Pinochio, age seventeen, eyeing the construction of a new watering hole for the cross, on the occasion of the season's first outing, April 2009.
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 rising 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.
Today there is but one German rider, coach and trainer in the public eye who perpetuates the great German classical school. Of perfect proportions and at complete ease we see him on tall well-bred dressage horses demonstrate his mastery. Knowledge and know-how pass 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, flexibility and ease remain in the shadow. The same seems to be true for all talented riders turned teachers and/or coaches. Nothing inside their body permits them to relate to the nightmares, which improper posture induces.
The horse head pulled down to the chest is frightened. The trainer microphone in hand confirms the fact and speaks of his methods to deal with this fear. The rider in the saddle attests and feeds back what she feels. The information she supplies permits the spectator moment by moment to admire the horse's beauty and hear of its fear while it performs. In due time it is again elected world's best and nominated Number One.
Human flexibility and ease make for balance. When the range of movement is restricted and ease is in question balance must carefully be monitored. On foot, leave alone on horse back. 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 the locomotive systems, which in movement make for continuity and ease. Instead the horse once valued for its willing cooperation now is held in constraint.