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In previous months, I have reviewed some of the problems that can happen with the individual movements of piaffe (click here to read A View of Piaffe) and passage (click here to read A View of Passage), and this month I am looking at the transition between these two movements. This is a very advanced transition requiring great strength and balance from the horse and it must be ridden very tactfully. The pictures are from a YouTube video “Charlotte Fry and Everdale Dance their Way to Victory” in the FEI Dressage World Cup Mechelen in 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfTZu1Vo77g. The passage begins at 0.49 seconds. The FEI Rules list some of the faults that can occur with this particular movement, indicating how complex the transition is, the importance of the preceding passage or piaffe. PASSAGE-PIAFFE-PASSAGE TRANSITIONS: Problem: - severe resistance, disobedience throughout - both transitions into and out of piaffe fail 1, 2 or 3 (depending on severity) - lack of obedience, e.g. one transition fails - very irregular steps, breaking into canter or walk in 1 trans - very undefined, too long (over distance of ~ 5+ metres) - very crooked Additional Considerations: Watch the passage-piaffe-passage transitions in connection with piaffe or passage: • Generally speaking, one must see the passage - piaffe - passage transitions in connection with piaffe and passage: A badly sitting piaffe cannot suddenly lead to a highly collected, good transition. Therefore, as a rule, the mark for transition should not be significantly higher than the mark for piaffe and passage. Exception: The Horse shows after a correct passage a piaffe, which starts well, is then broken by a resistance and at the end is shown again in rhythm. In this case, the mark for the transition can be significantly higher than the mark for the piaffe. • If a piaffe is moving too much forwards or not showing enough steps, the transition is not clearly defined and cannot be more than max. one (1) point higher than the piaffe. • Imprecise riding can lead to multiple deductions of points: e.g. a piaffe is clearly not shown at the marker prescribed (-> deduction of points), the transition is also not where it belongs (-> deduction) and the subsequent passage is clearly too short (-> deduction). • If the Horse loses the last passage on the centre line, the mark for the halt has also to be affected as there is no transition passage – halt…. The passage shown here has no suspension. The horse is blocked through the backward pressure from the rider’s hands, compressing the horse’s neck. This disengages the horse’s haunches resulting in limited flexion of the hind leg joints. This causes the horse to bounce up and down, rather than have suspension in the trot steps, and there is a loss of the trot diagonal with the right hind leg reaching the ground before the left fore. (Picture 0.55)  The only way the rider can now make the transition to piaffe is to increase the pressure on the reins by pulling back, further compressing the horse’s forehand and blocking the horse from bringing its haunches under. Because the horse is unable to engage his haunches correctly to piaffe, he starts to start to swing them from side to side. (1 minute 3 seconds) See super imposed pictures 1.03  The piaffe is on the forehand with no flexing of the hindleg joints. The left hindleg is stepping out to the side and there is a breakdown of the diagonals (picture 1.07)  The following passage steps are compromised, and the horse is swinging its haunches from side to side with both hind feet crossing under its body rather than travelling straight (pictures 1:14 A and 1:16).   Approaching the turn, the rider takes a further backwards movement with right rein. This means that the horse weights its inside shoulder and foreleg, leaning into the turn and swings its haunches out with its inside hind foot crossing towards its outside hind. (Picture 1:21)  Recently, the FEI have announced that they have completed an extensive review of Cesar Parra’s training methods covering many years. The tribunal evaluated large amounts of evidence showing Parra abusing numerous horses across countless training sessions. Parra has received a fine, a 15-year ban from FEI and national competitions, and is prohibited from training other FEI riders and horses for the duration of the ban. However, this does not stop Parra from continuing to own and train horses.
This rider has been at top level dressage since the mid 1990’s, including competing at the Athens Olympic games. Which raises a very important question. Why have judges continually promoted this rider by awarding him high marks? There is individual variation in how each trainer choses to progress the horse and rider. The movements used are the same, but the way that they are ridden, when and how they are used, and which gadgets are employed vary greatly. A similarity between dressage and art can be made here. A group of artists can all paint the same thing at the same time. They will all apply paint to a canvas and at the end there will be a picture of what they saw. But each picture is different based on the artists interpretation of the view and how they have used the tools available to them. The way in which a horse has been trained can be clearly seen in the way that the horse performs each movement. In the way that an art expert can look at a painting and see the techniques the painter used, dressage judges should have the knowledge and experience to see the type of training, based on how each movement is performed. However, they still award high marks for poorly executed movements, champion horses moving with hollow backs and braced necks, and ignore signs of pain and distress that the horse shows. For the world of dressage to survive, the judging needs to change radically and rapidly. Horses are not machines; movements vary depending on the horse’s conformation and its natural abilities. It is the trainer’s responsibility to recognise this and adapt the training to best suit the horse. It is the judge’s responsibility to recognise where training has been incorrectly used for the horse they are seeing, and mark this appropriately. Please see previous blogs - charlotte-dujardin-returns-to-competition.html and another-olympic-rider-abuses-a-horse5440859.html Training Riders, Transforming Horses © Diane Followell Last week Charlotte Dujardin returned to competing after finishing her 1-year ban for abusing a horse that she was training. But what does her situation say about competitive dressage?
