Philosophical Considerations

During the two and a half thousand years that have passed since Xenophon, certain philosophical precepts have evolved in the tradition of classical equitation, which are timeless and which should shape our interaction with horses. They run like a consistent thread through the classical literature, setting a standard for the horse's welfare, regardless of whether the human is sitting on the horse or leading it from the ground. This mental attitude must find its expression in all actions of the rider and owner. It must be embodied by the teacher and passed on to the student.

"Dressage training where, amongst other things, the end result is not preserved, has no raison d'être and should not be attempted in the first place."

Waldemar Seunig (1949)

Every interaction with the horse must serve its physical and psychological well-being. This begins with ensuring that the horse is managed and kept in a way appropriate to its type and that it is fed according to its nutritional requirements. This includes enough exercise, as well as shelter from the cold, heat, rain and wind, if the horse is turned out. In addition, it is extremely important that the yard staff, as well as the owner, rider, and trainer, treat the horse with love and consistency. We have to adjust our own energy level to each horse, in order not to unintentionally frighten an insecure horse, or to inadvertently encourage a very self-confident horse to play unpleasant or even dangerous games. The movements of the human should be flowing, quiet, and harmonious, whether on the ground or in the saddle. Abrupt, abrasive movements and thoughtless actions are to be avoided, since they make the horse scared and nervous, rendering productive work impossible.

The photo shows a nicely stretched seat with a deep knee and exemplary shoulder-seat bone-heel line: the prerequisites for sensitive and effective aids.

The work must preserve or even improve the horse's health. Poor riding can easily cause accidents and unsoundness, because chronic stiffness creates excessive wear and tear on tendons and joints. Good riding, on the other hand, protects the horse from injuries and can even straighten out crooked front legs and at times improve certain types of lameness. According to the old masters, this is one of the main tasks of dressage training, and it is one of the reasons why show jumpers, three-day eventers, driving horses, and even horses that are only hacked out should receive regular gymnastic (i.e. dressage) training. Correctly done, dressage prevents the horse from suffering damage to its health as a result of the work, and it allows the animal to perform its "day job" more successfully. Correct gymnastic dressage keeps the horse healthy and rideable into old age.

"Dressage is based on the observation of three principles that from the very start must not be skipped over even when making the smallest of demands, as well as during the progression from one pace and one movement to the next: Explanation, development, perfection."

Ernst Friedrich Seidler (1837)

You can make assumptions about the quality of the training at a yard from the age and health of the horses there. If all horses in a barn are young, this could possibly point to hard riding which creates unnecessary wear and tear on the horses' legs, so that they have to be retired prematurely. If you see lots of horses with bandaged legs in their stables and many horses with tendon injuries, it is usually a sign that the horses are stiff and that they are ridden on the forehand, because stiffness and lack of balance are the greatest enemies of the horse's legs.

The way the horse is muscled is also an indication of the quality of the riding. If a horse has a poorly-muscled back and croup, it is usually a symptom of shortcomings in the training. If the topline musculature has a big dip directly in front of the withers, you can assume that the rider tries to create longitudinal poll flexion by working backward with a hard hand, which shortens the neck unnaturally: The withers can therefore not be lifted, the back cannot swing, and the activity of the haunches is suppressed. The neck should be widest at its base and taper off towards the top. A well-trained horse looks harmonious and round. An unharmonious topline with points and angles, in a horse with good conformation, is a sign of bad riding. Poor training can make a very good, beautiful horse look ugly and inferior. Good training, on the other hand, can make a horse with inferior conformation appear better than it really is.

Every interaction with the horse, every aid we apply, every exercise or movement we ride is a learning experience and makes the horse either better or worse. There is no neutral ground in this respect. That's why it is important that all the parts of a training session complement each other and build on each other in a meaningful way. Every type of work should aim at improving the horse. For instance, it makes no sense to let the horse fall apart completely during the warm-up phase by trotting and cantering around with no rein contact. This will only get him used to working in a poor outline and trains the wrong muscles. Afterwards, it takes much more time and effort than necessary to put the horse together again and to eliminate stiffnesses that were created by letting the horse fall apart.

Dressage training must make the horse more reliable, more obedient, and more sensitive to the rider's aids, no matter under what circumstances the horse is ridden. A well-trained dressage horse should be fun to hack out as well. If a horse is mentally unbalanced and unpredictable, it is often because serious mistakes were made during the training.

Trust and respect are two sides of the same coin, without which a high standard of riding is unattainable. You cannot have one without the other. "Respect" without trust is fear. "Trust" without respect leads to anarchy. The horse has to see the human as a trustworthy leader whom it can follow with a clear conscience, without having to worry about suffering harm. The rider is the higher-ranking animal in the little herd and, therefore, assumes the responsibility for the horse. This means that the rider must never ask the horse to perform a task that it cannot do or that could hurt it in any way. The horse must feel safe and secure with the rider, who, in turn, must not exploit the horse's good nature and talent. "Education, not exploitation" used to be the motto in the past, which should be honoured more again in the future.

The horse has to learn two fundamental lessons: on the one hand, there is no way around the rider's demands or around the quality of their execution. What the rider is asking for is the easiest alternative for the horse under the present circumstances. All evasions he may think of only lead to a longer and more difficult workout. On the other hand, the horse has to know that these demands are well within his capabilities and will not overtax him.

"In order to excel at an art it is not enough to know the principles and to have practiced them for a long time. It is also necessary to be able to choose wisely the candidates that are capable of executing these principles. This is what constitutes mainly the skill of the masters and the perfection of the disciples. It is also what most riders neglect. Out of presumptuousness or ignorance, they flatter themselves and try in vain to train indiscriminately all horses they encounter, as if nature had created all animals equal and destined them for the same usage.

Experience only condemns the conduct of these would-be riding masters: although they might be lucky enough to reach their goal in some cases they encounter, the insurmountable difficulties they meet in a thousand other subjects prove that coincidence plays a larger role in their school than knowledge."

Gaspar de Saunier (1756, Tranlation: TR)

The "How" is always more important than the "What" in riding, which means performing simple exercises to a high standard is better - and serves the education of horse and rider more - than riding difficult movements poorly. We should resist the temptation of trying to appear more accomplished than we actually are. That would only end in embarrassment for the rider, because you can't fool an expert about a rider's skill level or a horse's training level. We should not attach much value to the opinions of uneducated or semi-educated people. The rider should only take the opinions of true experts to heart who are able to judge the situation accurately.

My teacher, Dorothee Baumann-Pellny, in the piaffe on an Andalusian stallion I trained. The photo was taken while she was visiting the US.

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