Ivy – Inspirational Equestrian #1

I read the Classical Dressage yahoo group where Ivy posts frequently asking questions and showing her progress through video. She rides this wonderful Quarter Horse named Jackson and I readily watch every video she sends to the group. In some ways she reminds me of myself, but in all ways she encompasses the spirit that I hope to always approach my horses with. Together they are doing really incredible things, which is why she is on my list of Inspirational Equestrians. This video is a culmination of a year of video clips rolled into one, and at the end the piaffe work is just lovely.

Visit Ivy’s Website

Anja Beran – Inspirational Equestrian #2

Anja Beran, a student of Marc de Broissia, Manuel Jorge de Oliveira (seen riding with Anja in the many online videos) and Luís Valença, is without a doubt an inspirational equestrian. She has a thorough background in Classical Equitation / Dressage and it shows. What I love a great deal in her work is the obvious relaxation and correctness of work. All things are done in lightness and thus appear seamless.

Visit Anja Beran’s Website

Carl Hester – Inspirational Equestrian #3

Recently I compared Carl Hester’s style of riding to that of Edward Gal, needless to say Edward Gal is not one of my inspirational equestrian references. I quite like a quote of Carl Hester’s - “You can’t blame your family for everything,” which I see as an extraordinary ability to take responsibility for your own life and its direction without blaming every fall or scrape on your upbringing. There are few Dressage Competitors at his level that I can bear to watch ride, but his rides have gone on to make me smile in enjoyment. Carl Hester has a sort of repertoire with his horses that is not commonly seen in the sport, and in doing so has earned a place in my heart as an inspirational equestrian.

Visit Carl Hester’s Website

What inspirational equestrians push you to go out and become a better rider?

I love discovering and adding to my list of Inspirational Equestrians and would enjoy finding out who inspires you!

Although most people can identify someone implementing Dressage in their program based on the saddle they are riding in and the outline of their horse, pinpointing the actual elements which ought to be present in those riders isn’t always at the forefront of everyone’s consciousness. I want to look a little closer at what is known as “The Training Scale” or the “Dressage Pyramid” and its importance.

Before I talk about how Dressage can benefit riders of every discipline and riding style, I want to go into the scale/pyramid and look at each individual element. After that I think the benefits will be more obvious. It is comprised of 6 elements.

1. Rhythm
2. Relaxation
3. Contact
4. Impulsion
5. Straightness
6. Collection

Each of these elements is built one upon the other, which is why it is often referred to as a pyramid. Think of the food pyramid, the food groups which make up the largest portions of our diet lie at the base of the pyramid. Unlike the food pyramid however you cannot simply exclude one element and still gain the others. You can produce an external appearance of these other elements, for example a rider can produce a horse who appears to be straight and collected but has no rhythm, relaxation, collection or impulsion. The problem with developing the horse in this way is that he will suffer in some other area. Many dressage horses develop joint and muscle problems at an earlier age, hit a wall in training where they cannot advance beyond second or third level and so on.

The beauty of such a system as the training scale/pyramid is that if you are having problems with one element you know to look back at those which are at its foundation to see where holes exist or improvements are needed. In my opinion this is a fantastic way to implement critical thinking skills and also eliminates a lot of guess work.

It is common now to see riders who compete based on the appearance of their horse vs. the horse’s actual development along the training scale/pyramid, which can account for many of the reasons riders are turning to other methods including rollkur/hyperflexion/LDR in order to improve the appearance of the horse’s gaits and secure higher scores in competition. Riders whose horses are solidly developed along the training scale however will always shine and stand out even without the extreme leg movement that is popularized right now.

Rhythm

The value of rhythm is without question. Not only does it develop a baseline upon with the horse’s physical development can be judged but also makes relaxation possible. I like to think of it like a metronome – the regular tick, tick, tick, tick, tick can almost bring autonomous hypnotism as your thoughts and actions fall into regularity. There is a reason that pianists practice with a metronome, the continuous rhythm assists them in reaching the same rhythm in their playing.

When we begin working with the horse it is important to develop them in a way that allows their body to carry a rider without undue stress and burden. When they are not yet physically fit the rhythm to which they move will be irregular, just as a persons’ movements are when they lack the physical fitness to perform certain actions. So in monitoring the horse’s rhythm you can begin to understand their physical strength and preparedness for the work you are asking of them.

Sometimes it helps for me to think of rhythm in terms of how it works with entrainment. If you’ve never heard of entrainment I encourage you to do a little research on it. I thought I had already written up a post about it but alas it looks like I will have to put that on my “to do” list for the moment.

Relaxation

The next building block is relaxation. Some will refer to it as suppleness but I really prefer to call it relaxation as I feel that is a more clear definition. In order to reach physical relaxation the horse’s body must be strong enough to work without strain. You cannot ask a person to be relaxed while jogging if it has been ten years since they have moved faster than a walk. Their muscles will be strained to perform what is being asked of them and as a result relaxation cannot be present. If however you were to ask a marathon runner to go for a jog it would be a simple task for their body and as a result they could do it in quite a relaxed manner.

Following a relaxed body the mind will follow. The horse’s mind will fret and stress if they are not physically capable of performing what you are asking. They will be out of balance – something that no prey animal likes to be faced with.

Contact

Following relaxation comes contact, an element which I believe is introduced far too early in the horse’s training – or perhaps expected too early on. Many look at contact as being the connection between the rider’s hands and the horse’s mouth through the reins. I prefer to view contact in a slightly different way though. I imagine it as the ability to communicate with all of the area’s of the horse’s body – not just the mouth. It means that I can influence the front legs, hind legs, the mouth, the back, the belly, the horse’s mind, and not just through the reins but through all of the aids in their simplest forms.

