The curator intentionally makes this entry without still or video images, in order that a reader may imagine connecting the sensations individually involved in effecting contact when astride.
“Obtaining and maintaining soft contact- that is contact with the leg, seat and, reins is a considerably more complicated concept than any addressed thus far by this course. It entails, on the part of the rider, an awareness of his calves and –through his boot and saddle flap– a “feel” of the side of the horse. Simultaneously, the rider must be aware of the inside of his thigh, his seat bones, and lower back, and– through the saddle flap, the seat of the saddle, and the pad underneath it– “feel” the horse’s back. Also simultaneously, the rider must be aware of his own shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers, and –through his gloves, reins, and bit– the horse’s neck and head to get a “feel” of the horse’s mouth. It is all to be connected.
Actually, it is more complicated than that, or vastly simpler, once you understand that what we really want to do is feel and then control the horse’s individual hind legs, and, thereby controlling it’s back and shoulders. Which is why it is more apt to say that we “put the horse in front of the rider’s leg” than to say that we “put the horse on the bit” as an indication of a more intense, more energized degree of “riding on contact”.
Now, if all of this is complicated for a rider, who is, after all, a human being possessed of intelligence superior to the horse which, partner though it is becoming, is still an animal, then learning to go “on contact” is immensely more difficult for a horse. The horse must have that identical set of awarenesses, albeit in reverse, and must submit its animal will to its “feel” of, i.e. stimulation by, the rider. So be sympathetic, and question yourself if things are not going well.
More specifically, recheck the correctness of your overall position, and your position’s ability to fluidly follow and absorb the motion of the horse, without, in any way, interfering with the balancing gestures of the as yet undeveloped equine athlete. To do this, it is wise for the trainer, whether novice or vastly experienced, to develop or
refurbish his own seat and “feel” for contact by riding schooled horses alternately with green prospects. Whether riding a green or schooled horse, the mechanics of putting the horse “on contact” are the same. “
Schooling Your Horse : a Simple Up-To-date Method of Schooling Hunters, Jumpers, and Hacks
by Vladimir S. Littauer
This is the first non-fiction book I read about horses, 55! years ago. I still chortle when I remember that the bookmobile librarian phoned my mother to ask permission to check the book to me because it was an ADULT book. I was captivated by the images of Barnaby Bright, The Captain himself astride. I could see Barnaby Bright’s muscles ripple, and feel the joy and power of unity in motion. I studied, made notes, practiced.
Littauer, a Russian cavalry officer, emigrated to the US and should be credited with founding the American system of training working and showring hunters and tournament jumpers, and riding in the forward seat. Dressage riders will find that all the elements of the Training Scale are addressed, without fanfare or cerebral machination. His texts, for which people who knew them credit his anthropologist wife, Mary, are just plain lucid. And his program for schooling unfolds understandably to the mind of the horse and for the progression of the horse’s physical development. Especially for Thoroughbreds, whose minds tend to learn faster than their bodies are able to develop. Anyone who brings horses through field school, events through novice level, or foxhunts will benefit from this book.
Commonsense Horsemanship
by Vladimir S. Littauer
Published first in 1951, my copy is the 1963 Second Edition, hot off the presses when it arrived via the bookmobile and came to occupy my mind and strum my essence.
I had already read Schooling Your Horse, and was practicing on the neighbors ponies and horses. I had never taken a riding lesson. I handled and rode unsupervised, trained the ponies the way I trained the family G. Sheps. I loved, petted and groomed them, admonished them when they misbehaved, rewarded lavishly when they behaved well, especially when they offered new, desirable behavior. Safety was not an issue; I learned to keep my head and feet out of harm’s way. I loved the horses, they loved me. What could go wrong? Why worry?
But I was more than receptive to knowledgeable help. I was ravenously hungry for it, when along came this seven course meal. After describing the nature of the horse, and it’s motion, leading to why to sit as he prescribes, Littauer narrates how to sit a horse, thence to control it, and school it. Next to teach others to ride, and to teach others to school their own horses. Craft understood. Field School accomplished. Foundation of the horses’ futures laid.
