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Horses For LIFE
Warmblood vs. Lusitano: Dominique Barbier
pg 22 White Stallion Lipizzaner
Head Rider Part 2
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pg 54
Content Highlights To Show or Not to Show
PG 118
Empowered Horses Excerpt by imke spilker
pg 8 Horses For LIFE
Contents cont’d “Dancing on Horseback”
pg 28 pg 86
Canter - the First Step The horse
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This month our cover is one brief glimpse of the two articles on “Canter: The First Step”, covering an incredible breath of information on this common but little understood gait, find out about the ongoing controversy through the ages on Lateral versus Diagonal Aids, Three Beat versus Four Beat Canter, what some masters consider The Good and the Bad Four Beat Canter, find out about the Baroque Canter and Gueriniere’s on how to Teach Feel in Canter that he learned from one of the masters from his own age. Understanding the canter in all of its permutations is the beginning of understanding how to train both the rider and the horse to that very important first step.
On behalf of all of us at Horses For LIFE may the gift of the horses be with you always.
All material copyright protected by Horses For LIFE Publications. Please contact us for information, suggestions, comments and submissions at equestriansquest@horsesforlife.com or 1-306-383-2588
In this “how to” edition we begin with an excerpt of the new “must have” book by Imke Spilker, Empowered Horses. In this excerpt we explore the transformation that comes with work on the circle and bending. Find out how and when bend CAN make the difference. See if you agree with Dominique Barbier on the Warmblood versus the Lusitano. Find out what surprising equestrian outlet the Head Rider of White Stallion Productions is involved in, in his time off in part 2 of this ongoing interview, To Show not to Show, Interspecies Communication, Horse Welfare and Show Jumping, are just a few more exciting articles that we are proud to share with you in this editoin of Horses For LIFE. Thank you to Christina Turissini for,this months visually stunning “exclusive” pictorial article. An article with no text, where the pictures do the talking. “Ballet on Horseback” where equestrians show off with pride and joy their passion for their horses by equestrian photographer Christina Turissini.
Horses For LIFE
Empowered Excerpt by i with permission from Trafalgar Square
• VOLUME 46 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
On the Art of Moving in a Circle The Horse – A Creature of Movement Movement is the horse’s element. Barely born, he is already on his legs practicing the primary art of horses – moving. His four feet are his priceless treasure. If he knows how to use them cleverly and safely he can, light-footedly, escape all dangers. Developing security in movement is his life’s mission. “Learn to place your legs correctly” whispers his inner voice. “You can see your two forelegs, but you must learn to feel your hind
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Hard to Believe! This horse has, for his whole life, moved stiffly and with far too much muscle contraction. Today, this now 20-year-old Arabian gelding shows himself with elastic flowing movement, full of Power. Here you see Passaro in piaffe, relaxed, at ease, on a loose line, “sitting” in high collection with deeply flexed haunches.
Horses dance, mate, rejoice, and mourn with their bodies. Their spirit finds expression in movement. Movement is the culture, the music, the language, the life of horses. How a horse feels is how he moves, and how he moves is how he feels.
What Interests a Horse?
d Horses
imke spilker
If we invite a horse to do something with us, he will soon pose the question, “Why, for what purpose, am I doing this?” Certainly we can give treats or praise or put some kind of reward in view. …, a horse is not like a dog who becomes wildly enthusiastic when he can satisfy his master. The horse will ask himself why we want this particular thing from him, and we should have an answer. Horses are different--and what makes a horse happy is also different. ...
feet.” The inner voice is ever more urgent: “Learn to walk! Learn to run! Learn to feel!” The little horse grows, becomes bigger, heavier… He must always learn anew to adapt his movement to his changing body if he does not want to become clumsy and awkward. … Movement is the element of horses.
What interests a horse? What can I do that creates an advantage, a benefit for my horse--a benefit he would not have if he was alone and master of himself? Of course, I can lock my horse up for hours, days, or years so that he is overjoyed when he is actually allowed to move around a little bit. Movement is a basic need of horses, and if it is withheld, an emergency situation is created, similar to what would happen if we withheld food or water. The horse’s urge to move builds up, he becomes explosive and is no longer careful of himself. The oppressive desolation of being confined is, in
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empowered horses excerpt
Top Photo: This was once…Max, going around a turn like a freighter overloaded in front. Such uneven loading during turns is very hard on the forelegs because of the sideways torque.