In the simplest forms the aids are singular. One rein alone. One leg alone. The seat alone. Often the aids are combined however to access all the areas of the horse but I feel that if combining the aids is necessary to influence the horse then there is another element missing which may be rhythm or relaxation.

Impulsion

Perhaps grossly misunderstood, and with good reason, is impulsion. I’ve heard people describe it as forward, speed, extension of the gaits, push from the hind limbs and so on. Sometimes it reminds me of the various descriptions I’ve heard over the Half Halt – many surrounded in vague wording. The Art of Riding website describes it as, “Free-flowing energy initiated by the rider, causing the horse’s back to swing, his quarters to engage, and his forelegs to articulate is impulsion.” According to Classical Dressage Notebook (by Sue Morris), “A horse is said to have impulsion when the energy created by the hind legs is being transmitted into the gait and into every aspect of the forward movement.”

For me it helps to think about where impulsion originates. It follows rhythm, relaxation and contact. It is also a form of energy. So impulsion is the element that comes when the horse movements rhythmically, is relaxed in body and mind, and every part of his body can be communicated with clearly through any of the aids acting on their own. Impulsion then is the rider accessing the horse’s energy in the simplest form of communication without hesitation or tension while the horse is physically capable of responding rhythmically.

Straightness

Once the horse is in rhythm, relaxed, able to be communicated with clearly and the rider can influence his energy, the next level of the pyramid can be achieved – straightness. If we are unable to influence the horse’s energy then all we are able to do is block, push and pull the horse into something that might appear straight. Being able to access the energy directly however requires far less physical effort on the part of the rider, does not result in degenerative or damaging physical results in the horse, and also produces a much more harmonious and attractive picture.

Straightness simply cannot exist without the base elements below it. Without rhythm the horse will be moving irregularly and one part of the body will have to work harder to make up for the other, weaker, areas. In a horse which lacks relaxation there will be a more pronounced presence of one-sidedness. Just as people generally have a stronger side so does the horse and with tension this imbalance grows. If the rider cannot communicate with all the areas of the horse’s body he also cannot directly and simply influence an area which interferes with developing the horse’s straightness. And finally, without impulsion the horse’s energy can also be out of balance with no means for the rider to channel it back into harmony and thus develop true straightness.

Straightness is not something which the rider creates, but rather it is the result of all the foundation below it having been developed systematically, patiently and correctly.

Collection

For as much as it is talked about, collection is the top tier of the pyramid which is rarely achieved in its truest form. That being after all of the other elements of the scale/pyramid having been developed correctly. Everyone wants to be a billionaire and no one wants to have to break a sweat doing it or go out of their comfort zone. The same happens with collection – we all want to ride a horse which is collected and beautiful but the time and effort involved in developing everything necessary to its actualization can get in the way. We’d rather inherit the cash from a rich distant relative who kicked the bucket.

To honestly ride a horse in true collection is vastly different from riding a horse which appears collected. The reason for this is a truly collected horse has an amazing amount of energy simply at the disposal of the rider to direct, and all of that energy is focused in one direction – that is through straightness. I think of it like if you are walking a pack of dogs and all are pulling in opposite directions, they will help keep you in one place. If however they were to all align in one direction you would be overpowered by their combined energy. The horse is the same way, there is no wasted energy. He is physically capable of performing the tasks that are being asked in such a way that he is also relaxed. He is no longer a run down sedan but instead a powerful sports car.

In Other Disciplines

If these elements were implemented in other disciplines the horse’s power grows exponentially. You do not have to ride your horse in a dressage saddle, in a snaffle bit, in an arena even, to develop these characteristics. That is the beauty that lies in Dressage. It has been transformed in the public’s eye as being a competitive sport but the truest qualities of Dressage can exist in any discipline including those just ‘hacking’ around in their backyard. And that, in essence, is why I love Dressage.

Perhaps the only question to go along with this piece is to ask yourself if you as a rider have all of these elements. Are you in rhythm by having the physical strength to perform? Are you then able to do the work in a relaxed state both physically and mentally? Can the horse communicate with you clearly through the aids and vice versa (remember, it’s a conversation and not dictation.. *wink*)? Is your energy able to be channeled at will? Can your energy not only be channeled but also be aligned into straightness?

Despite my initial “wow, I like this guy” reaction to seeing photos of him riding, reading about clinic experiences and even tracking down videos of him riding and working horses at clinics, I haven’t been able to dig up enough dirt to discredit my positive thoughts about this man. Unusual, I know.

Don’t get me wrong, there are usually positive points I can find in many equestrian trainers and clinicians, but to be without a large enough mar to make me veer slightly in the opposite direction over time is not nearly as common.

Perhaps I will have to eat my own words in the future, but for now it stands to reason in my little brain that all the signals I’m picking up on this horseman are great. I’m plugging in what I could scrounge up around the web to share with you – I like saving leg work when possible..

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Rollkur has been an issue written about on this blog fairly regularly, but until now there hasn’t been a clearly demonstrating video available to show a ‘professional’ using Rollkur in a competition setting for more than a brief period of time.

You can watch the edited version of approx. 4 minutes long showing *just* Kittel riding Stanic, including a slow motion portion making the flacid blue tongue flopping from his mouth all the more evident.

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Or you can watch an unedited version which shows other riders in the arena, including Anky van Grunsven and Patrik Kittel and a normal speed filming of the Stanic’s blue tongue.

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The FEI has begun an investigation into the issue, likely to save face against all the public protest that has arisen, and still acknowledges that they support the use of Rollkur by ‘professionals’. Interestingly enough, I’ve found more videos as a result of looking up Patrik Kittel on youtube, demonstrating that this is not a singular offense and that Rollkur is now part of his regular routine on the road to competition glory.

