Christine Sander: Posture and Equitation

1. The Expressiveness of Posture

What happens when two horses meet? They poise. Their heads rise, necks arch and ears point. Their nostrils touch and for moments they share the air they breathe. Young males soon thereafter often are seen on their hind legs, playing and measuring their strength.

What happens when a young or insecure horse meets a higher ranking one? The lower ranking horse drops head and neck, and in a gesture of utter self-abandonment begins to rattle jaw and teeth. It may only be a trick, but the message is loud and clear. The spine is rigid from poll to tail. The whole of the body is one expression of fear and resignation. 

The first scenario speak of pleasure, power and poise. The second, ruled by another set of social etiquette, expresses negative emotions. In both cases a definite physical expression is manifested in a particular posture. And, with horses, positive experience produces elevation and a shift of balance towards the hindquarters. Negative emotion causes a balance shift towards the forehand. 

Likewise, humans are partial to particular postures. Success, good luck and affirmation make a man grow. His feet appear to escape the force of gravity. Fear, failure and doubt, however, pull him to the ground. Head and neck push forward and freeze. Chest and shoulders drop and his feet - as if of lead - refuse to serve him.

Posture, in other words, speaks clearly. It expresses the sublime as well as horror. It conveys the multitude of states between these extremes. Postural changes are visible to the onlooker. More profoundly they deeply effect the living being. But that is not all. In addition posture plays an active role in every movement. Postural muscles responds to gravity. They negotiate balance. Posture also is a basic factor of well-being and effects the way beings perceive themselves, their status and the stimuli they receive. Posture, in other words, is an aspect of life, which can't be discounted.

2. The Definition of Posture

Posture is most commonly defined as structure. Head up, shoulders down and back straight come to mind. This simple concept unfortunately does not as much as hint at the complexity and beauty that hides behind it. Human posture interacts with balance and movement. It is the stronghold of physical and emotional fair balance. Postural imbalances on the other hand result in interior misalignments, which disturb the organism, unsettle the mind and make a man sick. 

Posture is the result of postural muscles, which closely wrap the skeleton. They essentially form a core of energy, which interacts with the force of gravity. This core reacts to perception, responds to intention, kicks off in anticipation and as such implements life. Fortunately core functions can be trained, which puts proper posture and balance, mobility and well-being in everyone's reach.

It was the merit of Dr. Ida Rolf (U.S.A./1896-1973) to notice the reciprocity of posture, balance and encompassing health. She attributed this interaction to the existence of a fascia skeleton, which as long as it is in its natural, genetically predisposed form sustains the exchange of gravitational force with the breath of life. This most elementary fact of life, incidentally, is confirmed by returning astronauts, who - after periods outside of the gravitational force - upon return feel like lead.   

The fascia skeleton in more than one way rivals the structural skeleton in importance. All body parts such as bones, muscles and organs are enveloped in a delicate web-like organic fabric, which is as strong as it is elastic. For the reader's orientation, it is the grayish-white substance, which is removed for instance from meat, when it is prepared for consumption. 

Fascia sheaths form a continuous web, which determines the body's shape and size. It appoints the position of motor, digestive, respiratory and all other body parts and regulates their distribution not only in relation to one another, but in proportion to the forces of gravity. This web also is the medium of movement. Tensions in the fascia web restrict body functions. And when muscles, joints and organs are curtailed body, mind and emotions are stressed.  On the other hand a fascia skeleton in its predisposed proper form assures mobility, health and well-being.

3. Posture, Motion and Emotion

Horses in liberty effortlessly cover long distances in a steady, almost rolling pace. As situations arise they rear, jump forward, turn on the spot or draw circles. They may withdraw aback. Each of these movements corresponds to a posture and is chaperoned by emotions.

Mounted horses also advance freely. Like the horse that travels in the wild they also draw on core energy. The rider on the other hand sits still. His weight is collected in one spot. The horse impersonates his posture. It submits its every movement to his will and bestows itself into his hands. In perfect balance it runs and turns, jumps or rears. Head and haunches correspond. 

