{"id":538,"date":"2010-07-10T06:17:20","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T20:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.89.31.130\/~thehors5\/thm\/?p=538"},"modified":"2015-01-22T07:47:11","modified_gmt":"2015-01-21T20:47:11","slug":"four-showjumping-masters-part-1-george-morris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/2010\/07\/four-showjumping-masters-part-1-george-morris\/","title":{"rendered":"FOUR SHOWJUMPING MASTERS \u2013 Part 1: George Morris"},"content":{"rendered":"

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George Morris is not only a master trainer, rider and clinician, he is \u2013 like so many of his countrymen \u2013 a wonderful communicator, and a writer who takes great delight in the elegantly wrought sentence and apt choice of phrase. So it is in his most recent work, The American Jumping Style<\/em>, written in 1992 and published the following year.\u2028 In it, George traces the development of the American style, finding its bedrock in the Anglo\/Irish tradition:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is our English riding base? Well, to start with, thank the good Lord, it is the love of the horse, the first and most important basis for good horsemanship\u2026 What else did we get from the English besides a horse mentality? How to care for the animal. Love means attention, which means looking after the thing we love\u2026 Our horses have it good, and this is thanks to the English tradition of good horsemanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

And along with the English tradition came cross-country riding and with it the hunt seat: \u201cThe Old English Hunting Seat was the forerunner to our modern American Hunter Seat. Yes, it lacked the style and grace of what we know today, but it got the job done and saved one\u2019s neck. I would call the Old English Hunting Seat the grandfather of hunter seat equitation, not the father. There was an important step in between: the Forward Seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It was the Italian, Federico Caprilli who at the beginning of the twentieth century taught: \u201cBy shortening the stirrups, driving the heels down, leaning forward and following the horse\u2019s mouth, riders had an easier time, and horses did too. Horse and rider both became less fatigued, went faster, jumped higher, stayed in better balance, and were more comfortable. To the worldwide horse community, this must have been akin to inventing the wheel. Dawn had broken \u2013 get off the horse\u2019s mouth and free his back!\u201d<\/p>\n

As George Morris points out the American spirit of freedom was a ready ally of the new seat, and the American cavalry officers studied at the Italian cavalry schools and the Forward Seat was adopted by the US Cavalry School at Fort Riley, \u2018where our greatest officer instructors and Army Olympic teams were trained.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Lt. Colonel Harry D Chamberlin \u2013 one of those American cavalry officers who brought the teachings of the Italians and the French to the United States; even in the 1930\u2019s you can see the American style developing.<\/em><\/p>\n

Those same American cavalry officers were also sent to the French Cavalry School at Saumur, and brought home the great French principles of riding and dressage. This amalgam produced George Morris\u2019 own mentor, Gordon Wright \u2018the greatest architect of the American Jumping Style\u2019, another Fort Riley graduate.<\/p>\n

To complete this heady mix there came in the 1950\u2019s the influence of the German school, through Bertalan de N\u00e9methy, Richard W\u00e4tjen and Gunnar Andersen \u2013 all of whom emphasised the \u2018rider\u2019s seat and use of back and weight above all else.\u2019<\/p>\n

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French equitation was so important in the development of the American style \u2013 here is Commandant Lessage of Saumur.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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The mix was right \u2013 it was time for the Americans to dazzle the world:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur riding style has been the envy of the world for the past thirty years, whether people want to admit it or not. Ever since Bertalan de N\u00e9methy brought his team of five young men onto the European jumping scene in the midfifties, people have gaped and gawked at our remarkable style.\u201d<\/p>\n

To the horsemen came the horses, and these were to be found in rich heritage of the American Thoroughbred. As de N\u00e9methy remarked, \u2018You don\u2019t need to go abroad to buy horses\u2026\u2019 for in their Thoroughbreds, the Americans had \u2018the best for Olympic jumping.\u2019 George explains why:<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, the physical size and type are right. These are big (sixteen to seventeen hands), light, athletic, refined animals. Second, the mental capacity is usually good. While blood horses are often hot and nervous, they are at the same time extremely sensitive and intelligent, and what\u2019s more important, bold\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And as George points out, the breed of horse has a lot to do with creating a riding style \u2013 the \u2018Thoroughbred\u2019 countries tend to ride with the motion, where \u2018half-breed countries\u2019 tend to ride deeper and in a driving position.<\/p>\n

George Morris succinctly defines the elements of that American style: \u201cWe learned to ride with neither too long nor too short a stirrup, the basic length being the stirrup\u2019s tread touching the ankle bone. We learned to place the stirrup on the ball of the foot in order to more easily drive the heel down and to turn the toes out slightly, consequently flexing the ankles. Our contact with the horse is with the calf of the leg and the inner knee bone, not just with the knee. As a result, this constant, quiet, and very secure lower leg contact is effective yet less disturbing to the horse than a swinging or pivoting leg. We allow the seat to be deep, yet by the forward inclination of the upper body, light in the saddle, we provide flexibility of the upper body by positioning it differently for different gaits and speeds. We learned to keep our heads up and use our eyes positively. Last but not least, we maintained a line from the rider\u2019s elbow to the horse\u2019s mouth, thus establishing the most direct and elastic contact possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is yet another flavour to be added to the dish \u2013 the Hunter and Hunt Seat Equitation classes, another force for style \u2013 and perhaps the origin of the amazing attention to detail that characterises the American approach.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Piero d\u2019Inzeo and The Rock \u2013 The Italians also rode Thoroughbred horses and developed a forward, softer style. The pair are competing in London in 1962.<\/em><\/p>\n