. the long run, worse than the stress of riding. That is why horses kept in boxes or even tied in straight stalls are more “grateful” to be worked than horses living in a herd on pasture. The more the everyday life circumstances of a horse are improved, the less likely he is to unconditionally go along with whatever we have in mind. So, if a horse has sufficient opportunity to move, if he can run and play at will – then what? …. Movement is so important to horses, such a central focus of living, that they interest themselves in it all their lives. More precisely, the quality of movement interests them. They are always ready to find new ways to improve it. …
The Transformation of Horses When the relationship with human beings becomes helpful to horses, they can completely transform themselves during the course of work. ... It is in a horse’s nature to concern himself with the quality of his movement and to try to perfect it throughout his life. … Kim, the Haflinger whose muscles were so tight he could barely move from the spot –even when he wanted to – was offered a wide selection of exercises to choose from. The ones he preferred were endless voltes and a lot of shoulder-in. Through these exercises he alternately stretched both sides of his body so that he could then bring
bottom photo: This was once…Passaro, the way he moved when we had been working together for several months. He is no longer fighting everything, nor is he tearing down the arena fencing anymore. Accordingly, the tension in his body has decreased. When it increases, he still explodes, and he really does not want to do that anymore. For a long time Passaro just let himself fall on the forehand, lengthening and stretching the muscles that had hardened through tight muscles over the years. His weight is on his shoulders. This photo shows Passaro three years before the picture-perfect, deeply “sitting” piaffe in the photo on the first page. 10
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Warmblood vs. Lusitano: According to Dominique Barbier
By Jean Llewellyn
In order to fully explore the comparisons between Warmbloods – also commonly referred to as “sport horses” – and Lusitanos, it is important to establish “dressage” as the baseline. Ironically, this single word conjures up a variety of meanings and perspectives depending on an individual’s affiliation with riding and equestrian sport. If you are a fan of “sport” dressage, beauty lies in witnessing a well-performed test in the hands of a skilled rider. To others it may simply conjure up an image of someone doing “fancy” things with a horse while wearing a silly hat! However, with its origins firmly rooted first in Italy, then France, the word “dressage” can literally be translated to mean “training.” So it should be recognized that “dressage,” more specifically in a classical context, is a term that can be interchanged with “flat work,” “ground work,”
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Photo Copyright Peter Llewellyn
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Warmblood vs. Lusitano: According to Dominique Barbier
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“All Photos ” By Christina Turissini
http://alphabetranch.smugmug.com/
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“Ballet on Horseback
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Head Rider Part 2
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White Stallion Lipizzaner
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• VOLUME 46 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
Interview Part 2 White Stallion Head Rider - Tony Jackson Tony: Well, I have one Lipizzan Pompeia, who does a solo and who is an incredible animal. We continuously work on our relationship; he’s a very sensitive horse and he doesn’t leave everything up to me; he’s got a mind of his own. We have an ongoing partnership on which one is riding the performance. Tony: Then there’s an Andalusian stallion named Catavino who is kind of a goofball. He has a funny personality. That’s one of the challenges that, like people, every horse has a different personality. So trying to match the horses and riders in the best combinations that are going to get the most out of each other; that part is fun. I have my little Arab horse, he does the courbette, which is where the horse rears up on the back legs and then they hop forward. He’s actually one of our rescue stallions. About four years ago, there was a breeding farm in the States - and I’m not sure what the circumstances were - but they weren’t making it and they’d really gotten into some dire straits before they conceded that they weren’t going to make it and when they put the word out, Joe went down and picked up all eight stallions that they had there. They were a little on the neglected side. They were really skinny and they hadn’t really done that much with them. Pete, who’s my little character, he has really blossomed, just getting to the point now where I’m working him into other parts of the performance because he didn’t get started even under saddle until he was eight years old. So we had to take him slow because he spent eight years living his own schedule. But now I always
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joke that he’s turning into the star of the show. He’s the most difficult and he’s probably my favorite out here. HFL: I’ve always found that it’s the ones that are the most difficult that always end up being my favorite. Tony: Yes. HFL: I don’t know why that is maybe because they challenge us and make us grow so much, make us think so much about them? Tony: I think so, and it’s so nice to enjoy every little bit of progress that he makes; it’s a really big deal to me. The horses that make everything easy for us, there’s no challenge. There is a big sense of satisfaction in bringing a difficult one along. They’re always the ones I gravitate to. HFL: I think they all fall in my lap, though. I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse some days. I do understand what you’re saying. Tony: He’s a little Lipizzan, one of five Lipizzans that I work, and then there’s the Andalusian.
