Hello friends and greetings from England. After a very rewarding week of work in Ireland last week I now find myself in England enjoying a clinic with the Brit’s and taking time to shoot some new video footage for Riding the Wave 2.
Yesterday I was invited by Roger and Joanna Day to be their guest at the Badminton Horse Trials during the first day, the
dressage test, before I drive north (today) for my weekend clinic in the Wales.
Joanna is a highly recognized trainer and riding coach here in England and Roger is the Chief Steward at Badminton. They are the breeders of “Primmores Pride” who is recognized as one of the most successful event horses ever produced as he won both the Rolex event in Lexington and has also won twice at Badminton. Roger and Joanna are also the authors of the highly acclaimed book: The Fearless Horse and that is how we first came into contact with each other. Much to my surprise and delight both Roger and Joanna give much credit to their ability to deal with and transform “very challenging horses” to training concepts they had seen in some of my earliest videos.
Last Friday night was our first chance to actually meet in person when they went out of their way to drive a few hours to come watch my demonstration here in Berkshire County. The next thing I know I am at Badminton watching the top international 3 day riders from around the world warming up in the collector ring before heading out to perform their
dressage tests. And when I was asked what I think I had to honestly reply with “disappointing”.
Now I know that last statement sounds arrogant and some of you may well be wondering “who the hell does Irwin think he is saying that he finds the best of the best in international 3 day eventing to be disappointing?” Well, at the risk of political correctness I do not believe that human hubris should be put before the well being of horses and, by and large, watching the vast majority of these horses warming up I did not see many horses enjoying their work.
As I said to Joanna – it is my understanding that all of these horses and riders have loads of courage – they need it to charge straightforward over those incredibly daunting and death defying cross country obstacles – but the facts of competition results in this particular game prove over and over again that more often then not a horse and rider team will end up with a final result in their standings in the competition that is at the mercy of their dressage test. And the dressage, as I said, was hugely disappointing.
In fairness, what I see happening in eventing is also happening in jumping and yes, most ironically of all, in dressage. And the common issue is that riders are putting “straightness” as a greater priority then relaxation.
When we consider the elements of the classical pyramid of dressage I firmly believe that relaxation is the BASE of the pyramid that all other elements must be built upon. This is akin to a carpenter requiring “level” when building any kind of structure.
When I am talking about straightness I am not talking about a horse being “straight within a bend”. I am talking about literal straightness – like an arrow – as asked for coming down the center- line in dressage during the entrance to salute the judges. And I am talking about “straight as an arrow” as it is often needed in riding a jumping horse and galloping to a “skinny” fence or obstacle.
When we have a horse very relaxed on bending lines – aided primarily from the inside leg into the outside rein that arcs or curves the body (like a bow to align to the earlier arrow analogy) then the next test is how does the horse respond as we release one bend and look for that one step into straightness before going into the next bend during changes of bend/rein? This is a very critical moment for the horse.
If the horse when asked to straighten begins to brace or stiffen their body, more often then not actually hollowing their spine into an inverted frame – then instead of following through with the straitening I believe that we should aid the horse back into relaxation and then attempt to straighten them again.
At the initial training levels a rider should be helping a horse stretch long and low through his or her topline when going into straightness (how we do this will be the topic of my next blog). And until a horse stretches long and low into straightness it is unrealistic to expect it to stay level headed in the topline during the moment of straightness between bends. And until a horse stays level headed in the topline between bends then it is unrealistic to expect the horse to truly lift its back and shorten its stride and “rise up” underneath the rider with a rounding back during changes of bend into straightness when asking for these changes during collected work.
In short – it is a misunderstanding by so many jumpers that the reason their horses get so excited and hard to manage when they get “hot” is due to their anticipation of the adrenaline fueled by jumping. In fact, if a rider is trying to ride a collected horse who is still stiffening and wanting to hollow or invert his or her back during straightening – then the back of the horse is like a time bomb ready to blow up because there is just far too much stress in a back that is trying to hollow while being told to lift. The back and spinal column of the horse is simply not relaxed enough during straightness to be expected to perform straight while collected.
The real issue here is yet another case of putting the cart before the horse and getting our priorities backwards. Yes, performance horses must have many moments of straightness in order to be able to perform the athletic tasks being asked of them. But when trainers get greedy and start riding rigid in the name of straightness – trying to “hold” a horse straight between the legs and reins when it is not relaxed enough about being straight – then the entire concept of the classical building blocks in the pyramid of dressage come crumbling down. Without relaxation when straight there is no foundation to build upon. And this is happening in dressage tests everywhere – yes, even at the highest levels of the game.
When dressage horses are grinding their teeth with ears flat back in anger – or a tail is swishing in annoyance or wringing in anger – how can that possibly be a demonstration of relaxation?
And when there is talk in the highest levels of showing that perhaps riders should not be mounted on their horses during the presentation of their awards at a show because the horses are too often too scared or flighty to stand quietly while a ribbon is placed on their bridle or a half sheet cooler is laid upon their back – then obviously something is missing. And what’s missing is the trust and confidence in horses that can only come from training up through the levels of any discipline with a foundation of relaxation. With all due respect to Anky – relaxed horses do not run away with their rider because of a bird.
Okay, I’m done with my rant. Next time I will do my best to outline what I think are the steps necessary to insuring relaxation as we build horses from long and low, to level headed, to collected, to asking for more and more difficult gymnastics while collected and finally into true straightness while collected. One step at a time with a true golden rule that nothing is ever asked of the horse at the expense of relaxation.
In closing, and in fairness to our sport, I did see an unbelievable Prix St. George dressage demonstration by a lovely rider named Charlotte Dujardin on a horse by the name of Valegro. I have not met Charolotte, I know nothing about her or her British coach and trainer Carl Hester. But I can tell you without hesitation that it was one of the most beautiful rides I have ever witnessed. Watch out for Charlotte and this gorgeous dark bay/black horse at 2012 Olympics because they are a thing of beauty to behold and a force to be reckoned with. I have never seen such power, such elegance and such poised relaxation. Not once did this horse even swish his tail during the entire ride and he was so elastic and supple he looked more like a 17 hand jaguar then a horse. He loved his job. Now THAT is dressage.
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