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Missed the first part? Here it is –\u00a0Part One<\/a><\/p>\n This month we will look at some of the Masters of High School Equitation, including the greatest of them all, Fran\u00e7ois Robichon de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re and see just how relevant the teachings of these old masters are \u2013 and look at the question, how classical are our Classical Principles?<\/strong><\/p>\n Once again, I suspect that those who shout loudest that they ride according to the immutable principles of the great masters of history – the Duke of Newcastle, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re et al – are those who have never studied the actual works of the old masters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When I look at the illustrations in Newcastle\u2019s A General System of Horsemanship I am immediately reminded of the training methods and work of an old Californian reined cow horse trainer, Greg Lougher, who came to Australia with 35 horses in the 1950s. Even the equipment used is hugely similar. The Californians would start with a hackamore, or bitless halter, later introducing the fearsome Spade Bit \u2013 exactly the same as the one used by the Duke, but letting it sit in the mouth in a transition period, while still working primarily on the direct rein pull of the hackamore.<\/p>\n The Californian Reinsman would also use the fence of the arena, turning the horse towards the wall, to get it on its hocks and into a state of self-balance. This was one of Newcastle\u2019s favourite exercises. The end result in both cases, was a horse that kept its frame even on a loose rein, ready to stop, go back, or turn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I was lucky enough to ride the last spade bit horse Greg Lougher made in Australia before his return to the United States. It was quite an extraordinary experience, all you felt in your hand was the weight of the elaborately braided reins. Think stop and the horse stopped, lay a rein on the outside of its neck and it started to spin, think back, and back you went. It was obviously a highly developed and – in the hands of a true horseman – elegant form of horsemanship, but nothing to do with today\u2019s dressage.<\/p>\n Sadly, it would seem that the style of the old Californian Bridled horse, has been totally super-ceded by a very bizarre western competition horse version of long and low\u2026<\/p>\n Perhaps we should look at this development of American Western riding for a brief moment to clarify the main theme of the essence of the classical tradition.<\/p>\n At times you will hear commentators remark, reining is only dressage in a western saddle. Wrong.<\/p>\n One marked difference is that the moves in the reining tests, the spins, sliding stops and rollbacks are the same for a three-year-old horse as the six-year-old \u2013 the only concession being that the younger horse is ridden in a snaffle while the older is ridden in a curb bit.<\/p>\n There is no sense in which the younger horses perform simpler exercises that form the building blocks of the higher movements. Nor in Reining is there any sense that the required movements are valued precisely because of their ability to increase the gymnastic ability of the horse as is the case in the dressage tradition. Not surprisingly, many reining horses are literally burnt out by the time they are four or five because of the demands made on them mentally and physically. It\u2019s a great system for the breeders who keep turning out new prospects for the big three-year-old \u2013 and even two-year-old – futurities\u2026<\/p>\n The Western Pleasure class is another good example of what happens when the movements are separated from the horse\u2019s function, and put to the artificial purpose of maximum rider comfort. The Western Pleasure horse does not trot, he is required to jog, keeping the steps as short as possible, with the least moment of suspension \u2013 at times there is no moment of suspension at all. Very comfortable for the rider \u2013 not such a worthwhile gymnastic for the horse, indeed moving this way, actually makes the horse less gymnastic.<\/p>\n It is the same in the canter \u2013 or more correctly, the lope. Here four-beat canters are common \u2013 and why not, the four-beat canter is easy to sit on, although once again the opportunity to develop the horse\u2019s muscle structure is lost.<\/p>\n This I suggest is a crucial difference between other systematic training methods and dressage \u2013 and it is the awareness of the physical developmental needs of the horse that defines the classical tradition.<\/p>\n Story continues below the advertisement<\/em><\/p>\n F\u00fcrst Toto<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Certainly by the time we come to de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re\u2019s Ecole de Cavalerie (published in 1731) we find this crucial awareness of the developmental nature of classical riding. Here is the great master warning against pushing the horse too fast…<\/strong><\/p>\n According to de 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.<\/strong> 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 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 – 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 horses 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 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 De 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.<\/p>\n And then 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. De 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 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 – 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.”