{"id":15931,"date":"2014-11-12T16:18:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-12T05:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/?page_id=15931"},"modified":"2017-07-06T14:13:42","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T04:13:42","slug":"de-la-gueriniere-francois-robichon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/whos-who\/de-la-gueriniere-francois-robichon\/","title":{"rendered":"de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re, Fran\u00e7ois Robichon"},"content":{"rendered":"

The founding father of Classical Dressage, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was a pupil of Antoine de Vendeuil. In 1715, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was granted the title, \u00e9cuyer de roi, <\/em>and opened a riding school in Paris.<\/p>\n

At his school, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re, not only taught riding but \u2018the complete science of the horse\u2019 and his most famous work, \u00c9cole de Cavalerie <\/em>spends many pages describing the care of the horse. In 1750, he appointed Director of the Acad\u00e9mie des Tuileries.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately like many a horseman, la\u00a0Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was not a great businessman, and struggled to run his academy profitably, and he died in 1751 in straightened circumstances.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re?<\/h1>\n

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This drawing by Jean-Louis Sauvat is from the text, La Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re by Marion Scali (alas only in French) published in the series (all of them exquisitely illustrated by Jean-Louis) Les grands ma\u00eetres expliqu\u00e9s, by Belin.<\/em><\/p>\n

He was in the words of Henry Wynmalen, ‘undoubtedly the father of modern equitation’. From la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re we can learn the most important lesson of all and that which distinguishes Dressage from other systematic training methods – like Western – and that it is\u00a0the awareness of the physical developmental needs of the horse that defines the classical tradition. Each step in each session, builds on the building block that goes before it, and each session builds in a progressive way on the last…<\/p>\n

According to la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne often demands things that the horses are not capable of doing in a desire to push them too fast and teach them too much. These excessive demands make them hate exercise, strains and tires their sinews and tendons, upon whose elasticity suppleness depends and often these horses end up ruined when it is believed that they have been trained. Thus, no longer having the strength to fight back, they obey, but without grace or any spirit. There is still another reason that contributes to the formation of these faults: the horses are ridden at too early an age, and because the work demanded of them exceeds their strength and they are not developed enough to resist the degree of control they are subjected to before being trained, their loins are strained, their hocks are weakened, and they are permanently damaged. The proper age for training a horse is six, seven or eight, according to his native environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

read on below<\/em><\/p>\n

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It would seem that long before Pat Parelli arrived with his marketing team, work on the ground was valued. Thus back in 1731, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re recorded:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere used to be persons in charge of exercising the foals outside the breeding barn when they were still wild. They were called Cavalcdours de Bardelle. Those with the most patience, skill, energy and diligence were chosen; the perfection of these qualities was not as necessary for horses who were already being ridden. These people would accustom the young horses to allow someone to approach them in the stable, to pick up all four feet, to touch them, and to put on the bridle, saddle, crupper, girth, etc. They gave them assurance and made them gentle when mounted. They were never harsh or forceful, because at these times they would only use the most gentle methods that came to mind. Through this ingenious patience, they made a horse familiar with and a friend of man, maintained his vigour and courage, and made him understand and obey the first rules. If one were to imitate today the plan of these old connoisseurs, one would see fewer horses who are injured, ruined, one-sided, stiff and vicious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certainly de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was well aware of one of the pillars of the modern training principles \u2013 contact:<\/p>\n

\u201cContact (apui) is the feel produced by the action of the bridle in the rider\u2019s hand and, reciprocally, the action the rider\u2019s hand produces on the bars of the horse\u2019s mouth. There are horses with no contact, others with too much, and others who are fully on the bit. Those who have no contact fear the bit and cannot suffer its contact on their bars, which makes them fight the hand and toss their heads. The horses with too much contact lean heavily on the hand. The horses with the best mouths have a contact on the bit; without leaning on or fighting the hand, they have a consistent, light, and moderate contact. These three qualities of a good mouth in a horse correspond to those of a rider\u2019s hand, which must be light, gentle and consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

