Thankfully not all judges are the same horsey123! One of my own ex working students, Mike Aylmore does very well in competition, riding the way I taught him, so there is some light at the end of the tunnel!!
But to further explain the DVD- the sensational bit is only at the beginning. Gerd Heuschmann, who has been accused of being piqued at the Dutch winning the medals these days, hence his attack ( as German!!) on rollkur!! But he is every bit as scathing of his own countrymen who employ this method. He trounces German GP rider and former team member, Christine W- who is in court again this coming year for extreme cruelty, in fact we talked about her here and on my forum a few months ago.
He is also very anti the 'show trot' which all high levels have to produce if they are to win the ribbons and trophies, and which puts such strain on the joints. Not so many years ago, horses were severely marked down for what was then termed a 'passagey trot', which now seems to be 'de rigeur', yet they havent changed the rules to allow it!! Likewise, the extended trot rule still states that the forelimbs should be at the same angle ( ie the cannon bones) as the hindlimbs. But when, in GP dressage, was the last time we saw an extension whereby the forelimbs were not miles higher and at a different angle to the hindlimbs, in fact, half way to Spanish trot, a pace which would normally be ridiculed by the dressage cognoscenti!!!
As for long and low, there also is a mystery!! My perception of it would be as Anja Beran's is in her DVD, horse with nose no lower than chest level, and nose well in front of the vertical, neck extended but still with a 'rounded' outline, from tip of nose to tail.
Any lower than this, and the argument has arisen this last year or so, that it puts too much strain on nuchal and supraspinous ligaments, as it keeps them under permanent tension rather than allowing them to tighten and slacken at each stride, which is what makes the back pliable and easier to sit on. It can be especially damaging to Iberians, with their short backs and steeper croup, and bred for extreme collection, as it can cause sacroiliac strain. The warmbloods, being bred from carriage horses, meant to cover long distances, with big, ground covering strides, have a much flatter croup and it is less likely to damage them, but still can make the back hard to sit on if carried to excess.
I remember Reiner Klimke shocking many people at Towerlands at the clinic he took for the ABRS 40th anniversary, years ago, when a rider came in on a 4 year old which had already been warmed up in the small arena. The rider proceeded to ride the horse round still long and low.
'Why do you ride your horse with his head down there'? said the great Dr K? 'Why? because he is only 4' replied the rider. 'Ze trouble wiz you British', said Dr K 'is zat you still ride your horses long and low when zey are 10 years old, never mind 4, and is why they are always on their forehand'!!! A murmur of surprise went round the audience as he made the rider bring the horse 'up' in front, allowing him short periods of stretching inbetween and when cooling down.
Dr Klimke was very against the technique, then known as 'deep and low', which Nicole Uphoff employed to keep the ultra spooky Rembrandt under control. With his head between his knees, he couldnt see where he was going to spook and also, just brought his head up to where it should be when in the ring, rather than another two feet higher like a giraffe, as he would have given half a chance!!
But this was done for a very specific reason. Others, though, saw it as the reason for her many gold medals, and tried to copy. Dr Klimke decried it vehemently, and said that it would become more extreme and more or less, that it would be the death knell of classical equitation as we then knew it. I interviewed Dr Klimke and got to know him, and he said this to me personally, as well as in other articles. How prophetic he was!!
Regarding the fact that the Bartels and Anky have horses still into their teens, these are the tip of the iceberg. How many more didnt make it and were discarded along the way?!!!
Thankfully the FEI have now come out against rollkur and released this statement earlier this year:
"STATEMENT ON HYPERFLEXION (ROLLKÜR): the following statement was adopted:
There are no known clinical side effects specifically arising from the use of hyperflexion, however there are serious concerns for a horse's well-being if the technique is not practiced correctly. The FEI condemns hyperflexion in any equestrian sport as an example of mental abuse. The FEI states that it does not support the practice."But how can they police it's use at home? And if they are now so against it why is it still to be seen in the warm up arena? Isabel Werth, whose riding I used to admire, was seen to be using extreme rollkur in the warm up for the world cup at Vegas, and the video is on the net for all to see. It is hideous.
I was a guest presenter at the Horse Event 2006 in Holland, which is run by the Bartels. I watched Anky in the arena barely two hours before me, teaching three of their higher level older teenagers. All three were being taught to hyperflex their horses, not as severe as in those video clips I posted, but still sufficient to educate the public as well as the riders, that overbending horses is desirable in training.
In between her demo and mine, was David DeWispelaere, my friend who is in the Heuschmann DVD. Riding a Kladruber stallion which had been rescued from slaughter in the Czech Republic, and now, producing stunning work to Grand Prix level, not a hint of rollkur, just pure, classical training techniques. This horse hadn't good conformation, had funny offset cannon bones on his front legs, yet produced piaffe and passage that you would never see in the competition arena, and wonderful changes full of expression.
I am afraid that I took the bull by the horns, and went into the arena in front of a fully Dutch audience and slammed rollkur, citing David's lovely work as what we should be aiming for, happy horses, without stress and constraint.
I expected to be lynched when I got back to our trade stand, but no, quite the contrary!! I was inundated by people congratulating me on standing up for what I believed in!!
This DVD is extremely good in the way it uses computer animation to show how the muscles/ligaments and skeleton works, and it also visually backs up the drawings in the Philippe Karl book Jenny mentioned in an earlier post.
David rides a four year old warmblood with naturally huge movement (think it is one of his own homebred youngsters, that I met last time I was visiting him) but not this hovering trot that it would have to turn into to bring him to the top level of competition. David shows the correct way to ride him at this age, and the way he would be ridden for competition training- huge difference and very well shown.
The film is invaluable to educate the eye in a way which is easy to comprehend by the layperson. It also should give reassurance to most of us who have more ordinary moving horses, in that it is true gymnastic training that improves paces, and not forced work that produces false paces, even if that is what the dressage fraternity want. Hopefully with a new FEI committee, with Princess Haya ( who has my utmost respect and admiration, for getting the old guard booted out!!) keeping an eye on it all, we might get back to training principles that are humane and not these awful techniques which can be so damaging to a horse, especially in the wrong hands.
Heather
