Ep 22: You don't get judged on feel

From performanceriders.com. this is the Pabry podcast. I'm Nat Foxen, and each episode, I challenge World equestrian Games top 10 dressage writer Brett Parbury to explain and discuss what I call a Parburyism. That's a pearl of wisdom I've written down over the years of working together in our performance writers programs. Brett doesn't know what today's pabraism is. Let's get into it. Okay. Brett Parbury, are you ready for your Parburyism today?

Yeah, let me have it.

All right. The pabrism is you don't get judged on feel.

Yeah, like that one. It's good.

I love when you like your own fabrisms.

Well, they're often things that I've, you know, people have said to me or. Or I've, you know, heard said, and I grabbed it and used it and developed it and, you know, so, yeah, I do like that one.

So you listen back to them sometimes you're like, oh, yeah, that was a good one.

Yeah. I just like it because it. It's a great.

Look.

It probably also reflects a time in my life where I. A big epiphany hit, you know, hit me. So it was like. I remember when I got my head around that and how true it was and how much it changed my outlook on the whole sport. So, yeah, I love it.

So is there a moment in your dressage journey that you think that you did have this sort of light bulb moment about, you know, the fact that you don't get judged on feel? And, of course, what we're talking about here is that in terms of competitive dressage, we're writing to present a look to the judges, which may not feel the best to us as a rider.

Yeah, that's right. Look. Yeah. I mean, ultimately, it would be perfect if it looked great and felt great and. And of. Sometimes it does. And. And that is when you go, you know, that's when. That's that little moment when we really, really get the adrenaline buzz from the sport. You know, look great, it felt great, and that's what we're aiming for. You know, that is what we're aiming for because it feels good for us. It usually feels good for the horse, and that's the ultimate goal. But what I learned was sometimes when I wrote a test and it felt great and I would come out and get a score where that I was, like, thought it was better than that, that those two things didn't marry up, that sometimes when it felt great, to me, it didn't look as good. To the judges. And so what that sort of, the mindset that it gave me there was how do I ride a test, have it look, or how do I train? You know, how do I train and compete and be able to ride the look of the sport and not get distracted by the feel of what I'm feeling? So that's more around what it, I mean it shouldn't feel awful because if, you know, like I said, if it feels awful for you, it will feel awful for the horse. And that's not good either. But it doesn't need to feel. And probably the biggest distraction there is the word light. You know, we often hear the word light used in dressage, which, when lightness is applied the right way is a great thing. But unfortunately I think it's misconstrued and misunderstood, which, that's a whole nother podcast. But often when we get distracted by the feeling of light or the wrong light, we can write a look that becomes a disconnected, almost a bit under powered look for the judges. And the judges are completely judging what they see, not what they feel.

And what look. Let's break it down. What looks are you trying to get to present to the judges on the day? And, and sometimes what doesn't marry with that great feel?

Well, ultimately harmony is what we're aiming for. Right? That, that's. And I'm so glad that the sport is, is completely. The light is being shone on the subject of harmony right now like this. There's no more have I heard this spoken about than now, even though it has been the underlying philosophy of nearly most of the top dressage riders for all of our careers is the concept of harmony, that when this is done right, it should look easy. It should look easy because we look like we're harmoniously connected to our horse and that we're appearing like we're doing nothing. And like we always say, that's because we're ultimately trying to do nothing. We're trying to use small aids and, and have the horses respond off little light aids. So, but the, the harmony is the most important thing. But also what is written on the test sheet, you know, the, the definition of a collected trot. What is a collected trot? Well, you know, the collected trot has energy, it has suspension, it has an uphill way of going and it has, with it, it appears that the horse is taking more weight on the hind leg. So, so the hind leg is stepping further under the horse and the horse's shoulders are up and the horse is more balanced back and probably overall the horse looks shorter, and then how you make a transition from collected trot to extended trot and then back again. Now, that's what the judges are judging, right? The definitions and their understanding of what these paces and movements should look like and be. And sometimes from a riding perspective, that doesn't feel always great. You know, it doesn't feel. And I think we can all say we've watched tests, we've watched really good dressage tests, that if you were to ask the rider, the writer goes, oh, it didn't feel great, but, you know, it looked good. So we often. The look of dressage can often not marry up with the feel of dressage. And sometimes on the other side, you can be doing things like collected work with horses and. And it feels amazing. And the horse looks disconnected and not quite there, but it feels, you know, light and sort of on its own and going by itself and it. And it looks dreadful. So, yeah, that's. That's where I think, as we develop as riders, it's almost like developing a sophisticated understanding of how does it feel and how does it look and trying to marry those things up together all the time.