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interspecies Communication
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• VOLUME 46 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
ET call home. From the work of credible scientists working through SETI, trying to figure out the right way to communicate with other intelligent life forms, to a cowboy working with his horses, we are all involved in the process of interspecies communication. Without communication we cannot have our horses understand our wishes, our desires, or even our commands. The first step always has to be communication. Unfortunately this is not always the case,or along the way it is somehow forgotten. Trainers can be so focused on getting the horses to do something that they forget the need to put communication first in the horse-human relationship. Too often the emphasis is put into the role of humans as alphas, dominators and/or benign leaders, and in the process of trying to fit a role - they forget the first rule that all will be for nought, if the horse doesn’t understand. Communication always has to come first. Meaningful communication relies on both species responding to the cues of the other. In our search to understand and to speak ‘horse’, we may come across simplistic explanations of horsehuman interaction. We are told that the horse that lifts his hind leg, cocks his hind fetlock, may or may not be warning you he is about to kick. Well, he might also be telling you that he is about to go to sleep. The difference between the two is huge, obviously. If in the effort of communication we cannot understand the horse, then any and all of our efforts to effect communication from the human to the horse is fraught
Horses For LIFE
Canter - the First Step The Rider
• VOLUME 46 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine There always comes the point where we face introducing the first canter stride either to the human or to the horse. “The canter is the horse’s most complicated pace, and it is far more difficult to obtain correct results at this than at any other pace.” Wynmalen For many riders the change from the now comfortable trot to canter can be emotionally overwhelming. Many riders know that it may not make sense, but nonetheless quite naturally feel a certain amount of tension and even fear when faced with taking that very first canter stride. It somehow just does not feel the same to go from walk to trot as it does from walk to canter or trot to canter. The canter feels like the gallop and the natural fear of the runaway horse and a loss of control can quickly overcome us. “In order to ride well at the canter our aids must be adapted to and synchronised with the horse’s movements, and it follows therefore that we must begin by studying and understanding the mechanism of the pace, so that we shall know what is going on beneath us.” Wynmalen
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Horses For LIFE
Being With Horses by Pauline Cameron Maleny Australia.
BEING WITH HORSES. Life’s lessons come from many sources and in many guises. For the main part, my life lessons are hairy, have four legs and come in the form of a horse. My horses have presented me with many challenges over the years, the most serious of which have produced the deepest and most lasting shifts in both consciousness and gratitude for what I have. I have learnt to value their innate wisdom, I have learnt to listen and I have learnt to trust myself in my interaction with them. I have learnt to suspend my disbelief in miracles and have been happy to let go of any human arrogance that I am dealing with a lesser creature. In fact, the opposite often seems entirely appropriate. One of the most profound and frightening of my lessons happened on an otherwise quiet Sunday afternoon last year when I was home alone. Earlier in the day we had transferred our horses into the paddock around the house. The fact that one side under the veranda of our modern Queenslander remained open did not give me undue concern. There was a water tank to go under the veranda, the tank stand was built but the tank not yet installed. While I know horses are curious, the space was dark, the ceiling low and the step up, I would have thought, off putting. 26
Unfortunately I was wrong. When I first heard the commotion I thought one of the horses had been ‘forced’ against the timber slats under the veranda. By the time I got out the door I could hear the noise was coming from UNDER our guest pavilion. Despite a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach I resisted the obvious conclusion. Only when I finally rounded the corner and looked in under the house was my hopeful denial shattered. My heart sank as I saw that my Arabian mare, Summer, was trapped inside. Doubtless, curiosity had led her under the house in the first place, but on realizing this was not where she wanted to be, Summer had only turned 90 degrees, saw the light
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Canter - the First Step The horse
• VOLUME 46 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