In the Hunter classes, \u201cin order to produce what is required for this picture (and don\u2019t forget, by the way, the hot, sensitive Thoroughbred-type horse that is part of the picture), the horseman must stick closely to the purest and most classical riding techniques that have stood up under the test of time for generations. Any slight deviation from the accepted principles of the American School of riding promises to backfire. By deviation, I mean something as miniscule as the position of the rider\u2019s spur, the length of his whip, or how he places his foot in the stirrup. It doesn\u2019t succeed and the rider eventually must come back to the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that attention to detail, came the distinctive saddle:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about saddles? Why did we shift away from the basket-type continental saddles so popular in the fifties to the lighter, flatter \u2018close contact\u2019 saddle? There were several reasons. First of all, Bill Steinkraus, our first individual gold medallist in show jumping and a great influence on American riders, likes the French Hermes saddle. He claimed that it put his leg closer to his horse, and therefore he could feel the horse better and ride better. He was right! Second, as people were learning and adopting an educated leg, they also found a flatter saddle more efficient and comfortable. And third, the flatter, smaller saddles were more attractive, with a streamlined, clean, simple look, the better to show off our show hunters and equitation riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the many interesting features of the George Morris teaching technique is the way he sets up fences that in themselves improve the horse\u2019s jumping ability. He attributes this system to the Hungarian super trainer:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Bertalan de N\u00e9methy did for American riders forty years ago was to emphasize and refine cavalletti and gymnastic training and give us a system. His work with jumpers, coupled with the American professional\u2019s schooling methods for hunters, redefined the way we ride and school jumping horses. We learned to ride a relatively free horse over a series of closely related fences, teaching the horse not only to listen to his rider, but to balance himself, use himself athletically, and think for himself. We also learned to set up appropriate cavalletti and gymnastic exercises, to pay attention to how we approach them, and to stay out of the horse\u2019s way, allowing him to learn from experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

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George Morris in action \u2013 winning the Grand Prix of Aachen on Night Owl in 1960\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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Reading George\u2019s history of the development of style, it is hard not to compare and contrast with the prevailing attitudes in Australia at the same time:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe American Jumping Style is based on correct techniques. These techniques can never be learned by going fast or jumping big fences before the fundamentals have been established, because the rider cannot concentrate on his own form and on jumping a big fence at the same time. (The same can be said for the horse, too!) Exercises practised over a pole on the ground or a series of cavalletti are ideally suited to teaching people to ride with sound basics and with style. The rider can concentrate on the exercise, because the cavalletti or \u2018jumps\u2019 are very simple. Later, when the exercise has done its work and the correct technique is established as a habit, it will be second nature to the rider when he jumps larger fences. All of the fundamental techniques used in jumping are taught and confirmed over ground poles or cavalletti long before the thrill of that first \u2018real jump\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia too was a Thoroughbred-riding nation, but with few notable exceptions, our riders never developed schooling programs to maximise the Thoroughbred advantages, while minimising their drawbacks. Legend has it that Kalman de Jurenak applied for the job the Americans gave to de N\u00e9methy, and when he failed to get it, he came to Australia instead. Photos of de Jurenak jumping at the time show a wonderful classical style over fences, and although he was appointed for a while as the EFA assistant coach under Franz Mairinger, he does not seem to have had anything like de N\u00e9methy\u2019s influence on the elite level riders, but then again, faced with Aussie pig-headed cockiness, de N\u00e9methy himself may not have been any more successful than his countryman.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0Ben O\u2019Meara competing on Jacks or Better in Washington in 1963<\/em><\/p>\n

George also pays tribute to another lesser-known trainer, Ben O\u2019Meara:<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the great American contributors to our use of gymnastics was Ben O\u2019Meara, one of our most successful open jumper riders, horse dealers and trainers until his tragic and untimely death in 1966. During the early 1960s he incorporated some wonderful exercises and ideas into his training of jumpers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cO\u2019Meara would start with a cross rail (approached in a trot), followed by a series of square oxers about seventeen feet apart. There would usually be four oxers in all. After the horse had become accustomed to the exercise, he would eliminate the cross rail and just canter the multiple combination of oxers. These oxers were not small \u2013 they would be quite wide, five or five and a half feet. As the fences got bigger and wider, he would get more \u2018generous\u2019 and space the fences about twenty feet apart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the horses O\u2019Meara dealt with were hot Thoroughbreds off the race track; many had never jumped a fence before he acquired them. They got a \u2018crash course\u2019 (literally and figuratively!) in doing this exercise daily. Because they were hot horses, they needed very little leg. O\u2019Meara insisted on long release (all his female jockeys could do it well!) and on using the opening or leading rein for steering. The cluck would more or less replace the leg aid. Through this system of riding, the horses had to learn to help themselves to the maximum. They were given minimum support from their riders, some of who were fairly elementary themselves (Kathy Kusner, later an Olympian was the exception \u2013 she was O\u2019Meara\u2019s star rider, with enormous talent and experience even at that point in her career.)\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a horse survived this training (and it was a hard test), he was quite a good horse. He learned to fend for himself, to be quick in front and good behind, to get very round, and above all to concentrate on his fences. His scope and heart were stretched \u2013 these were big oxers! It was amazing that Ben O\u2019Meara could produce jumper after jumper for the show ring in a matter of weeks. Even though they were still very green, they were bold, brave and extremely careful, and they\u2019d win. A long string of O\u2019Meara\u2019s horses eventually jumped for the U. S. Equestrian team, including the great Untouchable, Jacks or Better, and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

