preserving the gift of movement

Something happened. While turning around the shoulders (of all things) I got through on the left rein. A page turned. Fabian and I entered a new world. Problems are still appearant. But he is up and working. More seat exercises ... and then - we'll see.

This journal will be briefer. I will report on the subject of training progressions. All who read German and would like to find out the details of this year's start-up, here is the link. Here is the report of my experience with structural integration, which plays into this journal's entries. English entries on rolfing coming soon ... .

1....previous experience

From all I can tell, French pre-enlightenment, pre-revolution, pre-industrial (to use Craig Steven's definition) ecuyers knew what was good. They combined the collective experience of their time and created a school of equitation, that at once helps the horse to be at its best, remain healthy, be useful well into advanced ages and render the rider a service both perfect and enjoyable. In this light I'd like to reason, that modern equitation can have but one root, the knowledge and experience of these French masters.

Two-hundred-fifty years later ways of understanding such mastery have become available. Means are coming forward that will both render explaination as well as help promote, foster and preserve human, equine and human/equine movement. This is what this research is all about.

The most widely distributed source of French classical equitation is Francois Robichon de la Guérinière's 1733 "The Art of Equitation". This rider's bible renders instructions and illustrations, which I have begun to implement. My goal is not to advance as quickly or - for that matter - as far on the scale of a horse's accomplishments. On the contrary I seek to fully understand and document what happens between rider and horse along each step of the way. Its all about gaining knowledge of how movement happens. So far the general statement. And now it gets technical.

2....transits

Needless to say, we do not live in pre-industrial times. Most modern horses are breed and treated to be maschines. Training progressions no longer reflect the need for elegant horses, which function as an extension of the human body, mulitplying man's speed and power. None-the-less elements of classical training have come down to modern riding and as such not only constituted part of my own early schooling but proved useful in previous research phases.

We are dealing with horses. In changing from German classical pre-sports training to the original French school the challenge will be to respect the horses' minds and previous experiences. Much of d.l.G.'s instructions sounds logical, even familiar. Some is new. For instance - speaking of voltes - he refers not to small circles but to a square with quarter turn-around-the-haunches in each corner to change direction. Canter in place (terre-a-terre) is standard, so are the Spanish walk and the piaffe. We'll see what the horses and for that matter I will make of it. Again, to me a small thing well done and truly integrated is better than cheating for looks.

3....which positions to use

Invisible to the untrained eye is the fact that Fabian in this ride was again pushing into the left rein. A few days of muscular build-up and a rest day later I today addressed the issue anew. After four phases ((1)walk, reins hanging, (2) trot forward, (3) walk: shoulder-in, introducing the sidepass to the left, (4) trot mixed with canter) I added a left turn-around-the-shoulders to get through on the left rein. The result: in the following trot all of a sudden another way to turn left ("turn only the shoulders," dlG says) suggested itself. And Fabian, providing me with a perfect seat, offered a left hand canter, which was a pleasure. It came as a surprise and the way he cantered putting weight on the left inner hindleg confirmed dlG's shoulder-in interpretation of a school horse's correct gallop.

What did I learn? I suspect the sidepasses left (which brings the outside hindleg under the center of weight), the left-turn-around-the shoulder (which, when done with bending in the ribs, reorganises the body mass and has an effect on the fascia trains in the horse's body) and a more relaxed way of turning (with no bending in the ribs) caused this break through. Best: we went through it without no. Fabian was pleased with his rider. It has to do with free and subtle hands and shoulders on the rider's part.

Re-reading dlG this morning I noticed an important hence so far ignored detail. He lists the movements and postions, which a horse must do easy and correct before it can manage the shoulder-in: trot and a relaxed raised walk on straight lines and the circle, halts and half-halts and ! give head and neck sideways. I looked it up: this he introduces to the young horse, walk and trot !, on the longe and later again under saddle in the context of a sort of shoulder-in type side-stepping, in which the hindlegs walk on a larger circle that the frontlegs. It is the detail, which Baucher seems to have expanded on and I missed. I should introduce it now, on the lunge and under saddle, before proceeding any further. We'll see how far horses this age will cooperate. It finally occured to me that, in order to change from shoulder-in to sidepass without any change of direction as dlG seems to have done it, the horse must agree to give to both sides on demand regardless of the direction of movement.

It remains to figure out what exactly happens in the horse's body in both lateral movements and why it is of advantage to establish the shoulder-in before the sidepass (travers). Which body language and reins does the rider use?

4....on turning

Obviously turning is a big issue in equitation. In motion the horse turns by setting its neck (that is by doing a lateral movement in the joint between head and first vertebra) and moving head, neck and shoulders forward into the new direction. That way it can see where it is going and the rest of its body follows in an elegant curve. The latter explains why the shoulder-in can be no more that a preparation for more. Shoulder-in, side-stepping and for that matter the turn-around-the-forhand are not useful for fast motion, because the horse is not looking into the direction it is going. They are very useful though for taking the horse from nature to culture. They stretch haunches and shoulders and prepare for things to come.

Concerning the redistribution of the body's elegant curve from one side to another without change of direction or the movement's flow. Or - in other words - how do I change from shoulder-in to sidepasses on a straight line.

I gave it a shot with Fiona, whose generosity and cooperation is a true asset to study-horsemanship. Keeping her head up, neck open, light in the bit and on the haunches we went into dlG's definition of shoulder-in. Years ago, during a period of severe physical difficulties I taught Fiona an upright, kind of half-shoulder-in, keeping her well between the reins. It now took a while until she got comfortable with the much higher degree of leg crossing. Still laboring I turned my eyes toward her croup to see if the tail was straight. Surprisingly all of a sudden she began to move fluently. I picked up on the hint. In the fourtrack shoulder-in the horse looks away from the direction of movement and so should I.

But now the surprise. To change from dlG shoulder-in to dlG sidepass without change of direction, I turned my eyes and looked into the direction of movement. My head, neck and shoulders turned and Fiona followed me as well. Smoothly and without a hint of unease she turned her forhand into the direction of movement and swang around her croup. All evolving around the center, which I described.