Canter - The First Step Preparing the Horse “The same reason that makes it difficult for the rider to ride correctly at the canter, makes it difficult for an unschooled horse to go correctly at this pace, and quite impossible for the rider, however good or expert he may be, to make him do so.” Wynmalen “It is a practiced rule by all the skilled masters that a horse must not be cantered until he has been suppled at the trot, so that he brings himself forward at the canter without leaning or pulling on the hand. It is thus necessary to wait until his whole body is supple, until 28
he is rounded in the inside shoulder, is obedient to the heels at the passage with the croup to the wall, and has become light at the piaffe in the pillars. As soon as he has reached this degree of obedience, despite the little that one unsettles him in the canter, he will do it willingly.” Gueriniere While today few do this work between the pillars, there are still those that experience that there are some horses that just do best if the canter is left to very last of the training, often finding it is best to find and confirm the advanced movements of even passage and piaffe first before attempting the canter. This seems especially true of some baroque breeds such as the Lipizzaner. “And this is the reason why all schooling at the canter ought to be left to form the last part of the horse’s education. If we canter him too early we shall not be able to obtain an easy and nicely balanced pace, but be likely to create bad habits, such as plunging or head-throwing, which we might have great difficulty in correcting later on. “On the other hand, when a horse has first been carefully balanced, suppled, collected and made obedient to the legs, we shall be able to obtain a good canter, with balance and collection, almost at once. Our results will be quicker and infinitely better, and we shall have no difficulty in obtaining the speed and pace which we require and not be obliged to go at the speed and pace that may happen to suit the horse.” Wynmalen When you start an advanced horse in canter, what is the suggested way to start the horse in canter? “One must canter him in the posture of the shoulder-in, not only to make him free and obedient, but also to rid him of the bad habit (that almost all horses have) of cantering with the inside hind leg open and held apart from and outside of, the line of the inside front leg. As is easy to notice in most horses that canter, for example on the right lead (which is the way to canter hunters and hack horses), one will see that they have almost the entire left shoulder brought back and that they are tipped to the left. The reason for this is natural; while cantering with the right hind held open and apart from the left, the bone of the horse’s haunch, in this case, pushes and throws the rider to the outside and places him off balance. Thus to remedy this fault, it is necessary to canter the horse in the shoulder-in to teach him to bring the inside hind leg close to the outside leg, and to lower the haunches. Once he has become suppled and broken into this posture, it is easy for him to then canter with the haunches collected and on the line of the shoulders, so that the hind end chases the forehand, which is the true and nice canter.” Gueriniere This using shoulder-in to canter to help a horse to stop rushing has been employed Horses For LIFE Subscribe at http://horsesforlife.com
Welfare issues alive and well in show jumping • VOLUME 46 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
The horse-human relationship from past to present. Horses have been used since early times to aid and assist human endeavours; they have been used to pull loads, as transportation during war and even as a food source. In many societies, horses have been used in competition, as sport is a common feature of human culture. Competition winners are rewarded with accolades and held in high esteem by others. However, important ethical questions arise from the use of horses in present-day sport when welfare is compromised, regardless of whether actions are considered ‘deliberate abuse’. Recently, discussion on classical principles versus the modern competitive requirements in dressage has gathered momentum worldwide. In recent years, hyper-flexion - or Rollkür - where the horse’s head and neck is flexed in toward the chest purportedly ‘to raise the horse’s back and bring it through’, has split people’s views on whether this may not help, but actually harm the horse. Valuable insights from biomechanical specialists and veterinarians have been forthcoming. Some experts suggest that physical harm is done, while others are concerned that the horse’s trained learned responses are compromised when contradicting aids are used. Concerns have also arisen around eventing – particularly the unacceptably high number of horse and rider deaths and horse injuries. Although previously flying underneath the radar, however, the sport of show jumping requires attention if horse mental and physical welfare are to reach an acceptable level.
