“In training one always wants to go too fast. To arrive quickly, do not hurry, but be firmly assured of each step. The lesson should be for the horse, as for the horseman, a rewarding exercise, an instructive game which never brings fatigue. When sweat begins to show, it is because the man has gone too far.”
This question is raised frequently – how to soften and flex a horse who is stiff in the neck. There is a problem with the question however, because it assumes that addressing the horse’s stiff neck will actually correct the stiffness. In reality, flexing the horse’s neck alone only causes a disconnection between the neck and the hind legs. If you do not understand the implications of this disconnection you can create more problems later on – making it difficult or impossible to get true collection from the horse.
Despite the FEI’s ruling that Rollkur is a banned practice, and instead has favored the use of LDR (Low, Deep, Round), there is plenty of evidence to the contrary that hyperflexion is a norm for competitors. The World Equestrian Games, hosted in Kentucky this year is already proving the perfect grounds to spot the practice in person.
Even if you strictly ride western and loath the sight of any english discipline you can benefit from incorporating the fundamentals of Dressage into your riding and training habits.
You can find it in jumpers, hunters, western riders, english riders, saddleseat, hunt, etc. While it is more prevalent in some disciplines over others the truth of the matter is that the majority of equestrians believe that control of the horse is gained largely by manipulating the neck. Yes, control can be had in this way but it is also mistakenly referred to as building a relationship, communication, a partnership, etc. Plain and simple it is a physical way to control the horse and avoiding communication and removing choice from the horse’s options.
It’s easy to talk about Rollkur from a distant point of view – perhaps not with a clear-cut opinion, but certainly a disjointed and ‘objective’ one. What isn’t easy is to address Rollkur when you’ve seen the effect it has; not on the horses who are succeeding and making money for their international-celebrity riders but, rather, on the horses who didn’t make the cut.
Rollkur has been an issue written about on this blog fairly regularly, but until now there hasn’t been a clearly demonstrating video available to show a ‘professional’ using Rollkur in a competition setting for more than a brief period of time. Until now.
What are your thoughts? Do you believe that Rollkur’s continued use is driven by success, fame, money? Are there elite equestrians you believe are using Rollkur to train but have not gained as much publicity as Anky Van Grunsven and Isabell Werth? What about Rollkur do you find appealing or repulsive?
The answer to this question may be more tricky. The individual motivations I cannot say, but I would be willing to guess that the amount of money involved in high level equestrian sports is enough to motivate a large number of individuals to using whatever legal tactics necessary to win. For example…
“My therapist tells me that if I share my issues with you I will feel better, so here goes: Can anybody around here ride in anything other than a flash noseband that has been pulled so tight it leaves a depression in the horse’s nose when the noseband is released?”
If you want to be truly competitive, lauded for your achievements at awards ceremonies and even have a shot at Olympic Gold now is the time to learn Rollkur.
If you are unaware of what is termed “Rollkur” or hyperflexion of the neck, it is time you knew what has been plaguing much of Dressage and has been the subject of controversy since its inception.
Horse Talk.co.nz published a new story which talks about a new study that was performed showing that horses not only choose normal poll flexion when given a choice while maneuvering, their physiological reaction to stressful stimulation is comparatively lower when compared to their reaction while in hyperflexion.
Hyperflexion has found it’s way into almost every barn and stable, through the simple lack of awareness to it’s presence. From english to western, and even the ‘classicists’ of dressage. It is a loss of the horse’s posture. Why is that?