EponaTV, which posted the videos of Kittel at the World Cup, states on their website that this is normal routine with most international competitors when they film at shows and is not exclusive to Anky van Grunsven or Kittel, though Kittel does train with Sjef Janssen, Anky’s partner. Looks as though the disease is catchy…

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Sjef Janssen coaching Patrik Kittel aboard Stanic

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Happy Athlete?

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Anky in Aachen

Check out the following links for more info….

• EponaTV : Blue Tongue at World Cup
• EponaTV : Blue Tongue Video FAQ
• FEI Launches Investigation into Odense Dressage Warm-Up
• Dressage Disgrace Website
• Sign The Petition To BAN Rollkur!

Don’t have an answer to these questions? You aren’t alone. The term “on the bit” doesn’t have an origin in the long-time history of Dressage, but according to Bettina Drummond it is an orphan that is only causing chaos, confusion and much of the demise of Dressage.

I found this great article at Eclectic Horseman written by Dr. Max Gahwyler and Bettina Drummond which talks about the origins of “on the bit” :

There is no other statement used so often in Dressage riding as the horse should accept the bit, be on the bit, etc. And very often when you go to clinics or shows, it’s the predominant preoccupation of riders, trainers and, unfortunately, often also the judges. It is the foundation of Dressage riding in our country, and this should be just the reason why we should step back and have an unbiased look at what it does to Dressage riding (and why so many of our horses and riders get stuck or break down in the 1st or 2nd Level.)
So our next step is to go back to the countries where our present day Dressage originated 500 years ago, such as Portugal, Italy, France, Germany, Austria and Sweden, and scrutinize the literature in the original language and meaning, and not in the English translations, which are all very recent. Even the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) and later the American Horse Show Association (AHSA) Dressage Rulebook were only put into English in the 1920s. But, no matter how hard you look, even going back to the 15th and 16th century, you do not find any expression equivalent to “On the Bit.”
This expression, if you like it or not, fixes the attention of riders, trainers and judges on the head carriage and frame in front as the symbol and hallmark and primary objective of Dressage and training. Instead, the frame in front should express the engagement and throughness from behind and the rider in harmony with the horse on the aids; the frame in front should not be the result of hanging on the reins. It is well expressed in the German Federation statement that the horse seeks the contact and the rider provides it, not the other way around, since pulling the horse into a vertical head position has nothing to do with collection. On the contrary, it prevents engagement and develops nothing but an insensitive, unresponsive horse on the forehand and does not allow for an expressive movement in self-carriage.

The concept of collection and elevation in front. The lines behind the horse show the progressive flexion and engaging of the hindquarters. Wilhelm Museler from Reit Lehre 1928.

That brings up the subject of maintaining a sensitive and soft mouth, which goes back to the school of Naples. It was then clearly realized that in training a young horse, harsh rein action would occur, either inflicted by the rider, or the self-defense of a young horse, and the sensitivity of the bars would be progressively damaged. Let’s face it, a piece of steel in the mouth that is pulled on unilaterally or on both sides with the connection of the snaffle joint pushing against the palette is no treat. Also for about 6,000 years all snaffle bits had cheek pieces, so when using one rein, the cheekpiece of the other side prevented the bit from slipping through the mouth and pushed the head in the desired direction. More recently invented loose ring snaffles are not a step in the right direction.
So when you read the book of Johan Batista Galiberti, written in 1610 and translated into German in 1660, Galiberti, a pupil of Grisone and Piniatelli, recommends the training of the horses first in a caveson or hackamore until the basics are established and only then progressively introducing a bit. In addition, the reins to the bit are held in the left hand, which is always softer, and never used. Training continues with the caveson in the right hand until the horse is made light and in self-carriage. At this time, the caveson is progressively dropped and the connection established through the reins to the bit. But since the bit was never used for the training, the sensitivity and lightness was maintained and the principle of the Descente de Main evolved as used in the Ecole de Versailles and later became beautifully described by Robichon de la Guérinière and DuPaty de Clam.
Interestingly, a few years ago, the riding manuals of 1720 of the Royal Spanish Riding School, which were believed lost, were rediscovered in Vienna. And here again, the training of the young Lippizzaners was done in a caveson without a bit, which was only introduced after they had reached a secure level of training.
The remainder of this concept can still be seen in some lunging cavesons from Europe, having in addition an adjustable snaffle bit. These cavesons were common 50 years ago in Europe, but were never available in the United States where the concept of preserving a sensitive mouth was never a primary objective of Dressage training. However, in a young horse trained like this neither the lunge line or initially the side-reins were attached to the bit, so the introduction of the steel bit was a process of slow, gradual acceptance without any pressure. Later in the training, long side reins were attached to the snaffle, but never the lunge line, which only pulls the bit up or out of the mouth. Doing this is an abuse of the horse and only done by uneducated and insensitive horsemen.