Today the same thing worked equally well with Fabian, who actually appreciated ! it.

5....progressions

In place of words a list, done late last night. And the outline for "The Anatomical Alphabet".

After 1+2 (preparing the horse for equitation) and before 3+4 (preparing the horse for the Haute Ecole) are the pre-requisits dlG notes in "The Art of Riding", here penned down in the rectangle. The very same basic training I have arrived at in the course of study-horsemanship, adding minor but telling details such as the small eight and the long flat serpentine.

6....historic developments

In the German text on this year's start-up I describe the use of one single rein as understood in Seattle. A few entries later comes the description of the horse between the reins in another type of shoulder-in, which several years ago alieviated severe physical difficulties for Fiona in the course of only a few weeks. Craig with good reason suggests to ride the shoulder-in with an inner direct rein. Warped and soft horses however profit from the shoulder-in on an inner indirect rein pointed towards the base of the neck (C8), while the other indirect rein assures the slant. The horse thus goes on two indirect reins, their impact crossing in the core (also discussed in the German text).

Reading Craig's translation of Beudant, a historical development dawns on me. D.l.G. in his famous 1733 publication does not explicitly mentioned the warped horse. Beudant in the early 1920s mentions it explicitly and suggests the indirect rein towards the opposite haunches as remedy. Which also is a pointing towards the horse's core. Experience shows that the direct rein as well works only if speaking to the center of movement.

Between d.l.G's and Beudan's times (between the early 1700s and the early 1900s) a number of major historic changes occured:
The French Revolution and the end of French classical equitations, so called enlightenment, democracy, the rise of the infamous trio colonialism-industrialism-capitalism, science and math consumer based economies. In the field of equitation: the breeding of a faster, rectangularly shaped horse, another tpye of warfare. With the new horse riding lost its self-evidence. This new horse not only was faster and more powerful, it had a tendency toward warping between the shoulders and the rider's seat. The result: lateral diversions from the healthy upright norm are now to be found in the horse's poll, at the cantilevered backbone's front (C8), in the flexible middle section (T9-12) and in the haunches.

Does this information ring a bell? Baucher rereading d.l.G. in the mid-1800s introduces the flexions of the poll, the neck and the neckbase. His student Kerbrecht suggests the shoulder-for to keep the horse straight for all who just want to have some fun. Beudant, himself an admirer of Kerbrecht, in the early 1900s adds the diagonal rein to make and keep the warped horse straight. The classical pre-sports German school until the mid-1950s favors the long flat serpentine on which the horse learns to balance. Horsemen like Ed Dabney and Alexander Nevzorov today, some 50 years later, introduces a reverse shoulder-stretch to free the horse's shoulders.

Almost a hundred years after Beudant things have not become easier for the horse.
I will not take the time to explicitely speak of sport equitation's detours. No! New knowledge of the horse's language and research into what regulates the body human and equine in motion is dawning. This knowledge may God willing ring in a new, and the horse's best epoch yet.

7....hand and mouth

How does the rider's hand impact the horse's mouth? What does their interaction effect? In locomotion the rider's ringfingers make music with the horse's inner most being. The thumb stops the music short. Turning one wrist (the French call it nails up) shortens the rein mechanically thus effecting the horse's bend. The horse yields to the rein's mid-neck touch. It straightens on a rein's impact pointing towards the core. It moves sideways on a rein's impact pointed towards the neck's base. The horse is guided and stabil between reins held in one hand. It raises itself up with the rising of the rider's hand. These and all other functions of hand and mouth are best understood in context of a study of physiology and, more specifically the dermatome theory.

The horse, with its mouth, does many things which man effects with his hands. That is, it not only eats with the mouth but expresses signs of sympathy. With it it shows pleasure and documents the release of tension. It uses the tongue to touch. It jawns stretching the jaws widely when surprised and it seeks to release muscular pressure with liberating movements of the tongue. One of equitation's revealed secrets permits the rider - via rein and bit - to retroactively provoke the sensations, which the horse thus expresses.

The rider is advised to use this close to miraculous tool in his hand wisely and with care. Obviouly the jaw's release does not replace any lacks in training. The healthy well trained horse moves liberally. It expresses well being and agreement by movements of the jaw and tongue. Stiffness restricts movement. It is proper training, not the release of the jaw, that brings on change for the better. As the body regains elasticity and power, signals of the mouth once again express the horse's newfound comfort and documents agreement with the rider's aides. A clenched jaw on the other hand speaks of body fear, disagreement and resistance to the rider's aids. Between there and here stands love and the promise of freedom.

Warps in the horse's cantilevered backbone result in uneven haunches, shifts of the neck's base and the setting of the poll. With making the warped horse straight come interesting observations. They speak of structural changes and renewed connection with the horse's energy core and a suspected middle line. Otto Bürger views this process in context of motions of the horse's jaw. Ida Rolf speaks of it in the human. It may be useful to thus review the functions of hand and mouth in the context of movement, energy and locomotion .

8....utility and phantasy

Utilitarian locomotion ruled by purpose and movements that correspond to phantasy and emotion are known to man and the horse. Locomotion is for everyday, phantastic movements but for those special moments. The first prepare for the latter and provide the horse's strenght. And yet, the emotion of phantasy movements overrides any lacks in basic training. In a state of hightened emotion the horse feels no pains. Conditions that otherwise might make a horse stiff or go lame are not registered.
I therefore suspect that these two kinds of movement are regulated by different types of innervation.

What does this mean in equitation and, more so, for training the horse to utilitarian locomotion and phantasy movements?

Pinochio and Nidal were lent to an experimental riding school project near Cologne while we were setting up in La Boulaye. Four years later they returned, much loved and well cared for. Both with serious problems in their Bewegungsapparat. Today after several years of living in different groups they saw each other again in the small field. After the initial Hello Pinochio approached Nidal in a counted walk, from the bottom of the nose to the tip of his hindhoofs elastic and every bit the boss. He struck of into a highly elevated passage, showing off at once his pride, love and superiority.

It this the Pinochio who under my saddle carries his head like a piece of hardwood dropping to the ground?

