal of classical dressage training is to teach a horse to walk,
trot, canter, turn, and halt with suppleness, obedience, and balance
WHILE CARRYING A RIDER (...so just because your horse can do all these
things at liberty running around in the pasture, does not mean that it
can do it carrying around 150+ lbs on its back; although it helps). The
levels of competitive dressage are 'tests' of how well a horse has
learned to do these things AND to transition between them while
maintaining suppleness, obedience, and balance; with each test becoming
progressively more challenging.
Endurance horses must also be able to walk, trot, canter, turn, and halt
(how many endurance horses out there have you seen who can halt??). To
be able to do these things with suppleness, obedience, and balance are
BIG advantages if you want to keep your horse sound over long distances
and varied terrain. Therefore, if you intend to ride your endurance
horse (granted this is not required), dressage training of the endurance
horse is an excellent idea.
I have always contended that all riding horses should be able to do up
through second level dressage, that is, all the working gaits,
collection, extension, transitions among them, balanced turns, and some
low level lateral work. After you get over that level, the maneuvers
become quite a bit more sophisticated than is really necessary for a
trail horse. Rarely ever is a pirouette required while going down the
trail...although I must admit to having gotten myself into one sticky
situation out in a ravine where there was no way to go forward and the
only way to turn back was to do a pirouette...this on a 25% slope...and
I was very pleased to have a horse who a) could physically perform this
maneuver, and b) understood what I was asking for. You wouldn't believe
the places I can take my horse out on the trail now because he is
supple, obedient, and balanced. Places where most people would never
dream of taking their horses.
This dressage training is something that can be done...you guessed
it...out on the trail (since I don't even have a "ring" to train my
horses). In fact, I have also always contended that a horse can learn
more in a day out in the hills than it can in a month in an arena.
There is no better place (as far as I am concerned) to teach a horse to
engage its hindquarters than a nice, STEEP downgrade.
So when _I_ say dressage training is essential to an endurance horse,
what I mean is that a horse must be taught and conditioned to walk,
trot, canter, turn, and halt with suppleness, obedience, and balance.
You will note that nowhere is this sentence do I even mention ringwork.
Everytime I get on a horse (and you too for that matter), I am training
that horse. The only time my mare has even seen the inside of a ring is
when it was a show ring...and she does just fine. She knows how to do
dressage because she has been trained. She has been trained out on the
trail.
For young/green horses/riders, the advantages of working in a ring are
that they do not have to deal with uneven terrain, they are in a
controlled environment (so less chance of horse eating monsters), they
are confined (so the horse can't bolt very far and the rider doesn't
have a long walk home in the event that the horse and rider part
company), AND there is a rail so the rider only has to control one side
of the horse at a time. This last is a BIG advantage when you are
dealing with inexperienced participants.
Because I don't have a ring, novice riders are given horses that are
well broke to the trail and don't need these supports. And I don't
start riding green horses until I feel confident that I have at least
some semblance of control of both sides of the horse (ground driving and
being ponied around is a good way for greenies to learn this).
Bob is right, the place to train (and condition) an endurance horse is
out on the trail, so it can learn about changes in terrain, footing,
direction, environment, etc. Diane is right, the way to train an
endurance horse is to train it to do dressage, so it can handle changes
in terrain, footing, direction, environment, etc. How you do this in a
step-by-step fashion depends on your level of expertise, the facilities
you have available, and the mind set of you and your horse.
kat
Orange County, Calif.
p.s. It has been my experience that some horses are better than others
at figuring out for themselves how to 'balance' especially under saddle,
and all of them find it easier with a rider who knows how to use his own
weight to HELP the horse balance rather than to upset the horse's
balance.