Very few people have ever made or experienced a horse with a truly sensitive mouth, as neither trainers nor riders are concerned with this, as it is not part of the present culture of “On the Bit” in the U.S. In addition, the early introduction of the double bridle, not to speak about draw reins and other devices we see so often, is the hallmark of incompetence as well described by Udo Burger.
So how did the English term “On the Bit” appear in our terminology? To the best of my knowledge, it started with the creation of the FEI, which took place in 1921, initiated by General DeCarpentry with the assistance of Dr. Rau and the German General Halsing Bersett.
General DeCarpentry wrote the FEI rules and definitions in French as we see them today in the FEI rulebook using the sophisticated French Dressage vocabulary with its infinite nuances and meanings. But nowhere do we find any expression even remotely resembling our notation of “On the Bit.” which would translate in French as “Sur le Mors,” an expression which simply does not exist.
The Germans never translated the French FEI text, understanding most French and having an eloquent and well-established equestrian vocabulary of their own as demonstrated in their rule book and the publication of Basic Principles of Riding and Advanced Techniques of Riding by the German Equestrian Federation. Nowhere do we find anything in the original German version close to our statement of “On the Bit,” which is only occasionally used in the English translation for lack of any other expression. So why does this definition of “On the Bit” come up in the English FEI version which became today’s AHSA Dressage Rules and definitions in the official rule book?
Since there was hardly any Dressage in the early 1900s in England or in the United States, nor any English books on Dressage or magazines, there were simply no real equivalent terms for the statements of DeCarpentry, not to speak of reflecting the nuances of meaning of the French Dressage terms. I do not know who translated in the 1920s to ‘30s the French FEI text into English. It is eminently clear that the translator had a fairly good grasp of French but not of the French equestrian terminology, and the term “On the Bit” was created without really understanding what was meant in French or how this newly created definition would affect riding in English-speaking countries.
Lacking any other source of information, this FEI text was taken over by the AHSA and is still the official version which we see today in our rulebook, including the statement “On the Bit” without any futher explanation. Also, our AHSA rules reflect primarily FEI requirements, movements and gaits with no really meaningful statement from Training Level to 4th Level. Even recently introduced new movements such as chewing the reins out of the hands are neither referred to nor defined after they were put into our tests six years ago.

Just to show you a quick example of the first few pages of the AHSA rulebook and how this can lead to complete misinterpretation of the original French text of DeCarpentry, article 401-3 states “The horse gives the impression to execute of his own accord what is required of him, etc.” But in article 401-6, it states “In all his work, even at the halt, the horse must be on the bit”-which obviously includes training levels and introductory levels, since there is no distinction made. This in no way represents the finesse of the French Dans la Main (“on the aids”). But in article 403-3, it states that at the walk the horse should not be asked to walk on the bit, and in article 403-4.2, it states that at the medium walk the horse must be on the bit. This makes absolutely no sense, and if you want, you can go through the entire rulebook as far as riding is concerned and find contradictory statements like this one after the other.
If in our English translation we would say in article 401-6 that the horse in all its work even at the halt remains obediently under the influence of the rider’s aids, this would be closer to the true French meaning and removes the fixation to the hands, the bit and the front of the horse, and leads to a more integrated approach of all aids applicable to this movement.
Using this expression “On the Aids,” we could approach the variability of the French terminology with expressions like “teaching the young horse the progressive acceptance of the aids” up to the FEI levels where it should be on the aids. This includes lightness and self-carriage: not pulled into an artificial frame in front, the emphasis placed on the seat, position, weight, harmony between horse and rider and correct timing and coordination of all the aids. An artificial frame in front does not allow for expressive movement in self-carriage.
But to replace the expression “On the Bit” and banish it forever to oblivion is really no problem, since over the past 50 years we have established a vocabulary of Dressage in America. Terms such as “Acceptance of the Aids,” “On the Aids,” “Throughness,” “Connection,” “Lightness,” “Self-Carriage,” “Swinging Back,” “Relaxation,” “Balance,” and “Engagement,” just to name a few, would much better demonstrate what we really mean and which are really the objectives of Dressage.

Then we achieve what the FEI and DeCarpentry said originally; namely, that the horse gives the impression of doing on his own what is required of him, and not pulled together behind the vertical and consistently on the forehand and never truly through. Unfortunately, we see this all the time from Training Level up to a lot of poor piaffes, passages, piourettes and awful transitions.
Allowing the horse to seek the aids as the older Germans said, or the coordinated aids, aids coming through the back, non-interfering aids, weight aids, seat aids, supporting aids, leg aids, etc. with the horse determining the contact would probably better represent what we really should aim for in Dressage.
Also, what further seems to justify to pull together the front of the horse, and often behind the vertical and call it Dressage, are photos shown in European and in American Dressage magazines of winning teams with an incorrect, pulled together, short frame in front. Even though we always speak of Classical Dressage, nobody seems to go back to the original drawings and photos of the past. Interestingly enough, this concept of having a horse in front of you and with a head carriage more in front of the vertical the more it is collected is clearly depicted in the pictures of Müseler, (see diagram on facing page), which were adopted as correct by the FEI as long as Niggli was its chief but have pretty much fallen by the wayside as of now.
On the one hand magazines print the statements of Harry Boldt, Klaus Balkenhol, Christine Stuckelberger, Cindy Sydor, etc, condemning pulling the horse together in front and then publish dozens of pictures showing exactly the opposite, with horses pulled behind the vertical winning competitions. Take a look in one of the many Dressage publications available in the U.S. and judge for yourself. A clear policy and message to the Dressage community could not hurt.

In a more recent example in an article with Christine Stuckelberger said, “Today you see the horses pulled together. This is a mistake. A judge should penalize a horse that is tense and always goes behind the vertical.”
Harry Bolt said, “Regarding horses’ necks, I think judges should be more careful that horses’ noses are in front of the vertical.”
Snydor echoes the comments of many colleagues in adding that an overemphasis on the front end of the horse is another threat posed by poorly trained and performed exhibition work. “If it’s too much about the head, neck and front legs, it’s bad,” she says. “It may be more spectacular to the uninitiated, but there is already too much emphasis on the front end in regular dressage. We don’t need to be promoting that emphasis any further.”
Another reason the scores are so high today is because of the gaits our top horses show, not because of the quality of the execution of the difficult dressage movements. Just look at the horses’ mediocre piaffes, passages, flying changes and transitions, etc., we see in all the shows. But the German warmblood has a habit of going forward no matter what kind of head position the rider puts him in, even though this does not represent correct training and pulls him on the forehand.

