MANIFESTO OF THE TRAINER WHO DOESN’T GIVE AWAY HIS VOICE

Not everyone who pays for a lesson wants to learn.

Not everyone who sits on a horse wants to listen.

And not everyone who says “yes” is truly willing to change.

This is not a manifesto for perfect riders.

It’s a message for those who believe they already know and stop listening.

For those who come looking for secrets, but can’t receive them.

When the receiver is closed, the message dies

Dressage begins with listening.

But not the horse’s.

The student’s.

Before the horse gets confused, the student has already disconnected.

Before the exercise fails, the instruction was dismissed.

Not out of rebellion, but worse out of the illusion of already knowing.

Many riders don’t fail because of lack of skill.

They fail because they are no longer open to transformation.

And without transformation, there is no dressage.

Only repetition. Exhibition. A hollow performance.

There is no teaching without a student who allows themselves to be taught

You can explain it a hundred times.

You can correct gently, precisely, patiently.

But if the student doesn’t truly listen,

everything dissolves between ego and haste.

To listen is not to nod.

To listen is to receive, to question, to surrender to a deeper logic.

It is to accept that maybe everything you’ve done so far was not enough.

It is to allow yourself to be shaped.

The greatest block in dressage is not in the horse it’s in the student

I’ve seen riders stuck for years.

Not for lack of talent or resources,

but because of one subtle attitude:

not applying what they don’t fully understand.

Listening without integrating.

Attending lessons without truly showing up to learn.

Meanwhile, their horse waits.

And the art stands still.

Those who won’t listen to the teacher will never be listened to by the horse

This is the part no one wants to hear.

Because it turns the gaze inward.

It removes the blame from the horse, the exercise, the weather, the day.

A rider who cannot be a student

will never be a true guide.

They will only be a body that imposes,

repeating without creating, pushing without leading.

I don’t share my methods with those seeking shortcuts.

I don’t hand over my knowledge to those who only want to copy results.

If you want formulas, go buy technique.

If you want true dressage, dare to listen.

Those who understand this have already begun.

Those who don’t are not ready.

And that’s okay too.

Isaac Ares