The Psychological Dimension
The psychological dimension is all too often ignored or neglected, although it is every bit as important as the physical one. As classical horsemen, we study the mind and the language of the horse, in order to learn to understand and to communicate with each individual of the species.
It is important to us to build a rapport, a personal relationship with every horse we work. The relationship takes the form of a miniature herd in which the human performs the function of the herd leader. Herds are hierarchic organizations that provide a clear structure for the interaction of their members. The lower ranking animals are expected to defer to the higher ranking members. In return, the higher rank comes with the responsibility to protect and take care of the subordinate members. This results in a reliable social structure in which each horse knows exactly what his rights and responsibilities are. They all know that it is their job to carry out what we ask of them. On the other hand, they also know that we will never ask anything of them that is beyond their capabilities, or that would be harmful for them. The horses know that they are safe as long as they are in our presence. We thus create an environment that makes the horses feel safe and secure in their place within the herd. Of course, building a relationship like this takes some time, especially with horses who have come to mistrust humans due to erratic, unfair, or exploitative behavior. That’s why we prefer long term commitments to short term arrangements.
We see the training of the horse as a creative partnership in which the horse has a certain amount of freedom within the limits of his place in the herd. Horses will often volunteer a movement or transition, either out of a misunderstanding or as an evasion - travers, counter canter, flying changes, piaffe, passage, even airs above the ground. If the horse’s suggestion shows good quality, we often take him up on it, pretending that this is what we wanted to do in the first place, and explore this avenue for a while. When it has run its course, we go back to what we were doing before, or whatever else has the highest gymnastic priority at the time. Should the horse’s offer not fit into the present stage of his training at all, or if the quality is so poor that it brings no advantage, we gently guide him back to what we were trying to do before.
In order to train the horse to do a movement, the rider often merely has to seize the right moment and polish what the horse is offering. Before the right time has come, however, the thinking rider will not punish the horse for the premature execution of a movement he wants him to perform at some point in the future. Rather, we will observe and remember the circumstances that made the horse volunteer the movement, so we can use them to our advantage when the time has come.
When we get correction horses in training who have withdrawn their willing cooperation because they are frustrated and confused by the unclear and contradictory aids of their previous rider(s), or because they have been exploited by ruthless, uncaring riders, we have found that the psychological dimension in their retraining is more important to address first than the strictly physical, gymnastic aspect. Over the years, our experience has shown that the best way of dealing with difficult situations is to reduce the demands to a level that is well below the horse’s physical capabilities, in order to isolate the underlying core issue. Usually it is a reluctance, or refusal, to comply with the request of a driving aid by lifting the hind leg on the same side. The horses usually try a whole series of evasions, starting with rushing and getting crooked, to stopping, turning around, or going backwards. If the rider calmly closes all doors except the one he wants the horse to take and waits patiently, every horse will soon find out that on the one hand there is no escape from the rider’s request, but that on the other hand, this request is not nearly as bad has he had anticipated, that it is, in fact, the easiest way, as all evasions turn out to be more difficult, more laborious than the rider’s demands. Once this realization has sunk in, which normally does not take very long as most horses are quite intelligent, the horse becomes more and more willing, even happy, to obey.
The creative freedom that we grant our horses makes them take an interest in participating actively in the work process. They become proud of their own accomplishments, eager to do more work, which shows on their faces and in their whole demeanor.
Our approach requires a great deal of sensitivity, tact, knowledge, experience, openness for the horse to bring out the best in each horse, to allow and encourage them to express their individual personality and their desire to move and exercise in a positive, safe, productive, and eventually even artistic manner. However, the result is well worth the effort, which is why the psychological aspect holds a central position in our lessons as well as in our own riding and training.
The Physical Dimension
As far as the physical aspect is concerned, classical dressage is an incremental, systematic, gymnastic training process that is designed to enable the horse to move with the same ease and grace underneath the weight of the rider as at liberty, when he plays in the pasture. Training is also physical therapy for the horse. It strengthens and supples his musculature so that the muscles protect the joints and tendons. In the course of time, all of the horse’s joints develop their optimal range of motion through gymnastic suppling and strengthening exercises. In other words, one of the most important results of the training is that it keeps the horses sound well into their old age.