George feels that had O\u2019Meara lived \u2018his ideas would have levelled out and become less extreme.\u2019<\/p>\n

There are many pages in The American Jumping Style<\/em> devoted to training issues, to matter of technique, but over and over again, the work is informed by that exceptional group of horsemen who have crafted the American way of riding \u2013 like George\u2019s predecessor in his current job of Chef d\u2019Equipe for the American team, Frank Chapot:<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago, Frank Chapot, one of our greatest Olympic riders and among the best speed riders of all time, taught me a great lesson: go as fast to the first fence as to the last fence. This sets the pace and rhythm for a jump-off or a speed class. It gets the rider\u2019s blood up. Often people go what they think is fast but it is not really fast, to the first fence. Many a class can be won by applying that lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

George back in 1992 was already worried about the future of the American Jumping Style:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur society today \u2013 riders, teachers, and pupils \u2013 is not the same. The old values of discipline, hard work and getting one\u2019s hands dirty have changed. Specialists exist in every field, and riders today don\u2019t have to do a little bit of everything. This makes them more limited and therefore weaker horsemen. It\u2019s a funny thing, but the more one does around the barn with his own hands and his own horse, the better rider he\u2019ll be in the ring.\u201d<\/p>\n

George looks to the discipline of dressage for a clue to the future:<\/p>\n

\u201cLook what has happened in dressage today. Yes, there are lots of effective riders; they get the job done. But where is the style? Where are the invisible aids? As far as I can see, the style is all but gone. Stirrups are long. Consequently riders are reaching for their stirrups, which raises their heels and loosens their legs. Without an effective lower leg, we see \u2018body riding\u2019 or pumping, and riders way behind the motion of their horses, often behind the vertical. This position in turn goes along with a roached back and a bobbing head, and all too often with hands too low and eyes down. Go to any dressage show today, and you will see too much of this kind of riding. That is what has happened to style in the dressage community, but it didn\u2019t use to be that way. The dressage riders of the fifties, sixties, and seventies were much better stylists than most today. That decline will happen in the jumping world, too, if we do not continue to teach along strictly classical lines. Teachers must be the watchdogs of history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStyle in riding, be it dressage or jumping, is a precious thing. It has evolved over many centuries and has been taught, practised and passed down to us by men who were smarter than we are. I\u2019ve always felt it better to be a good copier than a poor innovator. Let\u2019s not fix what isn\u2019t broken, nor tamper with the foundation of all our riding success up until now. It would be a crime to lose our American Jumping Style and what it has stood for. We cannot let that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

It would seem that George Morris is right now protecting that precious style in the most effective way. Newly appointed as the American chef, he and his team are storming their way around Europe right now \u2013 sweeping all before them. As George has no doubt said on more than one occasion, good style is winning style.<\/p>\n

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The American Style has spread back into the European teams \u2013 Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum was a Morris pupil before moving to Germany and into the German Team. She is seen here on the current World Cup Champion, Shutterfly \u2013 a Hanoverian horse, but one with lots of Blood.<\/em><\/p>\n

Related Articles:<\/strong><\/p>\n

FOUR SHOWJUMPING MASTERS \u2013 Part 2: William Steinkraus<\/p>\n

FOUR SHOWJUMPING MASTERS \u2013 Part 3: Bertalan de N\u00e9methy<\/p>\n

FOUR SHOWJUMPING MASTERS: Part 4: Gordon Wright<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the many great strengths of American showjumping has been the influence of a series of great teachers \u2013 great trainers who were also great theoreticians, and luckily for us, great writers, and willing and able to put their teachings down in books for others to read and use. \u2028This series looks at the crucial work of four great masters of American jumping \u2013 Gordon Wright, Bertalan de Nem\u00e9thy, William Steinkraus and George Morris \u2013 and just to confuse matters, we\u2019ll start the series with the only one who is still vigorously active in the sport, George Morris since his book, The American Jumping Style provides an invaluable historical overview of the sport\u2026 or is it art?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[68,71,67],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-show-jumping","tag-american-showjumping-style","tag-george-morris","tag-showjumping"],"acf":[],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20635,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/20635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horsemagazine.com\/thm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}