Aside from observing horses in the wild and the experience of a few, little is known about the mounted horse's ideal posture. Unlike man, its vertebra is not upright. It is composed of a long, flexible neck, a cantilevered horizontal back bone and a tail. The horse walks on four legs in different paces. For moments it can balance on two hind legs. Which posture characterizes the mounted horse? Head and neck are dropped when it grazes. When it covers long distances the neck is up, the head is forward and the eyes surveil the land. An arching neck, expressing interest and excitement, draws the head in. 

Posture begets movement and expresses emotion. Certain movements produce particular feelings, which - as if drawn from a sea of emotions - appear to be prefixed. Human legs set down wide apart for instance claim the ground. Raised arms express surrender. Joined palms speak of turning inwards. The soldiers' march conveys a message of military strength. Dance is the epiphany of jollity. Singing may praise God. 

Such links also exist in the horse. An example, not long ago I saw Fiona in the field - her head raised to the maximum - slowly and interrogatory advancing towards the gate. Her ears and eyes fully focused on two persons standing there. The nape of the neck and the sacrum, via the long ligament in the horse's upper line were connected. She was geared for instant reaction and in full alert.

Fiona's posture, motion and emotion just before the encounter that soon followed are not only the pose that permits instant reaction in case of danger. They also are the very base of equitation. Choosing for instance the counted walk in elevation, the rider uses this particular posture to call forth the horse's interest, attention and readiness.

4. Posture, Lightness and Limits

When the horse's haunches are stiff, the back stressed and movements unconsolidated the rider, for the time being, may forget about proper posture and lightness. The horse will be long and low. It will be overly excitable or exceedingly heavy. It must gain elasticity and strength before any improvements in balance and responsiveness can be expected. 

The elevated horse reacts promptly to the rider's aids. The long and low horse may or may not respond. In addition the rider's aids resonate differently on one side than on the other, the longer and lower the horse the more so. No wonder the French master Etienne Beudant in his 1929 summary of how to train horses gives the instruction to first seek the horse's elevation. His advice, raise the horse's head to the highest possible position.

When a well-built and adequately muscled horse lifts the nose to the horizontal, as it would to pick an apple from the tree, something changes. The sacral joint closes. The back mounts. The root of the tongue is stretched and the autonomous nervous system addressed. The forehand rises. The horse is prepared for action and the rider's guidance. It straightens up. These cumulative and in fact positive effects no doubt are the reason for Etienne Beudant's recommendation to raise the head to the horizontal as the first step of any horse's training.

The weak horse, however, responds to the nose lifted high into the sky with another reaction. It releases the back muscles and lowers the cantilevered back bone. Any high-spirited horse will associate this motion with the flight instinct and take off on the spot. A calmer species will demobilize, and - robbed of a steady flow of core energy - begin to swim, out of its own and the rider's control.

Mention Beudant's, or for that matter his intellectual grandfather Baucher's method to any German trained rider and you will get a look of deep seated fear. No, the horse's head must be low is the almost unanimous German vote. Anyone convinced of Baucher's ideas, however, will no want to do without the positive effects of training the horse head up. 

These contradictory and passionately defended views call for research. After all the question arises, which type of horse, when, first set off the fear of the horse's head held high. A fear, which steadfastly perpetrates to this very day? Despite the fact, that throughout the history of humanity horses have held their heads high.

Aside from these controversies a key question remains. What happens in a horse when it sets down its feet softly. Only to lift them up as regular as a clock to transport the rider on. With its head held high it fulfills the rider's every wish. It appreciates the world with nearly human eyes. How was it spoken to?

5. Posture, Leadership and Submission

The lumbo-sacral joint in the highest part of the horse's croup regulates the hindquarter's posture and the hind legs' innervation. Its closure empowers the horse, its release deactivates it. Horse and rider essentially communicate in one of two ways, which manifest in the address of this joint.  

One rider - while working in hand - with a long dressage whip softly touches the horse's side. It responds, the hind legs step sideways and the haunches stretch laterally. Elevation and the strike-off which follows are improved. The horse is cheerful. Locomotion gains volume and it continues with an urge to perform.

