Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ellin McGinley Daum on December 17, 2009 at 12:47pm

OK, you asked for an opinion! Obviously the horse is exciting to watch, but I predict that the way he is being ridden will hasten the end of his useful show life. He is a leg mover which restricts the back and stiffens the muscles not allowing the horse to become fully through to the rider's hands. At his young age this type of work is physically harmful with the damage showing up in 4 to 6 years. Great references on this topic include: If Horses Could Speak (DVD), Tug of War: Modern versus Classical Dressage and Phillipe Raul's Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage. It will give all readers and watchers a different perspective on some of the popular training methods currently in use and highlight the damage done to the horses' bodies because of them.

I would love to see Taco go on a lighter rein with positive elevation instead of absolute elevation. I bet he would be just as spectacular!

Permalink Reply by Mind4sport on December 17, 2009 at 12:53pm

Some good points Ellin. How do you think this compares with the thoughts exposed in "Workbooks from the Spanish Riding School, Charles Harris" and "School of Horsemanship, Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere"??

Permalink Reply by Ellin McGinley Daum on December 17, 2009 at 1:09pm

Although I'm not familiar with Harris' works I would bet that they are similar and even based on both of the works you cite. Phillipe Raul is very much a Baucherist whose book explains the flexions and debunks many of the requirements of the dressage manual written by the FEI. Gerd Heuschman (sp): If Horses Could.... is trained in the German method and is a veterinarian working on the very subject of doing no harm in training horses for the German government. All of this is very interesting to me since I rode with Jean-Claude Racinet for 20 years until his death in April 2009. He firmly believed in "Riding in Lightness" and taught it with much passion. It has served me and my students very well for a long time. I'm glad to discover that others are pursuing lightness, too. Nino Oliviera is another master of lightness whose works are not widely published because they were written in Portuegese. I recommend that every dressage rider, every rider for that matter, become familiar with the ideas of riding in release of the aids as part of their general riding education.

Permalink Reply by Mind4sport on December 17, 2009 at 1:13pm

A sentiment expressed in "The Complete Training of Horse and Rider, Alois Podhajsky" :-)

Permalink Reply by Mary McGuire Smith on December 17, 2009 at 2:42pm

mine are the same as last time....(please refer to my blog: http://iridedressage.blogspot.com for several posts on this subject) with the additional comment, that it seems that the more things change the more they stay the same. sigh. The basic work is not correct....it is all "flash in the pan", and the judges continue to be impressed by it, even in light of the recent hoopla over rollkur, which, when taken to its source, is a cry out for not just the abatement of this cruel practice, but a return to the classical principles. I hope that this is just an indication that it will take time, not an indication that we are ignoring the steps in the right direction and just blindly continuing down the same path.

Permalink Reply by Kinni P on December 17, 2009 at 3:21pm

I agree completely with everyone else who posted. I would like to add a thought about scoring in general. It seems to me that scores are on the rise in all of the major competitions. I remember the beginning of this EG winning streak. He broke the record with 89%, I think. When he broke that record, the rider in second place (I think it was Peters) had a score similar to the high score that was just broken. By the time I make it to GP, they'll be handing out 100s just for showing up.

Permalink Reply by Mind4sport on December 18, 2009 at 1:20pm

It will be interesting to see how changes to the judging are implemented and what difference it makes