straightness develops quality smooth gaits

Not All Dressage is the Same

Not All Dressage Is the Same

Did you know that there are different forms of dressage, and they don’t speak the same language or produce the same result?

I wish I knew 32 years ago what I know now.

Here’s my story…

Not All Dressage is the Same

By Jennifer Klitzke

In 1988, I began taking regular dressage lessons on my trotting horses for twelve years. Back then the German form of dressage was all that was taught in my area with the exception of a couple traveling French dressage clinicians came to town.

Below are significant differences between what I learned and what I know now.

Hand position

The German form of riding I learned was to ride with my hands positioned low by the wither. Higher hands were frowned upon.

Nosebands

Adding to this, it was considered unsightly for the horse to open its mouth in the dressage ring. We rode our horses in crank nose bands, flash nose bands, and drop nose bands to keep our horses’ mouthes closed.

Low hands + tight nosebands = tension and evasion

I didn’t know this then, but the low hand position produced pain on my horse’s tongue and the snug nose band produced tension in my horse’s jaw. Many horses react by grinding their teeth. My horse began to evade the discomfort by dipping behind the vertical. Back then I thought this was lightness and being round and on the bit. I was actually behind the bit and the poll was not the highest point.

Combining stop and go aids

I also learned to combine my leg, seat and rein aids. I drove my horse forward with my seat and squeezing calves into a connection. Looking back, I was saying “go” with my seat and legs at the same time as I was saying “stop” with my hands.

Was my horse light? I thought so at the time. My horse seemed light in my hands, yet my horse was behind the bit to evade the contact. Plus, I thought I had a lazy horse because I had to use a lot of seat and leg to encourage him forward. Now I realize I was using my gas pedal and brake pedal at the same time.

Looking back, I didn’t realize the confusion the combining of aids I placed on my horse by combining the stop and go aids.

Behind the bit


I used to think this frame was riding on the bit, yet the poll is not the highest point and my horse is behind the vertical. This is likely a symptom of combining my driving aids into a low hand position. My horse avoided the tongue pressure by dipping behind the vertical. I thought he was light, only he was avoiding the contact.

A better way…for the horse

Then in 2007, I began applying the same dressage I had learned in my early days with my newly acquired naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse. I was perplexed that I was having the same “dead to the leg” issues with my Walking horse as I had with my Trakehner/thoroughbred. It wasn’t until a few years later that I became introduced to another form of dressage: Philippe Karl and Ecole de Legerete (a form of French classical dressage).

This is when I realized that that not all dressage philosophies are the same. A perfect demonstration of this is the DVD: Classical Versus Classique where French instructor Philippe Karl of the School of Légèreté and Christoph Hess, head of the training department of the German National Equestrian Federation contrast their dressage methods. Both Karl and Hess apply their dressage methods with the trotting horse.

The German dressage is what I knew.

Karl’s method confronted my dressage paradigm

Raised hands

Karl rides with a deep respect for the horse’s well being in ways I had been completely unaware. For instance, he raises his hands to communicate with the less sensitive corners of the horse’s lips. I never knew that low hands press on the horse’s tongue and cause pain–especially fixed, low hands and low hands that pull back on the reins. This produces the nutcracker effect on the roof of the horse’s mouth. Raised hands does not.

Loose or no noseband

Karl loosens the nose band, and even rides without one, so that the horse is free to express its self, open it’s mouth, taste the bit, swallow, and relax the jaw. The horse is happier, more relaxed and more comfortable. Again, I had been completely unaware that a noseband could interfere with a horse’s relaxation and comfort.

Head position

Karl also rides with the horse’s nose slightly ahead of the vertical which allows the poll to be the highest point of the horse. This is correct dressage, after all.

Separation of rider stop and go aids

For me, one of the biggest differences between how I learned to ride and what Karl teaches is the application of rider aids. Instead of driving the horse forward with seat and squeezing legs into contact with a low hand, he separates the “stop” aids from the “go” aids. This produces clarity for the horse: go or stop, not simultaneous go and stop (driving the horse forward into contact).

Lightness

Along with that was a paradigm shift for me: Karl teaches the horse to be light to the hand and light to the leg early on instead of it being the rider’s job to drive the horse forward with each step. Karl teaches the horse self carriage from the very beginning of training instead of later on. This means that the horse learns it is responsible for carrying its head and neck in a balanced position and not permitted to lean on the rider’s hands. How many of us have just changed bits and added gadgets to fix these problems?

Trusting hand

Karl teaches the horse bit acceptance, to trust the rider’s gentle hands and to seek the bit into the position the rider asks, whether a neck extension, flexion or balanced position. This teaches lightness to the hand and relaxation in the jaw, poll and mouth. His teachings have given me greater awareness, care, and sensitivity of the horse’s mouth to produce relaxation in mind and body.

Lightness to the leg

The horse is also taught lightness to the leg. This means the horse is responsible for maintaining the same tempo asked by one leg aid of the rider. There is no need to drive the horse forward with each step.

Karl’s philosophy has challenged me to rethink how I ride dressage.

Can Karl’s dressage philosophy be applied to the naturally gaited horse?

Do I want my naturally gaited horse to be more relaxed in mind and body and free from pain? Do I desire my naturally gaited horse to be more light in my hand, more balance and less on the forehand? Do I desire my naturally gaited horse to have forward movement without driving my horse forward with each step? Do I desire to develop quality smooth gaits and full range of motion equally in both directions?

Oh, yes, yes, yes!

Philippe Karl has always trained non-gaited horses that trot. He personally does not apply his methods with naturally gaited horses that do not trot. Does this mean his method do not work for naturally gaited horses? I don’t think so. I believe that Karl chooses to teach what he is an expert at: training non-gaited horses with Ecole de Legerete.

In my opinion, Karl’s principles of deep respect for the horse; riding for the horse’s comfort; the clarity of rider aids by separating the stop from the go; teaching the horse to be light to the hand and light to the leg; developing relaxation of mind and body, balance, forward movement without rushing, connection, straightness, symmetry, and collection can bring about the best possible range of motion and quality movement in any horse whether they trot or flat walk. I believe Karl’s method can produce quality smooth gaits for gaited horse in one of the most humane ways.

Not all dressage is the same, but I believe what Karl says, “If the dressage is good, it will work on any horse.”

Naturally gaited horses are any horse, too!

balanced flat walk
Dressage improves the quality of smooth natural gait. Shown is a quality, balanced, flat walk. The Tennessee walking horse is stepping deeper under the body mass and under the rider with the hind leg step more than trailing behind the tail.

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