Another rider - while working in hand - demands a yield of the hindquarters. To do so he fixes the gaze of his eyes steadfastly on the triangle at the widest lateral extension of the equine pelvis. The horse recognizes this primordial gesture and submits. It deactivates major postural and locomotive muscles, which meet in this triangle and respectfully opens the lumbo-sacral joint. The very same release you see in the sliding stop. The horse subsequently does not strike off cheerfully. On the contrary, head and neck drop. It picks up a small trot.

To the unsuspecting viewer these two side-stepping motions look alike. Psychologically, however, results couldn't be further apart. In the first scenario the rider asks peacefully. The lumbo-sacral joint closes and the horse activates. The horse is center stage. The rider acts as a friend and partner. In the second scenario the rider, if ever so inconspicuously, in essence acts aggressively. The horse yields, surrenders and deactivates. The rider takes center stage and the horse assumes the position of a servant.

From the lumbo-sacral joint at the cantilevered back bone's rear end the horse manages forward locomotion. From the back bone's front end it controls speed and direction. Now, let's for a moment continue to observe the second rider; the one who is the master and his horse the servant. In hand he asks the horse to yield its shoulders. He touches the neck with the lead rope and, with one hand covering the horse's eye, drives head and neck away. The horse responds with a turn around the haunches and stretches the shoulders.

When the rider combines this lesson and the hindquarter yielding described above the horse understands in an instant. It activates the speed control functions of the forehand and strikes off in a small well-balanced trot. At the rider's command it tunes down to the walk or halt with ease. It tunes up to a canter or a bigger trot.

Without further comment, any training approach that calls on the horse's submission and by the same token fosters self-control is preferable to the mere development of equine gaits. It is not only movement that counts. The control of movement is equally important. After all who likes to join the jockey, who - for maximum performance - must give up ninety-nine percent of it. A question, however, remains. Will the horse after complete surrender ever again raise neck and withers. Will it remember the emotions that produce elevation?

This said, another aspect is involved. The horse is friendly. It is peaceful and seeks fellowship. It loves excitement and enjoys experiences. All it needs is a leader. Why go for dominance, submission and a balance, which at best distributes the horse's weight evenly on all four legs, if as a distinguished leader I can have both: Friendship and elevation? 

6. Training the Horse's Posture

Etienne Beudant ends his 1929 summary with the following statement, "Obviously never let the horse do what is not asked of him." The German equestrian and vet Udo Bürger, on the other hand, valued the horse's hints as a clue. They inform him of its present state and provide valuable pointers for training.

When a horse with the notoriously weak back startles, it soon thereafter may buck, rear up, roll back or surprise the rider with some other unexpected movement. It does so - and from a physiological point of view in fact must do so - to fix the back. Remounting the back 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, be at ease and remain healthy.

Without doubt Beudant, at the apex of French equitation, and Udo Bürger, the veterinarian and advocate of German classical equitation most arrestingly demonstrated by Felix Bürkner pursued the same goals. Beudant and Bürkner respectively represent the French and the German ideal of 20th Century equitation. Both responded to the challenges of the fast modern horse. Both were of perfect physical proportions. Both rose to the top. At the moment of the horse's final decline as economic factor 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 sets the poll in the yes-joint between the first neck vertebra and the head. One instructs, the other aides.

Hans v. Heydebreck in his 1940s representation of German classical equitation recommends a slight haunches-in position to assist the horse in canter strike-offs. Nearly unnoticeable it aides the departure. The French Colonel Licart around the same time confirms the value of this modern technique. With it the dichotomy of fact and appearance is introduced. In French and in Germany equitation.

Only some 200 years earlier the 18th Century French master de la Guérinière prepared his horses in a succession of different side-passes. In canter departs he most certainly kept their weight on the inner hind leg. What happened in the two hundred years atween? In the world? And in equestrianism? 

7. Posture and Balance

An insurgence. Fear. Horses are excited. No more mention of human/equine unity, which after all today may exist only in the rider's imagination and the enclosure of a covered school. At best a make do type of management remains. Straight up the hill. Stay together. Stay on. Restraint released the horses gleefully buck. Finally an opportunity has arrived to close croups, mount backs, shed tensions and - balance.

