(7) ...this paragraph is very well suited to document the inevitably poor results of Steinbrecht's suggestions, if carried out too literally and/or implemented by an uninitiated rider... It also offers the chance to comment on Steinbrecht's thinking one idea at a time. To fully understand text and comments it may be useful to look at the original text...
...a. ...diameters of turns must always be guided by the rider's evaluation of the horse's hindquarters and their ability to follow and hence support the body's mass...
...b. ...if the horse's desire for movement is great, i.e. its propelling power is well developed, one must soon begin to mitigate it on large circles, demanding the lateral bending of the horse's body and greater flexion of its inner hind leg...
The question arises, why would the horse's desire for movement be great...? Is this not a self-inflicted problem...? If, from the start, on the lunge and under saddle, the horse is asked to go forward (as still is the case in many stables to this day) the horse's lungs and muscles quickly grow... Correspondantly it will want to move faster and cover more ground... (and this is not as yet addressing the horse's need for continuous slow movement...)
Back to Steinbrecht's presentation: What about communication...? When will the horse have/get a chance to coordinate with the rider? How will it learn to feel, read and obey him...? How will it develop finer tunes...?
If you ask me: Going fast the horse knows naturally. Serving the rider in steady moderate movements it learns. Friendship with the rider is what it seeks and desires...! Absolutely nothing speaks for having it rush down a fixed circular line as if it was a machine...
...c. ...the locomtion of horses without forward urge must be established by riding forward on straight lines in regular contact (...Anlehnung...)...
Question. In other words, hot horses are forced on the circle to turn propulsion into impulsion? Cold horses are forced on straight lines to wake up and develop propulsion? In either case the horse is forced...? Not sure if Steinbrecht meant to say this... However, it looks like riders the world over have interpreted his words this way... :-((((
And then Steinbrecht begins to add the tricks of the trade, which when the rider knows and executes them correctly are very helpful indeed. The problem, ...these also force the horse. And they hold nothing for the novice rider or the well meaning amateur...
Before we get to them, there is however another, yet more fundamental aspect to be considered: The maturity of the horse's skeleton...