Thoughts on the essay by Col. Carde
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I really believe that every top rider and trainer can and will agree with every point that Col. Carde makes.
Lightness in mouvement, response and aid, is the hallmark of great partnership. Great partnership lies at the foundation of great performance in dressage.
But the perception of lightness... the prioritization of lightness vis à vis everything else that goes on in a training session - or a performance - is debatable among friends, let alone spectators.
Even allowing for the emphasis on higher scores these days, to make dressage more recognizable to them (the paying spectators the sport wants to attract, the same who ask what? The sport is like gymnastics but the best in the sport only get the equivalent of a 7.5... they couldn\'t make the regional high school team in gymnastics with that kind of score)... anyway, even allowing for that...Pollay, Schultheis, the rest of them, they never got the kind of scores from judges that recognized that the partnership demonstrated was 9.2, let alone 8.9 or any other astronomical score.
Of course, these were great riders and trainers. And in training, the masters can and will always produce results worth 9s and 10s.
But in competition, grace under pressure, even masters have to contend with the variability of the partner, the horse, on a given day and place. So if Col. Carde wants to decry training methods, that is one debate. If he wants to complain about competition direction and future...that is a different debate.
Photos do not help me here. I have photos of old masters that make me laugh/cry at the same moment, the images are so breathtaking, so staggering. I have photos from training sessions I saw last year make me feel the same way. A master is a master.
As one of my trainers said: " one does not need the fingers of one hand to count all the truly great trainers that live at any one time." If only those trainers and their students are in the competition rings, however, there ain\'t gonna be a lot of shows.
In my heart, I believe that there has always been abuse. Because the horses cannot talk. And that weighs heavily on me.
I think it is my reponsability to train resposibly and with sympathy.
But I have also learned that these are big creatures, and sometimes, when they are going "nyahhh nyahhh, I can\'t hear you (coz I don\'t wanna)", it takes a huge, um, aid, to ask for some focus.
So: I believe all this discussion is valuable because the more we talk about the need for fairness, for solid foundation in training, the more horses that will not have to sufe.
And I do not have a simple answer...this is as far as I\'ve goten in thoughts! Cheers!
(par Lita Dove)
These are good comments Lita.
There is another point I would like to make on this subject. The attitude of the rider in competition is not always conducive to success. Horses are very sensitive to the tension hosted by their riders. They become apprehensive and start to hollow when they feel their riders pushing too hard. I remember watching a 1992 Olympic candidate going through her qualifying runs. Each time she tried for best score she got 62% at best. Each time she went in just-for-the-ride she scored 65%. Telling her about it did not make any difference.
The same year, I tried to help again another Grand Prix competitor. When she saw me at the show she told me that there was again something wrong with her horse. Her horse knew me well, I had only to spend a couple of minutes for the horse to relax to my touch and manipulation. Then, I followed her to the indoor warm up arena. I invited her to relax and guided her and her horse in one of the best passage and piaffe I had ever seen them perform. Her last class was a freestyle. I was looking forward to see the magic of the music do its thing. As I followed them towards the show ring, I saw her look around to see that nobody was watching. She did not see me. Then she took her whip and smacked right and left her horse over the loins. I saw the horse hollow immediately. Her performance was poor eventhough her horse tried his best to please her.
I confess that in the late 80s I started to enjoy my last show horse better once I quit showing and after Peggy Cummings taught me how to sit centered and softly connected with my horse.
(par Michel Kaplan)
The rough treatment of horses in dressage is largely a lack of understanding of basics by trainers and coaches. Very, very few people comprehend this, and it then takes many years to discover what the basics are; in fact, a lifetime or more! There is then the diffculty of communicating these precepts to horses and riders in ways they can comprehend. To succeed it is mandatory for these brilliant instructors to work with both horses and riders from the very beginning, not just a polish for a year or so before international competition! When this happens the ease and pleasure in performance is so great, it looks almost ordinary except to the expert or complete novice. Until this basic skill and understanding is more widespread we are stuck with the current situation of second and third grade work (even at Olympic level),pain,frustration, injury and cruelty, intentional or otherwise.
(par Gillian Hensler)
The statements made by Col. Carde in regards to the deficiency of training and judging in Dressage is a needed wake up call. Speaking from the lower level and a limited International view, what is seen of riders below Prix St. George vs. what is spoken of are two different concepts.
The overall make up of the U.S. Dressage community is occupied by riders of lower levels who are truly influenced by the day to day contact with their coach/s. The number of coaches who truly strive to understand the concepts of the masters, be they past or present is few. Horsemen of influence such as Col. Carde are needed to guide a path "back" to proper horsemenship/horsemastership. Lightness is truly misunderstood as is the aspect of abuse as described. Most Americans think of abuse in the "criminal" sense, as opposed to the misapplication of riding technique.
