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2004 Symposium: Developing the Dressage Horse For details on the presenters credentials, please see Friday's Lecture. Steffen Peters: What do we expect from an aid? We must have a high standard. Low standards are counter-productive. It should be obvious when you ask the horse to go forward within the canter. Not only should the rider be able to feel it, the instructor should be able to SEE it. The response should also be from the CALF and not from the SPUR, and we should also be able to return to collection (with light aids) within 2 – 3 strides. The aid for collection is the half halt, which specifically is to sit deeper and close the leg LIGHTLY, not with every ounce of strength the rider possesses. Every horse will break when learning, and this is OK and a natural part of the learning process. However, the rider should IMMEDIATELY send the horse back into canter so that the horse learns that this was the wrong response. Riding transitions from medium canter into collected canter is an excellent training tool to get the horse’s back looser. Practicing on the circle makes the exercise easier. In trot, collection means shorter but higher steps—when asking for collection, we are testing sensitivity to the seat and leg aids. Passage is sitting deeper and adding more leg, but NOT supporting every stride with the spur or leg. The horse will go back to a flat trot or even walk, and if they do, send them back to passage—but they need to learn to support and carry themselves. We should not have to do every step of the work for them. If the horse is properly educated, you can be more confident in the show arena because you have more available to you. To wake the horse up to the aid, use the driving aid for ONE FULL SECOND (both leg and spur) to get a reaction, and then pet the horse afterward to tell the horse, “Look, buddy, we mean business.” And then reassure him when we get the reaction we want. We are trying to show him what we want, NOT frighten him into a response. Steffen showed a video demonstrating this in piaffe. In the first clip, the horse was behind the leg. He then, in the walk, used the driving aid for the full second, and then asked for the piaffe again, with light aids. The second piaffe was much better and in front of the leg. Steffen stressed that the spur is to be used as a REMINDER and not as SUPPORT. In all work, the basics must be there: suppleness, sensitivity to the leg, rhythm. When a pirouette has problems (i.e., a clear loss of energy), it is a good decision to ride out of it, and do schooling work. A schooling pirouette is a bigger pirouette. It is OK to compromise a bit on the collection, but ask for increased sensitivity to BOTH legs. The inside leg asks for forward and keeps the horse from falling in. Once the horse is clearly on the aids, the real test will be in the tempi changes. When we have to ride movements with obvious aids during schooling, we don’t have a whole lot left for the show arena…this is the philosophy behind teaching the horse to go from the minimum aids possible. It is always important to go back to the basics of rhythm and suppleness by asking the horse to stretch down in a controlled fashion TO THE DEGREE WE PERMIT. We should not accept or require more pressure in the hand with collection. Suppleness should still be there. The CURB is a REMINDING aid for the rein analogous to the SPUR for the leg—not to crank the horse into an upper level frame. If the horse/rider doesn’t understand the walk pirouette, then the canter pirouette will not be good. The piaffe should be learned early on, by doing half steps forward and back into place. The aid should be from the calf, and remain sensitive—we are testing the idea to see if the horse will respond from a light aid. In the canter pirouette and piaffe, there is a tremendous amount of stress on the hindleg. Do not school them too much without giving the horse a break. Success is derived from maintaining high standards at home. Christoph Hess: Insights into Judging The judge’s responsibilities are to be:
The judge can be thought of as a policeman, pointing out either the right way or the wrong way, but in a positive and friendly way so that the non-winner goes home with positive ideas from the judge. Educating the eye can be particularly difficult, because the eye easily becomes dulled unless it is continually exposed to top quality horses. Thoughts must also be kept simple, but follow simple classic rules regarding the freedom and regularity of paces, harmony, lightness, regularity, etc. The previous thoughts are from Anne Gribbons’ uncompleted notes. Anne Gribbons was to have given this lecture, but she suffered a ruptured appendix, and is recuperating in the hospital. How to Find the Right Marks First the judge must know and see what is possible, rather than look for the mistakes. The judge must know what is important in the movement, and watch every movement from start to finish, focusing on the main point but not to the exclusion of others. The judge must also recognize the limitations of the viewing position, judging only what can be legitimately seen from that viewing position. The judge must also have a sound knowledge of the meaning and the handling of the marks—there must be the same starting point each and every time, and every mark must be able to stand alone. The judge must also have a clear picture of the difference between a 7 and a 8, and each score should be substantiated. The judge should also realize there are no “unimportant” marks. The collective marks are the mirror of the entire tests.
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