When I received my 2007 dressage judge’s card at the beginning of this season, it occurred to me that I have been a dressage judge for 30 years. As a senior judge for a majority of those years, I attended one of many compulsory U.S. Equestrian Federation dressage judges’ forums in August, this one in Saugerties, N.Y.

During the first morning of dressage and judging theory, those of us attending were shown a videotape dealing with the essential concepts of dressage: rhythm, suppleness, contact, impulsion, straightness and collection.

It was a nice tape with good horses and good riders, narrated by someone whose English was impeccable. The word relaxation was used in the tape, but it was used in the warm-up and cool down of the horses, referring to their mental state while walking out. When the horses were actively working, however, suppleness was the operative word in the context of the training scale or pyramid.

We were then shown the U.S. Equestrian Federation’s new version of the training scale. The original training scale, or pyramid, has been around, both in German and English, for a very long time. I received my first copy of it translated into English while training with General von Oppeln Bronikowski, a 1936 Olympic team gold medalist. This was during the summer of 1963 while training at Christilot Hansen Boylen’s place outside of Toronto, Ont.

Some years ago during a judges’ forum at Tempel Farm (Ill.), the late Edgar Hotz (born and raised in Germany) also introduced the same training scale as a judging tool, or prism, through which to judge. Suppleness was the second tier of both. Edgar was university educated in German and English, as well as being a rider.

During my research while heading the USDF committee that generated the USDF Dressage Manual, everything I read, including the translation of the German Federation riding manuals, all used suppleness to translate lossgelassenheit. But now the USEF is using “relaxation” as the key operative word of the second tier of the  training scale.

I believe I have my working understanding of dressage from actual time in the saddle over many years. I want my horses to be active, attentive and keen, though not tense. The horse is not tense when he is supple.

The muscles and joints are active. Some are contracting, while others are stretching. There is an absence of negative muscular tension.

Yet suppleness requires activity, particularly of the horse’s back and abdominal muscles. Relaxation is an inactive state. In fact, Webster’s New World Dictionary defines relaxation as “rest from work or effort.”

My concern and respect for choice of words also comes from four years of Latin and through studying German (taught by native Germans) while attending Yale University (Conn.).

Later, while riding at Reitinstitut von Neindorff, I was asked to translate what the maestro had to say, and he spoke often of lossgelassenheit, which we always translated into English as meaning suppleness. Most other scholars translating into English from German have also used suppleness.

Optimal translation requires the most appropriate word also in the language into which one is translating. In the English language suffice it to say, “relaxation” is not an adequate word in the context of active movement. Relaxation is a state of inactivity, both of the muscles and the mind.

Why bother to raise this?

One understands that there are those who feel it makes no real difference. But, imagine a whole nation of riders who are now taught to strive for relaxation as a core concept, not suppleness. And to mix up the definition of relaxation with suppleness is not a solution or a good idea, as in “relaxation, with suppleness and elasticity”, or “relaxation, but without lethargy.” The terms need to stay clear.

To me as a horseman “relaxation” may well be the new rotten step on the traditional pyramid of training. One cannot really make a lively bridge between the horse’s rhythm and its connection to the bit with just relaxation.

The horse needs to remain active and supple to connect in a reliable way to the rider’s hands while maintaining the clear rhythm of its gaits. How too will one createa lively impulsion and a good collection
with only relaxation, not suppleness as a foundation?

Relaxation will also be an elusive concept for judges when movements require optimal activity and engagement of the horse, also mentally, such as in the piaffe. Hopefully, we will all still be able to agree when the horses are catatonic!

It should also be duly noted that no existing USEF or Fédération Equestre Internationale tests use relaxation as a term of art in the general impressions, or the test directives.

Recommendation: Retain suppleness as the second tier, core concept of the
training scale or pyramid. This is also what the FEI and every other English-speaking nation (including England and Canada)have done.

Also, we should rejuvenate the well-drafted definition of suppleness, which was unfortunately dropped from the American Horse Shows Association’s simple and concise Glossary Of Terms in our AHSA Rules For Dressage circa 1991.

If there’s to be any hope of consolidation and consistency in the use of terminology, it cannot be changing all of the time. Lack of tradition in the use of our language confuses our understanding, and, worse yet, the horse’s. It also makes dressage even less objective to judge when terminology is too fuzzy.

We should not be led astray in our English dressage terms.

Michael Kierkegaard

Michael Kierkegaard is a U.S. Equestrian Federation S-rated judge in dressage and holds the distinction of being the first instructor to be certified through fourth level by the U.S. Dressage Federation. He trains students and horses at his Saybrook Dressage in Felton, Pa.