Although there are photos, diagrams, and sketches, the Littauers’ words were and are worth a gazillion pictures. Every time I pluck Commonsense from my shelf, I find new passages of illumination.
Holding it now, I see that the very first note I made inside it’s cover refers to this passage:
(PAGE 218)”In order to be a horseman he must forget himself, identify himself with the horse, feel that it is he, himself who has changed leads at the canter or taken the jump; only then will there be that complete union and harmony which produces true art.”
It is the oft published, seldom stated, and rarely heard goal of Dressage to maintain the purity and clarity of the gaits, sometimes called paces, of a riding horse. Realizing that hereditary conformation dictates and limits the qualities of motion of our horses, it is the goal of Dressage horse breeders, groundskeepers, handlers, grooms, riders, trainers, farriers, veterinarians, physiotherapists, competition judges…so easy to forget…to maintain, all too often to restore, horses innate qualities of motion.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this Vimeo is worth a gazillion words. You can stop-motion any frame and see an excellent illustration of the masters’ definitions of walk, trot, or canter. The limitation of internet transmission of digital video is, of course, the number of frames per second captured and then transmitted. So the qualities of motion perceived by the eye on this screen, as compared to seeing a horses’ motion in realtime, are not quite authentic, but as close as we can get without having been there.
The subject is a 5 year old German-bred gelding who was won at auction in December 2012, by a British buyer. (oh yes, in spite of being named “Her Heart,” Sa Coeur is a gelding.
Sa Coeur is noted to have been awarded a 10 (ten!) for walk, 9.6 for trot, and 8.8 for canter in by Young Horse judges.
Of course, exemplification of the Training Scale is here, too. So you may want to watch…several times.
It is the oft published, seldom stated, and rarely heard goal of Dressage to maintain the purity and clarity of the gaits, sometimes called paces, of a riding horse. Realizing that hereditary conformation dictates and limits the qualities of motion of our horses, it is the goal of Dressage horse breeders, groundskeepers, handlers, grooms, riders, trainers, farriers, veterinarians, physiotherapists, competition judges…so easy to forget…to maintain, all too often to restore, horses innate qualities of motion.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this Vimeo is worth a gazillion words. You can stop-motion any frame and see an excellent illustration of the masters’ definitions of walk, trot, or canter. The limitation of internet transmission of digital video is, of course, the number of frames per second captured and then transmitted. So the qualities of motion perceived by the eye on this screen, as compared to seeing a horses’ motion in realtime, are not quite authentic, but as close as we can get without having been there.
The subject is a 5 year old German-bred gelding who was won at auction in December 2012, by a British buyer. (oh yes, in spite of being named “Her Heart,” Sa Coeur is a gelding.
Sa Coeur is noted to have been awarded a 10 (ten!) for walk, 9.6 for trot, and 8.8 for canter in by Young Horse judges.
Of course, exemplification of the Training Scale is here, too. So you may want to watch…several times.
9/23/12 In keeping with the mission of DressageUnderground, which is to collect and exhibit only excellent examples of the multiple facets of the discipline, crafts, arts, and self-disciplines that constitute Dressage, this article is included.
It is written by Dr. Camie Heleski – Dept. of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA for The International Society for Equitation and was published in Astrid Appel’s EuroDressage.com. DressageUnderground is printing it in full, and followed by a video defining proper cavesson fit.
This curator will preface the article by reminding the reader that riding IS training, that to ride the correct progression of exercises correctly is to train a horse correctly, and conversely, that to ride a correctly trained horse incorrectly is to un-train the horse, and that even to ride exercises correctly, but in incorrect progression, is counter-productive.
“Equitation Science is a relatively young field. The profile of Equitation Science has been raised significantly during the last decade due to an emphasis on measuring the objective, quantifiable aspects of horse-human interactions.