In conclusion, since we now have a terminology in the United States correctly expressing the objectives of Dressage, maybe the time has come to upgrade our definition and rulebook statements and get rid of terms that not only make no sense but also are detrimental to the future of our sport.
It would be a nice beginning of the new century.

Read Original Article on Eclectic Horseman »

As a Massage Therapist and NeuroMuscular Therapist, the alignment and focus on the horse’s pelvis makes much more sense to me than focusing in the position of the head and neck, although the two do influence one another and are inter-dependent. The state of modern horsemanship is short-sighted, looking only at what is in front of us when riding, than looking at what is underneath us. But, as a bodyworker, I am also reminded frequently that this is not common knowledge and unfortunately is not widely known among the public – yet. :)

I love the visual in the second image shown above, which illustrates the relationship of the horse’s pelvis to his balance point and center of gravity, as well as how it affects the horse’s neck posture. In humans there is a similar correlation. If our pelvis is rotated one direction or the other our neck vertebrae will likewise have more or less curvature.

I don’t know about you, but when I read things like the above article it gets my blood moving and makes me want to become fluent in french, german and portuguese just so I can pore over the classic literature…

“On The Bit” image © Emmy Pimlada

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And, in case you weren’t privy to the show live or watched it previously, or maybe you just want to watch it again… here is the winning video of Reiner Klimke riding Ahlerich to Gold at the 1984 Olympic Equestrian Games.

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I work a lot in metaphors, it helps my mind connect ideas and make sense of theories that may otherwise leave me in the dark. So, this is how I’m going to compare collection in the sense of competitive dressage… a bit like a weight lifter bench pressing weights that are inflated with air. Sure, it might look like he is lifting 300 pounds and his muscles are certainly flexed, he has some sweat upon his brow… but there is something missing and that is the reality of the weight, the action, the exercise. It looks like a bench press and acts like a bench press, but is he really lifting any weight? No.

What we see in the competitive arena are collected movements that look like collection, act like collection, are called collection and scored as though they are collection, but there is that vital thing missing – the reality of collection.

Let’s think a bit about the individual movements that are a result of collection : Piaffe, Passage, Canter Pirouette, Flying Changes, Collected Canter, Collected Walk, Extended Trot. Collection unfortunately is often mistaken as being synonymous with slow or short. We see many variations on these different movements and instead of writing a giant article, I think instead I will pull a collection of pictures together and make comments. I like the way my brain functions with visual interaction…

The Piaffe

Let’s start with something easy. Why do I say easy? Well because there are many more pictures of piaffe that I can track down than there are collected walk.

Ever notice that there is a large prevalence of stallions in the competitive arena of dressage who succeed vs geldings and mares at the international levels. Certainly, it is beneficial to promote breeding stallions, but it occurred to me a question of whether it has anything to do with the strength of their neck muscles, in particular those which help to lift the shoulder girdle. Testosterone does lead to more muscle mass and development, and stallions naturally have a greater development of their topline. It can certainly help mask one of the indicators of collection, and that is the ‘little dipper’ in front of the withers. Many stallions are without it thanks to mother nature. So how does this play a role in collection you ask?

The neck muscles assist in lifting the cervical vertebrae as well as the shoulder girdle. Changing this alignment assists the hindquarters in bearing weight and flexing of the joints… all important elements of collection. In many ways, the efforts of asking the horse to collect are a way of improving the horse’s posture. Just like humans, we don’t always have naturally good posture, and when we then lift things and become weight bearing we can damage our muscles, our joints, our bones, etc. Things wear and tear that aren’t supposed to. What happens when you pick up something with bad posture? Do you find that you are nimble, agile and able to move easily about with this new weight, or do you tend to feel the weight pressing down upon you, having difficulty moving up and down stairs with this weight, maneuvering tight areas and so on? Then try lifting an object and carrying it with good posture so you are in balance, that is exactly the purpose of collection, and the movements listed above that come about are only signs and signals of that achieved balance while bearing weight.

Okay, I’m getting a bit off direction, but that is okay. I wanted to touch on the matter of hock injections in dressage horses who have not yet hit the age of 10. Sound like they are wearing their joints improperly? Absolutely! That is a sign of weight bearing that is not in balance, and is not in collection! It is one thing in a sport of impact such as jumping and eventing, but riding your pony about a 20 x 60 meter, imo, should not warrant hock injections at an early age. Back on track…

Let’s see some pictures.

Now, before you go scrolling down and getting adventuresome on me… let’s talk about the first picture. Yes, I will be blacking out faces because I would hope someone would do the same for me and this isn’t some personal vendetta against competitive riding, my only goal is to pull attention to what to look for in clues whether your horse is giving you collection.

I want you to look the picture over, maybe even write down what you like and what you don’t like. Let’s do this with 5 things each, 5 likes and 5 dislikes. We’ll compare notes later. Often piaffe is considered correct when the horse brings the hind feet underneath the body, i.e. underneath the point of hip, when the diagonal legs are moving in unison, and the horse’s head is on the vertical. Now we’ve already covered some points referring to posture, but I want to reiterate. In particular with the position of the horse’s head. Not all horses are posturally capable of bringing their nose on the vertical and still maintaining the posture needed to be balanced in collection. Often what happens is that the horse compensates in his body somewhere for the position of the head that he is otherwise not physically capable of maintaining.

Humans do this sort of postural compensation all the time. It is prevalent among our species and you can see it in person just walking down the street on any given day… that is if you know what you are looking for. If you don’t, people just look like people, normal everyday people. In this case it is usually only those who overstep the boundaries by a large margin that we notice – someone hunched over with a humpback posture, or someone with such an extreme swayback that it obviously affects their walking pattern. The person who’s neck juts forwards, or the man who doesn’t seem to have any bend in his neck at all.

