Single Sport vs. Cross-Training

The search for mastery brings with it the question of specificity. If you are trying to master a particular sport, should you focus on and practice that sport exclusively? Or might cross-training, and using tools from outside that sport, benefit you in some way? Certainly, there is a lot to argue in favour of practicing only your sport in order to get better at it. From a physiological standpoint, there is even more to argue for multi-disciplinary training.

Most simply, cross-training allows you more tools to accomplish the job. And isn’t it always better to have a few possible solutions rather than just one?

Many horses have a dominant side, meaning they lean with their bodies or drift towards that direction. Turning the horse in this direction, or trying to ride around a circle, will feel like being on a motorcycle that is tipped towards the ground. A horse with this kind of crookedness in his body alignment can be rough to canter, difficult to bend, and unresponsive to your leg cues. 

In dressage, we usually attempt to accomplish this by riding exercises like circles, shoulder-fore, or shoulder-in. These tools work by encouraging the shoulder that is positioned on the inside of the turn to draw upwards and back as the horse curves his body. As with any exercise, though, many horses quickly