9....in practical terms

The rein that makes the horse straight (Beudant) does not have to be a supportive rein. Use it as needed. Important: the horse needs to give to it in the jaw (Classic German school: muss durchkommen).

It depends on the horse how to proceed from there:

One may want to do a shoulder-in on an open (direct) inner rein at maximum Längsbiegung (from C1 by the setting of the neck) plus additional flexion at C8.
It kind of draws the hindlegs along while softening the cantilevered spine (T1-L5) and the neck (C1-8) laterally. Front and hindlegs cross. N.O. suggests to add small circles, which puts weight on the inner hindleg. This results in a more upright shoulder-in with weight shifting to the hindquarters.

Soft and warped horses profit from an exchange between a double shoulder-for and a 1/4 shoulder-in, with very small variations between Längsbiegung and literal straightness. In this case the rein that makes the horse straight is active whenever needed. The horse is lead between two indirect reins, the inner pointing toward the neckbase (C8), the other indicating the slant mid neck. The no more than 20 degrees lateral movement is thus done with two closed (indirect) reins, which support the horse and prepare it for more.

There is a detail to watch here. The shoulder-for, making the horse straight, produces the traveling postition. The shoulder-in, bending the horse, produces the working position. It is necessary to change between these two lateral movements regularly and do them on both hands. Else one ends up in one position on one hand and another on the other. Make sure the horse’s jaw gives to the straightening rein and keep the jaw mobilised on the right ringfinger to invite the right hindleg to come along. This small shoulder-in/for variation tends to make the horse upright and straight. It provides a gentle subtling of the shoulders which can easily be increase and keeps the horse on the inner hindleg, no matter what. This lateral position is a universally unseful basis for turns and lateral work, for the trot and strike-offs into canter.

All depends on the horse’s strength and straightness. If compromises must be made: forward goes before sideways, upright before long and low. However, let the horse tell you. When it raises up easily the time for long and low is over. Additional subtling and forward movement can be done on the ground. This approach supports harmony and performance and suggests itself for the horse that tends towards warping up until it is straight, picks up its energetic middleline and mobilizes. After that everything becomes much easier.

10....flexions

Devoting myself to Baucher again and his flexions, which in 2003/4 brought on such changes in the study-horsemanship mounts, it occured to me to view the flexions this time in context of the "Anatomical Alphabet". Beudant calls them flexions of the mouth, which however does not fully indicate what they are. For in fact, beginning with the release of the poll and the jaw, they impact the position of the pelvis, the long ligament, the haunches and the neck base. They speak to the core of the horse's movement. It is this broad impact on the horse's body (Classic German equitation: Bewegungsapparat) that constitutes their value.

All flexions are done in the horse's travelling position, i.e. head and neck raised. Corresponding flexions in the human are indicated in parentethis. (Check the range of movement of your neck before you begin).

1. Release the poll laterally (let the eyes wanderer and follow with the head), which causes the horse to release the length of the spine sideways. This motion of the neck is the key to Laengsbiegung and Losgelassenheit in German classical equitation. It is best done with smallest possible movements of the bit by bringing the far hand towards you and directed to the horse's core while moving the near hand forward and away from you. The horse gives in C1.

2. Release the third vertebra (C3), which carries the upper neck and head (move your chin back). This motion of the poll represents the ramener in French and the Beizauemung in German classical equitation. In correlation with the haunches' subtleness it release the horse's pelvis in the sacral joint. This movement is done by crossing the reins under the horses chin and moving the hands towards the horse's core.

3. Release the joints of the jaw (open your mouth as wide as possible and shift the jaw), which in the horse are positioned under the ears having a muscular interaction with the lateral movement (i.e. the setting) of the poll. The same movement the horse does, when it jawns. Some horses in addition drop their tongue and/or with it make large movements. This is best done in hand with two bits, one moving forward, the other back towards the horse's core.

4. Release the long ligament by closing the joint between the first and second vertebra of the neck (C2), which permits the croup to settle. In nature the horse thus prepares itself for action. This is done by raising the head to maximum height while asking for a release of the jaw (raise yourself up and move your jaw and tongue as if eating something truely delicious).

5. Release the neckbase towards the center (C8), which makes the horse's forehand straight, using the relase of the jaw and the poll. This is best done by asking a bend of the neck away from you. (Check how far your neck turns now).

Horses in preparation for riding know another flexion. It is done in locomotion and can not be simulated. They briefly and suddenly close their neck (like in two), thus effecting a release of the long ligament (as in four). In German classical riding it is called Abstoßen vom Genick.

Why did d.l.G. not work with flexions, asking only for the sideways release of the horse first on the lunge and then under saddle? He was not confronted with the longer, faster, more powerful horse, which tends to warp and do what it wants.
His horses appearantly knew their inherent functions (which includes working with and not against the rider) without flexions of the poll and neck, just like horses in equitation's preceeding fifty centuries.

Was it observation, intuition or down-right research that led Baucher to experiment with the effects of flexions on the horse's body and mind? These effects of historic stature trace a path to how to ride the new horse. But not only that. They opened the door to a control of the horse's individual legs, the significance of which seems not fully understood to this day. And his accomplishment again brings evidence to the fact that the horse's performance and the rider's controls are one. The horse's very body permits the rider to control the horse. One might go one step further. The horse uses its body according to inborn structures and know-how from birth. The rider by intuition and learning uses the very same structures and know-how via bit and rein. That is why Baucher was able to observe that, while he was in full control, his horses none-the-less believed to be the master. Rider and horse rely on one and the same physical provisions.

Yes. It takes a rider. And wanting to know. And wanting to keep the beat. In harmony.

11....ways to walk

Watch this video and you will understand spontaniously what I mean when speaking of human and equine walking. The foot/hindhoof must be active and the energy flow up throught the body. All the way to the second neck vertebra (C2) from which the horse manages the tension of the long ligament.

And how about the following proposition: The horse moves forward on the basis of a natural forward urge and on account of the rider's active foot. Der Bügeltritt (the rider's step into the stirup) works wonders says Udo Bürger.