The ‘Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare’ Show jumping needs to reconsider currently accepted training methods and gadgetry because, as the general public becomes increasingly educated and vocal, it will be recognised how frequently show jumping riders are contravening four of the five freedoms of animal welfare. The five freedoms are the internationally accepted basic welfare elements originally developed by the (then) British Farm Animal Welfare Council concerning production animals, principles now accepted as the optimum standards for domestic animals. The five freedoms of animal welfare are as follows: 1. Freedom from thirst and hunger 2. Freedom from discomfort 3. Freedom from pain, injury and disease 4. Freedom to express normal behaviour 5. Freedom from fear and distress With these freedoms in mind, please read on.
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A European Horse Show 2008 An international show I attended last year raised questions in my mind of aspects of horse welfare. The show was one in which, among other equitation forms, international show jumpers competed for large sums of money. The photos that follow were taken predominantly in the warm-up enclosure, and one was taken in the main competition ring. There was a time when I naively thought photos like these were captured selectively, that people had tried hard to find subjects riding in these ways. Unfortunately, I now know this is not true - the horses were ridden as in the photos as a rule, not an exception.
Figure 1. Horse is unable to escape the pressure on the mouth being produced in 4 ways: (1) a Pelham bit (the lower part is a lever, a chain acts in the horse’s chin groove); (2) the Pelham is being acted on by a running martingale which itself increases the leverage on the horse’s cervical vertebrae; (3) Draw-reins, going from the horse’s girth, through the bit to the rider’s hands, apply leverage to horse’s head and cervical vertebrae; (4) the tight Hanoverian or ‘flash’ noseband holds the horse’s mouth shut, so he is unable to escape the pressures applied to the bit. The rider is driving the horse forward with spurs, into a restricted ability to move forward, his only option is to contract, tighten and shorten his neck. Horses For LIFE
Welfare issues
Figure 2. This horse, on feeling excess pressure on his tongue, retracts it up inside his mouth. When a horse can no longer sustain this retraction, it flops out of the mouth, as can be seen in the left of the photo. The rider is using a Hanoverian noseband to keep the horse’s mouth shut.
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Figure 3. A mechanical hackamore (the hackamore has high leverage ability operational on the horse’s nose and poll through the mechanical effects of the arms). Both the hackamore and the snaffle rein are passing through a running martingale applying more pressure to the horse’s poll. This pressure has been known to tear ligaments from bone and can lead to bone ossification.
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Welfare issues
Figure 4. The draw-reins overbend the horse ‘behind the bit’ into a forced position with hyper-flexed neck. When later ridden without draw-reins, the horse is likely to show confused responses to the rein contact (i.e. rein pressure now means ‘flex your head in’, not ‘stop’ or ‘slow’). Confusion over the required response can lead to behaviours such as bucking, bolting, and rearing.
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Figure 5. Horse in hyper-flexion (in this case not only vertically, but laterally which detrains downwards transition responses and also confuses the horse’s ‘turn’ responses).
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Welfare issues
Figure 6. Over-tight noseband, horse over-bent; the distended nostrils indicate it could be struggling to intake air. This photo was taken in the warm-up ring; he has not yet had to perform the speed and exertion for the jumping efforts required in the competition arena.
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Figure 7. As if the leverage pressure of the Pelham and running martingale isn’t enough, the rider adds his weight to the equation by leaning back; the horse opens his mouth in an effort to escape the forces acting on his mouth. Who was it who said that it is lucky horses that don’t scream in pain…because the sound would be deafening?
Bits legal for show jumping Shops selling bits and gadgets, including those professing to be ‘natural,’ abound at shows. At the same European show, shops were selling the bits in these pictures, which show a small sample of a single shop’s inventory of what is available ‘to control the horse’.
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Welfare issues
Figure 8. Bits. The two marked are a serrated multiple-link bit, more reminiscent of a bike chain than a horse’s bit, and a twisted snaffle with a French link.
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Figure 9. A range of bits, including: a twisted wire snaffle (capable of severing a tongue), high ports (to act on the horse’s palate), and tongue depressors so as to keep the horse’s tongue down (via action in some cases on the horse’s palate). The bit at the top right with copper roller inserts has very sharp edges.
