When Lightness Is a Hollow Word

 Originally published in 2-parts in Tracking Up, Issues 19 & 20

 www.lisascaglionedressage.com

     One of the principles of Classical dressage is that the training of the horse should not go against nature. This means that we should not impose upon the horse methods of training which either physically contradict the laws of nature, or which offend the psychology of the horse. Just as correct Classical training has not diverged in the thousand plus years since Xenophon, techniques used as short cuts to the training of the horse are also surprisingly long lived. Through a tremendous effort on all sides, there have been great strides in the battle against over-bending the horse, known as Rollkur. Unfortunately, we have seen a concurrent mushrooming of interest in another technique which can be just as harmful, the Raising of the Hands. Interestingly, both of these techniques are not new. Not only are they not new, they both have their origins with the same French riding master from the 19th century - Francois Baucher. Some may argue with me about Rollkur and its origins, but this technique is quite similar to what is called Baucher’s First Manner. The Raising of the Hands, which is employed by followers to teach the horse not to carry weight on his forehand, is indisputably Baucher’s Second Manner. Those who practice this believe it the most expedient way to ride the horse toward Lightness. Like all short cuts to the training of the horse, this technique is not only contrary to the fundamentals of the correct schooling of the horse, but can have serious physical consequences for the health of the horse, particularly when practiced by a less than expert rider.
     If the practice of Rollkur forces the horse’s spine to become painfully over-flexed through a misguided effort to force the horse to be ‘round’ through the simultaneous and harsh use of hand and spur, the Raising of the Hand does the exact opposite. By raising the hands high to force the head and neck up the horse’s spine at the withers is thereby pressed down and the horse’s back becomes concave, or hollows. This action compresses the vertebrae of the horse’s spine all the way down his back to his hind end. This is not only painful for the horse, it undermines our efforts to teach the horse to collect properly, as it forces the horse’s hind legs further out behind and leaves them unable to bend, engage, and carry his weight.  It is a pity that these techniques are often referred to as French Classical Dressage, when they are, and always have been, controversial in the French Classical School. If Baucher has been a lightening rod of controversy, General Decarpentry is not only a highly respected master of the French Classical tradition, but was also the first president of the FEI Dressage Committee. General Decarpentry addresses these very issues at length in his classic, Academic Equitation, where he devotes an entire chapter to the technique. He writes: Lifting the neck without Ramener causes the muscles above the neck to slacken, and their slackening is communicated to the rest of the spine which tends to collapse. In this manner, it diminishes the elasticity of the whole of the spinal column, limit’s the play of the hind legs and considerably reduces their ability to engage under the mass…If the lifting is attempted at the beginning of dressage, before the appropriate gymnastics have developed the suppleness of the joints of the hindquarters, the hind legs as a whole under this constraint become unable to bend. 1

