In everything from pleasure riding to Grand Prix dressage, self carriage will give you a comfortable ride and a long lived, free from injury, happy horse.

A horse is in self carriage when he is moving forward freely and rhythmically, when his feet hit the ground softly and when his back is elevated to carry us comfortably and with strength.

And he does all that, with no rein and no leg to frame him up. It is truly the horse carrying himself – with no need for us to interfere.

And it’s seriously nice to ride!

When they are in self carriage, it is possible for our horse to carry our weight on their backs much, much more comfortably than otherwise. I was re-assured when I put on heaps of weight when I stopped smoking, to realize that with my horse’s back elevated, he could carry me with ease. Injuries and back problems are dramatically reduced, if not eliminated. In fact, I have noticed that old injuries can actually heal when a horse is free from fear and in self carriage.

So how can we get it?

Well, that’s the thing – we (the human) can’t get it. The horse has to get it – it’s the horse’s self carriage.

When our horse is in their comfort zone, they move in self carriage, naturally. And a horse is in their comfort zone when they are free from fear. Thus, when a horse is free from fear, they move in self carriage.

Self carriage is destroyed by any kind of force, which is why the hyper flexed, rollkured horses do not have the elevated backs of self carriage or the correctly elevated backs of real collection. In fact, lack of proper back elevation is one of the ways that you can pick a horse who has been trained with rollkur.

Now that I know how to achieve self carriage so simply, it’s easy for me to sit here and say “how come everyone doesn’t know how to do this?” I am laughing to myself as I write this. I see even beginner riders achieving it sometimes in days, sometimes in weeks, depending on how much fear they need to work out with their horse.

It’s quite simple, you get self carriage, the first and absolutely essential foundation to collection, by making it possible for your horse to live every aspect of his life without fear – on the ground and in the saddle.

Printed with kind permission of Jenny Pearce, author of “Zen Connection With Horses – a practical guide to inter-species communication”

At this time in history the classical school of dressage is very strong and is suffering little conflict in their theories and methods of training. However, the competitive world is suffering greatly. There are a lot of horses that are being rushed through the process because of the desire to compete. They are ridden with new methods of training to shortcut the old methods through the rider’s talent to take a horse falsely to the FEI levels.

Currently there is an upsurge in the classical methods helping the competitive world. I have had a lot of personal success using these classical principles and theories with riders and horses. I would like to suggest a book by Sylvia Loch, The Classical Rider. It points out that dressage riders in the top levels of competition, even at the Olympic levels, are utilizing classical methods to achieve lightness and self-carriage in their performances.

How I compare the difference between the competitive and classical methods is that the competitive school focuses on riding the horse into the contact with forward expression of the horse’s gaits while the classical method focuses on lightness of aids and contained expression of the gaits in self-carriage.

My Methods of developing a competitive performance resonate to the theories of the classical school. I prefer the classical methods of training because they focus on developing the dressage horse through the fundamentals of procedure, ground training, lightness of aids, harmony and unity. I also believe that the classical method provides the competitive rider with more support in developing the rider’s skill in horsemanship for dressage.

It seems as though the competitive world is having a problem getting the dressage horse to articulate his hocks and use his muscles to pick the foot off the ground. This problem occurs when the rider focuses on the driving the horse into the contact before the horse is articulating his hocks. I believe that a horse should be warmed up each time using suppling exercises, like the Überstreichen Exercises before he is ridden to the contact.

When I develop the dressage horse and rider in the classical theories, I find that the jump is easier to put into the horse once the hocks of the horse are articulating nicely. From there I can build a submissive, active and competitive performance without blocked muscles and resistance. After the horse is in control using classical methods of lightness and in-hand work the horse can be ridden to the contact with the lightest of aids. If the horse is pushing his steps before the hocks are articulating there is no suspension in his gait. When this happens, the horse becomes longer in his frame and on the forehand, heavy and locked, and the war is on.

If the rider does not understand that a horse can be ridden on a dropped contact or with a non-influencing rein and have the horse remain through, expressive and forward, the rider will create an incorrect balance between contact and self-carriage.

Another problem is that riders get confused about the meaning of forward. A forward horse is active without a persisting leg aid to stay active. It does not mean a horse that is in a hurry, taking quick, short steps. It does not mean a horse that would go faster if you let go of the contact.