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Welfare issues No one denies that a horse can feel pain, yet these are the bits sold in a modern, educated society, which are sharp, thin, harsh; painful when closed on a human hand, let alone when used on the horse’s sensitive mouth bars and tongue or pressing on the palate. Let’s remember too that the horse has no choice either in being ridden or used in sport. Concerned experts and where to find answers For information on the detrimental effects of the Rollkur see Horses for Life, June 2006. For information on training and effects of training, there are three equestrians whose work I am familiar with, and whose educational materials are easily accessible internationally; each strives to inform and educate on the detrimental physical and behavioural outcomes exacerbated by some methods of horse training. • Dr Gerd Heuschmann, German Bereiter (master rider), veterinarian and author of A Tug of War: Classical versus Modern Dressage, who addresses the physical impact of modern methods which are not in keeping with classical training principles. • Dr Andrew McLean, renowned Australian scientist, horse-trainer and rider, author of The Truth About Horses, and in 2008 (together with his wife, Manuela McLean) Academic Horse Training available in book and DVD form. Dr McLean is known for educating all classes of riders and handlers on horses’ mental abilities (low) and appropriate use and application of aids and techniques of ‘learning theory’ such as: negative reinforcement, habituation and classical conditioning known to produce consistent responses to the aids and decrease ‘wastage’ (i.e. horses being destroyed due to physical or behavioural problems). • Philippe Karl, former rider of the French Cadre Noir de Saumur, author of Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage and a video series, Classical Dressage, explains and demonstrates use of training methods that enhance not only performance, but where the horse’s welfare is paramount. Although Mr Karl doesn’t frame it in this terminology, his videos subtly show the use of ‘learning theory’, which the scientific community recognises as appropriate to effectively training horses. Each of these men’s messages is equally applicable to both jumpers and dressage horses. It is a delight to see, for instance, a Philippe Karl student on an ‘ordinary’ horse moving effortlessly from lateral work and tempi changes to jumping fences equally well, before effortlessly performing a piaffe in pferdia TV’s important DVD, Classical versus Classique. His argument is that if dressage (which after all only means ‘training’) is failing many horses, there is a reason behind it which requires closer examination. Philippe Karl says that any horse should be able to do dressage; that it is not just for the specially and highly bred horse, as is the international trend.
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International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) An international society working to research and educate on horse welfare and training is the International Society for Equitation Science (ISES) http://www.equitationscience.com/. The ISES mission is ‘to promote and encourage the application of objective research and advanced practice which will ultimately improve the welfare of horses in their associations with humans’. The society’s members include an array of the world’s top equine scientists and researchers. The ISES conference in Dublin, August 2008, brought together an international selection of scientists, along with coaches, riders and others concerned with the welfare of the horse. An important aspect of the formation of the ISES is that not only are behaviours, training methods and welfare issues being measured, but that objective, peer-reviewed results and conclusions are available to an audience outside of the scientific community. Real understanding of issues and methods, which consider horses’ mental and physical constraints, should result, instead of the mysterious rhetoric that has often been parroted from one trainer to the next. The Dublin conference included talks and practical presentations such as: the demonstration and discussion on the use of gadgets (e.g. draw reins, ‘Lungie Bungie’, side-reins, and their perceived effects, ‘good’ and ‘bad’). Papers presented included, ‘What is ethical horse training?’ by Dr Natalie Waran of New Zealand, short-term memory in horses by Dr Jack Murphy of Ireland (highly relevant to training as the horse appears to have limited short-term memory, meaning that delayed reward or punishment is meaningless). Research by Dr Brigden and colleagues Burton and Northrop compared horses ridden in conventionally treed and treeless saddles - the effects on stride and neck length and range of movement of the shoulder found that while some horses appear to benefit from a treeless saddle, others did not show change. If you care about riding, training and horse-human interactions, you should consider joining the ISES (membership applications are approved by committee based on scientific and/or practical merit). Attendance at the annual conference (hosted next in Sydney, Australia on 12-14th July 2009) is open to members and non-members alike, and papers presented at past conferences through the ISES website are accessible free of charge. Towards the good of the horse In summary, humans are the ‘thinking, reasoning partners’ in the horse-human dyad - it is time to reconsider ‘acceptable’ practise in horse training and competition, and it is every individual’s responsibility to be open-minded and learn from wellsubstantiated sources. The horse’s only voice is what he does physically or produces physiologically; it is our responsibility to act on his behalf. Resources: Further information on the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare http://www.bsas.org.uk/about_the_bsas/issue_papers/animal_welfare/ (downloaded 12.1.08) Dr Gerd Heuschmann http://www.gerdheuschmann.com Philippe Karl http://www.philippe-karl.com Dr Andrew McLean (Australian Equine Behaviour Centre) www.aebc.com.au International Society for Equitation Science www.equitationscience.com This article is written by Xenophon’s Cherub, thinking rider and advocate of the horse’s welfare and ethical training methods. Karen Britton www.EthicalHorsemanship.com The Horses’s Advocate
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What I understood from Podhajski is the rider who is considerate and thinks in the long term..
