Cross-post spinoff: Disciplines as a balance continuum

[LudgerFan]

Perhaps we as trainers and instructors should present it to our students (and think of it ourselves) in this way:

Flat racing and high-school dressage (which includes the airs above the ground) are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of the balance required of the horse. Imagine this spectrum expressed in terms of a numbered scale, with 1 representing flat racing, and 10 representing high-school dressage. In racing, the horse's center of gravity is shifted as far forward as possible, freeing the hindquarters to the utmost to allow for the greatest and most efficient forward propulsion. Providing PROPULSIVE power is the sole function of the hindquarters in racing. The jockey's crouch is in perfect harmony with this forward balance of the horse. On the opposite end of the spectrum we find high-school dressage: think of a horse in the levade. In this case, the horse's center of gravity is shifted so far rearwards that the hindquarters cease to propel at all and are so engaged underneath the horse's mass that the weight of the forehand is lifted off the ground and supported only by the hind limbs. There is no forward motion of the horse at all in this case. The sole function of the hindquarters in levade is to support the entire mass of the horse: it is CARRYING power in the highest degree.

The various disciplines fall somewhere along that scale. A hunter might fall at a 2 on the scale when jumping low fences. As the jumps increase in size, however, he requires a less-forward center of gravity and might shift along the numerical scale of balance to a 3 or even 4. (Which is why we generally expect and allow a different carriage for a horse competing in the regular hunter division than we do a pre-green horse.) The balance of a grand prix jumper might vascillate from moment to moment on course as need requires: say, between 5 and 7 (except for the jump itself, which is clearly a case of 10 to 1). The grand prix dressage horse (because it still needs to maintain a certain amount of propulsion, especially for the extensions, but also a more extreme carrying power for piaffe, might vascillate from say 7 to 9.

My point: instead of thinking about our different disciplines as separate entities unto themselves, we should instead think of them as related, differing really only in the balance required of the horse at any given time. The upper body position we assume as therefore is an evolution which matches the balance required by the horse. (Which is why Caprilli's influence on jumping position was so fabulous!!)

Athleticism in a horse is merely defined as this: the ability of a horse to shift its center of gravity easily and quickly both forwards and rearwards (and upwards) at will. You can develop a horse and MUST (in order to make him more athletic) by using cross-training, training him in activities that challenge him at the end of the spectrum opposite that of where his natural balance lies. It is not uncommon in Europe to see galloping tracks built around dressage arenas. Imagine using dressage to improve a racehorse's performance out of the starting gate! (I think Michael Matz is on to this...but the fact that we don't see it frequently is more is condemning of the racing industry's tendency to exploit rather than to foster and develop...we must think about the implications and learn from it!) Hunters and jumpers as we know are best developed using dressage, and can also benefit greatly from occasional galloping, both mentally and physically.

That's just my two cents after reading the thread about hunters vs. low-level dressage...FWIW....

[meupatdoes]

I can not believe that I saw this post, drove an hour and a half to the barn, set up a small course in the dressage arena, groomed, tacked up, schooled, untacked, reblanketed, and turned out three horses, put away the small course, cleaned tack, drove an hour and half back home, and no one has responded to this with EUREKA!! yet.

This is exactly how someone who rides horses holistically thinks. Teach the horse the whole spectrum (or at least a good portion of it; I am not sure everyone needs to teach their horse the levade), and then use portions of it as you need them to either further the horse's development, or present him to a certain type of judge.

Too many riders only ride, school and show one small slice of the spectrum, without learning to develop the WHOLE horse.

[slc2]

The post is good, but it doesn't cover the change in balance within dressage, even within daily training. It is sensible, but we can open just about any book on riding and see a series of line drawings that illustrate the concept.

The intro-training level horse is moving little differently than a race horse, is on the forehand, the hind quarters only push him forward, the climb up the levels gradually changes that.

The directives on the dressage tests make that very, very clear.

What's missing from the OP post is that at any time, a GP horse can 'revisit' his training basis - the rider can ask him to stretch, reach onto his forehand and simply propel himself forward without carrying himself, he can go back and go to kindergarten any time.

And he would, in fact, if correctly, classically trained, journey up that entire scale of change of balance, every single day, every single ride, starting out stretching and pushing, and recapitulate every stage of his training, as he warms up and then moves into each more advanced movement. Every day, he re-counts the journey of the last four, five or six years, and he finishes the ride the same way, stretching, loosening, simply propelling himself forward.