The human liver sticks under the lungs. Kind of to one side the stomach follows. Gall bladder, kidneys, spleen and the before mentioned organs of the human body roll around the cardio-vascular system, which incessantly pulsates oxygen into the body. Pancreas, colon, intestines and bladder also make for human energy. The uterus brings on new life. All these parts are held in place by a strong, delicate fascia web, which as well places bones, muscles and all other locomotive hardware parts. Core functions like an elastic inner rod support the body.

"... it is necessary to first place the horse correctly. The placed horse is like a well-tuned keyboard on which the rider plays ... ." With these words Etienne Beudant opens the 1929 summary of his work. It also serves as a guide to Baucher, who in the first half of the 19th Century anticipated modern knowledge well ahead of his time. Only, what does Beudant mean?

The biped human is upright. His hands act independent of his feet. His balance is easily defined. The horse's horizontal backbone provides a place for the rider. But what about equine balance? The body mass is placed on the forehand. A majority hangs from a cantilevered vertebra, which bridges front legs and hindquarters. The long and low horse walks with its weight on the forehand. The so called horizontal balance distributed the horse's weight evenly on all four legs. In elevation hindquarters support the majority of weight. The horse can walk on its hind legs and it can jump. When then is it in balance? Or is there something else to it?

No wonder Beudant does not speak of balance. He speaks of the placement of the horse's parts. Head and neck. Shoulders and croup. Back and tail. The ribs. The organs. The muscles systems. Brain, central, peripheral and autonomous nervous systems. Leave alone its feet. He makes no mention of these parts. But considering his results he knew how to place them.

8. Looking at Posture

The rider looks good. His heels are down. His head is up. His body revolves around a pivot line, which meets the horse's center of weight along the eleventh rib. In the trot he posts. In the canter he applies the forward seat. Only in the walk he remains seated. Occasionally rider and horse unite and move synchronous. Invisible to the onlooker's eye and hidden from the rider's mind his body fights for balance. Muscle groups made for movement antagonize to meet the force of gravity's pull on the body's mass.

There is but one German rider, coach and trainer in the public eye today who perpetuates the great German classical school. Of perfect proportions and at complete ease we see him demonstrate his mastery on tall well-bred German dressage horses. He passes his knowledge and know-how on to his students. Perfect proportions and the body's ease, however, are taken for granted, - and ignored. They are not addressed. Questions relating to the rider's posture, balance and flexibility remain in the shadow. The same appears true for all talented riders turned teachers and/or coaches. Nothing in their body permits them to relate to the nightmare, which improper posture induces.

The horse head pulled down to the chest is frightened. The trainer, microphone in hand, confirms the latter and speaks of his methods to deal with this fear. The rider from the saddle attests to the horse's emotions and feeds back what she feels. The information we see her speak into the microphone permits the spectator, moment by moment, to admire the horse's beauty and simultaneously hear of its fear. In due time horse and rider are again declared world's best and for another year continue as Number One.

Flexibility and ease make for balance. When the range of movement is restricted and ease is in question balance must carefully be monitored. This is true for any human and every horse. World class dressage horses feature an enormous range of movement. Seemingly free and without a hint of restrictions they dance. And yet, at the brink of loosing balance, disobedience threatens and their bodies speak of fear.

The horse's bit may not come lower than the hip joint. This was equitation's incontrovertible rule. In 1969 Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon. This turning point in human history made the subject matter movement, gravity and how do they relate plain. And strangely, just around that very time, the world community of sports riders drops this time-honored rule and subjects the sports horse to a new, thitherto unknown posture. It may no longer use yes and no joints to manage the long ligament's tension. It may not work from the core and use a dynamic balance, which in locomotion makes for continuity and ease. Instead the horse, once valued for its willing cooperation, now is held in constraint.

10. An Investigation of Posture

Posture is an all-encompassing theme. It must be dealt with lightly. Fleeting, without clear contours or a defined body it eludes definitions. It acts in the shadows of movement. The mind can't penetrate it. And yet, without doubt, it is the upright human body's central theme. Health, flexibility and confidence rely on it. It makes for amity or enmity with a force, which far from being understood places and regulates life on planet earth. With gravity's support life is easy. Fighting gravity is burden-some.