A forward horse is a horse that is relaxed and performing at the top of his ability with free articulating joints and suspension in his stride with the look that he is leaving the ground more that returning to the ground. Forward is a quality of the mind of the horse, that when you ask him to perform, he performs willingly and with ease. Forward is without resistance. Forward means that the horse is active without the persistence of the leg aid. Forward is when the transitions from walk, trot and canter could be made easily without change of speed or rhythm from a quiet seat and soft hand.

It is a lot to think about, but all the problems that are occurring in the competitive world could be corrected by using the classical methods of dressage. If you think about it, once you put the leg and rein aids on the horse correctly, the horse is like a piano. A piano is a generic instrument. You can play classical music or jazz on the same piano. The only requirement is that the piano be in tune.

There are many ways of developing the dressage horse. My interest is to use the lightest aids from the beginning to create the maximum performance in each horse. I find that taking the time to develop the horse through the fundamentals of the classical methods builds the horse’s understanding and willingness to perform. In the end it is the fastest way to create a fully schooled dressage horse. Using the principles of the classical school of dressage, no horse or rider is put to a task that they can not achieve.

In unity there is harmony. Dressage is the practice of unity between horse and rider.

Unity is an art, the formula of practice, and the first and last step in dressage. Getting the resistance out of a horse when the horse is resistant is not dressage.

It is important to remember to keep the philosophy of dressage in the act of riding and training your horse. One rule that should never be broken is to never ask your horse to perform any movement before he is prepared and willing to try.

Joni Bentley is the originator of The Bentley Technique. The Bentley Technique is a simple way to realign your own and your horse’s spine – which naturally awakens your innate capacity for comfort and grace in riding. Heuschmann has a passion for helping the dressage world become aware of the terrible damage being done to horses in today’s competitive riding circuit. He is a Grand Prix rider and an international speaker and teacher. His workshops and talks highlight the injuries he sees as a veterinarian to other Grand Prix horses. He teaches a natural, biomechanical approach to training.

Joni: What you say about good functional connections between the head, neck, and back in the horse was discovered 100 years ago in people by F.M. Alexander – the originator of the Alexander Technique. It’s very exciting for me as an Alexander teacher and horse trainer to see how your teachings on the biomechanics of the horse support what I’ve been saying – and doing – for 20 years.

I’m particularly interested in your theory that good training encourages the base of the horse’s neck to lift and move forwards up and out of the shoulders. That takes on the responsibility of supporting the rider’s weight, leaving the locomotion muscles in the horse’s back and abdomen free to do their work. Would you elaborate on that?

Gerd: This question is key! Good riding creates a balanced horse. Balance means you keep the whole body working well as a unit. In this, there’s no difference between a warmblood or a quarter horse, or between an American, French, or German trainer.

The centre of movement in a horse is the back – the long back muscles are made to move the horse, not carry a rider. Yet the rider sits on the horse’s back. So we need to use different parts of the horse’s body to bring his back up into balance.

Another key, as Philippe Karl (author of Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage) says, is the rider’s contact with the mouth. The back can’t be supple and the hind legs can’t step under if the mouth, poll, and neck aren’t supple and relaxed. If the mouth isn’t soft, if the nose isn’t on the vertical and the jaw relaxed, then the neck can’t flex laterally, and the horse won’t open his throatlatch and search for the bit. So the key is for the poll to be supple, flexible, and soft. Then you get the rest.

Joni: I think a serious problem in today’s dressage world is the role models for young, ambitious riders.

Look at these photos of the 2008 World Cup Final.

Modern dressage - example A

Even though the horse can’t bend any more, the rider is still pulling, completely wrapped up in her success.

Modern dressage - example B

Take a look inside the horse’s mouth.The poor horse’s tongue is purple from being constricted by the bits. The horse is trying to suck his tongue up away from the bits, and the jaw and poll are locked in defence. Surely this goes against all the rules of training? Yet she wins! Purple tongues seem to be accepted nowadays as normal – I just don’t understand it.

Gerd: Yes. We see so many injuries to the mouth and jaw in our clinics.

I say it time and time again: It’s your pulling that pays to build our fine expensive clinics!