Of course, the official theory of walking and forward impulsion goes another way. The human leans forward and catches his weight so to speak by stepping forward. The motor of his walk is gravity. The upright human pushing off with his toes also relies on gravity, but in another context. Lifting from the ground his feet send a signal to his uppermost vertebra, on the way balancing the human's innermost being and bringing it in alignment with the forces of gravity. Try it! It works. How else is the value of reflexology to be understood, the manipulation of the feet for better health. Walking with the feet does the same thing.

The official theory on how the horse produces speed goes accordingly. The weight of the forhand pulls the horse forward and makes it fast. Today's racing industry relies on this concept. However, a few things concerning the horse's well-being and chance to life must be mentioned. It is exactly this concept that produces but cripples, whose life ends well before the body is fully grown and has reached its natural stature.

Here another video, which poetically and with skill demonstrates the problems and preoccuptions with the horse today.

12....light and forward

My work is plotted: Test Beudant's progression. As it turns out I would like to read his "Exterieur and Haute Ecole" after all. Read Felix Bürkner on these subjects. Work with his approaches to the use of the hand and his training progressions. Check on the type of horses Beudant and Bürkner trained.

Are there two definitions of lightness? Light to the hand is not the lightness I define in ER as coming from the solar plexus, mind you without the use of the hand. Or is it the same? For after all the rider's fine hand speaks to the horse's core (which might very well be the solar plexus).

What about the critism, which spreaks of Baucher's work as Baucherism, i.e. the stiff horse without impulsion. I would not want to do without the forward going schwungvoll horse. It is the very essence of equitation. I'd rather miss the lateral movements and all the things done in place. But not that sense of forward and freedom.

To illustrate the point of lightness coming from the hindquarters or the upper head/neck/mouth:

Anna with severe troubles of the right hindleg did her turns-around-the-forehand, on a long rope attached two meters above the ground reluctantly. Her flexions, demanded intermittendly, progressively became calmer. She did, however, keep a guard in the setting of the neck (Beudant's first flexion), both in the poll and in the jaw.

On the lunge, line attached to the halter, their was a change between releasing the jaw and keeping it tightly shut. She released the jaw, sometimes only reluctantly, on the demand to go forward.

Under saddle the role of touch was evident. Quite obviously all depends on how and what the rider does with his ringfingers and thumbs, wrists, lower arms and elbows to make the horse straight, ask it to come up, position itself, turn and do whatever the rider wishes.

If the right hindleg does not have sufficient strength his art is not an the end. He uses it to help the horse. It is up to him to know the limits. Often less is more. When the horse's impulsion and the rider's aids unite all is well and the horse light.

Anna was born in Bonn, while I was in La Boulaye setting up. The first outing with Farma, her mother, was an exceptional horse ballet celebrating creation, life and love. The expressiveness of this special mare's foal touches me to this day. Nine years later we discovered that the last three vertrebrae of Anna's tail grew at a 90 degree angle. After the operation Anna's poll now is straight. She does however continue to suffer from an extremely weak right hind leg, which in start-ups gets stiff and sore.

Her homeopathic treatment today was Ruta C30, 3x25 globuli in intervals of 12 hours. This treatment will if needed be repeated in about ten days, six weeks later possibly followed with a dose of Ruta C200, although I am reluctant to use high potencies without professional advice. We will continue to work in the walk until she offers to raise up and strick off in the trot.

13....aide(s) and resistance

When the body hurts the horse resists. Measures must meet this situation. When the body gets old it hurts. To cease activity may not be the measure. Training horses, so it seems moves in these parameters. Instisting when pains exist can ruin a horse/rider relationship in an instant. Not insisting to overcome stiffnesses and physical unease may mean a horse's end. Obviously the horse, in this and all matters completely depends upon the rider. Will he help the horse to fulfill his wishes. Does he know how to help? Does he know the aide(s)?

Instead of words Beudants working progression penned down one long early afternoon.

14....flexions again

Pinochio, who tends to carry his head as if it was of hardwood, after preparations and my attention to details yesterday was light in the hand from the start. This did not mean, however, that his Bewegungsapparat was free or light. His movements were smooth and liberal only after the trot on a drawn out twelve meter eight, with close attention to a left rein that makes straight, and special attention on keeping the neck base in the center.

Today I would not let myself be fooled again by what feels like lightness but isn't.
All was a bit more like riding in resistance, but his movements were freer, his impulsion better and he was straight. There must be a middle way, complete lightness in the mouth and in the haunches. Also for Pinochio. Later, when bringing the horses in the field, I saw him do Beudant's flexion three: opening the jaw widely. He used this technique and added sideways movements as he saw fit.

For those who do not read German a synopis of this year's start-up. I continue to ride the horses on one rein (with those rare exceptions explained here) and without any explicit use of my legs and/or seat. In rare occasions I use small spur attacks (Anna, Pinochio and Fiona). To remind the horses to do their part a small tap with the whip (Fabian and Fallada) does the job. Walk-on-Top and Odessa are still working in hand. Can't wait to begin Pepita, Leporello, Nidal, Mira and Secret Taboo. These are the horses, which have participated in the study-horsemanship research directly.

15....soft, slow, steady = light

Go for a softer, slower, steadier touch on the reins. The release of my right shoulder and the elasticity gained in my left hand will make for it. The study of classical rein effects as well. Doing Baucher's flexions (me not the horse) will help and so will the continuation of my rolfing treatment in Paris.

Meanwhile Fabian suffers from changes in my body. The new and improved balance of my seat has confronted him with having to do things differently. The authority
I have gained has told him that bodyfears must not result in panic and restistance. And now it is in my hands to make sure he is well. And to know the limits.

With the new, faster, more powerful horse came new ways to use the reins. No longer were the direct, the indirect and a small rolling back movement of the hand sufficient to control and train the horse. In addition to these, one may call them signals more than aides, which the horse understands spontaniously, a number of new ways to use the reins were soon established. Traditions that live on for instant in Western riding.

