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Here's some additional translations from a German gal: Comments on the pix, page 154: Andrea Jänisch notes that it should be easy to get a well-trained horse into the flying pace via light cues!!! (Note that she is very moderate in her comments!). The pressed-out lower neck indicates that the horse doesn't carry himself correctly. She would like to see that when this occurs, judges would reprimand it - this way similar pictures would be avoided. She says that in this high position the horse will always be too four-beated and not offer enough flying phase in the pace. Ulrike Thiel on the same pix: The horse is roughly pulled up in the mouth.Rider is sitting far behind on spine which causes pain in the cramped back muscle. Due to the unstraightness and high tension in the body while going at high speed the fetlocks are overstressed. Body of article: to ride the pace ideally, medium uprightness and stretched out position should be applied. If the head is only slightly too high, a biochemical cascade of adrenalin and noradrenaling is set free, bringing to horse to high spped. The bad sides of this spectacular speed are horses who resist the rider! Andrea Jänisch notes that these "resistances" indicatre that the horse hasn't put through enough training (gymnasticiszing). Pacers don't need the extreme lateral flexibility you needs for dresdsage, doing half-passes, but they also should be suifficiently loose to allow forward-downsward streching and simple lateral work. This makes the horse suppler and makes the transition from canter to pace more harmonious (A. Jänisch). And pictures like on page 152 would become more infrequent. B. Podlech commented on these pictures that, due to lacking accepting respect from the horse, the rider had to "clarify the situation hierachically (!!!!) in order not come out as a loser". Some icelandic riders justify such scenes, pretending that a special riding style is required, that tölt only would work with high neck and upside-down. They forget that all horses' skeletons and muscles have the same biomechanical laws. And an upside-down neck will make the Icelandic, too, fall into painful cramps! Tommy Haag notes that "if my horse doesn't tölt in natural position, I should not make him do it, because it will be harmful to him" (p. 158). Of course, he is alone in this thinking as fame-oriented riders on their tense horses try to obtain, by any means, first places and cups. Aim is the "wow factor", as literally mention in the FEIF guidelines.. Picture below page 154: T. Haag: The chin chain is too loose, that why the shanks can be pulled extremely far back. When you look at the horse's neck, you see that the horse has no possibility of yielding! Even the tied-close (with tight noseband) mouth can't hide this. The extra-low and tight noseband, meant to hinder the horse of opening his mouth, is really bad! The combination of shanked bit and noseband is unfortunately often see at international shows! U. Thiel: The noseband is tied extra-low, and supposed to prevent opening the mouth. The horse nevertheless tries to show his pain, happening via the effect of the bit and the cramped corner of his mouth. Faster, higher, more spectacular, is also the aim for gaited show riders. But remember that once upon a time, half a century ago, the former alternative form of riding was stated to give more fun to horse and rider, and less stress and force! Nowadays the front end action is so wide-spread on icelandic shows that the horses are as much pressured as dressage horses and showjumpers. The neck is extremly pulled upright, with painful effects for muscles, spine and fetlocks/tendons. This also happens when the saddle is placed very far back, thus pressing the long back muscle on the spine behind, paralysing the loin and activating a muscle that pulls up the front legs. In addition the saddle blocks the gluteus medicus. Effect: the horses mechanically paddle in front with lots of animation, while the hind end moves a lot stiffer and flatter (A.J.) Fortunately a new tendency seems to happen now: recently there have been issued warnings to croup sitters at shows. Same goes for rider who were banging on their horses backs at the sitting trot. U.T. notes that world championship participants seem unable to sit the trot and tölt!! The poor horses must be terribly tense and firm-backed, she notes. Page 156: Many riders pushed(pulled) themselves against the movement, were stiff in their back, had chair seat, had tight legs. Only two riders (among them Lena Trappe) showed good seat and a happy horse. Lena won the silver cup and a price for good riding. T. Haag would like to see the horses trained in dressage up to medium or high level (M or S), this way they would be able to offer the desired strong trot or tölt without having to run away. But most show riders don't go the longer dressage path, but take the shortcut via high neck and upside-down back. Haag notes that 80% of our riders don't have a good riding basis like usual in warmblood scene. That is why most of them are not even aware how much damage they do to their horses. Haag himself used to ride without lessons, until one day he noticd that he didn't get anywhere. Since he takes lessons with Bent Branderup, does tölt in lateral gaits and puts emphasis on forward.downward stretching. Classical dressage and gaited riding are compatible for Haag, as even the old masters had hints for tölt! After all, it was present in almost all breeds in Europe then. Most of this knowledge has got lost, and in Iceland, there is almost no teaching, but everybody fumbles on his own with his gaited horses. There is no uniform guideline. Picture top left, page 156: flexing is only useful when done very lightly, but counterproductive, when the rider pulls on the reins from side to side and applies force. Picture bottom left: Haag: Carriage of the horse is not good, but still acceptable. Mout is closed, there could be more stretching out. Rider sits a bit too far back. Jänisch: A saddle so far back is not good for loins and back muscles. Thiel: The too big and too heavy rider sits in extreme chair seat (not my impression) and blocks and heavily charges the horse in the loin, thus horse cannot offer a sound, waving movement of the back, as the rider is blocking it (frankly, I find it's not too bad, he is just pulling a bit too much on the reins for my liking and his shoulders are pretty round, but not as yukki as WF and others!). Page 157: Consequences of stretched out low neck. Contraction of long back musle. (red arrows and red muscle). When the rider pulls the horse's head up and backwards, the underside of the neck cramps up (especially the musculus brachiocephalicus). The back muscle pulls itself together, the poll band doesn't function the spine are kissing. The back doesn't form a weight-bearing bridge, but hangs through. Text: We have the same dilemma when the horse is too high in his croup and paddles in front more than behind, and is held too tightly and neck and poll. These are parallel phenomens like in dressage riding, in piaffe and passage. Haag notes that the same criteria are applied for young horse classes as for world championships. ************* Since I studied Philippe Karl, this makes me cringe even more... ___________________________________ Judy http://iceryder.net http://clickryder.com