In the human body a dependency of proper posture and balance is easily detected. Walking the weight is evenly distributed and meets the foot at center. Sitting it rests on the seat bones. The horse's posture holds none of these static or dynamic elements. Nor does it come anywhere near the privileges of human upright posture. Of all living beings man features the widest range of flexibility and owns the greatest potential for movement. A sense of balance at all times informs him of his position in the field of gravity. In locomotion a righting reflex automatically redirects him to the upright position.

The horse's weight, however, is distributed on the forehand. Two front legs support it while resting, grazing and walking. This distribution changes when the horse senses danger or sees some other reason to get on. The head rises and the weight shifts to the hindquarters. Congruously Beudant allocates the rider's hands to the forequarters, his legs to the hindquarters and suggests, "Because the horse is its own master, its under saddle positions must be those, which it might choose of its own will to execute the rider demand."

Posture and balance of the human upright and the horse's horizontal body do not compare; even when the horse rises on its hind legs. Uprightness in the human speaks of static and denotes moral elements. The horse and its multiform body, however, are of a dual nature. In the herd it speaks the language of the herd. Upon the touch of its skin it submits to human will. Surprisingly, in both - the human and the horse - proper posture fosters awareness and an improved sense of habitat. It denotes the readiness to perform. 

11. Posture in the 20th Century

Speaking of the rider's posture typically the traditional upright position comes to mind. However, this thought lacks coherence. In the late 1800s the Italian officer Frederico Caprilli discovered the forward seat and fully convinced the world equestrian community of this other way to ride the new fast modern horse. Since then the upright seat is out of fashion. It is considered old-fogyish. In jumping and racing it is to this day no longer practised. A great number of equestrians think it superfluous. Many are unable to learn leave alone teach it.

And few today master the seat, which Caprilli discovered. It rests on the functions of the Yoga movements cobra and reverse cobra and permitted him to ride horses towards jumps of unheard of dimensions. Unfortunately he fell victim of his experiments and the research he began to this day remains unfinished. Caprilli's seat features a complete control of the horse's balance and a full release of its forward locomotion. It does not allow for lateral movements, the development of the gaits and/or the airs above the ground. It is not useful on the working horse.

Taking the traditional upright seat's demise and the relative obscurity of Caprilli's work one may wonder how riders today ride their horses. Common accidents as well as wide-spread fear attest to a surmise which is confirm by any day to day observation of equitation today. Modern man is out of touch. He no longer naturally knows how to communicate with the horse; on the ground, or in the saddle. The small number in proxy of world population who do attest to this fact. Equitation today is a synonym for mishaps, fear and frustration. No schools are open to an interested general public. Traditions are lost. It is given to manipulations of doubtful reputation.

And yet, the horse's kindness remains. And moments of bliss for those who upright and judiciously address the modern horse with knowledge accordant to its dual nature and the changes that characterize the modern horse.

12. Conclusion

While Baucher in France and v. Rosenberg in Germany sought new ways to ride the modern horse, followed by Caprilli in Italy, Karl Benz in 1885 presented the first motor propelled automobile. Only three years later it was produced industrially. Technological development since has not ceased. Today it is difficult to imagine life without running water, electrical light, central heating, automobiles, air transport, cameras, films, telephones, mobiles, internet and GPS satelites. And yet these items are but the tip of a proverbial iceberg. They do not hint at the vast array of technology and the world of finance that does or does not support them.

Can modern equitation be safe? The general lack of human proprioception plus poor body control, progressive faults in the horses' genetic formation, inhospitable environments and missing information speak against it. And yet the human wishes to be in touch with the horse. Nothing has changed in view of the faster, more powerful modern horse. 

One may wonder how the horse/rider alliance, which once was customary and today is rather unusual will act out and procreate in the future. With certainty the horse in equitation is a measure of man's posture. It provides information on how to sit, act and carry on correctly, i.e. according to the patterns the body's structures (bone and fascia) in the context of gravity suggest. But there is another aspect, which touches posture's core.