Serendipidously a new idea has walked in. Since when do we speak of aides in equitation? Was once the horse's balance and locomotion such, that it read the healthy upright rider's posture spontaniously? And it took at that time in equitation's history but small signals of the rider's hand to stop, turn, direct and use the horse.

16....dawning

Slowly it dawns on me. Equitation is about the rider's seat and the signals of his hands. Which, if at all possible, should not be aides: The horse must pick up its part. And it is about time under saddle. If and whenever this time is limited training progressions will play the pivotal part. Like in Yoga there is not just any which way to success. Improving equine posture and movements follows rules, which are fixed in the horse's body.

How can breeding goals, intended future use and the rider's personal preferences be accomodated without horses having to pay the bills? As concerns saddle horses: Given the rider's correct balance and use of the reins, appropiate training progressions will be the key. Racehorses may benefit from different training progressions as well. They have, if anything, become slower than racehorses at the height of thorough-bred breeding at the time of the stallion Galopin's birth in late 19th century England.

Yesterday, while watching Craig Steven's new DVDs on the history and practice of equitation, I kept on doing Beudant's five flexions. On Pinochio, later in the afternoon, I started with legs and reins hanging. Picking up the stirups it turned out that they were too short. Definitely. I checked. They were the same length as usual, hole number five on the leather strap, counted from the top. Question. Is there an interaction between the raising of the vertebra, moving back the chin, stretching the jaw and - ... the haunches?

17....singing

Leporello was disappointed. All winter he has been waiting at the gate. His test ride in early March was perfect. So he was put back on the list of horses to train.

I know the situation. This combination of frustration and lack of condition in Leporello. Use the legs after all? Do small spur attacks? Or give him a good wack on the hindquarters. I had another idea. What if the release of my jaw might pass through him and release his haunches?

No one was looking, so I gave it a try. The result: I did not dare close my mouth for a while. Finally it occured to me to fill it with a song. So there we were riding along. Leporello's force coming from the haunches, enjoying the new found freedom of my hauches ...

Now there is some research due.

Pinochio, two rides later, was fully light in the hand. His walk flowing freely, head high, jaws free he offered six meter turns on the indirect and tree meter turns on the direct rein. Progressing to the long serpentine in the walk and trot was fine. Until to add interest I insisted on a back-up on the left rein. He closed his poll and after that no longer understood how to turn left on the long serpentine by the right neck rein only. It made me think of Bürkner's don't touch the neck until the horse is straight and muscled up.

Fiona with muscular troubles in her right hip restisted completely. I had no choice but to insist step by stip on position and lightness. Soon I felt her back come up. We did some half shoulder-ins left and right in the walk, interspersed with halts and back-ups. Not long.

Leporello and Walk-on-Top still react to the brush with signs of body fear. Walk-on-Top in the left belly muscles, Leporello the right side of his back between rider's seat and power switch, which due to his tilted croup is slightly lower. No rides yet. Continue in hand with turns and small brisk trots.

The hour of truth came for Fabian. He was in a bad mood, frustrated and confused. Not at all his bold, anglo-arabian self. I mounted with difficulty and from the start made no fuss about the fact that we have entered a new phase. Fabian2 soon mounted his back, straightened up and again offered strike-offs into the canter. I interpreted these as an indication from one who knows and went for it, doing Beudant's flexion two moving C3 backward. Feeling how, in combination with the final release of my haunches, I was in balance and no longer any additional weight for him to carry.

All horses are back on the snaffle. To keep the signals of the hand simple I use a long dressage whip in my right hand in place of the rein that makes straight. Pinochio has understood the small release of the jaw for lightness. Fiona and Fabian, who some ten years under my saddle were well accomodated to my old seat and no use of the hand now struggle with frustration, which shows in the hand.

18....sources

Craig Steven's English translation of Beudant's own summary of his "Haute Ecole and Exterieur" has become my guideline.

I follow his instruction, which are common sense and as concerns start-up training under saddle exactly what we have done in study-horsemanship. Added are the flexions which I do progressively, as horses need and accept them. I do not have Beudant's knowledge to work the horses in hand up to piaffe, passage and front leg extensions. They must do with a much reduced however also fully defined work in hand. I do not follow the strict halt, then walk, trot and canter progressions (allthough it might be interesting to set one horse and time aside to do just that). Instead I go for d.l.G.'s some 150 years earlier suggestion, to begin with walk, trot, walk, trot phases, certainly ending with the trot. And I pay more attention to the horse's lateral release.

Preparing schedules for each horse before mounting I read Kurt Albrecht's comments and suggestions, while awaiting Felix Bürkner's book. Interestingly enough I find in this former Vienna Riding School's director's book many details I need to know concerning training horses and the physiology of riding. Both masters work with the use of the leg. Albrecht defines it as a small touch of the upper calf and I find myself testing just that to support the left direct rein. To understand some of the basic underlying differences between French and German I consult Racinet's book on Baucher.

He speaks of an event, when the French winner of the gold metal ..... visited the German winner of the gold metal .... in .... and an impromtu ride was staged. It turns out, the French rider had no difficulty presenting the German horse in all the movements of the Grand Prix. Likewise the post-WWII winner of the German Dressage Championships Willi Schultheiss was respected and welcome in Saumur. Clearly not equitational knowledge but the nature of modern equestrian sports shows have ended equestrian culture at large. But seeds remain ... .

In addition today the knowledge of how the body functions is growing in leaps and bounds and there are new inspirations that fit the horse and how to ride it.

19....research

Singing with Leporello was easy today. Despite appareant difficulties he gave to the left ringfinger and turned a small volte. He was ninety-nine percent even in his back while trotting. We left it at that and I turned him back out in the field.

On Fabian, however, it was difficult to sing. His concerns with the haunches and the bodyfears that go with it were appearant. He gave to the left ringfinger reluctantly, but mounted his back as we continued. In the evening I saw him move and turn freely in his stable. Maybe he has passed the bridge after all.

On Pinochio no singing but a shifting of my jaw, mouth wide open, which he soon began to copy. In the walk he gave to the outside neck and the inside direct rein. Serpentines in the trot were better, but he continues to labor with any kinds of left turn. A knot in the base of his tongue muscle may disappear with the new understanding of the rein, or he may find a way to work around it.