I think another example of this is when, you know, you can be riding along and it feels wonderful because it's all quite sort of calm, under control, this. There's no tension, it's rhythmical. But then you might look on a video, for example, and think, oh, God, I look like I'm going at snail's pace.

Yeah, yeah, that's right. And so.

Yeah, so I guess as the first step, even before we get to the competition, it's going to have to be about, like you're saying, training our feelings to match up with the right look. And I guess that's going to be really about videoing and. And eyes on the ground.

That's it. That's it. And I mean, I'm sure, again, a lot of the listeners will be able to say, I. I've had lessons. I've had lessons where it didn't feel great, but the instructor kept saying, good. Yeah, and. And this is another thing that I want, you know, a lot of our listeners to. To think about is when you're, you know, the. I. The idea of having a coach or having someone help you be eyes on the ground, I find that writers aren't spending enough time making this decision wisely. So. So it's like, oh, Brett Parbury's in town. Oh, I might get a lesson. Well, that's just the most ridiculous thing you can ever think of, because you know, yes, of course I'll go in and try to give you all my. As much wisdom as I can in 45 minutes. But really, like, what the riders should say is, who do I really admire, who do I really like, everything they do with their horses. And then I want to now invest in. In this person and I want to stick with them. And when they're telling me it looks good, you know, I trust their opinion on this. Yeah. And it might not feel great, but the coach is telling me it looks better. Maybe it's me that needs to change. And. And rather than go, oh, he said it looked good, but it didn't feel good. I'm not going back. Which. How many times. Do you hear that? Yeah. So the look and the feel doesn't always match up. I wished it did because it would be easier then, but. Yeah. I think I've just gone on a slight tangent there. But that's probably the thing, is the judges and the coaches and everyone's trying to help the riders get the best look for what they're wanting to do in the sport of dressage.

Yeah.

And that's where I think we have to understand, too, there's a big difference between the sport of dressage and the lifestyle of dressage. And the sport of dressage is a sport like any other sport. You know, it's. It winning or doing well or performing at a high level doesn't always feel amazing.

It.

It can feel. It can feel scrappy, it can feel hard work. You have to pick up pieces on the way through and make decisions very quickly. It can feel very unsettling. But, and. And all of that happens. And this is the beautiful part about dressage, all of that happens with this beautiful, elegant picture of someone just cruising through a dressage test looking like they're doing nothing. But the reality is that sometimes when you do a good job, you are saving things all the time. You're saving mistakes from happening. You're saving horses from, you know, spooking or whatever. Making a mistake. Yeah. So does that. Is that making sense?

I mean, we're always happy to go on a Pabri tangent. You know, we're always happy for the tangent. Just a quick message from us. If any of the ideas discussed today resonate with you and you'd love to dive deeper, head over to performanceriders.com there's a bunch of free content for you and there's loads of opportunities as well to work with us. By enrolling in one of our training or Mentoring Programs, performanceriders.com Can you think of an example from your own writing or maybe more in general terms. I mean, you've ridden in literally the biggest arenas and shows in the world. World Equestrian Games, all the biggest shows. And there would have to be moments in those sorts of competitions and tests where given the situation and the atmosphere and everything, that some parts of the test actually don't feel that good. Is that right? I mean, can you think of a time where you're like, well, actually it ended up, you know, I ended up doing quite well, ended up scoring well, but in the moment, to be honest, didn't feel that great.