For the most part, we all have postural problems, and unfortunately it is considered a norm. The things that cause chronic but not completely debilitating low back pain, the migraine headaches that we put up with or try to sooth with medication and dark rooms. The list goes on. With the horse we invent new gadgets to deal with the postural problems, we use more force and leverage to ‘stretch’ and ‘flex’ him into “suppleness.” Then there are the new methods of training that are ‘based upon classical principles’ and only prove to further injure the horse on a whole new level.

Let’s see how this horse might be compensating for posture that isn’t bringing him into balance.

I hope you like the marks I made, it will help guide your sight to the what and where’s that I talk about. Firstly, what I mentioned earlier about the development of the neck muscles and the tell-tale dip in front of the withers. That is marked with a red circle and labelled with a 1. It isn’t the best quality picture, but it is fairly clear to see.

Next we will move on to spot 2, the second red circle. This is referencing the closure of the horse’s throatlatch. Again, not all horses are capable of maintaining an ‘on the vertical’ nose position without having to compensate somewhere in their body. Line 3 references this as well, showing the nose on the vertical. Line 4 references the poll being the highest part of the horse’s body. His is close, but no cigar, the crest of his neck beat him to it by a few hairs. Why is the poll being high an important indicator? With the exception of some stallions (particularly Spanish bred) whose necks are so cresty they would not in a million years make the mark, it shows that the horse is not compensating in the cervical vertebrae. When the horse is overbent, or made to come to the vertical without the right build for it, his cervical vertebrae will help compensate and as a result the posterior portion of the neck (the top of the neck) will protrude higher than the poll. Think of a piece of paper, held so you are looking at the flattest/thinnest portion, held between your thumb and forefinger on either end. When you hold the paper taught so that it is straight, it is structurally at it’s strongest (if paper can be strong… :)) without having to be modified. You can lift one end and lower the other and it stays the same strength. Now, you are going to hold one end (this will be considered the horse’s withers) just as before, the other end (which is now the horse’s forehead), you are going to make a fold about an inch from the edge as though the new ‘tab’ is the front of the horse’s face. Make it in such a way that it is about a 45 degree angle difference from it’s original position in a straight line. Resume holding the tab with your thumb and forefinger, now bring the horse’s nose to a vertical position. What happens along the horse’s neck? Does the crest bow upwards behind the horse’s poll making it the highest point? And what about near the withers? Does it create a hollow there as well? This is why the common use of bringing the horse’s nose on the vertical is not a sign of collection, but often a sign of postural compensation.

Let’s get rid of the paper. The next point is line 5 – which shows a vertical alignment for the weight-bearing front leg. Notice that the leg does not align vertically? What this shows is that the horse’s posture has to compensate in some manner for weight bearing the hind legs. The horse is bringing the front leg behind and under him to assist in bearing weight vs flexing the joints of the hindquarters, adjusting the relationship of the cervical vertebrae and the shoulder girdle and finding balance in collection. So the front legs are still bearing a large amount of weight that the hind legs are not capable of doing in this postural arrangement.

Line 6 is just a basic reference for your mind. The relationship between the point of shoulder and the stifle, points to the fact that the horse’s hindquarters are not actually ‘sitting’ anymore than the joints are flexing.

And finally, the lines of 7. These show the reference angles between the joints in the horse’s hindquarters. The angle between the stifle, hock and fetlock shows it to be very open, bracing almost. The foot is well under the horse’s body but the lack of flexion shows that the horse isn’t balanced and isn’t collected.

In Case you are wondering about the ‘naked development’ of the horse, i.e. the horse’s physical development in piaffe without a saddle and rider… here’s a link to the same horse performing piaffe in hand. Note the same dip in front of the withers, nose on the vertical creating the highest point of the neck to be behind the poll. Lack of engagement in the hind legs…

Wow, isn’t this fun! I just love playing with pictures some days, though admittedly it happens only once in a blue moon…

Next Up : Another Piaffe

So again, as before, 5 likes and 5 dislikes. This is a good contrasting piaffe because these are two very differently bred horses, and two different kinds of compensation.

Now, onto the next example, I hope you haven’t been peeking…

Once again I have laid out lines to make it easier to understand. I managed to forget numbering them however… so bear with me.

We’ll start from right to left, first with the vertical line, showing the horse is actually behind the vertical with his nose. The horizontal line again demonstrates that his poll is not the highest point, by a greater measure than our first example. The circle around his throatlatch shows that it is closed. Second circle near the withers points out that although the horse has a very well developed crest, there is still a mild dip near the withers.

The vertical line on the weight bearing foreleg shows that he is not compensating nearly as much to support the weight bearing of the hind legs by dropping his front leg underneath himself, but if we then turn our attention to the hind limb that is weight bearing we can see that he is not on the hindquarters at all as it trails out almost behind his body in the weight bearing phase.

I like to think of it like this a little… what happens when we mess around with our posture. Take your head and bring your chin in as far as it will go, if you can touch your chest great, if not that is fine. Take it to the limit that you can structurally go. Now, hold this posture while you are sitting first. Maybe even sit beside a full length mirror. Pay attention to what happens to your shoulders. Do they round forward over time? Try to hold your posture perfectly straight while you keep your chin in position. You may be capable initially, but over time your muscles become tired and your body tries to compensate for this awkward and unnatural position.

Now, do the same exercise while standing. Pay close attention to what happens to your hips. Do they rotate forwards or back? Are you able to flatten your low back and take the curve out of it? That is in effect much of what the horse has to do in the piaffe when correctly collected, he utilizes the strength of his loin while changing the angle of his pelvis. In humans it would be taking the curve out of the low back, flexing our leg joints. How is your body feeling with your head in this position? It would be really easy for someone to influence your speed and direction if you kept your head in this position, it affects your posture and weakens your balance point.