Doing a test auf Beudant's first flexion (setting the neck laterally and giving the jaw)
I found Nidal to be in good shape. He backs up and turns around the shoulders well. There was a sensitivity in his back, which must be gone before we start.

Now that we are settling into what amounts to a research unit on how to introduce the light rein and I again (why did I forget) do not go for results but for the fun of it, horses will (I know from experience) progress twice as fast. They have no sense for man's concepts of work, accomplishment and/or security. Their life passes along the lines of survival, friendship and the emotions that go with it.

Farma's daughters surprised me later in the evening as they have done times and again. Anna with complete lightness, raising up and enjoying herself. Fiona with full cooperation, still a bit long and low, but going for it.

20....routines

Leporello was not pleased. He did not wait all winter to now be treated like a baby. How to go about training a high-spirited horse? I remembered the day when his cast came off, last year after he had stepped into a nail. The question then was: Put him back in the box and walk him daily? We put him in the field instead and there he tested the waters. In his own way. Of course he then was stiff for a few days. But he was his proud Anglo-Arabian self again. So, likewise I gave it a go today. He went with it and overcame his frustration. I had a hard time keeping him on track and plenty of opportunity to try out all kinds of rein effects. He will be stiff tomorrow, but he was himself again.

To foregoe muscular trouble I treated him to the first of three doses of fifteen globuli Rhus tox. C30 each. Fabian's similar treatment four days ago today had taken full effect. No objections mounting. Turns on small circles and the flat serpentine with an occasional rein that keeps the horse straight. Occasional halts. Striking off into the trot he blew off his nostrils. It was this reaction from deep within, which activates the horse and mounts the back. And once more the suggestion: Canter again today!?

And now my hour of truth had come. Albrecht's "... the horse doesn't understand the rider and therefore gets excited," came to mind and d.l.G.'s "... bring the hands up and a bit closer to the chest." I had a glance at my hands and remembered, "Use the thumb, which frees the ringfingers to make music." Thus armed I took the lead and asked for a canter from the walk. Using Craig's small circular movement of the inner primary rein. Only those who have seen Fabian and me in our worst times will fully appreciate this.
Fabian, full of fire and ready to react, understood on the spot, settled in his haunches and, changing from the walk to the canter to the walk to the canter and so on, ... - remained calm.

21....limits

Pinochio now fully understands the lightness of the horse's front end, and - ... fully agrees. He gives to my ringfinger up to a clearly defined point, which in fact comes across like a wall in his body right under my seat. If I demand lightness from there on to his rear he becomes like stone, in the hand and in his body. Meanwhile, accepting this limit, we occupied ourselves with turning - front end first - and continued lightness of the jaw. We easily did small lateral shifts.

German rider that I am, I had to feel the trot. It was well collected and sufficiently lively. The higher I would bring the head and the more open the poll remained, the easier it was for him to engage the haunches. I did not touch 'the wall' because I sensed a psychological problem. It is about giving up the warp and - so he seems to fear - self-identity. Pinochio understands himself as the warped horse he is. Any changes may mean trouble. Meanwhile he is kind, accommodating and down-right curious for what is happening to him. Seeing me in the stables from afar I watch him lift his head, jawn and stretch his jaw sideways.

The advantage of the light rein is a much higher degree of input and control. However, J.C. Racinet's statement of the light rein's impact on the haunches directly, in the sense of making them at once stronger and more elastic, remains to be verified.

22....conclusions

I think I finally got it. Rereading Albrecht's statement on the rider's seat did it. And Fiona. He writes about the requirements for the seat in the piaffe and passage. I also penned down the basics of Beudant's method and finally it clicked.

In my words: treat the body as one unit, which at either ends has a degree of flexibility (i.e. the hands and the feet). Keep the horse's head up and direct it from the seat. Use hands and feet as needed. Ask movements in all directions beginning with a halt, backing, turning around the haunches and the shoulders, side steps, etc. Everything light and full of tact. Take time. Hands soft, slow and steady. Never abandon the horse's mouth.

Today all horses were in full agreement. Pinochio, head high from step one, was light all together. We are only in the walk. But that walk feels very well balanced, mobil and fun. No dragging of feet or lack of attention. "What have you been waiting for," they say.

There is a distinct difference between the release of the jaw and the bending of the poll. The bending of the poll (Beizauemung) adds an extra to the innervation of the hindquarters. The release of the jaw relates to the lateral setting of the poll (im Genick stellen), which in turn brings on Laengsbiegung and Losgelassenheit.. The raising of the head (Aufrichtung. Step one) is yet another story: it permits the horse to keep the weight on the haunches. Bringing back the carrier of the head (Aufrichtung. Step two) causes the haunches to settle. To control the tension of the long ligament, the horse must be able to bring its head forward. And then, if and when all works the jaw is like a well oiled spring from which the horse's impulsion in touch with the human hand flows forth.

This said it becomes clear what Beudant speaks of. Keeping the jaws subtle and the head high, the horse can relax and stay on the haunches from the start, while gaining an initial mobility in all directions. I should as well continue my Rolfing journal, as it has a lot to do with what is happening. All together it is a home coming. It is what I felt as a kid, riding my horses always on too long a rein. And likewise when horses spontaniously switched to the second gear in recent research years. I don't think it is a contradiction of terms with pre-Sports German riding. It is another way, maybe also for another, an older horse to have the same thing.

23....facts (1)

Modern man's lack of time is the modern horse's natural enemy.

A man can not pull himself out of the mud. By some miraculous power, however, he can, withstanding the force of gravity, raise his head and torso. Likewise the horse, by the same token, can raise its withers. In both cases the second neck vertebra plays the pivotal part. In man to make him taller. In the horse to raise the forehand and, via the long ligament, activate the hindquarters. In the horse there are additional functions in the upper head and neck, which in what we call flexions are addressed.