<\/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. De 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 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. He 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 Story continues below the advertisement<\/em><\/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 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 G\u00e9urini\u00e8re talks a little about the need to move forward.<\/p>\n This was de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re’s idea of an extended trot<\/em><\/p>\n It is a relief that de la G\u00e9urini\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 De la Geurini\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 Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re’s invention of what Nuno Oliveira called ‘the asprin’ of equitation, is so important, that we have pleasure in re-printing this essay by our old friend, Henri van Schaik…<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The controversies around shoulder-in will very likely never end.\u00a0Therefore, I think it might be a good idea to go back to the source\u00a0and find out what de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re really said.<\/p>\n In 1731, Fran\u00e7ois Robichon de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re published a book\u00a0called Ecole de Cavalerie. This authoritative work is considered to be\u00a0the standard of Classical Equitation. Unfortunately, a genius on\u00a0horseback is not necessarily a master of language. In his use of\u00a0language, de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was not very disciplined and this\u00a0provoked misconceptions and caused Parocel, his illustrator, to\u00a0draw the wrong diagrams.<\/p>\n To understand the aim of de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re when he conceived the\u00a0idea of shoulder-in, one should read very carefully what he said in\u00a0explaining how the concept of this movement developed. In the\u00a0beginning of the chapter he states that trotting on the straight line\u00a0results in only limited suppleness, as it helps the forward movement\u00a0of the shoulders and the legs. The difficulty starts he says, when we\u00a0try to supple the horse so that he can make circles and sideways\u00a0(lateral) movements.<\/p>\n Salomon de la Broue, a contemporary of de Pluvinel, and the\u00a0Duke of Newcastle both had theories on how to achieve this\u00a0suppleness, de la Broue making some use of circles and also of what\u00a0we now call cavalletti.<\/p>\n As we shall see shortly, the Duke of Newcastle was a great\u00a0influence on de la Gueriniere but, surprisingly perhaps, de Pluvinel\u00a0was not. One may wonder why in Ecole de Cavalerie there is no\u00a0reference to de Pluvinel. It seems that la Gueriniere did not think\u00a0too much of de Pluvinel. He mentions him once, in the opening\u00a0paragraph of the chapter on the pillars: “The pillars are an invention\u00a0of M. de Pluvinel, who had the honor of putting Louis XIII on\u00a0horseback . He has left us a treatise on riding. The prints it contains\u00a0are valued by the curious because of the quality of the engraving and by the fact that they show how the gentlemen of the court of Louis\u00a0XIII were dressed.”<\/p>\n Pluvinel – a ‘fashion guide’?<\/em><\/p>\n The Duke of Newcastle’s theories were to greatly influence la\u00a0Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re when he developed the shoulder-in movement. This can\u00a0be seen in Ecole de Cavalerie, where de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re frequently\u00a0quotes the Duke of Newcastle and then adds his own comments.<\/p>\n Several examples are included here.<\/p>\n “The head-in, the haunches out, on the circle, brings the horse on\u00a0the forehand … The shoulder cannot become supple if the inner\u00a0hindleg does not come close to and in front of the outer hindleg.”<\/p>\n Following these quotations la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re says: “This admission,\u00a0which experience confirms, makes it very clear that the circle is not\u00a0the true means to supple the shoulder … a profound truth that this\u00a0illustrious author admits is that the shoulders can only be suppled\u00a0when the inner hindleg comes close to and in front of the outer\u00a0hindleg; it is this judicious remark that has put me on the way to\u00a0find the exercise shoulder-in.”<\/p>\n The Duke – hind leg under<\/em><\/p>\n Now follow two quotations from de la Gueriniere himself about\u00a0the advantages of shoulder-in (bracketed words I have added to aid\u00a0comprehension). “This exercise supples the shoulders because the\u00a0inner foreleg moving forward, crossing over the outer foreleg, and\u00a0the inner (hind) foot moving in front of the outer (hind) foot,\u00a0coming down in the line of that foot, causes the shoulder to make a\u00a0movement that activates the joints of this part of the horse’s\u00a0anatomy.”<\/p>\n Later he adds:\u00a0“Shoulder-in prepares the horse to bring more weight on the\u00a0haunches, because during every stride he makes in this position he\u00a0brings the inner hindleg forward under the mass and puts it in front\u00a0of the outside hindleg, which he cannot do without dropping theinside hip … thus he learns to flex his hocks.”<\/p>\n A little further on\u00a0one reads: “The line of the haunches close to the wall, the shoulders\u00a0about one and a half to two feet from the wall.”<\/p>\n By contradicting himself repeatedly in Ecole de Cavalerie, de la\u00a0Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re has created confusion about the movements of the legs\u00a0and about the question of how much the shoulders should go off the\u00a0tracks.