Reiner Klimke/Ahlerich Demonstrate Passage and Piaffe

So, what do you see in this video that is different from what you see today?

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Comment by Marlene Thoms on July 5, 2011 at 10:00am: Remember the "good ole days" when people joked that watching dressage was like "watching paint dry". The beauty of it was you weren't supposed to see the subtle signals from the rider, it looked effortless. A lot of the changes in modern dressage were perhaps an effort to wow the crowds, rekindle interest, put on a show, maybe to advertise a particular style of training. For all that, I guess it worked. But something precious was lost. Surely there is still room for the classical more subtle style. It's kind of like the wine drinking market. To initiate people sometimes you have to put out some so-so wines for the uninitiated palate. After you draw in your customers, you have to teach them the finer points if they are going to appreciate the finer wines.

Comment by Bernd on July 5, 2011 at 9:01am: ^just look at this video and compare it the current top performances. You will see that the top performances today have more expressive movements but they are full of tension as that tension must be used to make horses do it. the problem is the juding criteria. As long as expression no matter how tense is getting the top scores, that is what riders will do. They are there for winning.

On top of that watch Klimke's seat in the saddle. None of the top performers reaches that perfection of seat and invisible aids.

Comment by E. Allan Buck on July 2, 2011 at 8:00pm: Folks,

If you really want to make a difference, then you and all your acquaintences need to send emails and snail mail letters to USEF and FEI referencing this ride and others like it. The problem is the BAD judging which is ignoring the basic stipulated tenants of FEI Articles 401 through 417.

We must swamp their emails and mailboxes demanding that the judges only score according to the rules.

Comment by Karen Tweed on July 2, 2011 at 7:35pm: I don't care if I ever win a class, I just want to be able to ride with quiet invisible aids like that and have a horse that happy, loose, relaxed yet willing - it's almost as if the horse is responding to a thought. The transitions in and out are so fluid. Wow. I much prefer this over the exaggerated and tense leg action we see today, and riders spurring and "bouncing" from side to side to get the piaffe.

Comment by Katherine F on June 30, 2011 at 11:55pm: No tail swishing!!! A calm horse. That 's something you don't see much now.

Comment by Laurie Fredrika Higgins on June 30, 2011 at 11:50am: Everything changed when professionals were allowed to compete in the Olympics and elsewhere.

Comment by Marlene Thoms on June 30, 2011 at 10:49am: If you also look at some of the related videos pop up, where his work is in the context of a whole performance, the horse's whole movement is more ground covering and of course more relaxed and confident. The standards were obviously different, or rather should I say the application of the standards? so it comes down to judging. Would Klimke get Gold medals today as he did then?

Comment by Jackie Cochran on June 30, 2011 at 9:42am: The noseband was loose enough that the horse could open its mouth some when reacting to the rein aids. No clenched lower jaw here!