Windfall Farm Dressage

There are reasons we do specific things in the horse world. These common standards were not created by an organization like the FEI, USEF or other equestrian governing body. The origins of these practices are military. For example, when we enter a show ring, as pictured in the top image, we ride counterclockwise to the left. This is a centuries old cavalry and mounted military services rule that we still follow today.

Another example is in why we mount a horse on the left or near side? It's because cavalrymen wore their sabers on their left hip. When cavalrymen mounted on the left or nearside, their sabers remained stationary when the riders would swing their right leg over the saddle. This military near side mounting rule is still followed today.

The Haute école dressage movements pictured in the lower center collage are not "art" as many dressage rider believe. They are offensive and defensive cavalry battlefield movements employed against enemy infantry foot soldiers.

The lower left center image is a Capriole used by cavalry riders who were swarmed by enemy infantry. This powerful movement cause infantry to run from the cavalry horse, which allowed the cavalryman to escape the enemy foot soldier swarm. The lower center right image is the Courbette. This was used to break and scatter defensive square formations of infantry on the battlefield. Both are intimidation movements that could be deadly to an enemy soldier.

Another military based riding tradition is mounted drill team. Group drill team movements were a way to identify which riders in a troop that was in training had effective control of their horses, or not. Poor riders stick out in a drill team. Therefore, drill team training accelerated the instructor's ability to identify which riders needed more instruction.

The historical origins of effective horsemanship are most often found in military riding. It has only been since the 1970s that some of these military methods and practices have been replaced by less demanding civilian standards. For example, in warm up arenas today I regularly see chaos as every rider "does their own thing" without regard for any structured standards aimed at improved safety.

If you are doing something in your riding that you do not understand where it came from, the source is most likely military.

Your horse’s skeleton is built for impact — not confinement.

Three decades of equine bone research makes one thing painfully clear: Horses kept in box stalls lose bone density.

Not metaphorically. Literally.

Confinement triggers the same biological process humans call osteoporosis — and it starts fast.

Key findings from the research:

- Horses moved from pasture into stalls and worked only at slow speeds began losing bone mineral content within weeks.
- A single short sprint per week (50–80 m) dramatically strengthened bone.
- Corticosteroids mask pain and increase risk of further injury
- Good nutrition cannot override a lack of mechanical loading.
- A skeleton that doesn’t experience impact simply cannot stay strong.

All of this is drawn from:
Nielsen, B.D. (2023). A Review of Three Decades of Research Dedicated to Making Equine Bones Stronger. Animals, 13(5), 789.

So what does this mean for our modern domesticated horses?

It means bone weakness is not inevitable.

It’s a management problem.

It means many “mysterious” pathologies — stress fractures, suspensory injuries, joint degeneration, chronic compensation, recurrent lameness — are downstream consequences of bone that never had the chance to adapt to the forces nature designed it for.

Box stalls create osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis creates a whole lot of other pathology.

Your horse doesn’t need to be an athlete. But their bones require impact. Free movement. The ability to respond to their own nervous system’s cues to trot, canter, play, stretch, and even sprint.

Turnout is not enrichment.

Movement is biology.

Bone health is built — or lost — every single day.

A question I encourage every owner to sit with:

If you knew your horse’s bones were weakening in silence every day they stood still, would you keep managing them the same way?

Because in the end, it’s not confinement that keeps a horse safe.

It’s a resilient skeleton.

And only you can give them the environment their biology requires.

Change begins with us.