Yeah, yeah, I've got a great example. I mean, this is probably where, when I reflected on this example is probably where this concept really came out of them, you know, was I was at Arkin and I ended up, I know, sixth at Arin or something, and in the big class there and on Victory Salute. So we're going back a while now. We're 14 years ago and. And Victory Salute. When he was at his best, he would look amazing, really powerful, big up going and would be, you know, a little strong. Like I could, I could. There was moments when I was strong. I think looking back now, I probably could have ridden him way better than I did. But, you know, I. The horse would feel quite strong, but would look amazing. And especially through all the P. Passage tour and that trot tour that he. That he had. And I remember going up to see the Australian little group of Australians that were in the grandstands, which was including his owner, actually, Carolyn Lieutenant. And Carolyn had a few friends there, and one lady, very experienced lady, she said to me, she said, oh, that was beautiful. Love watching that. She said, it looks so light. And I thought, wow, that's really interesting because it. It feels anything but light, right? So, but, you know, I thought, wow, okay, well, she knows what she's talking about. It must have looked way better than it felt. And. And of course, the judges rewarded it too. Like, he ended up in the, you know, getting a high place there. So, yeah, so, yeah, that really resonated with me to say, you know, just keep trusting the eyes on the ground. Keep trusting the coach. The coach is telling me what I need to do. I need to find ways within this contact and within this way of doing these movements to find a feel. But, you know, I'm getting great information from the ground and I need to adjust my feelings to suit this and then make it as best I can for my horse to. To so that he wants to keep doing it for me. He wants to.

So, yeah, I think also, you know, thinking about that world stage, I mean, I can think of a number of very, very top writers who, you know, we all highly respect and admire. Isabel is probably the most obvious example here, that sometimes watching her in a test, you know, especially in some of those extended trots, you think, actually she doesn't look that comfortable.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, amazing. Like, she. What an amazing writer.

Amazing.

I think, to be honest, like, she is the master of producing a look and disregarding a feel.

Right.

Because she knows exactly what will score the points. And, you know, she also knows exactly how to bring out the best in a certain movement for that particular horse. So, you know, looking at the test like it's a. Just a mathematical equation, how do I get as many scores above 7 into all of the boxes on the test? And so, you know, some of Isabelle, I mean, there's not. There's never been a perfect horse born yet. Every horse has a weakness of some description somewhere in that Grand Prix Tour. And this is the beautiful part of Grand Prix, is it's. It's made to expose the weaknesses in your horse in training or in the horses, just the way the horse is naturally made up. So, you know, Isabel, for example, I'll just use Isabelle's. I mean, every. All the top riders are the same, but I'll use Isabelle because she's been around the longest and has had the most horses. You'll see horses that she rides and wins world championships and amazing things, and they might, for example, not be able to extended trot, but she does the perfect amount of extended trot for that particular horse to score the best points on the day. And that's a real talent. And I think that's something that riders shouldn't overlook. Like, okay, don't criticize Isabelle's extended trot. Actually give her credit for doing something that that horse is probably not the best at and getting the marks for it, like, and giving them. Giving the judges no reason to take the marks away. Like, that isn't. There's an enormous amount of sophisticated experience and feel and understanding of the sport to be able to do that.

Yeah, I love that. Reframing a little bit, because you're so right. We can look at horses and riders and, you know, it's a little bit, I guess, the nature of how the sport is judged. We're sort of working backwards and always being negative and sort of penalizing. But we could look the other way. Like, look at what they've actually achieved with this horse. Like, look what the training has achieved. I like that.