And indeed, collection:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo put a horse together (rassembler) is to shorten his gait or air in order to put him on his haunches. It is done by holding the forehand gently with the bridle hand and driving the haunches underneath the horse with the calves. It prepares the horse to be put between the hand and the legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading this you are probably nodding your head in agreement \u2013 how true, how like today, until you take a look at the bit!<\/p>\n

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The actual amount of contact likely to occur when mediated by a curb bit like this is perhaps very different from what we today might consider \u2018contact\u2019.<\/p>\n

La Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re then proceeds to outline the sophisticated series of movements he rode: the Volte, the Passade, the Pirouette, the Terre \u00e0 Terre, and the various airs above the ground.<\/p>\n

It would seem also that this eighteenth century maestro at least had some idea of that troubling first principle of the modern training scale, variously known as \u2018relaxation\u2019, or \u2018submission\u2019 or \u2018losgelassenheit\u2019. La Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re seems to have a good handle on it, pointing to an earlier French master, de la Broue.<\/p>\n

\u201cDe la Broue could not give a more exact description of a well-dressed (trained<\/em>) horse than by saying that he is the one who shows suppleness, obedience and accuracy; the reason being that, if a horse\u2019s body is not completely free and supple, he will not be able to respond to man\u2019s demands with ease and with grace. Suppleness will always result in docility, because the horse will thus not have any problem in performing what is demanded of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

To achieve a \u2018well-dressed\u2019 horse required the \u2018three essential qualities which comprise what is known as a well-adjusted horse.\u2019<\/p>\n

The first \u2013 suppleness \u2013 could only be developed in trot, because to achieve the first quality he must \u2018vigorously work all the parts of his body\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is through the trot, the most natural of all the gaits, that the horse is made light to the hand, without having his mouth spoiled, and stretches his limbs without risk of injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This is la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re’s idea of a forward trot, I can think of a number of modern dressage riders who wish their passage was as elevated…<\/em><\/p>\n

The next quality is obedience, and this first involves getting the weight of the horse onto his hindquarters. To counter-act the natural tendency of the horse to fall on his forehand, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re has the rider perfect the halt, the half-halt and the rein back. La Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re notes that many horses will find the halt too physically demanding but the half halt is appropriate to all: \u201cThis action does not make the horse as anxious and stabilizes his head and haunches with less constraint than does the halt; it is for this reason that the half-halt is more useful in making the horse\u2019s mouth and achieving lightness.\u201d<\/p>\n

more below<\/em><\/p>\n

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Again rein back is to be used sparingly and indeed when the horse has mastered the rein back \u2018the best lesson that one can give to make him light in the hand is to only rein back the shoulders, in other words, to gently bring the forehand back to oneself as if one wanted to back him, and when one feels that the horse will back, one must give him the reins and walk forward one or two steps.\u2019<\/p>\n

Now we move on to the most important of de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re\u2019s discoveries: the Shoulder-In, and its close cousin, Haunches out, or The Croup to the Wall. Once again, the aim was to develop the first two qualities of a dressage horse \u2013 suppleness and obedience.<\/p>\n

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Our old friend, the late Henri van Schraik<\/a>, this to say about la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re and Shoulder-in:<\/p>\n

“The controversies around shoulder-in will very likely never end. Therefore, I think it might be a good idea to go back to the source and find out what de Ia Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re really said.”<\/p>\n

And Dr van Schaik warned that this was not as simple as it might seem:<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, a genius on horseback is not necessarily a master of language. In his use of language, de Ia Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was not very disciplined and this provoked misconceptions and caused Parocel, his illustrator, to draw the wrong diagrams.”<\/p>\n

“To understand the aim of de Ia Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re when he conceived the idea of shoulder-in, one should read very carefully what he said in explaining how the concept of this movement developed. In the beginning of the chapter he states that trotting on the straight line results in only limited suppleness, as it helps the forward movement of the shoulders and the legs.”<\/p>\n