As a veterinarian specializing in orthopaedics, I see the results. Suspensory ligaments destroyed, sore backs, sore polls, wounds in the tongue, and even broken jaws. Worst of all are the tight dropped nosebands. When the rider pulls, the noseband presses the horse’s lips against the teeth. This is a very common injury.

What are we doing, we veterinarians – what’s our role in this?

It’s like being a doctor working in the torture chambers of Saddam Hussein. They nearly kill the guys, you repair them, and when they’re healthy you send them back. This is our world, this is what we do. I don’t want to be part of this circus that’s producing poor animals, making a big show, and killing them. This is not the aim of dressage.

It’s a bad thing. And that’s why I refuse to do it.

It’s hard for us Germans, with our classical tradition of training horses, to look at the development of modern dressage. When you look at the rules of dressage written by the FEI, you think you’re in heaven. Then we look at what’s actually happening, and it’s unbelievable. What they’re doing is the exact opposite of the rules.

I love the philosophy behind classical dressage. Our judges have to change. The time has come!

Classical dressage

Compare this example of classical dressage to the following photos of today’s dressage.

Modern dressage - example C

Modern dressage - example D

Joni: Yes – it’s as if the judges are blind. The pictures in the books on classical training show how beautifully the FEI rules can be expressed – how did we get from there to where we are today?

I mentioned F.M. Alexander earlier. He discovered that for a human to achieve good posture, the neck must be free and allowed to lengthen up out of the shoulders. Then the head can move forwards and up while the back lengthens and widens in an opposing stretch down to the ground. Francois de la Gueriniere found the same thing applies in the horse, as have you.

In developing my training techniques, I took Alexander’s approach and applied it to horses and riders together. It’s been a powerful way of re-educating riders to work with the way their bodies and their horses’ bodies naturally move.

Gerd: That’s right. Like you, I work with many damaged horses that have mostly draw rein experiences. They’re compressed even further by riders with stiff seats and ridged hands. I’ve learned that if you offer a very soft contact, without worrying about the head and neck position, and you feel for the hind leg with a listening seat, the horse engages behind release his poll and jaw and starts to chew.

Joni: Many riders come to my workshops trying to use Philippe Karl’s technique of relaxing the jaw, as he describes in his book. They’ve often badly misunderstood how it works. They have no awareness of how they’re using their hands or how the horse is reacting in his mouth. Without this awareness, riders feel like nothing is happening, and start trying to force the horse. Then, as Philippe said to me,

“The horse defends in the mouth. His whole body goes into contraction and it’s all over, you may as well put him back in the stable.”

That’s why this is the first lesson I teach in my workshops. I start with what you refer to as the first grade of bending, using voltes. When you bend the horse with the outside rein, the voltes stretch the outside of the horse and work the inside hind. That relaxes tightness and one-sidedness. As a natural consequence, the horse starts to seek the contact, softening his jaw and chewing. Then you can go on to the second-grade bending, flexing the poll.

The best thing about starting with first-grade bending is that riders don’t have to be very experienced. That’s important, because we need to work this way from the beginning. Philippe says it’s ridiculous how trainers ignore the mobility and softness of the jaw and tongue. Many trainers get it more at the level of piaffe, but it should be at the beginning, not the end of training!

I think this is a serious shortfall in our riding education. Riders need, as we agree, to do less and feel more. To think and give the horse time and space to react.

Gerd: Yes! This is very similar to my training, and it’s key. And this misunderstanding you mention – it’s a big problem. When these concepts we’re describing are misinterpreted, the training doesn’t work. Then the trainers get frustrated and start forcing the horse. Many people want to work on the horse actively, and there I see a problem. In reality, the more you come forward in your own education, as you are suggesting, the less you need to do, not more.

Joni: It’s so difficult for me when students have role models such as this Olympics winner, where the horse has yielded as much as he can, the rider is still pulling, and nobody even notices that his tongue is purple. It’s been wonderful to have you on my side, with the authority you have as a veterinarian and an international speaker

Gerd: You’re right. We have to create more understanding. We have to educate people and make them aware how important this is. It’s difficult, because in our society the emphasis is on showmanship. But the rider has to start to feel, to wait, and to think, and not to do.

Joni: And to enjoy and love what they are doing, and that precious relationship with the horse.

Gerd: That’s it! Do you remember the quote from Xenophon? The horse should be your friend, not your slave. He needs to be your friend, and then he does everything happily for you.