The gymnastic training process is centered around the principles of the extended training pyramid, whose core goes back to the famous German Army Riding Instruction from 1912 (Heeresdienstvorschrift 1912, often referred to as "HDV 12"). These principles include:
Rhythm (Takt) and Tempo,
Relaxation/Suppleness (Losgelassenheit),
Flexibility (Biegsamkeit),
Permeability (Durchlässigkeit),
Rein Contact (Anlehnung),
Balance (Gleichgewicht)/Lightness/Self Carriage (Selbsthaltung),
Impulsion (Schwung),
Straightness (Geraderichten),
Collection (Versammlung).
There are many complex mutual interdepencies between these principles, and a thorough discussion goes far beyond the scope of this outline. Therefore, this brief list has to suffice here.
We re-evaluate the training of each horse on a daily basis, and, if necessary, we make adjustments, in order to custom design an optimal exercise program that meets each horse’s individual needs. In order to prevent muscle soreness, fatigue, or burnout of the horses, we give them a day off after each two or three days of work. Daily turnout is a very important part of our philosophy as well, as nature intended horses to spend their days walking and grazing. This does wonders for the horse’s mental balance and happiness, as well as for his physical well-being. It helps to prevent stiffness and lactic acid build-up, and it keeps horses with arthritic conditions more limber.
It is the horse who determines the training schedule, i.e. how fast or how slowly we can progress. Throughout the horse’s entire career, the focus always rests on the fine tuning of the basics that are outlined in the list above, in order to improve the quality of the natural gaits. Dressage movements are used as tools to accomplish this goal. They are not goals in and of themselves. Each movement has a certain gymnastic effect on the horse's gait, and we choose the movements we ride based on the horse's current needs and abilities. Teaching and riding movements without their gymnastic effect in mind would be mechanical trick riding, the antithesis of classical dressage.
The main goal of dressage is to make the horse safe and reliable under any and all circumstances, to develop the horse's physical and mental abilities to their full potential, and to keep the horse sound and healthy.
The rider has to learn to ride with a correct, i.e. deep, supple, balanced, independent seat and invisible aids at all times.
Field Marshal Holbein von Holbeinsberg added the following explanations in the "Directiven" for the Spanish Riding School, which he wrote together with Oberbereiter Johann Meixner in 1898.
"Adhering to a methodical training in the education of the rider as well as the horse, consisting in progressive lessons and reprises, is therefore the strict duty of the riders of this institution. Every rider has to be perfectly clear in his own mind at what stage of dressage training the horse he is working is at any given moment, and as to the goal he wants to pursue and eventually achieve from movement to movement. Asked about its purpose, he must be able to answer clearly and with few words any time.
"In one word, the rider must not only be able to ride, but also to think, as only a thinking rider can reach his goal with the utmost consideration for the horse in a relatively short amount of time."
The Historical/Cultural Dimension
From a cultural and historical perspective, classical dressage is the heritage of European horsemanship, in particular from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal), Italy, France, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, that has been handed down to us through the ages in an oral tradition from master to student and in a written tradition, beginning with the Greek general Xenophon (4th century B.C.), resuming with Portuguese King Dom Duarte I (14th century), after a period of decline, and continuing until the present day. Its authors and practitioners describe and adhere to the psychological and gymnastic principles touched upon above. The books that were written in this tradition follow a clear line of development until the appearance of Francois Baucher on the equestrian scene. Since Baucher portrayed himself as being in clear opposition to traditional, old school horsemanship, he could be considered non-classical. However, since he had, and still continues to have, a major impact on riding, he and his publications have become classics in their own right.
Due to our equestrian genealogy, Shana and I are part of the traditional heritage that is most prominently exemplified by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and the Reitinstitut Egon von Neindorff in Karlsruhe, Germany.