Yeah, yeah, that's. I mean, that's how I look at it. And I think you'll find that most of the top riders in the world are the same. It's like, oh, man, that's really clever. What she's doing there is so clever. And, and, you know, and we learn from that. And of course, we, you know, sitting in the grandstands, you go, oh, that's extended. Why did that get a seven? Oh, that's not a seven. Blah, blah, blah. And that's, of course, it is a sport of, of where you start from the top and work backwards. And so, but the, the people trying to do the job in the, in the test and ride their horses and compete are going, that's super clever. I'm going to take that. And, you know, because the other hand, right, is the horse doesn't do a very good extended trot. So we ride it and ride it and ride it and write it, and we try and develop it and develop it, and we get one great movement and then we ruin two other movements together, right? So, you know, and, and then you put the horse through all this unnecessary duress and stress and strain in order to get a mark for one movement, and then possibly then forget the most important part of the test, which is the collection and all of the collected movements that carry the coefficients and all the rest. So understanding the dressage test and understanding where the coefficients are, where the most amount of marks are, where then tell you where you need to put your focus and where you need to adjust your training system and where you need to then cover up a few of the other things that aren't necessarily the best, you know, for the, the best movement on the. For the horse.

Yeah. Okay. To finish us up on our parburyism conversation today, the parbury of ism was you don't get judged on feel in your coaching and, you know, online, when you're helping your writers in your performance writers programs, what are you seeing most typically from writers where they're prioritizing feel over the look? Are there certain areas that you can pinpoint with that? You mentioned lightness, perhaps that. That being one. Is there another one that you're seeing? Is it perhaps an. An energy or a lack of a positive tension? What are you seeing.

Usually? Look, I think usually it comes with the three main pillars of what we discuss in our program. The posture of the horse. So a rider riding the horse to see the pole never goes low like that. They think, oh, the pole of the horse, my pole, the pole of my horse must always be up, blah, blah, and forget completely about like the whole picture of the posture of the horse. So they're feeling that the horse is up and light, let's say, so up in light and, and then the horse is completely upside down and back down and, and all the rest. But their focus is on, oh, I must feel like my horse is always up, up here, up here, up and light, up and light.

That's a great point.

Riding the horse upside down, that's such a great point.

I just want to sort of put a pin in that one because it's. That the feel is taking over in that we're thinking uphill means always up in the pole, always up, up, up in the hand, whereas we've forgotten about the overall look of the whole posture of the whole horse.

Yeah, and that's where I think I want to mention the word awareness. For a rider to work on like understanding the complete look of the horse, they need to develop their awareness of the horse that's underneath them. The look from side on, the feel from underneath, the feel from the back end, the feel from everywhere in the horse, not just this little window that sits in front of your eyeballs, you know, so, so feel the horse behind you, feel the horse underneath you, feel the, the posture of the whole horse, how much energy the horse is giving you without running. Because that's another one. You know, someone, a rider who's riding for the feeling of going forward rather than the understanding of balance. Like the understanding of my horse must be energetic but balanced. And they think, I've just got to go forward, I've got to go forward, I've got to go forward, I've got to go forward. Feel, feel, feel. It's not forward enough. And you get to a point where you, the horse just can't keep up. The horse is just running around trying to keep up. So actually in that moment, understanding my horse must be balanced and energetic, feel like it's working and, and, and look like it's in a working trot. And that's all I need to do. And then I have to balance the horse. So it's a very closely related thing, like the look and the feel and it comes down to, and you know, of course, lightness is probably the, the biggest one because that soon, as I mentioned, or soon as the sport or instructor mentions lightness to a rider, they instantly think about their hands. And it's not about your hands, it's. It's a light. You're looking for a lightness through the whole horse from energy, from balance, from from a posture perspective. The horse is using its body and that's the lightness you're searching, not just lightness in your fingers and in your hands. That's not it at all. So those things I think and riders potentially not allowing themselves to develop awareness. That's where I'd like to focus everybody in this conversation is you'll, you'll ride a look when you can be super aware of what everything underneath you is doing, what it looks like from the side, what it looks like from the front, what the movements, what the the lines look like when you ride them, everything. And then if you can convince, not convince or if you can work on your awareness and work on being able to ride the look, you'll find that you are will the judges will reward you for it.

Awesome. Thank you so much, Brett for a fantastic conversation today.

Pleasure. Thank.

You.