Flexions call on the horse's natural reactions of the jaw, the tongue, the poll and the joints between the first and second vertebra cervical. They address the position of the third neck vertebra, on which the before mentioned rest. They also speak to the lower neck vertebra, which regulate the tension of long and upper back muscles. These lower neck vertebrae are pulled sideways by a muscle system that as well bends the horse in ribs nine and ten under the rider's leg. Flexions impact the transition of the neck to the torso. The position of the second and third neck vertebra structurally and via long ligament impact the horse's hindquarters. The position of head and poll impact the central nervous system's length directly.

Likewise the position of the pelvis impacts the central nervous system in the sacral joint.

24....facts (2)

No flexions for horses without muscles. They must do but one thing: move swiftly and regularly forward until their croup muscles are strong and the metabolism fit.

When the sacral joint closes the horse's back mounts. As a result the conformation of the croup changes. Cantilevered back and croup form one long gentle curve. The horse is in stand-by, ready to perform. This posture of the hindquarters is seen in the horse that canters to the finishing line. It is appearant in the passage and other movements of the Haute Ecole such as the levade. It is the hall mark of power in the horse's locomotion. Click on the photo of Beudant, who illustrates the point.

There is another conformation of the horse's croup, which sometimes can be viewed in the piaffe. The croup is rounded. The sacral joint has opened, not closed. I guess it all depends on the subtleness and strength of the haunches. Leporello in the rain today, responding to the rain drops falling on his back, activated the upper line. Haunches still stiff he did not really want to engage his hindquarters. His croup was short and rounded. The circulation of the hindlegs was good, but there was no stand-by, no readiness to go. He looked good, but he did not want to go for the real thing.

There is something about riding cross country in the woods. Walking in the leaves, stepping over branches, watching for obstacles to navigate. All of the horse's natural abilities are called on and activated. the horse is attentive, in control and ready to go. The hindlegs perform a cyclical movement to the full. Head up and poll open the wither is raised and the shoulders are free.

Likewise the properly trained horse does in the school. What is the progression, how do we get there? How are results maintained?

25....silk thread

Today hing es am seidenen Faden. And I made a point not to break that silken thread. Or - for that matter - let the horse break it. No situation is so bad, that you can't learn from it.

Changing from Leporello to Pinochio I took the concept along. And again it did very well.
Towards the end of our ride lifting the hands really high saved it. We were doing the crowd, as Beudant called it, changing lateral movements as needed to improve balance and the elasticity of the haunches. After that Pinochios back was up to the full and the hind legs fully motivated.

It occured to me to look at his video again. Something in the left shoulder is still not good. He can do a stallion kick with his right front leg and shoulder. We found out passing Patton at the window of the small stable.

A day later Leporello was 100% better. A friend helped me to figure the math of this. If I consider his performance yesterday to have been 5% of his capacity. And if I trust that he will continue to do as well as he did between yesterday and today working on a silk threat yesterday, he will be back in eighteen days plus a day and a half for each time I miss training.

26....lateral reins

I watched the torrential rains today from my market cafe's table, trying to figure out how d.l.G. can say one thing, Beudant the exact opposite and both be right.

Later on Pinochio I gave it a try and found out, that, while he was long and low, moving both wrists to the right (as Beudant suggests to introduce side stepping to the left) most certainly made him turn to the right, no lateral move what so ever. His shoulders, in other words, would give to the left indirect rein on the neck and turn to the right. The right direct rein, moving away from the neck, would make his haunches if anything step slightly towards the left, bringing the inner hindleg under the center of weight. In other words: a perfect turn.

I did not want to insist just then, but from experience I know it takes the same rein (wrists moving to the right), a few half-halts and maybe a touch of the leg and he steps sideways to the left. How can that be?
I should have been able to figure it our right then and there. But I didn't.

So I kept on turning and moving him from one side to another laterally without much attention to details as long as the head stayed up, he reacted promptly and his hindlegs felt attached right to my seat. The trot was a bit laid back. So I went for forward impulsion accepting a change of his posture towards the horizontal balance, head up.

Back in the walk I began to compose my question into a mail. And while I went through the complications of asking myself, how a horse can step to the left, with the rider's wrists moving to the right I could feel Pinochio come up in a nice counted walk. We went back to the first experiment's location and I gave it another try. Again I moved both wrists to the right and promptly Pinochio went into a side-step to the left.

To make a long story short: The difference is in the half-halt, as I knew from experience. But even more so, it is in the type of balance. While the horse is long and low (in the horizontal balance or the first gear) the reins direct the forehand, as d.l.G. states in 1733. Raised and up (in the - shall we call it, for lack of a better term - vertical balance and preparing for the second gear) the reins impact the hindlegs. And that is what Beudant refers to.

But why this shift in the some 200 years between d.l.G. and Beudant?

On one hand I suspect that d.l.G.'s horses (who he directed with an indirect rein) were lively, brilliant and collected (in the second gear, to stick with my vocabulary). On the other hand, horses that today are directed by an indirect rein acting on the neck often remain in the working position. They overbent in the ribs and often also in the neck. They not exactly lively, brilliant (see the international dressage scene) or in second gear. Beudant, however, using the rein that works directly on the hindlegs is known for brilliant horses, not only in dressage, but in all equestrian disciplines.

More research will provide more evidence and - how do the reins impact the horse in the first place.

A day later tests on Fabian: Surprisingly, in the half-pass to the left he reacts to the displacement of my wrists to the right. In the half-pass to the right he understands no such thing. The only way to direct him is with an indirect rein, i.e. also displacing my wrists to the right. Surprisingly, because quite evidently his right haunch tends to block. I can feel it to be higher and resisting my right ringfinger's impact. On the other hand, it may not be so surprising. Because in the half-pass to the right he must lift and put this hindleg fore and sideways, picking up the weight as it goes. Or is it the slightly instable left hindleg, that does not want to be addressed by a direct left rein?

27....progress

Pinochio and Fiona, the warm bloods, are progressing beautifully. Fabian and Leporello, the Anglo-Arabians, however do not see a point in giving to the rein of a rider standing on the ground. Under saddle they are light naturally. They move jaw and tongue while getting straight and mobilizing. So, what is this all about they ask. To me it seems that these horses of silk and satin are not set up to let the rider get into the drivers seat. Things work the other way round. They offer what the rider needs. On the other hand they need a fine rider.