Article taken from Joni Bently’s site http://www.jonibentley.co.uk.

There are 10 Uberstreichen Exercises, 8 are done at the sides of the horse and 2 standing in front of the horse. 5 Exercises are focused on training the horse to respond to a rein aid to relax and to give at the poll, neck and shoulders and 5 are lateral flexions. Both sets of 5 begin standing still facing your horse and then they advance to walking and trotting in hand.

In a slow and methodical pace, you can create a connection from the ground that well create a centaur ride and aids that are light from a Method that is based in lightness. Utilizing all 10 Exercises you will see significant results in two to four months in producing self-carriage without a contact rein. It might take you longer and it is important to take it slowly. Training horses is like running a vacuum cleaner. If you are in a hurry, the vacuum cleaner is not as effective as it would be if you pushed it slowly.

You and your horse are ready to start with the Uberstreichen Exercises when you have a good working relationship at liberty and your horse has good ground manners and attitude. You should be able to touch and rub your horse anywhere and pick up his feet easily and when you put his foot back down you can set it gently on the ground on a designated spot. You also need to be able to hold his foot off the ground as long as you need without the horse leaning his weight on you. When you can achieve this, you and your horse have an ability to work together well enough to begin to work with the Uberstreichen Exercises. You should also be able to fly spray your horse and he will stand relaxed. When you can do this, you have the skill in changing your horse’s mind and getting him to do something he would rather not do because you will working with resistance to achieve relaxation. Your horse should be respectful and obedient naturally over small matters and enjoy your company. You need to be able to drive your horse forward on a rope from your request because it is something you will be doing with the Exercises. Your horse needs to be able to walk at your side and halt without the influence of the rope.

As part of my continuing effort to support the readers of my blog, Horsemanship from the Ground Up, I will be offering free beginning instruction on my Uberstreichen Exercises each week over the Winter.

If you would be interested in joining us, I would invite you to visit me at Uberstreichen Exercises with Carolyn Resnick. I look forward to meeting you!

Call courtesy of HorseConscious.com

Click DressageDisgrace for the transcript of the call

Please spread the word about the campaign by sending people this link:

http://www.dressagedisgrace.com/live-teleseminar-klaus-ferdinand-hempfling

The next Dressage Disgrace teleseminar will be in December and will feature Carolyn Resnick. More details to follow.

The alternative to Rollkur to supple the horse CORRECTLY is to work the horse on a long-rein with soft, yielding hands first in walk, later as the horse gets stronger, in trot and in canter. The importance of the rider’s leg acting at the girth to support the horse’s back is vital, throughout this process.

Until we can promote a better philosophy of riding – based on biomechanical truths – incorrect procedures like the Rollkur and all the other travesities – will continue to degrade Dressage as a Discipline.

The “Blue Tongue World Cup” video on You Tube this week is therefore very much a symptom of all that is wrong about Dressage Training today. People are bypassing the old, proven methods where the rider trains at the horse’s own pace (as promoted by The Spanish Riding School of Vienna) and are now using abusive shortcut methods in order to win over the judges.

What does this say about judging today?
What does it say about crowd pleasing?
What does it say about the education of riders?

CRC has often been accused of living in the past or being fuddy-duddy. Sylvia Loch has been accused of being an “old curmudgeon”! Isn’t that better than being actively cruel and ruining the lives of hundreds of horses?

People need to be educated as to what is pure and correct (i.e. classical) if dressage is to remain a reputable discipline. We don’t pretend to know all the answers but we have made a start and implore you to offer your support.

As a result of the Epona clip we have sent the following letter to the FEI

Sir/Madam,

The Classical Riding Club is aware of the enormous outpouring of public outrage prompted by the Epona (You Tube) film clip of a top
competition dressage horse being worked in Rollkur before a competition event. Scenes like these and the suffering of dressage horses could so easily be avoided for the future with the right checks and controls in place.

I would refer the FEI to my courteous Letter to the Princess Haya, President of the FEI sent in August 2009.

Enclosed with this letter was a copy of ‘Making a Difference’ – Dressage Rules and Guidelines’ (published by The Classical Riding Club
in l998) in which ideas are offered which could revolutionise the present system of judge training and marking. Ideas borrowed and
implemented from this publication would go a long way to assist in upholding the FEI Object and General Principles of Dressage, which have
been too easily ignored or overlooked in the past few years.

