As I watched the horses go round in the Grand Prix and the Special at Tokyo, I was reminded of an article by Jeremy Steinberg – especially the point about the horses falling onto their front legs in the piaffe. Although Jeremy singled out Parzival, now retired, in his comment, there were more than a few with the same fault at these Games – CH
Here’s what Jeremy had to say:
“The one thing I do look to them for, one thing that I do think gets overlooked and that is all the piaffe / passage these days with the horses that don’t sit. A lot of competition horses are so far out with the hind legs in passage, that the riders get lower and lower to the ground as the neck gets higher and the croup gets higher and the rider is sitting in the middle on a bouncy trampoline.”
“Then in piaffe, it’s as if the horses hit a mud bog or something, shuffle for a few strides or they’re trotting in place with no lowering of the croup. I never saw Parzival piaffe where the front hoof was higher than the hind hoof.”
You can’t teach a horse to push its hind legs out and trampoline its back, to load its quarters. It’s almost an impossibility.”
Christopher Bartle, dressage – and eventing – medallist, talks about good piaffe and passage:
“The quality of the piaffe and passage is reflected in the extent to which the exercises are performed with apparent ease on the part of both horse and, just as importantly, rider. They must appear as natural to the horse as the trot or the canter and for that reason the training which produces these exercises must be a logical extension of dressage training. Because the bulk of the horse’s weight is carried by the hindquarters, the foreleg is enabled to be picked up and then put down in a vertical plane.”
Read more about piaffe and passage, and how to train these movements:
Read more on training Piaffe and Passage from Christopher Bartle:
https://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2019/11/piaffe-and-passage-with-christopher-bartle-part-six
Poor Parcival. His face is so haunting in that photo. It’s lovely not to see that rider anymore, she seems to have faded away. I think she does the occasional young horse class here and there but the ghastly performances with Parzival are over.
It is the judges , in their evaluation they are gradually eroding the classical principles from the piaffe and to appoint the passage as well. If you are going to accept Bella Rose piaffe as more than good and award it a 10 🙃😏 you are removing an essential component of the movement from the equation. Bella Rose piaffe has many components to admire but the required balance is lacking hence a 10 is an un warranted mark. this acceptance of lack of balance filters down and influence what is looked for in training, breeding etc. The result is more horses without the sitting ability and less riders with the skill to make horses lower the hindquarters.
I liked the way the two top US horses went. Not jammed correct training and taking the weight. Have to say about Bella Rosa that a couple of percent points picked up because of rider. It was notable the horses that lowered their hindquarters in piaffe and those that trotted on the spot. Seeing piaffe is double points then the importance of judging this right is crucial
Wow that’s cool to see David Pincus comment on this article! Totally agree with his comments above.