Riding for research has advantages. It provides dependable insight into the nature of equitation and permits participation in a world of experience once common to man. In my work time and again a situation reoccurs. All horses make the same mistake. Often down to the very place. As if connected by a mysterious hidden string of information.

I first scanned and then enthusiastically studied Faverot de Kerbrecht's "Methodische Dressur des Reitpferdes, nach den letzten Anweisungen von Baucher" in 2003, while preparing for first slow motion filmings. It fell into my hands again today and sure enough provided information on the current reoccuring fault, see above.

"If a horse blocks for instance the right side of the croup (instead of giving to the right rein) and consequently brings the nose to the right side, any rein effect, which does not open widely towards the right (i.e. away from the horse' neck), working up and back, only increases the flow of the horse's mass towards the left shoulder and increases the direction of croup and nose towards the right."

So, here I am. This is the thing I have been wondering about. Use the direct or the indirect rein on the horse's weak right hind leg? Faverot confirms the puzzlement, which besets the rider who chooses incorrectly. But, there is a story to it. As a young German rider I never even so much as heard of a use of the direct rein. It was strictly forbidden. The horse was led on an outside indirect rein, which was balanced by a watchful inner ringfinger to set the poll into the direction of movement if and when needed. These rein effects are confirmed by Nuno Oliveiro, who served as my guide regarding equestrian questions. The horse in seeming self-evidence was led on diagonal aides.

Faverot explicitly warns of any diagonal aides, so does Beudant and so, in fact, does Craig. Why?

28....straight

Today Pinochio gave up his warp. The resistance in his left Ganasche left. (The Ganasche is the area between jaw and first neck vertebra, which is united by one muscle system). He picked up his middle line and enjoyed a new found self.

The next day not surprisingly things did not want to get flowing. After all the living organism must adjust. Foolishly I thought a first small tour away from the yard may help and encourage him. Seeking solutions in the forward we trotted uphill, turned the corner and went for a left hand strike-off. An exhilerating canter, oh - so well balanced and full of impulsion was the result. Back to the walk. Stike-off to the right. And - Pinochio, still not sure of his new self - taking offence at the sight of a gate post, jumped into my hands and turned full speed around the haunches to the left. I corrected him and off we went again. But something was different.

The next day all horses resisted me. And here is the before mentioned secret string. It is not only in the effects, but in in the rider's very body. My shoulders were blocked. Only after finally realizing this the reflex from C8 instantly and dependably unlocked them. Walking with the toes and bringing my belly button back to center (done in morning gymnastics) did the rest. Today my balance is returning.

And now a few days of rest and repose are due. For Pinochio and Fabian. While Leporello and Fiona ought to continue. For the rider there are close to no breaks in a research unit, which - by the same token - is the reason why study-horsemanship takes place in units. At the end of each unit the horses are return to the field full-time. They come back without immediate imprints and often their warps have returned. It is not until they have gained sufficient oxygenation that in a new unit things can be picked up where we left off before.

29....continue

On September 11, 2006 I posted this summary. It provides insight into the ways study-horsemanship participants and horses trained before the explicit use of the rein was introduced.

After a day of rest today all continued. Three month of staying in touch have made the horses' bodies softer and rounder. They still are not well oxygenized but willing. Their skeletons are stressed. Much to my surprise the Anglo-Arabians begin to welcome me in the driver's seat. Not without letting me know when I do things wrong. Pinochio has completely abandoned the bad habits of his mouth and seems to profit most from simple movements and a super light touch. In question is his forward urge.

Fiona once again demonstrates the interdependance of closing the croup and a horse's submission. Approaching that corner, we can turn it if she is closed from behind and is light in the hand. If only a fraction away from closing the croup she sizes the opportunity, turns around the haunches and goes back home.

There is one distinct difference. Years ago we benefited from the horse's youthful optimism and physical fitness. Fully grown and moving on in age they dependent on proper training for their well-being. Counting three human years to represent one year of a horse's life Fabian in 2008 is forty-two (14), Leporello thirty-three (11), Pinochio forty-eight (16) and Fiona forty-two (14). They are no longer children, and they know it. In other words. Pinochio will be ninety (30) fourteen years from now. I will be in my mid-seventy's. Our grand-daughter, now five, will just have finished high-school and be ready for take off.

30....pegasus at risk

Fabian and I went for the left direct rein today. Clearly it was not easy, but he did go for it. Untacking him, he was calm and composed. "I can't do what you want (yet)", he said, "but finally I understand you."

In the field he took off and I was quick to notice an unevenness in his steps.
I followed him in the cool field at the end of an excruciatingly hot day and we raised for a dance. He and I knew. Time and again he came back for another brief treatment of his left side and hind leg. Time and again he took off for a release in canters and quick turns. It was like a game, a cheerful play. And more than that. A step towards my goal to get and stay in touch with the horse's sacred innermost being.

All day long I have been thinking about tact and its meaning in equitation.

A few days ago I found in the front and back pages of J.-C. Racinet, "François Baucher - Enfant Terrible or Genius?" the following entry.

"Fabian and Zola were four years old then, and both like a book sealed with seven seals. This American rider (i.e. a Racinet student) spoke of methods and conventions, of cantering backwards and flexions. All I wanted to do, is to ride these horses of my own breeding. So I went ahead, dumped it all and started from scratch.

In 2001 I began a systematic research of the physiology of equitation. Four years later I finally was able to ride Fabian. One of this American rider's remarks had challenged me. Looking at him during her visit in 1998 she said, "I guess this will be a horse for me". In the sense of, "You will never be able to ride this horse." And that - after all - I wanted to know. When, in the spring of 2005, he cantered up to me and rearing erwies mir seine Referenz I no longer believed it possible.

Much in my approach speaks to the content of Racinet's book. And yet, it came about as a result of observing horses in liberty, of a study in science and ... accepting limits of doabilites ...

Cont. ...