Leadership: An Example. Question: "Who Leads Whom"
Etienne Beudant ends his 1929 summary "Dressage du Cheval de Selle" with the following statement, "Obviously never let the horse do what is not asked of him." Udo Bürger on the other hand values the horse's hints as a clue to its formation.
When a horse with the notoriously weak back startles, it soon thereafter may rear up, roll back or surprise the rider with some other sort of unexpected movement. It does so - and from a physiological point of view in fact must do so - to fix the back. While remounting it regains stability and confidence. What looks like disobedience thus emerges a bodily imperative. The croup must be closed, the back must be mounted. Only then can the horse carry the rider and be at ease.
Without doubt Beudant at the apex of French equitation and Udo Bürger, the veterinarian and last advocate of the classical equitation most arrestingly demonstrated by Felix Bürkner pursued the same goals. Beudant and Bürkner respectively represent the French and the German ideal of twentieth century equitation. Both responded to the challenges of the fast modern horse. Both were of perfect physical proportions and rose to the top. At the moment of the horse's final decline both perpetrated ideas, which although different and in fact almost antithetic, together constitute a modern legacy.
The long and low horse on one rein flows along and spreads out laterally. The raised horse on diagonal aides diligently steps sideways. The first type of shoulder-in is done on a single and if necessary wide-open direct rein. The horse is left alone with only the rider's core to support it. The latter frames, supervises and aides the horse. Both are useful in a given situation. They represent different philosophies. One speaking to the ephemeral nerve section C8 in the center of the forehand flexes the neck at its base. The other in the yes joint between the first neck vertebra and the head sets the poll at the neck's upper end. One instructs, the other aides.
The German Hans v. Heydebreck in his 1940s representation of German twentieth century classical equitation recommends a slight haunches-in position to assist the horse in canter-strike-off. Nearly unnoticeable it none-the-less aides the departure. The French Colonel Licart around the same time in "Equitation Raisonnée" confirms the value of this modern technique. So far modern equitation. Francois de la Guérinière in the 1700s while doing the canter depart certainly kept his horse's weight on the inner hind leg. What happened in the two hundred years atween?