It was further suggested that dialogue with the Classical Riding Club and other interested international parties might lead to a state…
where as quoted from my letter ‘…we would swiftly remove those practices which have led to stressful training, robotlike performance
and of course the need for methods like the rollkur, etc’ which are bringing the sport into disrepute.

In view of the present crisis of training, the Epona clip being just one example of some of the training travesties that exist at this time,
we now ask for a response to our friendly and peaceful endeavours to assist in these matters.

The future integrity of the discipline depends upon openess and dialogue with all concerned. Please may we expect a reply?

Yours faithfully

Sylvia Loch
Director of The Classical Riding Club

Reply received from FEI:

Dear Ms Loch,

Thank you very much for your email.

The FEI is aware of the video filmed by Epona.tv at the FEI World CupTM Dressage qualifier at Odense (DEN) and posted on YouTube. FEI’s main concern has always been and will always be the welfare of the horse. We are taking the issues raised in the video and in the comments made by members of the public on social media very seriously and have opened a full investigation. The conclusions of this investigation will be made public in due course.

Kind regards,
Malina Gueorguiev
Communications Manager
Fédération Equestre Internationale

Avenue Rumine 37 NEW
1005 Lausanne
Switzerland
t +41 21 310 47 54
m +41 78 750 61 33
f +41 21 310 47 60

www.fei.org
www.feitv.org

Post taken from Classical Riding Club website

“It is hard to understand how people can ride their horses like its done in the world cup warm up video. I wonder why the rider cannot see the extreme pain he causes through this warm up. How did their ambitions disconnect them from the art of horsemanship where cooperation and partnership between horse and rider melts together.

The horse is very sensitive can feel a small fly on the back leg that it gently sweeps away with the tail, so using double up metal bits and lots of arm strength should really not be necessary when training the horse. The horse is by nature very curious, enjoys learning and new challenges and will respond to the lightest signals if there is communication between the horse and trainer.

Being with horses could be such a pleasure for both parts and they could perform together in harmony. Most of what I see in horse sports today is only a fake superficial pleasure for the rider who goes for money, medals, and fame, while the horse has been degraded to a thing you buy, use and sell.

The Blue Tongue video is bad, now how bad is bad in modern dressage? I do however think we are up for a change, thousands of people are starting to question if pain, force and violence is needed in their companionship with their horse. And is it worth it? Do winning those medals really feel good?

Thank you for this site, thanks to all readers, activists and to EPONA.tv for their braveness.”

Stina Herberg

Oneness and connection with your horse

Oneness and connection with your horse 2

Oneness and connection with your horse 3

“There is growing awareness in the scientific and dressage and horse communities of the cruelty and damage done by practices such as “rollkur”. This and many others have been scientifically documented, not only by organizations and individuals that denounce all horse sport, but also those deeply involved in those sports. Surely there comes a time when we have the moral and ethical obligation to examine how we treat our horses. Are the “show, money, fashion, notoriety, winning at any cost” the standards by which we should judge our care, treatment and use of horses? Or do we have a higher duty to genuinely assess the species specific needs, the unique talents and gifts and the physical abilities or more importantly limitations of these amazing animals. They have no voice, no choice. As their caretakers, we have sole responsibility for their physical, emotional and spiritual well being. Surely we can do better!!!”

Derry McCormick
The Equine Sciences Academy
Director of Administrative Affairs

“We are happy that not only NHE sees the problem now, but I am afraid that this video will be discussed as not a global problem but just a case of this sportsman. However, this Sportsman is just a part of the system which is based on cruelty- visible or hidden.

I am a founder of Horse Revolution- first non profitable organization which struggles with cruelty of Equine sport for years.

I was the first photographer in the world who started to take photos not of the jumping and “dancing” horses but of the mouths and pain in the eyes and publish it openly with faces and names of sportsmen. Now we have thousands of such photos in our magazine and on our website. People send them from all the parts of the world.

We have great results in Russia. There, normal people stopped visiting equine competitions. Now we become well known internationally. Our films, magazines, photos and books work against stupid cruelty of equine sport.”

Lydia Nevzorov
Head of Horse Revolution, Editor in chief NHE Equine Anthology