For example, we can use rein tension gauges to objectively measure how much tension is taking place between the bit and the rider’s hands during different riding exercises. This coupled with carefully monitoring the horse’s behaviour in response to different rein tensions begins to give us an understanding of which tensions are perceived more or less positively by the horse. We might further add to the rigor of this type of experiment by also measuring heart rates and, perhaps, cortisol levels.
Just because we can utilize quantifiable measurements that are repeatable by other scientists, does this automatically benefit the horse’s welfare? Does it automatically answer our initial question? For example, what of horses that have already become habituated to high levels of rein tension over many years of being ridden in that manner. They may show no significantly aversive behaviours as compared to a horse ridden with a lighter hand, they may show no significantly different cortisol levels or heart rates as compared to the more lightly ridden horse. Does that give us an automatic “green light” to proceed with relatively high tension riding? In my mind, it does not.
There is an important interplay between scientific scrutiny and ethical assessment that must take place if we truly wish to enhance the horse’s wellbeing in its interactions with us. Scientific evaluation and ethical assessment should not be at odds with one another, rather they should complement one another. As stated in the 2010 conference of this same meeting, science without ethical assessment can be problematic, but so can ethical assessment (or kneejerk assumptions) without scientific study.
Horses are a highly adaptable species. If we stall them individually for 23 1/2 hours per day in a solid walled box stall, exercise them for 1/2 h/day in an indoor arena, yet they show no evidence of ulcers, loss of bone density, nor stereotypic behaviour, does this make it an acceptable housing method? If we survey a warm up arena, and note the 10 most harshly handled horses in the arena (from our human perspective), yet, upon measurement, they show no measurable differences from 10 control horses, what does this tell us?
The benefits of science and its application to the field of equitation science surely outweigh its limitations, but we must always remember to keep our eyes open, watch the whole horse, listen to the whole horse and sometimes remember to trust our horsemanship instincts that brought us to this field to start with.
Does your training stand the test of science? The following 8 principles were originally defined in the peer-reviewed scientific literature (McGreevy and McLean, 2007). The application of these principles is not restricted to any single method of horse-training, and we do not expect that just one system will emerge. There are many possible systems of optimal horse-training that adhere to all of these principles.
FIRST PRINCIPLES IN HORSE-TRAINING
1. Understand and use learning theory appropriately. Learning theory explains positive and negative reinforcement and how they work in establishing habitual responses to light, clear signals. (Note that “positive” and “negative” when applied to reinforcement are not value judgements, as in “good” or “bad”, but arithmetical descriptions of whether the behaviour is reinforced by having something added or something taken away, e.g., pressure. For example, when the horse responds to a turn signal and the rein pressure is immediately released, negative reinforcement has been applied.) It is critical in the training context that the horse’s responses are correctly reinforced and that the animal is not subjected to continuous or relentless pressure. Prompt and correct reinforcement makes it more likely that the horse will respond in the same way in future. Learning theory explains how classical conditioning and habituation can be correctly used in horse-training.
2. To avoid confusion, train signals that are easy to discriminate There are many responses required in horse-training systems but only a limited number of areas on the horse’s body to which unique signals can be delivered. From the horse’s viewpoint, overlapping signal sites can be very confusing, so it is essential that signals are applied consistently in areas that are as isolated and separate from one another as possible.
3. Train and shape responses one-at-a-time (again, to avoid confusion) It is a prerequisite for effective learning that responses are trained one- at-a-time. To do this, each response must be broken down into its smallest possible components and then put together in a process called “shaping”.
4. Train only one response per signal To avoid confusing the horse, it is essential that each signal elicits just one response. (However, there is no problem with a particular response being elicited by more than one signal.) Sometimes a response may be complex and consist of several trained elements. These should be shaped (or built up) progressively. For example, the “go forward” response is expected to include an immediate reaction to a light signal, a consistent rhythm as the animal moves in a straight line and with a particular head carriage. Each of these components should be added progressively within the whole learned response to a “go forward” signal.