<\/p>\n In the edition published in 1751, on page 107, he first quotes\u00a0the Duke of Newcastle, when he says that the shoulder cannot be outer hindleg; then Gueriniere says that the inner front leg crosses\u00a0and moves forward over the outer front leg (“croiser et chevaler par\u00a0des sus”), and in the same way the inner hindleg over (“pardessus “)\u00a0the outer hindleg. In connection with this sentence, he refers to the\u00a0diagrams (showing very definitely the stepping over): then, when\u00a0he enumerates the advantages of the movement shoulder-in, he\u00a0states: “In the first place this lecture supplesthe shoulders, because\u00a0the inner foreleg crossing and moving forward over (‘par dessus’)\u00a0the outside foreleg and the inner hindleg moving in front of (‘au\u00a0dessus’) the outside hindleg and on the line of that same foot; the\u00a0movement the shoulders have to make, activates the movement of\u00a0the joints.<\/p>\n In the second place: ‘Shoulder-in prepares a horse to put\u00a0more weight on the hindquarters because during every stride he\u00a0brings the inner hindleg under his belly and puts that leg in front\u00a0(“au dessus”) of the outer hindleg, which causes a flexion of the\u00a0inner hock.'”<\/p>\n One gets this picture: the haunches go straight along the wall,\u00a0with the inner hindfoot in front of the outer. The inner hind foot\u00a0should not cross over the outer, because this causes the haunches to\u00a0swing out, becoming leg-yielding. The\u00a0shoulders are brought in, not the head, because, as the Duke of\u00a0Newcastle had to admit, this brings the horse on the forehand. The\u00a0inner foreleg crosses the outer foreleg, the rider sees the shimmer of\u00a0the horse’s eye (flexion), the horse is bent around the inside leg of\u00a0the rider, and the horse is not looking in the direction he is going.\u00a0The hindquarters propel because they move straight.<\/p>\n Of course, one can only begin to ask the horse for shoulder-in\u00a0after he has become obedient to the leg, and one should realise that\u00a0one can only gradually get the horse to correctly execute shoulder-in.<\/p>\n The Germans speak first of shoulder-fore, with which they\u00a0begin the schooling. In it, the print of the inner hindfoot is between\u00a0the prints ofboth front feet. As the horse becomes more supple, the\u00a0shoulders will be able to come more in, because the horse will be\u00a0able to bend and the print of the inner hindfoot will cover the print\u00a0of the outside front foot.<\/p>\n Before asking for shoulder-in, the rider should prepare his horse\u00a0by putting him in position, seeing the shimmer of the inside eye by\u00a0giving gentle indications with the inside rein; the inside leg should\u00a0be closed, just behind the girth. (If the leg is too far back, the horse\u00a0cannot bend around the leg.) The outside leg is passive but ready to\u00a0prevent the haunches from swinging out (causing leg-yielding).<\/p>\n The outside rein, held in a hand a little higher than the inside pushes\u00a0the shoulders gently to the inside of the track. The hand should\u00a0never go over the neck. In case the horse brings the shoulders too far\u00a0in, then the inside hand pushes them back.<\/p>\n When de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re was trying to find a way to loosen the\u00a0shoulders and hit on the concept of shoulder-in, he got as a bonus\u00a0something he was not looking for, the flexion of the hocks. Thus\u00a0shoulder-in not only became a loosening exercise, but also a collecting\u00a0exercise. Shoulder-in is the pre-eminent exercise to get the\u00a0horse to flex the hocks, without which no real collection is possible.<\/p>\n It is, of course, questionable if shoulder-in and for that matter\u00a0leg-yielding are really movements for a test. As late as I97I the rule\u00a0book of the F.E.I., Article 4II, 5a said: “The shoulder-in is a\u00a0movement (usually) not required in competition or exhibitions but\u00a0a schooling exercise, developing the obedience of the horse and the\u00a0skill of the rider, at the same time being the foundation of lateral\u00a0movements.”<\/p>\n It is only in the rule book of I975 that both leg yielding\u00a0and shoulder-in were promoted to test movements.<\/p>\n To conclude, it is my conviction that we find the correct description\u00a0of the shoulder-in by analysing the genesis of this movement,\u00a0as de la Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re describes it and by attaching considerable importance\u00a0to his statement about why he considers shoulder-in so\u00a0important. Evidently Gustave le Bon, the French psychologist, in\u00a0the fourth edition of his book L’Equitation Actuelle et ses Principes\u00a0(1913), was also struck by the contradictions. He marked: “The fact\u00a0that the riding masters find difficulties to formulate their methods\u00a0and contradict themselves can often be explained by the fact that\u00a0when they ride they use unconsciously their nervous system and\u00a0when they write they consciously use their nervous system.”<\/p>\n The Classical Tradition – Part 3 – The Masters of the Nineteenth Century<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Duke2.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nBreeding a dressage horse this season? Go to www.ihb.com.au<\/a> and select the right stallion for your mare from the range of great bloodlines. Stallions like:<\/h1>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nPOSTSCRIPT – La Gu\u00e9rini\u00e8re and The Shoulder In<\/h1>\n
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