In the last year, a new word has crept into the dictionary of dressage around the world. "Rollkur" refers to the hyperflexion of the horse's neck as a training procedure and it has rattled dressage cages around the world.
The man with a stick who rat-a-tats the bars of those cages is German dressage-specialist veterinarian Gerd Heuschmann. And to him, rollkur is just the tip of a huge iceberg. His book Tug of War: Modern vs. Classical Dressage has been a lightning rod for dressage purists, and has enjoyed a perch atop the bestselling horse books list for most of the past year.
This month, Heuschmann is speaking in the United States and his lectures are sure to re-open the debate. I will hope to catch his biomechanics lecture next weekend at the International Dressage Symposium at Maplewood Warmbloods in Middletown, New York.
Another clinic with Dr.Heuschmann is planned for February 12-14, 2009 by the Utah Dressage Society.
If you have a chance to hear him speak, in any language, make the effort but be sure to keep an open mind. It is his mantra that modern "sport" dressage as practiced by some trainers and riders is cruel and he provides compelling, dramatic, and emotional evidence that sport-type dressage is causing damage to horses' musculoskeletal systems. He, and many other proponents of the classical ways of training, believe that dressage training is a long process that can't be rushed. He is not condemning dressage itself, only the practices of certain trainers and the rewards of the current judging system.
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Sample image from the upcoming Gerd Heuschmann DVD; this is a 3D model of the horse used to explain the effects of tension and improper movement in dressage. |
Heuschmann's upcoming 60-minute DVD, "Stimmen der Pferd" ("If Horses Could Speak") on the biomechanical exploitation of horses in sport dressage is said by its producer to be the most expensive production ever attempted on the subject of horses.
As riveting as Dr Heuschmann's arguments may be, and as lavish as his filmmaker's portrayal of the horse, the debate over rollkur lost some of its teeth following the technical and scientific forum by the FEI on the subject, which included Hoofcare and Lameness consulting editors Drs. Jean-Marie Denoix of France and Hilary Clayton of the USA, among others.
The researchers and the FEI stopped short of condemning the practice, partly because of a lack of biomechanical evidence. Instead, that forum issued stern warnings about possible misuse of the practice and stressed that it should only be used as a training method by experienced riders and trainers.
The sport of dressage suffered another blow last week when a German television news broadcast showed a hidden camera's' video of a well-known rider/trainer repeatedly whipping a horse while lunging on a small circle.
With this post, Hoofcare and Lameness and The Hoof Blog begin sharing with you some exciting original video about equine sport, and especially sport science and biomechanics, produced by Epona TV.
Epona TV is a subscription-based video library that includes content from Dr. Hilary Clayton and Dr. Gerd Heuschmann, among others.
Dr. Heuschmann's book, Tug of War: Modern vs Classical Dressage is available from Hoofcare and Lameness.
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing, also representing Epona TV and Wu Wei Verlag. This post was originally published on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at http://www.hoofcare.blogspot.com.