5. For a habit to form effectively, a learned response must be an exact copy of the ones before. For clarity, a complete sequence of responses must be offered by the horse within a consistent structure (e.g., transitions should be made within a defined number of footfalls). Habit formation applies to transitions in which the number of footfalls must be the same for each transition and this must be learned.
6. Train persistence of responses (self-carriage) It is a fundamental characteristic of ethical training systems that, once each response is elicited, the animal should maintain the behaviour. The horse should not be subjected to continuing signals from leg (spur) or rein pressure.
7. Avoid and dissociate flight responses (because they resist extinction and trigger fear problems) When animals experience fear, all characteristics of the environment at the time (including any humans present) may become associated with the fear. It is well-known that fear responses do not fade as other responses do and that fearful animals tend not to trial new learned responses. It is essential to avoid causing fear during training.
8. Benchmark relaxation (to ensure the absence of conflict) Relaxation during training must be a top priority, so when conflict behaviours are observed in the horse, we must carefully examine and modify our training methods so that these behaviours are minimised and ultimately avoided. To recognise the importance of calmness in enabling effective learning and ethical training, any restraining equipment, such as nosebands, should be loose enough to allow conflict behaviours to be recognised and dealt with as they emerge.
by Dr. Heleski – Dept. of Animal Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA
For weeks, I’ve been watching the development of Cavalia Village while traversing the Poplar Steet Bridge. Even when only the White Big Top was erect between the Bridge and the carriage horse stable, I was drawn to stop and focus on it’s graceful presence on Chouteau’s Pond, Downtown St. Louis. My anticipation of Cavalia’s St Louis premiere had been building.
So when Cavalia invited Dressage Underground to the photo-op arrival of the horses themselves, I thought “Pourquoi -non?” Dusted off my rusty photo-journalist self, and organized yesterday to include this picnic on Chouteau’s Pond.
Arriving early, I was acknowledged with a nod and smile from a happy groundskeeper, and upon donning equipment and opening the trar door, surprised to be greeted by a gracious voice intoning “Are you media?…here to greet the horses’ arrival” “Mais, oui, madame” I replied, and was directed around a muraled security enclosure to the meeting point at the box office. First to arrive, and greeted once more, I asked to have a respectful look about, and was able to peer through the parted curtains of the performance tent, one of the two exercise tents, the hospitality and staff cafeteria enclosures. Approaching a plexiglass double casement in the curtain wall of the stable tent…”Le Habitat,” I had heard the assembly crew call it…I stopped to read the sign,
and while peering around it, I heard a friendly, French inflected voice “One P.M.”
“I can wait” I said, catching M. Valcour’s grin, as he opened and passed through the portal, and strode in to himself be greeted by the huge gray head of vaulting horse, with whom he stopped to exchange pleasantries. Junior, it seems, had arrived at 10A, had been showered, but not yet shaven, and was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his people.
Media had gathered and were being greeted by M. Pacquette when I returned to the meet point. Looking up to see two twelve horse transports in tandem approaching The Poplar, and knowing they would exit at 6th, I prepared for http://youtu.be/DarFKKrKD5M
Soon a ramp was down and the sisal carpet rolled out for ‘the artists.’ As human cast and crew greeted one another, the scene unfurling was delightfully and factually narrated by Fairland Ferguson, who trick and roman rides in the show. http://youtu.be/JIKAkOppCJI
When all of these 25 of the 49 horses were safely “en habitat” we were invited in to have a look around… http://youtu.be/fXxCrYGlMg0
and observe preparations for their first sand box frolics in St Louis. Drawn to the cluster of Iberian grays who dance dressage, I found myself engaged by the graceful motions Tatiana Daviaud, tacking her partner, Goloso. Addressing her in my schoolboy French, she agreed to express her obvious passion for dressage. http://youtu.be/E4Py6F0Z0_s
When I stopped the film, I became aware, once again, of the presence of M. Valcour, who offered to provide this translation to English:
‘’ In respect to movement, we work to promote balance and agility with a focus on flexibility and relaxation for all of the horses. With these different elements in place, we ensure that the horses feel ready, mentally and physically, to take the stage and turn it into their very own playground each night.. ‘’
Soon, we were ushered onward past the tack room.. a container with double overhead doors that can be loaded on and off an over-the-road flat bed, and placed in the perimeter of the stable tent. As I paused to snap it, Roman rider Chad Dyson asked whether I wanted him “out of the picture.” “Au contraire, bon homme,I want you IN the picture.”