“The difficulty starts he says, when we try to supple the horse so that he can make circles and sideways (lateral) movements.”<\/p>\n

more below<\/em><\/p>\n

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It was the Duke of Newcastle, another of the great Nineteenth Century Masters whose theories were to greatly influence la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re when he developed the shoulder-in movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis can be seen in \u00c9cole de Cavalerie<\/em>, where de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re frequently quotes the Duke of Newcastle and then adds his own comments. Several examples are included here. The head-in, the haunches out, on the circle, brings the horse on the forehand<\/em>… <\/em>The shoulder cannot become supple if the inner hindleg does not come close to and in front of the outer hindleg<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing these quotations de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re says: \u2018This admission, which experience confirms, makes it very clear that the circle is not the true means to supple the shoulder… a profound truth that this illustrious author admits is that the shoulders can only be suppled when the inner hindleg comes close to and in front of the outer hindleg; it is this judicious remark that has put me on the way to find the exercise shoulder-in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow follow two quotations from de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re himself about the advantages of shoulder-in (bracketed words I have added to aid comprehension<\/em>). \u2018This exercise supples the shoulders because the inner foreleg moving forward, crossing over the outer foreleg, and the inner (hind) foot moving in front of the outer (hind) foot, coming down in the line of that foot, causes the shoulder to make a movement that activates the joints of this part of the horse’s anatomy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLater he adds: \u2018Shoulder-in prepares the horse to bring more weight on the haunches, because during every stride he makes in this position he brings the inner hindleg forward under the mass and puts it in front of the outside hindleg, which he cannot do without dropping the inside hip… thus he learns to flex his hocks.\u2019 A little further on one reads: \u2018The line of the haunches close to the wall, the shoulders about one and a half to two feet from the wall.\u2019 By contradicting himself repeatedly in \u00c9cole de Cavalerie, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re has created confusion about the movements of the legs and about the question of how much the shoulders should go off the tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the edition published in 1751, on page 107, he first quotes the Duke of Newcastle, when he says that the shoulder cannot be suppled unless the inner hindleg moving forward comes close to the outer hindleg; then Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re says that the inner front leg crosses and moves forward over the outer front leg (“croiser et chevaler <\/em>par <\/em>dessus”<\/em>), and in the same way the inner hindleg over (“par <\/em>dessus”)<\/em> the outer hindleg. In connection with this sentence, he refers to the diagrams (showing very definitely the stepping over): then, when he enumerates the advantages of the movement shoulder-in, he states: \u2018In the first place this lecture supples the shoulders, because the inner foreleg crossing and moving forward over (‘par <\/em>dessus ‘)<\/em> the outside foreleg and the inner hindleg moving in front of (‘au <\/em>dessus’)<\/em> the outside hindleg and on the line of that same foot; the movement the shoulders have to make, activates the movement of the joints.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the second place: ‘Shoulder-in prepares a horse to put more weight on the hindquarters because during every stride he brings the inner hindleg under his belly and puts that leg in front (\u2018au <\/em>dessus\u2019)<\/em> of the outer hindleg, which causes a flexion of the inner hock.'”<\/p>\n