A sense of devotion sets in. No, not devotion to a particular horse or teacher. A larger dimension is at stake. The kids ride their horses, silently. They are in contact with something inside of themselves and thus tune into the horse's body. Only gradually the sense dissolves after dismounting. Sitting and acting accordingly they got in touch. It is not high elevation. Neither is it full control. It is a unity that exists for those who befriend their horses to share life.

12. Zum Schluss

Während Baucher in Frankreich und v. Rosenberg in Deutschland nach neuen Wegen das moderne Pferd zu reiten suchten, gefolgt von Caprilli in Italien, präsentierte Karl Benz im Jahre 1885 das erste Motor betriebene Automobil. Schon drei Jahre später rollte es industriell gefertigt vom Band. Der technische Fortschritt hat seitdem nicht still gestanden. Heute ist es schwer, sich das Leben ohne fliessendes Wasser, elektrisches Licht, Zentralheizung, Automobile, Luft- und Raumfahrt, Kameras, Film, Telephon, Handies, Internet und GPS Sateliten vorzustellen. Und diese Errungenschaften sind nur die Spitze eines sprichwörtlichen Eisbergs. Sie geben keine Auskunft über den nicht in Erscheinung tretenden Umfang technologischer Entwicklungen, die diese Errungenschaften unterstützen und ermöglichen.

Kann eine moderne Reiterei sicher sein? Weitverbreitete Mängel in der menschlichen Eigenwahrnehmung, schlechte Körperkontrolle, zunehmende genetische Fehler des Pferdes, eine unwirtliche Umwelt und fehlende Informationen sprechen dagegen. Und trotzdem sucht der Mensch den Kontakt zum Pferd. Auch Angesichts des schnelleren, kraftvolleren modernen Pferdes hat sich daran nichts geändert.

Man mag sich fragen, was aus der früher dazu gehörenden und heute eher ungewöhnlichen Beziehung von Pferd und Reiter wird. Hat sie Zukunft? Klar ist, das Pferd ist das Maß des Reiters. Es gibt Auskunft über den Menschen, darüber wie er sitzt, handelt und sich entsprechend der Vorgaben verhält, die der Körper (Knochen und Faszien) im Rahmen der Erdanziehungskraft vorgibt. Aber es gibt einen weiteren Aspekt, einen, der noch mehr an das Geheimnis richtiger Haltung rührt.

Andacht kommt auf. Nein, nicht die Hingabe an ein bestimmtes Pferd oder einen Lehrer. Es geht um andere Grössenordnungen. Die Kinder reiten, schweigend. Sie sind im Kontakt mit sich selbst und horchen so in ihre Pferde hinein. Noch nach dem Absitzen schwingt die Stimmung weiter. Mit richtigem Sitz und entsprechendem Handeln haben sie in Berührung getreten. Es war nicht die hohe Aufrichtung und volle Mobilisierung des ausgebildeten Pferdes, sondern die Einigkeit, die allen offen steht, die sich das Pferd zum Freund machen und das Leben mit ihm teilen. 

11. Haltung und das 20. Jahrhundert

Wenn von der Haltung des Reiters die Rede ist, wird zumeist an den traditionellen aufrechten Sitz gedacht. Diesem Gedanken fehlt jedoch ein historischer Zusammenhang. Denn seit im späten 19. Jahrhundert der italienische Offizier Frederico Caprilli den Vorwärtssitz entdeckte, ist der aufrechte Sitz aus der Mode.

Viele halten ihn heute für regelrecht altmodisch. Caprilli hat die Weltgemeinschaft der Reiter so sehr von den Vorzügen seiner ganz anderen Art das schnellere moderne Pferd zu reiten überzeugt, dass bis auf den Tag zum Beispiel im Springen und in den Rennen der aufrechte Sitz nicht mehr praktiziert wird. Viele Reiter halten ihn für völlig überflüssig. Viele beherrschen ihn nicht und können ihn demzufolge auch nicht unterrichten. 

Erwägt man den weitverbreiteten Verlust des klassischen aufrechten Reitersitzes und die relative Unbekanntheit von Caprillis Arbeit mag man sich fragen, wie Reiter denn ihre Pferde heute reiten. Gehäufte Unfälle wie weitverbreitete Angst bestätigen den Niedergang der Reiterei, der auch bei der Beobachtung täglicher Ausbildungsarbeit fest zu machen ist.