And onto the river sand footing of a warm-up tent, where we were introduced to several of the horses and riders, including Head Trainer Gregory Molina, and his four graceful accomplices of this concentric circle synchronization. http://youtu.be/ED6omHvwHeM
And got to see Fairland and Chad find their footings on the backs of their Roman pairs.
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If I hadn’t “heard” the voice of the schoolmaster calling “HAY,” I ‘d have made a nuisance of myself there in Cavalia Village, the rest of the afternoon. But artists deserve creative privacy.
12/3/11 I’ve never met Kyra Kyrklund. I’ve seen her ride only once…real time… in Stockholm Stadium, during her Grand Prix and Grand Prix Special tests at the 1990 World Equestrian Games. And I’ve read, and will read again, her book. I unabashedly admire her, and am forever grateful for having enlightened and stimulated me to pursue this craft. (My gushing reminiscence in post-script, following, will explain.)
So when I read of her presentation at the 2011 Global Dressage, I hung on her every word, as reported by Eurodressage’s Astrid Appel.
I’ve read, since, that Kyra spent her sixtieth birthday, not sunning herself on a beach, but questing onward, attending the Morning Training of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
As would I, if I could take the schoolmasters with me.
Gone surfing, I found this video of Kyra and then PSG accomplished Master 850, giving the impression of dancing around sparklers on a birthday beach. Happy Birthday to me!
Now, to reminisce:
I had ridden and studied dressage for already 30 years, seen US National Dressage tests, and World Championship dressage tests of Three Day Events here in the States and in England, and even ridden a confirmed GP horse as part of my ’87 Kentucky job. I was still not convinced of elite Dressage’s contribution to the preservation, much less enhancement, of the essential nature and nobility of The Horse. I was, and am, afterall, a Littauerite, ever aware of Littauer’s admonishment to beware of “charlatans” coming from abroad. But I had also read much of Podhajsky – who was utterly revered by my family and riding mentors – including his analysis of Olympic Dressage judging. And enlightened, spiritually elevated, enthused, by two mid 80’s performances of the Spanish Riding School in the St. Louis Arena.
So there I was in Stockholm for the first ever World Equestrian Games. To absorb all I could learn from the best of the best of all disciplines of the time. For Dressage, I was seated just to the right of, but many meters behind C. I trained my binoculars on each Dressage contestant’s ride, and made copious notes in the margins of the WEG program between tests.
And learned a lot.
I remember coming away from the GP rides thinking “that black horse and Finnish rider could have captained a winning team.” (had Finland fielded a team) And during the GP Special rides for individual medals, being impatient for Matador II and Kyra Kyrklund’s entry, elated by their performance, and disappointed that it was ever over. Resorting to coffee, I was satisfied and confident that the Jury’s scoring should have preferred the qualities of Matador’s motion, his exuberant expression, including evident delight in his own accomplishment, over the impressions of automation imposed by other riders’ determined accuracy of their horses’ tests.
Since my own awareness of youtube, I’ve been searching for a video of Matador at the 1990 WEG. I haven’t found one.
Close as I can get is this record of Kyra Kyrklund and Matador breaking the barrier at the 1991 World Cup Final Kur:
11/20/11 Rode in the rain today. Did not intend to ride in the rain today, but did. It had drizzled much of the early morning, but had stopped by ride time, and the footing looked splendid. And it was not raining while I groomed and tacked, but it was drizzling as we headed out the door, so I pulled on a parka, and strode to the outdoor court, wiped off the saddle and mounted.