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The Human Co
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n ondition Thinking eco-Rider The thinking
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• VOLUME 46 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine Riding By Torchlight To show or not to show…that is the question. By Susannah Cord There was a time when I ate, slept, breathed and trained to compete. I was in my late teens and after years of riding school nags, I finally had a competitive horse of my own, to show on a small scene where I got to be a big kahuna. Around that time I remember hearing about an apparently excellent rider and trainer who refused to show, and I wondered why she bothered to train at all? It almost seemed like a weakness to me then. That thought form is so very foreign to me now, it seems like surely it belonged to someone else. Times and people do change. Today I do relate to this trainer I never met, and today I consider it more of a strength than a weakness to prioritize training for the reward it gives in itself and not (nearly) solely for the possibilities of having the winning ride on the next show day. Less devotion to showing has balanced my idea of training requirements and my agenda, though I guess that could also leave one trying less hard. As always, finding balance is perhaps the biggest challenge of all. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy competing. It’s just that now I have many different reasons for getting up every morning and working my horses, and the prospect of taking them to a show is only one of them. I have no problem with people who train to show, I can still relate to them also, to needing that goal, to needing that edge, to satisfying that competitive spirit. It’s what drives anyone to excellence, and for some it is the backbone of self discipline, just knowing that date with a few gallons of Quickbraid and a judge is looming up ahead. As always, my problem with riders that train primarily to show is what it drives them to do, what compromises in training and their horses’ well-being become as natural as breathing to them. I touched on that state of mind once upon a time, and it very nearly did not have 44
To Sh Tha
how or Not to Show at is the question
a happy ending for my horse, Tempo, and thus, for me. Along the way, he was always on my conscience like a little gentle burr, just scratchy enough to cause me second thoughts, not scratchy enough to make me change course before it was nearly too late. After a successful season of training and campaigning on less than ideal surfaces, Tempo seemed slightly off in one front leg. A thorough examination showed he was in fact sore on all four legs, and the fact that he had shown as well as he did, with barely a lessening of his gaits until after the show season, was all thanks to his stoic personality, his inherently large heart and the kindness within both. The fact that my vet was also my archenemy in the show ring did not help lessen my chagrin. She left no stone unturned in spreading the word that I had beat her in our championship rides on a horse that was basically unsound, but too kind to show it. Or maybe the judges were biased? My victory seemed much tarnished, and I lost a perfectly good vet to a sore loser. Despite her efforts to embarrass me, what I remember best was my shame at what I had done to a horse I claimed to love and adore, and what I had not seen happen to him. Photos show that he carried signs of stress around the time of our last competition – he had lost weight and muscle tone, his face looks oddly tired, his eyes have a far away look. Had I just ignored the signs in my determination to be the best, or really not seen the change that came over him? I’m still not sure. But clearly, being the best came at a price, paid in full by my sweet horse. In retrospect, pretty much all I had done was train hard without the benefit of good arenas. I trained mostly in a grass field that could be rock hard, but since he never braced or tensed up, I thought nothing of it. I lost my temper at times and was too hard on him, and would go home cringing at myself, berating myself for hours, swearing I would never pull on my horse’s mouth again. That is, until the next time my teenage temper took a spill… The mistakes I made with Tempo haunt me still, and his memory has helped keep me honest over the years, even though my treatment of him left him with no scars, physical or otherwise. My temper tantrums were blessedly few and far between, though they probably escalated in direct proportion to the approaching show Horses For LIFE