Is galloping a horse what's missing? I don't think that's the answer to every training deficiency.

But to be perfectly honest, I think the frequent assumption made by posters here that 'everyone is so wrong' in their training is a very, very, VERY strange position and a very odd part of our natural, horse people, 'we're better than them' sort of thinking, who ever THEM really is or if THEM actually exists at all.

When you're looking at people who are learning, it's easy to lose track of the fact that they are, in fact, LEARNING. No, it's not perfect. And in dressage, moving toward correct training, LEARNING, it's always a slow process. We aren't surprised to see a sign that says 'Wet Paint', and touch the paint and see it's wet. Yet when people are LEARNING, we seem to get all freaked out, even when we ourselves are so obviously, LEARNING.

We just like to think that way, that we are so right and everyone else is so wrong. That's just horse people. They most of them do that.

Galloping? Some horses are coping with maintenance issues as they age, and galloping isn't always the wisest choice for them. Working at speed can strain old injuries, and even create new ones. Note that off the track horses bow tendons on the track, and stay sound for years after doing dressage. It might not be wise to send them out for a gallop, though hopefully the footing isn't as hard as at a fast track, and the speed of a sport horse gallop isn't exactly track speed.

For some horses, I'm sure galloping is a great thing. Do I think you should take a beginner out and make him gallop so he's more scared and more tense? Probably not. Is it of value to gallop? Of course.

Do 90% of people have a safe place to gallop? Nope. Would it be better to go ahead and gallop anyway, say on a paved road, or a sidewalk? Probably not.

But no, I don't think most top trainers are going to take an insured, irreplaceable, two million dollar horse with years of training and competition sunk into it, that they don't even OWN, and gallop it over rocks and holes, to 'make it more versatile' or 'make it more sure footed'. Some of that thinking...some of it, it just isn't ever going to happen.

There's a point where such thinking becomes counter productive.

And is jumping really such an indispensable part of being 'holistic'? No, I don't think so. I don't think it's absolutely necessary for every horse to be jumped frequently, for the training to be 'good' or 'holistic'. But oh yeah, for sure, if I have a horse with a tight back, I am going to drag out the cavalletti, and Ingrid Klimke's book does have Household Shrine Status at our house. Of course she's right. Does it fit into every situation and cure every ill? Nope. No more than Stretching, Stretching and More Stretching does.

Is it really the lack of galloping or jumping that's the problem? I don't think so. I think it's more that people get bored doing dressage schooling frequently. They don't want to work that hard and to focus that hard. I actually think horses benefit incredibly from doing dressage, and doing it frequently. And yes, screaming pixie critics, my horses all go out and have play days. And no, they don't do dressage every day. But they do dressage a lot of days, and they like the routine and the fitness and the ease at their work. And the RIDER needing some escape from the work is different from the horse needing some variety, LOL.

The variety is valuable only in so far as it doesn't make the horse less fit and less able to do his dressage. Too much 'variety', and he just isn't fit.

And even more importantly, the rider isn't fit, and that makes the horse's dressage miserable.

What's missing? I think ENJOYMENT is missing. People get too freaked out and too serious. They don't need to ride the Wind River or feel the wind in their hair, they need to enjoy what they're doing while they're doing it - plain and simple. People just get too serious and too frustrated doing dressage. They need to change their mind so they are happy whille they are doing it, and their horse will be happy.

Do so many top trainers neglect refreshing their horse, and giving it a change of scenery?

No, actually, I don't think they do. It's really the top trainers that can afford to build a top facility, to put in a gallop track, have the access to the land where they can train in a field, have the eurociser, treadmill, swimming pool, have the staff to maintain and use all those things. The rest of us slobs are lucky to have one ring to ride in, and a half an hour a day to ride in it.

[NoDQhere]

SLC brings up some good points. Really, the whole point of Dressage is that, done correctly, it does develop the whole horse.

Having said that, doing "other" things is, for the most part, good for the horse. The more things a horse is exposed to, the better he will be able to cope with new situations, such as showing.

We use quite a bit of cavalletti and jumping in developing young horses and in keeping older horses happy and fresh in their work. We are lucky in that we have space for galloping and trail riding as well.