His Majesty obviously liked the conditions. He walked out energetically, inspected the margins, found my hand soon, and rhythmically inscribed three walk leg yield (LY) zigzags (ZZ), first forward at about 55 degrees, then steeper at about 40 degrees, and lastly, at about 60 degrees in medium. This horse has a wonderful walk, which has only gotten better by the inclusion of LY in his loosening exercises.
In walk we also played with shoulder-in(SI)>half-pass(HP)>SI>HP>SI. He is less adept at this exercise, so we only HP ZZ when SI>HP>SI>HP>SI is near perfect. Which it was not today.
So not to belabor that exercise in drizzle, we went on to trot the perimeter in an energetic long and low working posture. And then inscribed spiral in, transitioning to uphill collection and spiral out from uphill collected to uphill medium – one full in and out complement of spirals on each leg. After straightening, still in uphill medium, we collected and came to halt(H). But the H was not square, so H>T about a dozen collected strides to H. Which was square. Then from a few strides of forward working trot, went large and long and low to transition into canter, with one barely uphill flying change each direction before inscribing canter spirals that progressed from long and low inward to uphill collection, then pirouette canter into a big, but buoyant 3/4 pirouette>straight out of which we transitioned from that degree of collection into uphill medium, flew a change, returned to long and low and repeated the exercise on the other leg.
When I brought him to walk and fed him the reins, he took them all the way to the ground and lengthened his stride across a long diagonal, then to uphill medium before I let him walk free while I inspected the footprints of the prior exercises.
This court is 50m x 50m, which accommodates a 20m spiral in each quadrant. Although the in and out of the trot spirals made it difficult to discern which was which, the overall impression to my eye from astride was a smooth increase of bend followed by smooth decrease of bend both directions. The canter tracks were easier to read, and I was not surprised that the overtrack of inner hind was greater to the left than to the right in medium, but pleased to see that the tracks of pirouette canter volte and the near pirouettes themselves were pretty even on both legs. If it were not by now really raining, or I were willing to let the saddle get that wet before remounting, I would have dismounted and inspected all of the tracks more closely. What I could see remaining astride was a handsome piece of lace we had just tatted.
Which we proceeded to obliterate by resuming trot, and playing the accordion, as Charles de Kunffy dubbed longitudinal and lateral bending exercises. First a shakule of working > collected > medium>collected> near piaffe> collected>near piaffe>medium…executing corners only in collection.
Then we fished-tailed a long straight line of haunches-in(HI)>haunches-out(HO>HI>HO Which ignited an increasedly impulsed uphill medium. Thrilling how that works, when a horse reaches this stage of development. Although I think I might have made such extravagant medium into passage today, I did not want to introduce anything new, but instead resorted to working trot long and low to soften. I am thrilled that this horse is strong enough to do so much medium trot exercise. But I have to keep him adjustable if his eventual extensions and passage are to be unconstrained, elastic, and exuberant.
Continuing to accordion laterally and promote rideability of the SI>HP>SI, by way of trot volte (TV) > SI> TV>SI>HP>SI> straight to change legs to repeat in the opposite direction. Then long and low working large circle each direction. Then to free walk the perimeter through north wind propelled RAIN, fling open the gate and ride to the stable port, where I dismounted.
Once inside, I loosened the girth and released the flash, and walked Carl Hester’s “20 minutes on hard” (See Digest Autumn 2011) all the while untacking, unwinding polos, and changing each of us into dry clothes. When I asked HM whether he enjoyed his romp in the rain while bent to remove his left bell, he responded by gripping the crown of my soaked bucket hat between his lips and tossing it into the grooming stall (as he has seen me toss his bell boots times before.) Giggling and exclaiming “Comic” I was caught in a hug as I crossed under his neck to the right boot. And while there, and massaging those tendons he tousled my hair with his lips.
SO I guess he had enough fun to make all the extra laundry and tack cleaning worthwhile.
27 May, 15
Christopher Hyams
Dressage Underground 