CREATING A GYMNAST
Notes from the Global Dressage Forum 2008

I was motivated to write this article in response to my impressions at the 2008 Breed Show. I was quite shocked to meet several horses who I have known over the years and find them almost unrecognisable.

Of course we all know that our horses have a disarming way of changing colour dramatically over the years but this lack of recognition had more to do with a change of shape and of energy. I am talking about horses in their teens who should have displayed a full maturity by way of sound muscle definition, and a rounded top line but instead were thin, un muscled, lacking a top line and markedly hollow over the back.
This is particularly dismaying as the Breed Standard for Lusitanos requires them to be square, compact and strong backed, important characteristics recognised within the Grading Structure. In fact many young Lusitanos often show a slightly roached back which becomes more horizontal as they age.

My point is that if Lusitanos have dropped backs then it can only reflect poor training in all but exceptional cases.

So why is this happening?

I am certain that the majority of owners have the best interests of their horses at heart and keep them in the very best of conditions. It leads me to wonder whether in some cases there is a real misunderstanding amongst some owners about the proper functioning of the horses back and just how essential this is in creating comfortable, happy horses.

In order to create a muscled back and correct way of going it is advisable to seek correct training provided by an expert professional or experienced rider that understands how to school horses in a way that is noticeably effective. After between six months a visible difference in outline should be apparent.

I think it is generally agreed that the discipline of Dressage is about creating a gymnast. A gymnast is well muscled, fit and will show a marked development of improved physique, and importantly, a sense of well being as a result of training. Therefore, if a horse has been produced as a Dressage horse or a Show horse and does not have toned muscle over the croup, back and top of the neck with visibly toned abdominal muscles then the training is not effective and at worse detrimental.

The horse should be trained carefully over time in order to create sufficient relaxation and suppleness in the back, enabling the horse to lift the back through increments, hence my comment that by the time a horse is 12 or more then the back should be very strong, flat and stable. Look at the best competition horses to see the strength in the back, look at the worse and beneath the saddle lies a hollow matching the deep seat of the saddle above
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It is easy to read about connection through the back but an all together more difficult thing to feel it. How can we tell if our riding is heading in the right direction? This is the real dilemma as what is read or taught does not always translate easily into what is felt. Every horse is different and some will lift their backs more naturally than others.

It follows that the training of young horses is especially important inorder to develop properly from the outset. A general all round education in a well fitted GP is to be recommended, avoiding deep seated dressage saddles until the back is well formed.

I would like to refer the reader to Dr. Gerd Heuschmann’ excellent book Tugof War: Classical versus “Modern” Dressage for a very explicit description of how the horse must be encouraged in training to use the back and abdominal muscles and how these muscles should be allowed to work effectively to support the heavy structure of the head at the end of the elongated neck. Dr. Heuschmann describes how the use of artificial means to fold the head into an outline will contract and compact the back, while correct training will use a raised back allowing the horse to round naturally.

As an indication to experience an indication of how a lifted back might feel you could try the following.

Canter your horse up an incline of about 30 degrees for 150 to 300 meters in a light forward seat (weight out of the saddle). As you sit again, lightly, you should feel that the area around and behind the whither is raised underneath you and that the whither area and below fills your thighs more.
It is a similar sensation as to when a horse is excited and preparing to buck or plunge around, they will raise them selves up when they are revved up and wanting to move in an agile and gymnastic way.

Often during the training of the young horse raising the back will result in the horse becoming more excitable for a period until they grow accustomed to the feeling.

The rider may also feel that the stirrups feel longer and the legs become straighter as a result of the lifted back. It is only through having a back that is lifted and strong under the rider that the paces of the horse are pure and true. An indistinct walk or a four beat canter are clear indications that the skeleton is not working as it should.

It is also essential for the rider to have poise and fitness, its very clear that a heavy rider with no core strength will be putting undue pressure just in the area that the horse is required to lift. An athletic horse requires an athletic rider.

This somewhat unpopular aspect is a being addressed very thoroughly by the British Dressage Team currently and some of you may have picked up on several articles on Andrew Thomas who has been profiled a great deal in the equine press recently.

Andrew Thomas demonstrated very clearly at the Global dressage clinic how important suppleness, and fitness is for the rider. .Emmma Hindle demonstrated Andrews methods along side Laura Bechtolsteimer and emphasizes that their personal fitness training programme allowed them to excel at the Beijing Olympics.

It was particularly encouraging to attend the Global Dressage Forum this year and feel that muscular skeletal development and fitness were main themes running throughout the Forum.

Hubertus Schmidt was again an inspiration demonstrating his exceptional expertise in the saddle, in my own view one of our greatest living riders and trainers. If you are interested in what I am trying to say then watch a video of this great rider to see a demonstration of horses who carry themselves in a gymnastic and athletic fashion and a rider who rides them in the same manner!

Hillary Clayton (profiled preciously in Luso News) offered the scientific evidence in support of the importance of muscular/ skeletal health in equines and demonstrated how horses like humans can get into the habit of not activating all of the right muscles to execute a movement Sometimes new stimuli are needed to reactivate use and redevelop muscle tone.

To read the lecture note on these particular presentations visit www.globaldressageforum.com

Of course much of what I have written is oversimplified and in insufficient detail, I realise this, but my main intention is to try and draw attention to the fact that gymnastic training should produce gymnastic athletes and if this is not happening then we should ask ourselves why and seek to address the matter.

One last memory of the Forum was the outstanding display of school jumps given by the Cadre Noir of Saumur, if you access the photographs from the GDF website you will see how totally relaxed the horses were during these most difficult of movements. It was a real pleasure watching the rapport between horse and handler and the clarity of communication and the ultimate level of fitness!

JLF

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