Next!

By now, you should know the drill.. 5 likes and 5 dislikes.

I just want to point out ahead of time, that of the three examples, this is the only image which displays a horse whose tail isn’t swishing and muscles overall appear generally soft and supple. Just a side note.

Now, onto my marked up image, and I even remembered numbers! Yay…

I have failed to add the circles around the throatlatch and at the withers on this image, for two reasons. First, the throatlatch is open and I think that is pretty clear to see. Second, the withers are not really clear to see beyond the saddle pad, so will receive little commenting from me, I try not to make assumptions when possible.

Line #1, shows the horse’s nose beyond the vertical, allowing his throatlatch to stay open, him to effectively use his neck muscles in lifting the shoulder girdle and adjusting his overall posture to change weightbearing to the hindquarters. Line #2 demonstrates the poll as the highest point.

Line #3 shows the one vital place of weakness, that being that the front leg is stepping underneath the horse to help bear weight. Based upon the overall picture of this piaffe I could try to surmise that it may be some form of muscular weakness that he has not yet been developed physically enough to maintain this correct posture without some help from the front end yet. That being said, it is still only a guess and will lead into nothing more.

Lines #4 show more flexion in the hind limb joints. They are closing more, think of how an accordion folds into itself. The angles between the lines are also fairly even which shows that the joints are bearing stress fairly equally.

Line #5 is a reference showing the relative position between the weight bearing foot and the horse’s point of hip. The hip is beginning to be the primary point of stress overall, vs the fetlock, hock or stifle joint. If the horse were to come underneath himself anymore the loins would take the brunt of the load.

Line #6 is again one more reference showing that the hindquarters are indeed dropping rather than maintaining level with the horse’s front end.

And with that, I think I will end this portion of Competitive Collection : Bench Pressing Air Weights. Tune in next time for examples of other collected movements…

This leads me to think of an action talked about recently about stopping the horse in a way not necessarily understood as to it’s working but that it does in fact work. To raise one rein upwards and taking the other directly back. It has been rolling through my thoughts unable to pin down exactly what I know it’s usefulness derived from, until yesterday. I was working with my lovely gelding, Tanjobi, when I thought I would experiment with it some. Not using it in quite the same way, while the direction of the reins was the same, the pressure was that of experimental value (read – very light). The action opens the horse’s mouth. It breaks the clenching resistance that comes when a horse attempts to run away with the rider. When the horse locks the mouth, grabs the bit, and runs. It also combines the elevation element inherent to the half halt.

So, Baucher then. Françoise Baucher prescribed a series of suppling exercises for the horse’s mouth while standing still, but primarily what they involve is the softening of the jaw. They emphasize opening of the mouth by the bits position.

I continued to run it through my mind then, the combination of the open mouth with a form of suppling, its connection with the use of a tightened noseband/flash/etc, and also how it can be witnessed that the horse can still run away with the rider and an open mouth.

Dressage horses, for as often as they are emphasized to be light and soft in the mouth, I have found often to be quite heavy. They take a very firm contact on the reins, which supports the use of physical force to then influence them. Could the noseband have an effect on this? Is it that traditionally taught Dressage looks for a horse to take that heavy/firm contact and it is best obtained with a tight noseband, which also hides the open/chewing mouth?

It isn’t uncommon for riders to see-saw the reins, that is pull left to right in an effort to soften the horse’s response to their aids, bring about a more ‘appealing’ head set, and gain some measure of control. This action ‘opens’ the horse’s mouth, whether it can be seen physically or not.

And then the horse who can still bolt and run with a wide open mouth… but is the difference really at the base of the neck? So a horse with an open mouth who has not elevated the base of the neck, is still enabled to run wildly on the forehand and thus subject to the forces of momentum? And a horse with an open mouth and elevation at the base of the neck will find themselves more at liberty to respond at the whim of the rider as their weight becomes more balanced? Very good questions that are still floating in mind.

Much has been written on the subject of hyperflexion of late. It seems that since the initial public outcry for it’s abusive effects, a multitude of evidence has since been designed to prove just that in every media – web, print, video and audio. There are seminars, there are lectures, books and so on. They are based on several strong points, including for example:

1. Physical Ramifications – proving the structural and muscular damage that occurs from the use of hyperflexion in training and riding the horse, from temporary to permanent, though the emphasis is on permanence.
2. Psychological Effects – the comparison has been made, that the use of hyperflexion (extreme) develops two types of horses, those that becomes mentally unstable and perhaps will not stand up to this kind of training for one reason or several, and those that have popularized the term “learned helplessness” in the horse world.
3. The use of hyperflexion by Classical masters, wholly those unpopular by riders adhering to the Gueriniere model of dressage. In particular Baucher and the Duke of Newcastle.

It often seems to require that such an extreme form of any of our riding habits come to light before we recognize in any way that we too have been participating in the same methods we now despise, but it has not yet become popular to despise all forms of hyperflexion aside from those which are extreme…

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Hyperflexion has found it’s way into almost every barn and stable, through the simple lack of awareness to it’s presence. From english to western, and even the ‘classicists’ of dressage. It is a loss of the horse’s posture. Why is that? Because correct posture is what dictates our ability of balance, strength, coordination and health. When we lose our posture, we lose one or many of those elements. The same goes for the horse. His loss of posture may show up as him being on the forehand, or being less coordinated in his movement. High level dressage horses are commonly seen losing their coordination in the basic gaits – broken trot diagonals, four beat canters, lateralized walks. When they move up to perform the collected movements it is often seen them almost falling over their own feet. Of course the splendor of tense energy often blinds us to these components, instead we see the legs lifted almost to the ceiling and the stark comparison of slow (almost dead energy) piaffes transitioning into explosive ‘extended trot’.