Der Mensch hat die Beziehung zum Pferd verloren. Er kann nicht mehr mit ihm kommunizieren; weder vom Sattel, noch vom Boden. Die im Verhältnis zur Weltbevölkerung verschwindend geringe Anzahl, die es doch kann, ist fast wie der Beweis dafür. Reiten ist ein Synonym für Pannen und Unfälle, Angst und Frustration geworden. Keine bewährten Ausbildungsstätten stehen einer interessierten Öffentlichkeit zur Verfügung. Traditionen sind verloren. Die Reiterei ist Gegenstand obskurer Manipulationen und schwindender Reputation.

Geblieben ist die Liebenswürdigkeit des Pferdes. Und Momente des Glücks für jeden, der das Pferd entprechend der zwei Aspekte seiner Natur und der Veränderungen, die das moderne Pferd charakterisieren, mit Verständnis und Aufrichtigkeit anspricht.

 

 

 

10. Das Wesen der Haltung

Haltung ist ein umfassendes Thema und bedarf des vorsichtigen Umgangs. Flüchtig, ohne klare Konturen oder genau definierte Substanz entzieht sie sich allen Definitonen. Sie agiert im Schatten der Bewegung. Der Verstand kann sie nicht ergreifen. Und doch ist sie ohne Zwiefel das zentrale Thema des aufrechten Menschen. Gesundheit, Beweglichkeit und Selbsvertrauen hängen ab von ihr. Sie entscheidet über Freundschaft oder Feindschaft mit einer Kraft, die weit davon entfernt verstanden zu sein, das Leben auf dem Planeten Erde ermöglicht. Wer von der Schwerkraft unterstützt wird hat es leicht. Im Konflikt mit ihr hat man es schwer.

Die Abhängigkeit angemessener Haltung und gesichterten Gleichgewichts ist im Körper des Menschen leicht zu erkennen. Beim Laufen ist sein Gewicht gleichmäßig verteilt und ruht auf der Mitte des Fußes. Beim Sitzen balanciert er auf den Gesäßknochen. Die Haltungen des Pferdes kennen keines dieser statischen und/oder energetischen Elemente. Noch kommt das Pferd den Privilegien des menschlichen Körpers auch nur nahe. Von allen lebenden Wesen weist der Mensch die grösste Bewegungsfreiheit und das beste Bewegungspotential vor. Sein Gleichgewichtssinn informiert ihn jederzeit über die derzeitige Position im Feld der Schwerkraft. In der Bewegung dirigiert ihn ein Reflex immer in die aufrechte Haltung zurück.

Das Gewicht des Pferdes hingegen ruht auf der Vorhand. Zwei Vorderbeine unterstützen es beim grasen, im Schritt und im Stillstand. Die Gewichtsverteilung verändert sich in dem Augenblick, in dem es Gefahr verspürt oder sonst einen Grund sieht den Standort zu wechseln. Dann hebt sich der Kopf und das Gewicht verschiebt sich auf die Hinterhand. Beudant teilt dementsprechend die Hände des Reiters der Vorhand und seine Beine der Hinterhand zu und macht folgenden Vorschlag, "Da nur das Pferd Meister seiner selbst sein kann, muss sein Haltung unter dem Sattel der Haltung genau entsprechen, die es selbst auch wählt würde, um alle Anweisungen des Reiters auszuführen".

Haltung und Gleichgewicht des aufrechten menschlichen und des horizontal gelagerten Pferdkörpers können auch dann nicht konkurieren, wenn das Pferd sich auf die Hinterbeine stellt. Die Aufrichtigkeit des Menschen deutet eine statische aber auch eine moralische Komponente an. Das Pferde jedoch, und seine vielfältig geformter Körper ist von dualer Natur. In der Herde spricht es die Sprache der Herde. Auf die Berührung seiner Haut hin ergibt es sich dem Menschen. Und trotzdem fördert richtige Haltung sowohl im Menschen wie im Pferd Bewusstheit und einen verbesserten Sinn für die Umwelt. Sie kennzeichnet die Leistungsbereitschaft.