\u201cOne gets this picture: the haunches go straight along the wall, with the inner hindfoot in front of the outer. The inner hindfoot should not cross over the outer, because this causes the haunches to swing out, becoming leg-yielding. The shoulders are brought in, not the head, because, as the Duke of Newcastle had to admit, this brings the horse on the forehand. The inner foreleg crosses the outer foreleg, the rider sees the shimmer of the horse’s eye (flexion), the horse is bent around the inside leg of the rider, and the horse is not looking in the direction he is going. The hindquarters propel because they move straight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, one can only begin to ask the horse for shoulder-in after he has become obedient to the leg, and one should realise that one can only gradually get the horse to correctly execute shoulder in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Germans speak first of shoulder-fore, with which they begin the schooling. In it, the print of the inner hindfoot is between the prints of both front feet. As the horse becomes more supple, the shoulders will be able to come more in, because the horse will be able to bend and the print of the inner hindfoot will cover the print of the outside front foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore asking for shoulder-in, the rider should prepare his horse by putting him in position, seeing the shimmer of the inside eye by giving gentle indications with the inside rein; the inside leg should be closed, just behind the girth. (If the leg is too far back, the horse cannot bend around the leg.) The outside leg is passive but ready to prevent the haunches from swinging out (causing leg-yielding). The outside rein, held in a hand a little higher than the inside pushes the shoulders gently to the inside of the track. The hand should never go over the neck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn case the horse brings the shoulders too far in, then the inside hand pushes them back. When de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was trying to find a way to loosen the shoulders and hit on the concept of shoulder-in, he got as a bonus something he was not looking for, the flexion of the hocks. Thus shoulder-in not only became a loosening exercise, but also a collecting exercise. Shoulder-in is the pre-eminent exercise to get the horse to flex the hocks, without which no real collection is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

more below<\/em><\/p>\n

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La Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re then goes on to discuss the various airs above the ground, use of the pillars, etc, none of which is of great relevance to us today.<\/p>\n

What I hope is apparent by now, is that while de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re had developed an extremely sophisticated system of training focussed on the collected movements, there are various elements, or principles, that are lacking in his school, if you want to produce a horse capable of successfully completing a modern dressage test \u2013 the elements are primarily in the area of forwardness and straightness, in the adjustability of the frame.<\/p>\n

In all the engravings of the period we see a horse in a frame, the outline of his neck and head never varies, even on the very loose rein, the horse stays in that very collected outline.<\/p>\n

The very first illustration of what we would regard as an extended trot, comes with Ferdinand Baucher, in the latter half of the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n

Ask a child to draw a horse, and you will very likely receive a drawing of a horse in extended trot \u2013 it seems a very simple movement to illustrate. Think of all those engravings of the old masters, can you think of an extended trot? No, because they didn\u2019t use that movement in their school work \u2013 it is only in his discussion of the war horse and the hunter that de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re talks a little about the need to move forward.<\/p>\n

It is a relief that de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re, puts to rest that most present of equestrian myths, that the movements of dressage were designed for the battle field.<\/p>\n

Stop and think about it for a moment. To even ride a Novice test seems to require total silence and absence of distraction \u2013 imagine your chances of collecting the horse and aiming a capriole at one of the enemy as cannons fire, swords clash and the battle rages.<\/p>\n

La Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re himself concedes: \u201cIf the airs above the ground offer no advantage for war, they offer at least that of imparting to the horse the agility it requires to clear hedges and ditches, which contributes to the safety of the rider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really the great thing Fran\u00e7ois Robichon de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re contribued to the development of equestrian thought was the awareness that there must be equestrian thought<\/strong> – that riding without guiding principles was just plain wrong.<\/p>\n

“Practice without true principles is nothing other than routine, the fruit of which is strained and unsure execution, a false diamond which dazzles semi-connoisseurs often more impressed by the accomplishments of the horse than by the merit of the horseman… This dearth of principles renders pupils unable to distinguish shortcomings from perfection. They have no other recourse but imitation.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Publications:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ecole de Cavalerie (1729)<\/em><\/p>\n

REF: The integration of the Baucher system in the Classical School of de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re<\/em><\/a> by Miguel Tavora<\/p>\n

REF: The Classical Tradition \u2013 Out of the Dark Ages \u2013 Riding as Art \u2013 The Masters of High School<\/em><\/a> by Chris Hector<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The founding father of Classical Dressage, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was a pupil of Antoine de Vendeuil. In 1715, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was granted the title, \u00e9cuyer de roi, and opened a riding school in Paris. At his school, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re, not only taught riding but \u2018the complete science of the horse\u2019 and his most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35803,"parent":14165,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-15931","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15931"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35843,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15931\/revisions\/35843"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}