      Proponents of this method claim it is an expedient way to teach the horse the stay off his forehand, but artificially lifting the head and neck is just more front to back riding. To correctly school the horse toward collection, the hind end of the horse is developed through proper gymnastic exercises over time. First, the horse must use his hind legs to produce energy - impulsion. Next, we use gymnastic exercises (circles and lateral work) to encourage the hind legs one at a time to engage just a little bit more under the horse’s center of gravity and to bend just a little bit more. This work is slow and gradual. The horse is not able and should not be expected to suddenly and all at once be manually lifted off of his front end. As the muscles of the hindquarters and top line develop gradually, and as the joints are more and more able to flex and reach further under the horse, the horse will naturally lift through his back, lift his withers and ribcage, and arch his neck up from the withers to his poll, which will remain the highest point. The head and neck will now have the look everyone associates with dressage - what we call in English the “on the bit” position, or the Ramener in French. This work is quite difficult for the horse and should not be rushed.  At first, the horse will only be able to do this to a very small degree, but will progressively be more able to collect as he develops through correctly ridden exercises. In true collection, the horse will lift himself from the base of the neck at the withers - not starting with the head. As a result of this correct work we will see the horse develop muscles in his hindquarters, his loins, and along his top line, particularly in the area of the trapezius and along the top of the neck. Any attempt to achieve this artificially through the action of the hand alone will result in a horse with overdeveloped muscles on the underside of the neck, and little muscling in the area of the loins. This is a sure indication that our work is incorrect.
     This leads us to another problem caused by the Raising of the Hands. In order for the horse to be worked properly, we need contact. What we call contact, not only refers to the contact between the rider’s hand and the horse’s mouth, it is also the connection between the horse’s rear and his front. In other words, the energy created by the hind end travels through the horse’s back, to his front where the rider feels this energy in his hand and is able to regulate this energy through discreet rein and seat aids. If the horse is not connected rear to front, and the rider and the horse are likewise not connected, we simply cannot execute any correct work, no matter how simple. Encouraging a horse to trust the rider’s hand and to seek the rider’s hand is one of our first priorities in schooling the young horse. If the rider’s hand is constantly shifting and moving about in dramatic fashion, the horse comes to distrust the rider’s hand and will disengage from this contact. To teach the horse to trust and seek our hand we need a stable hand. Let’s, for arguments sake, say a young horse has suddenly thrown himself onto his forehand leaning heavily on our hand, what do we do? It is enough to momentarily close both hands so that the horse feels the unpleasant action of the bit that he himself has caused, for him to learn that it is better to carry himself with reasonable balance - that is, in the balance appropriate for his level of schooling. A premise of all Classical dressage, including French, is that the rider’s aid should never be greater than the resistance of the horse. Together with this, the action of the rider should cease the moment the horse yields.  In this manner the horse is rewarded for the correct response. The aid may be repeated as often as necessary, but it is never repeated randomly, and never with more force than necessary. A young horse of average to good conformation who has been properly started should need nothing more than a momentary closing of both hands followed by an immediate yielding of the aid (slightly opening the fingers) in order to be encouraged to carry himself in the balance appropriate for his level of schooling. This aid will be replaced by the half halt with the outside rein as the horse is more able to bend and is ridden more with the outside rein. Is there ever an occasion for a more dramatic action of the hands? A horse of heavy conformation (Draft cross or Cob) or one in need of re-schooling (due to having been ridden collapsed over his shoulders and on his forehand) might not respond to the above described aid and might bear down with enough strength to require a stronger aid. Again, the aid should not exceed what is necessary to obtain a proper yielding from the horse. In nearly all instances, raising the hands a couple inches and widening them slightly is sufficient to request the horse to ‘pick himself up’. This lifting of both hands needs to be performed with precise timing both in the execution and in the release, and it is imperative that the contact not be disturbed (lost or altered). Otherwise, what might be a useful aid may cause the horse to distrust our hand and disturb the contact. Having described this aid, I should say that I find it rarely necessary. When using a rein aid to ask the horse to carry himself, even a very strong horse will nearly always respond to a half halt on the outside rein performed with a very quick slightly upward movement (not backward), and then immediately released. I should point out that even this half halt is replaced in time by the mere closing and opening of the fingers, which is performed simultaneously with the seat aid.
     So what about that all important relaxation of the jaw? Is it necessary to literally lift the bit up in the horse’s mouth in order to achieve a softly yielding jaw?  The French refer to the softness, or mobility of the horse’s jaw, as the Mise en Main.  Baucher achieved the Mise en Main by first manipulating the reins from the ground until the horse literally opened his mouth - called Flexions. He followed this by doing the same from the saddle at halt, at walk and at trot. When performed by an expert hand at precisely timed moments, this was said to assist the rider in asking the horse to release muscular resistance further down the body, by first releasing tension in the muscles of his jaw.  But, is this excessive manipulation of the horse’s mouth profitable, or even necessary to achieve a softly yielding jaw?  Let’s again let General Decarpentry answer that. In the chapter devoted to the Mise en Main in Academic Equitation he writes about the effect of excessive or improperly performed Flexions (particularly when practiced by followers of Baucher, including some of Baucher’s students, not just his imitators). He writes: The excessive use of these flexions makes the jaw become more supple than the rest of the body. It yields too quickly and too easily, before the rest of the muscular system relaxes…Because of this excess, which can be aggravated further by the trainer’s lack of skill in the practice of flexions, the value of the yielding of the jaw is much diminished and can be very small indeed if produced by a pinching of the spurs…For the less experienced, even when advised by the former [the experienced], it is often too late to rectify this completely. In most cases it is therefore prudent to achieve the Mise en Main indirectly, by means of comprehensive gymnastics which will lead the horse to use his forces as harmoniously as possible in all the movements required of him. 2 Once again, we find that if preformed without absolute exact timing and feel, not only will the benefit be lost, the practice will undermine the correct schooling of the horse until it is “too late to rectify this completely”. So how then do we achieve this softly yielding jaw?  The very same way we increase the horse’s ability to carry himself, “by means of comprehensive gymnastics which lead the horse to use his forces as harmoniously as possible”.  This is Classical dressage. The very same process described above to school the horse toward collection also encourages the mobility of the horse’s jaw (and just as importantly of  his poll). I think it also important to define just what me mean when we say the mobility of the jaw. For Baucher and his followers, the Flexions were performed until the horse literally opened his mouth. A much more traditional idea of a soft and mobile jaw is a horse who gently moves his jaws in the same manner as when he is chewing. We look for evidence of salivation as a confirmation of this. Who amongst us associates a gaping mouth with softness and lightness? And if we do wish the horse to gently ‘chew’ on the bit, it is the light play of the fingers which encourages this. If I feel the horse tense his jaw on one side or the other, I gently vibrate my fingers for a fraction of a second without moving my hand and as always, I cease this aid when the horse responds.  This results in an immediate softening of the horse’s jaw on this side. I can alternate or repeat this aid as necessary, and the better my timing and feel the more quickly the horse will respond, but it is never necessary to use a more forceful action. Indeed, a more forceful action may lead the horse to the excessive play of his jaws, which actually prevents this aid from acting on the rest of the horse‘s muscular system, the ultimate purpose of this aid. I should add here that one should never perform this action simultaneously on both reins, or the horse might respond with tension rather than relaxation.
     So what about Lightness - that elusive quality that all covet? I hope it is apparent that in Classical dressage, it is the proper execution of gymnastic exercises, combined with tactful and discreet rider aids, which lead to lightness in the horse: self-carriage in collection. And what if the rider does not have very good timing or feel to achieve this? All the more reason not to use means which, questionable in themselves, depend entirely on tact and feel if they will not do harm! A rider who follows the proper gymnastic training of the horse, but lacks some tact and feel will do no harm to their horse, and they most certainly will make very real progress in time. Not only that, they will come to ride in greater harmony with the horse and this accomplishment in itself is very exciting and gratifying for nearly every rider. When a horse is truly light, he responds as if he can read his rider’s mind. The rider achieves this through sensitizing the horse to ever and ever quieter aids, until the aids are so imperceptible they cannot be seen. This is what we perceive as Lightness. This will lead to greater health in the horse, as well as a horse proud and even joyful in his work, one who makes himself available to the rider out of genuine devotion. This harmony and sense of oneness in both movement and in spirit is the only true lightness. This is when lightness is not just a hollow word.


#1 General Decarpentry, Academic Equitation, trans. Nicole Bartle, ed. J.A. Allen & Co.(London, 1977) p.75
#2 Ibid, pp. 64-65
illustrations: Ibid, p. 91, p. 77 

Copyright Lisa Scaglione April, 2013