Trainer/coaches that adhere to the practices necessary to attain lightness,suffer (in general) financially. Not to say that all students are of the "mechanical mindset", but it is more prevalent as we know.
When you consider "scoring" practices by judges at the lower levels, the influence of "mechanical-behind the bit" style is therefore reinforced. These are the people who again have influence on riding practices; while they preach lightness but score the heavy hand.
More comments on returning to the ways of lightness as it was intially developed is sorely needed.
Regards,
Ron Smith
(par Ron Smith)
Lightness shall be rehabilitated once there\'ll be no more confusion between overbent horses, leaning on the forehand and often behind the hand, and horses "on the bit".
The first ones are never really balanced and escape from their rider on any occasion. Their collection is not sufficient. Difficult mouvements are often skirt round but one does\'nt always notice it!
The second ones have the poll "generally as the highest point of the neck" which enables lightness of the shoulders and forehand, thus collection... if the elevation of the neck is combined with activity from the quarters.
But here I speak the language of a rider who has - during many years - been confronted with such nuances and to whom horses have taught not to confuse the true from the false.
(par C.CARDE)
La version française de ce message était restée à l\'écurie!
La légèreté sera réhabilitée quand on ne confondra plus les chevaux enfermés, qui sont sur les épaules et, souvent derrière la main, avec les chevaux en main.
Les premiers ne sont jamais vraiment en équilibre et échappent à leur cavalier à toute occasion. Leur rassembler est insuffisant. Les mouvements difficiles sont souvent escamotés mais on ne s\'en aperçoit pas toujours!
Les seconds ont la nuque "généralement le point le plus haut de l\'encolure", ce qui permet la légèreté des épaules et de l\'avant-main, donc le rassembler... si le soutien de l\'encolure est combiné avec l\'activité des hanches.
Mais je parle là le langage du dresseur qui a été confronté pendant de nombreuses années à ces nuances, et à qui les chevaux ont appris à ne pas confondre le vrai du faux.
(par C.Carde)
"But here I speak the language of a rider who has - during many years - been confronted with such nuances and to whom horses have taught not to confuse the true from the false."
Horses who can help their rider discover the true lightness at all gaits including passage, piaffe, extensions, and canter pirouettes must be extremely rare to find.
How many horses were you able to ride or train without ever having to resort to force?
(par M. Kaplan)
"Mais je parle là le langage du dresseur qui a été confronté pendant de nombreuses années à ces nuances, et à qui les chevaux ont appris à ne pas confondre le vrai du faux."
Les chevaux qui sont capables d\'aider leurs cavaliers à découvrir la légèreté à toutes les allures y compris le passage, le piaffer, les extensions, et les pirouettes au galop doivent être rares.
Combien de chevaux avez-vous pu monter ou dresser sans jamais avoir à ressortir à la force?
(par M. Kaplan)
My horse is teaching ME lightness!! Not in piaffe, etc yet, we are first/second level. But we are learning together and I am reschooling (saving) her from training in a overbent way which is very common here in the states. This horse has taught me that SHE makes the contact, I only provide a place for her to do it in. I CAN NOT push her into the contact. I believe this fallacy is at the basis of so much of what is seen now. Crank and spank is simply a shortcut to create a horse who is illusionarily "on the bit". It takes time for a horse to learn to come to the bridle (and develop the muscle) and many people are not willing to wait. If you listen to your horse, they will tell you what is correct. I believe that the times they are a\'changing though. Walter Zettl had an article in the USDF Connection as did Col. Carde. And I don\'t think it is an accident that Charles De Knuffy\'s excerpt in this month\'s Dressage Today is about contact and this very idea. I think that this problem which has been around for so long (there were many articles about this in the old Dressage & CT magazines in the early 90s. It went over my head at the time!) is finally starting to work its way out to the "masses". Talk to people about it!!! Spread the word!!
(par carey)
Allège Ideal
I simultaneously denounce the training methods and judging uneveness sometimes due to certain judges\' incompetence, sometimes due to the dishonesty of others but fortunately, there are many excellent judges!
For having been a competitor, judge and trainer, I know that dressage is a tough game!
Nevertheless, I strongly believe that competition is essential to the development of this discipline and the equestrian art in general. But we must avoid the dangerous drifts by insisting on a strict application of the article 401 as well as those defining the gaits.
Dressage must lead to the stylization of the gaits and not to their deterioration!
Keeping a close watch on the application of the rules is part of our association\'s aims.
(par C.Carde)