Wait, what?! Because they're so popular, many people assume that the abusive training method of Rollkur began with Anky van Grunsven and her coach-turned-husband Sjef Janssen.
Nope, not true.
Before Sjef & Anky, there was Nicole & Isabell.
At Aachen in 1995, both Isabell Werth and Nicole Uphoff were seen using hyperflexion with their horses. Both riders trained under Uwe Schulten-Baumer who has openly talked about the use of riding deep.
While it's likely that the “technique” was further developed by Sjef & Anky, it was still Nicole and Isabell who first presented it to the world.
In fact, if you look at earlier footage of Anky when Rollkur first shocked onlookers, her use of it looks very much like what Isabell Werth elicited from Gigolo at Aachen in 1995 – a horse that is clearly frustrated and seeking some escape.
Nicole Uphoff's Use of Rollkur
1995 wasn't the first time hyperflexion was seen, just the earliest video we have access to. Let's go back 5 more years.
Dressage judge and trainer Anne Gribbons says she first saw the technique at the 1990 World Equestrian Games in Stockholm. “It was used by Nicole Uphoff on her champion Rembrandt in the warm-up,“ says Anne, who has officiated and competed at top levels in the United States and abroad.
Elaine Pasco, Hyperflexion: Going to Extremes
Nicole Uphoff's Use of Rollkur
Nicole Uphoff may have retired from the sport, but Isabell Werth continues to use this ugly training method.
Every time someone chirps on about what a great rider Isabell Werth is, that nasty riding is what I recall immediately.
Isabell Werth's Doping Troubles
On top of that, there have been further complications to Werth's legacy, as she has been caught breaking doping rules multiple times.
In 2009 Isabell Werth's horse Whisper tested positive for a drug used to treat Equine Shivers, a substance which is banned. Werth claimed that Equine Shivers has absolutely no impact on Whisper's ability to compete, but I have to doubt that when you consider that this progressive condition comes with the following symptoms:
- Muscle tremors of the hindquarters, hind limbs, and tail
- A spastic gait when they are asked to back up
- Farriery problems (e.g. difficulty standing on three legs)
- Muscle twitching/trembling
- Elevated tail head
- Muscle atrophy
- Reduced strength
- Exercise intolerance
- Facial twitching
Are you having doubts about Werth's confidence that Whisper is just fine to compete with Shivers? Me too.
Of course, 2009 was also the year that the German Equestrian team was disbanded due to widespread doping problems.
Then in 2013, Isabell Werth was suspended after another doping violation with her horse El Santo. This time she places blame on El Santo's stall neighbor. This seems fishy. If you know the substance is illegal for competition, then why would you manage your barn so carelessly as to allow such easy cross-contamination? I have doubts this was accidental.
If you're willing to use Rollkur to win at all costs, why not dope your horses too and hope to get away with it?
Now What?
In the end, it doesn't really matter who started the Rollkur abuse. How do we end it?
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Indeed it did (& Klimke was horrified on observing Uphoff in training)–& for Uphoff…it’s the “gift” that keeps on giving as she has enriched herself through her promotion of Rollkur (or as she terms it “LDR”) in her post-competition clinic & “teaching” caree.
When I bought any first Dutch horse in 1985 the use of “low and deep” was already popular. Met Anke about that time when she was an up and coming young rider and she was already using what they were calling “low and deep”.
That Bill Woods video is unwatchable. And I think the shivers list could also be seen as the result of long-term neurological strain. I remember those first Aachen videos I saw via Dressage.com and I was confused and upset, wondering why these riders were placing so high after torturing their mounts. It certainly snowballed very quickly. Those winning ribbons and the fame that attends them have been the catalyst for increased use of this ridiculous and dangerous fad.
Reading Podhajsky this past month. The art is seen in the majestic partnership. Nothing majestic is seen in doped-hyperflexed horses. The videos truthfully reveal how poorly collected her horses move. The haunches are not supporting the spine, therefore the rider. I would expect long term physical consequence for her horses.
Funny (funny peculiar, not funny haha) how two well-known riders who got caught doping (Isabelle and Pessoa) both have saddles named after them. I’m surprised Anky van Grunven and Andreas Helgstrand haven’t been lauded as well. Maybe they’re not notorious enough yet, although Helgstrand is at the top of my most-inhumane list.
What I think is the saddest part of all are the young and impressionable riders who don’t know any better than to aspire to the likes of these people who truly don’t give two hoots about horses; they’re simply vehicles upon which money is made.
Erica, thank you for continuing to shine your spotlight into the darkest corners of the horse world. The worst of the worst need to be brought to justice, but until then, we can share what you’ve brought to light. The more the world knows about these people, the less people will look up to them.
bad riding is from the start of history! Steinbrecht describes it when he laments Baucherism. Even Xenophon mentions it, so it had to exist before he wrote. ‘rollkur’ as a descriptive term may have entered the riding lexicon with the Anky controversy, but it’s been going on for centuries.