perfect piaffe
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La Piafe Perfecta “Elevar las manos es la consecuencia del descenso de los posteriores como consecuencia de un mayor uso de la patas. Es una indicación y una consecuencia de la reunión. En un caballo correctamente reunido, los músculos de la grupa y las nalgas tiran potentemente hacia abajo y hacia atrás de los músculos del dorso conectados a ellos, levantando el pecho y las vértebras del cuello y retirando carga de las manos. Más estirado hacia adelante y arriba, más fácil se torna el contacto con la embocadura.” Seunig. “Sin embargo, la posición relativamente oblicua de los brazos no debe traer los anteriores demasiado debajo del cuerpo. Esta última disposición resulta en todo el peso de las manos sobrecargando los anteriores. Esto resulta en detrimento de la liviandad de los mismos.” General Decarpentry en Equitación Académica. Un proverbio árabe dice: Nunca confíes es un caballo cuyos pies están debajo de si mismo. ...definición de impulsión: es la condición por la cual las fuerzas que empujan a un caballo están constantemente a disposición de su jinete para la ejecución inmediata y generosa de cualquier pedido de movimiento.
Esta es la foto original.
Es importante asegurarse de juzgar todos los cuadros al mismo nivel. Suele funcionar algunas veces alinear con el horizonte, suele ocurrir que ese no es el ajuste correcto que debe hacerse, ya que un caballo que que está yendo por las diagonales o tiene las espaldas o el anca más cerca o lejos de uno aparecerá como deformado, Un parámetro mejor es usar tanto el horizonte como la sombra del caballo para tener una indicación clara del balance correcto del caballo, En este caso podemos ver que la foto fue tomada de manera tal que hay mas espacio delante, en efecto haciendo parecer que el caballo como si sus espaldas estuvieran más altas de lo que realmente lo están. Este es una representación falsa muy muy común y uno debe precaverse cada vez que esté mirando una foto o una película. 48
Jean Saint-Fort Paillard en Understanding equitation. ... pone a nuestra disposición sus fuerzas impulsivas. General L’Hotte. Escuchamos de los jueces que ellos solo pueden juzgar lo que tienen por delante. Nosotros solo podemos juzgar a los jueces por las puntuaciones que dan. Uno debe asumir que la piafe que recibe 10puntos es perfecta. El caballo tiene dos lados, y en piafe habrá dos diagonales separadas. En un escenario perfecto, las dos diagonales serían exactamente iguales, la realidad dice que son ligeramente diferentes. Mirando a la diagonal dejaremos que usted juzgue si estas representan la piafe perfecta. Si el caballo se está soportando en los miembros traseros o delanteros. Si el caballo estuvo en algún momento clásicamente reunido.
Cuando comparamos la foto original con la alineación compuesta podemos ver como el caballo no está con la nuca en la posición más alta. Cuando una foto ha subido artificialmente las manos del caballo puede parecer que éste tiene la nuca más alta de lo que realmente está. Hay que chequear siempre con la ayuda visual que se encuentre si hay más distancia desde el borde de la foto a los pies anteriores que a los pies posteriores. Una indicación clara que el caballo no está correctamente representado en su verdadero balance.
Una vez alineada correctamente podemos ver más claramente como el anca está realmente más alta que el dorso. Una indicación clara de que las nalgas y músculos de la cadera no están “tirando” del dorso y levantándolo. “En un caballo correctamente reunido, los músculos de las grupa y las nalgas tiran potentemente hacia abajo y hacia atrás de los músculos del dorso conectados a ellos, levantando el pecho y las vértebras del cuello y retirando carga de las manos. Más estirado hacia adelante y arriba, más fácil se torna el contacto con la embocadura.” Seunig. Horses For LIFE
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