This next principle is one of those difficult to translate words – the most often used equivalent is ‘impulsion’, but as the official handbook points out, this is not correct:
“Schwung is the transmission of the energetic impulse created by the hind legs, into the forward movement of the entire horse. An elastically swinging back is the necessary pre-condition. ‘Schwung’ should not merely be interpreted as impulsion. A horse can show impulsion – eg. a racehorse – and not have ‘Schwung’. ‘Schwung’ is not identified by the horse being a ‘good’ or ‘showy’ mover. A horse can be born with a good trot, showing long, extended steps. But this natural action can easily be performed in a tense way, with a rigid back and high head carriage. ‘Schwung’ is always the result of efficient training, which uses the natural pace but adds to it the horse’s suppleness, elasticity and responsiveness to the aids.”
Again, before you complicate the issue by asking for more than the horse is capable of giving, listen to the wise words of Dr Klimke: “‘Schwung’ enables the horse to move in the most expressive way that nature gave it. Some horses by nature have little expression, ie. have flat gaits. One must remember that one can only ride out of a horse what nature gave it, but what nature gave it we want to bring out. This means the horse must be able to use all four legs with maximum expression and to do this entails engaging the hind legs through muscling up the hind quarter so it is easy to engage them. Many people forget that the shoulders are also important and should not be stiff. They need to develop free movement. The expression comes from behind but if cannot go through the back and through the shoulders because the shoulders are stiff, then again there is no ‘schwung’.”
As Clemens watches Judy and Frontier, he stresses that Schwung has nothing to do with faster:
“It means more pushing forward from the hindleg. More activity. The task of the rider is to ride the horse actively forward without any running. That means that you have to teach your horse to be responsive to your legs. As always, you should ride lots of transitions – the horse has to become a little bit sharper on your aids, so that they respond immediately. This can require a little collection, getting the horse more together to develop the activity as he comes out of it.”
“Think about the horse like a steel spring, you have to push him together and from this he gets the power to push himself. Then we have schwung.”
“You can train a horse, but only time will give him the strength to be perfect. Horses need time to learn, to understand, to get stronger, to build up their muscles, to learn to respond. It takes time. To train a good Grand Prix horse takes at least five years of consistent schooling. You can train the tricks easy enough, but it will never be good unless the horse has the strength to express it and do it well.”
“When you are working like this you are putting the horse more on the aids. The horse should respond to your seat and to your weight. The driving aid is leg, back, weight – together that makes up your seat. It is better to give the horse one big aid then leave them alone, than nag them every stride. Basically you indicate to the horse what you want to do, then the horse does it without you having to nag every stride. Whatever movement you ride, you indicate it, and then the horse has to do it by himself.”
“The horse has to push himself off the hindlegs and go forward, basically that is schwung. The relaxed swinging through the back and schwung are not the same thing - schwung is the power to push, active and powerful. Schwung is to push himself - it comes from what the Germans call schubkraft.”
How do we develop schwung - through transitions?
“Transitions, responsiveness to the aids - the horse must be willing to immediately go - and by also riding the horse forward.”
Is this where the Clemens Dierks concept of one good big one - one solid kick or tap with the whip - is better than nagging every stride, comes in?
“It comes into accepting the aids. If you nag at a horse it will always show up in tail switching, ears back, argumentative in the hand - a good horse must go by itself. I have watched a lot of dressage over the past 12 months including the Olympic Games in Athens, and a lot of people think that dressage has improved world-wide, but sometimes when I think back to Willi Schultheis, Josef Neckermann, Herbert Rehbein, I think I saw more harmony. Even the top horses at Athens were spooking, arguments, resistance. I think we have lost some of that harmony.
Next issue, Clemens looks at the crucial issue of Straightness
Impulsion is the term used to describe the transmission of an eager and energetic, yet controlled, propulsive energy generated from the hindquarters into the athletic movement of the horse. Its ultimate expression can be shown only through the horse’s soft and swinging back to be guided by a gentle contact with the rider’s hand.
FEI Article 417.3 (2003)
The action of the purely driving leg controls, which are the only influence that can cause engagement of the hindquarters, is manifested by increasing the impulsion of the hindquarters, which begins to carry more of the load and thus relieves the forehand, which now steps out more freely, with longer strides, in harmony with the hindquarters. The neck stretches out forwards and down more and more, corresponding to the extension of the back. This extension is felt in the horse’s reaching out for the bit.
Walter Seunig, Horsemanship
Elastic, energetic steps are an indication of a high degree of impulsion. However there are some horses who produce a trot that resembles a passage but in which the forelegs remain unnaturally straight. It is sometimes termed ‘trot balancé’. This type of trot is not normally a sign of impulsion but is a clear sign of tension in the horse. It can often be an evasion or sign of resistance on the part of the horse to the rider’s forward driving aids. The judge must ask ‘is this really going forward?’ A supple back is a prerequisite for transmission of power from the hindquarters into an athletic stride. There should be no apparent tension in the back. There should be longitudinal suppleness shown by the horse’s willingness to shorten and lengthen his frame according to the rider’s requests and the requirements of the differing paces. Engagement of the hindquarters means that the hind legs are willingly stepping forwards underneath the horse and taking his weight. They are not left out behind the horse’s body.Wolfgang Niggli, Dressage – a guideline for riders and judges
