>From the Horsemanpro:
The high stepping or the high action of the front legs in carriage horses
and in riding horses was desired not by horsemen but by the non-horse
public. To the public the high stepping horses with flexed, bowed necks
represent some type of proud and elegant horse, and since it was so
appealing to the public the royals and nobles adopted this in to parades and
such.
Needles to say that the artists adopted their art to the liking of the
contemporary society, which is obvious from paintings and statues of a given
era.
Since many of the nobleman were not decent riders and could not ride the
highly spirited horse, they invented a fake one. They simply invented a form
of training that will make a horse look "proud" and high-spirited. In this
modern age this is reflected very much in the present dressage, which is
obvious in the preference in using the dull spirited warmbloods.
This high stepping is not what Xenophon was writing about, but the high
stepping infatuation has more or less its origins in the baroque
generations. It is one thing if it is bred into the horse, and another if it
is forced on or requested from a horse while not being a part of its nature.
In both cases, from the horsemen perspective, it is absurd. It is like
preferring a slower car before faster one while using more gas.
In other words the high stepping horse is nothing else but a result of
human vanity that is misusing and abusing horses just for the sake of
appearance. Not just that the high stepping is impractical, but when taught
instead of being inbred it becomes also a pure horse abuse.
Horses will times look like they lift their legs up high, while in
natural passage, but it only looks like this because the horse lifts its
body well above the ground while in the air. Since most folks find this play
of horses pretty they wish to imitate that while riding them. They
completely ignore the fact that the horse does the natural passage primarily
as a form of play, and needless to say it does not look like a play when
presented by the dressage folks.
The most preposterous high stepping can be seen in the so-called "Spanish
Walk", where the horse in each step picks its front leg up about 3 feet
while advancing forward only several inches. It is like reversing the wheels
on a tractor. Just imagine the absurdity of it, because that is what it is
when it comes to the mechanics of the horse.
This is usually taught via simple methods frequently practiced by the
so-called "masters of the riding art" of the past, especially from the
baroque era, which some fools call today the "classical" style. It is
extremely simple, primitive and times even brutal.
The horsemen of that day did this because it was required from them since it
was in fashion and they were simply adjusting to simple economics of
satisfying the demand. Hence the cause of this nonsense was in the interest
of the non-horse public that fined this high stepping as some "proud horse"
presentation.
The military dressage of the past did not want their horse to step
high, because it was not practical and lowered the horse's performance and
durability. In simple the high action or the high stepping is nothing else
but wasted energy for nothing but for appearance sake.
Now just imagine how this contradicts the horse's nature since by
nature the horse moves extremely economically reserving his energy for an
emergency in a case of a needed flight. It simply contradicts the horse in
all aspects; hence there is simply no harmony between the rider and the
horse in any of the above-mentioned disciplines.
We all do or did in the past stupid, absurd and unreasonable things in
our lives, and the new generation does that as much as we've done it.
Those who "love" horses need not believe anything in this article, but
imagine just for a moment that it would became clear to you that you are
abusing horses, how do you think you would feel? I know, there is no way
that this is the truth, it cannot be, because you "love" horses.
