These things seem to come in waves. Last winter was The Great Winter of Piaffe, where I had several horses, both clients and my own, learning the half-steps. Two winters ago was The Great Winter Of Flying Changes, and this winter is heading in the same direction. I have nearly a dozen horses either in the barn or belonging to my trailer-in contingent that are learning them cold, and another couple who are putting the finishing touches on the changes. They’re evenly split, dressage and event horses. But the two approach the changes—and their competition schedules surrounding the changes—in different ways. As such, I’ve been thinking a lot about the change, and how we teach it.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I learned my lesson with Ella, and I’m now a BIG believer in Start The Changes Early, well before the counter-canter is confirmed. This is OK for us who compete in dressage because there’s no reason not to skip counter-canter. After second level, there are no more than 12 meters of each direction of counter-canter in any dressage tests, USEF or FEI. And because there are no qualifying criteria for horses to ascend the levels in dressage, a horse can skip second level (or any other level) of competition altogether.

But for eventers, the story is different. To compete above preliminary (for the dressage contingent, that’s about a first level+ dressage test), a horse has to prove proficiency at each level before moving up to the next. The gap in my eyes comes between preliminary/one-star and intermediate/two-star levels, roughly equivalent to second level with counter-canter and changes of lead through trot and walk respectively, and advanced/three-star levels, with flying changes like third level. 

There’s nothing stopping my eventers from starting the changes early, like a lot of dressage trainers do. But it takes some pretty concentrated chunks of time to really get the changes no matter the tack or stage of development. And when you’re working on fitness sets, practicing water jumps and developing all the other muscle and training needed to move up the levels of eventing, it’s hard to take that time off to focus on one little dressage movement.

Eventers who want to move up through the levels to advanced must compete rather extensively at prelim and intermediate to prepare, whereas dressage riders can blow off months, even years, of competition and middle levels on the way to FEI. There’s no requirement to compete at every level en route to the big stuff.

Whereas even if that were the case with eventing, the fitness, experience and instincts required for cross-country and stadium at advanced only get acquired through practice at the middle levels on the way up.

Now, it’s not IMPOSSIBLE to dedicate a few months to the changes. Winter downtime is perfect for that sort of work. But I have a lot of empathy for the eventing contingent that has to confirm counter-canter before showing flying changes. And as my students approach the upper levels, it will be interesting to see what sort of plan we can come up with to make the most of the winter down time without sacrificing intermediate success. I almost wish there was some way to run and jump to the intermediate standard while riding the advanced dressage test.

I don’t know how many event riders I have among my readership, but what do you guys think?