What AI Has in Common with Dressage
Yes, horse dressage. Hear me out.
Did you know that a little over a year ago, LA was on fire?
Yep, for real — that's where I live. '
Our place was quite literally in the line of fire, so my husband Danny and I hightailed it out of there to our friend's mom's place in Orange County. She was generous enough to host us for a whole week (thanks, Debbie).
Debbie's lifelong passion is horses. She owns three ribbon-winning champions. Hell yeah, Debbie.
Over the course of the week, Debbie shared some incredible stories, and I learned way more than I ever knew about horses — including the fact that there is WESTERN dressage and ENGLISH dressage. And if you're sitting there thinking, “I don't even know what dressage is” —
Yes you do.
Remember this iconic Snoop Dogg moment?
Never gets old.
So what does this bewitching horse lambada have to do with AI prompting?
Here's the thing about dressage: the horse is ostensibly doing the work, and it's the horse's performance that gets judged. But the horse's footwork reflects largely on its rider.
The same dynamic plays out with AI.
The quality of your AI output reflects the quality of your prompt — which is to say, the specificity and care you brought to it. Better prompt, better output. It really is that direct.
And here's the part that trips people up:
You can actually ask ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever LLM you're using to help you write better prompts. The tool can help you get better at using the tool.
"Look at that horse, look at that horse, look at that horse." — Beyoncé
Now. You're probably thinking one of the following:
"Oh, I get it — just hadn't thought of it that way." Yeah, trippy, right?
"Cool. How do I make this useful?" Treat it as a reminder to slow down before you prompt. Think about the context you might be taking for granted. Your LLM is not a mind reader — at least not for another couple of months.
"I HATE AI." That may be true, but she's not going anywhere. We're learning to coexist.
"AI is bad for the environment and I'm not interested." Completely valid. Personally, I need to understand it to stay current in my industry — but if it's not a priority for you, more power to you.
"PINK PONY CLUB." I'M GONNA KEEP ON DANCING DOWN IN WEST HOLLYWOOD. I'M GONNA KEEP ON DANCING AT THE PINK PONY CLURB. PINK PONY CLUBBBBB.
Does this analogy resonate? What would you add?
This piece is adapted from What AI Has in Common with Dressage, originally published on LED Musings on March 12, 2025.
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