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We fail to understand even what our own posture looks like when it is correct or incorrect most of the time, unless we’ve been specifically educated in that area. What is viewed as correct has fallen to what is most appealing to our eyes and pleasing to our senses, rather than what functions most efficiently to keep us healthy and capable.

As riders, our posture in the saddle frequently mimics that which we have disposed our horses to taking. We lean, we hunch, we have no balance, no center. We have no strength, though that is the very means we rely upon to direct the horse, and we have little coordination of our limbs without dependence upon the others. We have created in our horses the things we struggle with ourselves.

The use of the horse’s neck as a means of leverage and control has been a long standing tradition in the world of equestrians. When we fail to understand the depths of communication, we then resort to physical means of accomplishing our goal. We can be strong, or we can be precise. We cannot be precise without strength, and we cannot be strong without precision. When we rely on strength solely, we lose our precision, our ability to sense pressure becomes dulled. It is through the release of pressure and the relinquishing of our strength that we once again find precision. They both support each other, and they both deter the other – to find the balance is to perfect them both.

International Rider, Coby Van Baalen’s Power & Paint

The issue of hyperflexion continues to arise and stir the emotions of equestrians, and still it has been allowed. It has been given support to be utilized by ‘professionals’. A privilege also given to the users of draw reins and other gadgets, which have long been purported to only be effectively used by the highly skilled, and by the same token unnecessary tools to the highly skilled. A double edged sword. Some rules, often not followed in competition only serve to support the breaking of more rules and subsequently the misunderstanding and abuse of the horse. For example:

“The head should remain in a steady position, as a rule slightly in front of the vertical, with a supple poll as the highest point of the neck, and no resistance should be offered to the rider.” FEI

“The neck should be raised, the poll high and the head slightly in front of the vertical.” FEI (on the Halt)

“The walk is a marching pace in a regular four time beat.” and “When the fore leg and the hind leg on the same side move almost on the same beat, the walk tends to become an almost lateral movement. This irregularity, which might become an ambling movement, is a serious deterioration of the pace.” FEI (on the Walk)

“Irregular steps with the hind or front legs, swinging the forehand or the hindquarters from one side to the other, as well as jerky movements of the forelegs or the hind legs, dragging the hind legs in the moment of suspension or double beat are serious faults.” FEI (on the Passage)

“The hindquarters are lowered; the haunches with active hocks are well engaged, giving great freedom, lightness and mobility to the shoulders and forehand. Each diagonal pair of legs is raised and returned to the ground alternately, with spring and an even cadence.” and “The neck should be raised and gracefully arched, with the poll as the
highest point.” and, especially… “Moving even slightly backwards, irregular or jerky steps with the hind or front legs, no clear diagonal steps, crossing either the fore or hind legs, or swinging either the forehand or the hindquarters from one side to the other, getting wide behind or in front, moving too much forward or double beat rhythm are serious faults.
A movement with hurried, unlevel or irregular steps, without cadence or spring cannot be called a true piaffe.” FEI (on the Piaffe)

More from the FEI… “Submission (original bold) does not mean subordination, but an obedience revealing its
presence by a constant attention, willingness and confidence in the whole behaviour of the horse as well as by the harmony, lightness and ease it is displaying in the execution of the different movements. The degree of submission is also manifested by the way the horse accepts the bridle, with a light and soft contact and a supple poll, or with resistance to or evasion of the rider’s hand, being either “above the bit” or “behind the bit” respectively.
“Putting out the tongue, keeping it above the bit or drawing it up altogether, as well as grinding the teeth and swishing the tail are mostly signs of nervousness, tension or resistance on the part of the horse and must be taken into account by the judges in their marks for the movement concerned as well as in the collective mark for “submission”.”

“The heels should be the lowest point.” (on the Rider)

“Article 419 OBJECT OF INTERNATIONAL DRESSAGE EVENTS
The FEI instituted an International Dressage Event in 1929 in order to preserve the Equestrian Art from the abuses to which it can be exposed and to preserve it in the purity of its principles, so that it could be handed on intact to
generations of riders to come.”

Complete FEI Rules

How have we traveled so far from these ideals? That the very simply stated rules of the FEI have been pushed to the side, and those being rewarded are guilty of breaking nearly every one of these rules. Poll high, head in front of the vertical, is sacrificed for false submission and the use of force.

One of the most popular of recent rides, that of Andreas Helgestrand with his very young, 9 year old mare, shows many of these broken rules. Though not including rollkur/hyperflexion, it is still a prime example of how the slow breakdown of rules leads to the fast breakdown to abuse. Easily caught on tape, but glaringly present in photos…

Note the raised heel of the rider. The horse’s face is behind the vertical, swishing tail, mis-shapened lip and excessive foaming of the mouth. The horse is far from collection with hind legs trailing behind her. This is the horse who won the competition…

If we have allowed the laxity of even the basic elements involved in Dressage, it becomes no wonder that we would then turn a cheek to the presence and growing popularity of hyperflexion. Any means possible to win, to become a star, to create the movements that require an artist’s touch to perfect. Get involved, speak out, make this unpopular. Why are we afraid to protect our horse from abusive training methods, to save face from those who are popular at the moment. Have we never left high-school and the cliques and peer pressure? The horse must come first!

Links of Interest :

USDF Statement of Animal Welfare

Rollkur Comments from USDF Region 4 News

Sustainable Dressage’s Explanation of Rollkur

News Release – Power & Paint

Sjef Janssen – His Method

Horses For Life – A Rollkur Pictogram

Walter Zettl on Rollkur

“Learned Helplessness” with Ulrike Thiel

**English Translation of “Dressur Pervers”**