Dujardin’s is not an isolated case. Carina Cassøe Kruth was dropped from the Paris Olympic squad for whipping her horse in a training session with Andreas Helgstrand. Helgstrand himself had a 15-month ban for horse abuse and is now back on the Danish team. The list goes on. The FEI are responsible for maintaining the correct standards of the sport and preventing horses from suffering physical or mental harm, yet the only riders or trainers who receive any kind of punishment are those who hit the headlines and receive public condemnation. Bans and fines are implemented, but once the ban is over, the rider starts competing again and everything continues as before. In response to public concern, the Danish Equestrian Federation are bringing in new rules to ban double bridles below level 4 (advanced medium). They will seek to have this rule implemented globally. This misses the main problem, what is being trained and how it is being judged. If the judges cannot see when a horse is moving incorrectly, riders and coaches will continue to train badly executed movements. Some years ago, I watched lessons given by a well-known senior judge where teeth grinding, tail swishing and a horse kicking up at the rider’s legs were dismissed as normal. Listening to the commentary from the Olympic games last year, this blindness to the state of riding at the highest level persists. Lavish praise was given for uneven piaffes, hollow rein back steps, extended trot without lengthened strides etc. This riding has now become so normalised, that many aspiring riders are oblivious to the damage that this is doing to horses. Dujardin’s experience will not prevent the abuse. Dressage riders will simply stop people from recording training sessions so that they don’t get caught out. Dressage judges, and those who sit on the committees that govern the sport at national and international level. have a duty to fully understand correct movements and training of dressage horses. Until they have the courage to admit to the huge problems that they have allowed to be perpetuated in competitive dressage, nothing will change. These blogs may also be pf interest to you - is-modern-dressage-classical.html statement-on-the-situation-regarding-charlotte-dujardin.html Training Riders, Transforming Horses © Diane Followell Yet another video emerges of an Olympic dressage rider beating a horse (Nico) into submission. (The BBC article can be read here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/articles/c991zle4r0loAustralia Ryan Heath ). Nico had been sent to Australian Ryan Heath as unrideable. With a history of being a difficult horse, things had culminated in an accident resulting in his rider being hospitalised. Heath's solution was to whip Nico repeatedly, claiming to have acted in the best interest of the horse, that this was the only solution, and his method has made Nico rideable again. These actions are inexcusable. There is absolutely no reason for beating a horse. Many riders and trainers believe that the horse should do exactly as they demand. Any behaviours that deviate from this are seen as the horse being difficult or wilful. This view is far from the truth. Unrideable and difficult horses are created by riders and trainers who lack the skills and knowledge needed to train horses correctly. In my equestrian life I have met many horses labelled difficult. Taking time to find out about the horse invariably reveals an earlier training issue that was resolved by force. When this continues through the training, the horse becomes more difficult and the solutions more brutal until you arrive in the situation that Nico found himself in. Correct training does not create problem horses and transforms those that have been made difficult to ride. With methods that do not need horses to be forced or beaten into submission, they become calm and a pleasure to ride, horses who look forward to coming into the school and to working with the rider. Surely this is what we all aspire to achieve with our horses? I sincerely hope that the riders and trainers who abuse their horses will continue to be called out and that the ruling bodies will finally take responsible action to prevent this abuse from continuing. For some of my thoughs on why horses may refuse to perform a movement see my previous blog - No is a Perfectly Acceptable Answer © Diane Followell © Training Riders, Transforming Horses Training Riders, Transforming Horses
© Diane Followell Over my years (OK, decades) of riding and teaching dressage, I have often seen riders and trainers demanding absolute obedience from their horses. If the horse does not give an immediate response to an aid, they are instantly reprimanded, particularly if they performed the exercise before with no problems. There is an idea in dressage that the rider is always right, and the horse must do exactly as the rider demands the instant it is requested. Counter to many views, I believe that the horse always gives us the right answer, and if the answer is no we have asked the wrong question. This gives me an insight into how the horse is feeling, and why they may have refused the aid. Did the horse understand the aid? Was the aid exactly the same as the previous one? Was the horse in the best position to respond? Did the rider block the horse? Had the preparatory work been done correctly? Was the horse expecting the aid or was he surprised by it? Each aid and movement in training is a small part that builds on the previous work and is a stepping stone to the next level. If a horse refuses an aid, we must look at the reason behind it and not assume that we are right and they are wrong. Training Riders, Transforming Horses
© Diane Followell This month I am looking at the World Cup in Gothenberg held in February 2025. The full video can be found here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIB0VkqL8iA. Rather than focus on an individual movement, I have noted errors in movements from several riders during the first half of the competition. These deviations from the correct movements are common across all riders and can be clearly seen throughout the competition. How is it that these errors are being shown so consistently in top level competition? 16 minutes - Tempi flying changes on the diagonal. Swinging forehand, horse blocked and on the forehand and disengaged. 25 minutes 50 seconds – Left canter pirouette. Rider makes several hard pulls on the left rein to bring the horse into the pirouette. The pirouette is blocked, and the horse has disengaged haunches. 36 minutes – Passage on centre line. Hind feet dropping in the stride making a double beat, with no suspension. Disengaged in its haunches. 40 minutes – Extended trot. No extension of the frame, horse blocked through the shoulder, and is disengaged in its haunches. 41 minutes – Rein back. Horse throws head up and steps back with a hollow back and disengages its haunches. 49 minutes – Turn on the diagonal. Horse blocked in the forehand by the rider pulling the inside rein, unbalanced, and disengaged in its haunches. 52 minutes – One-time flying changes. Rider pulling up and back with the hands and leaning backwards. Horse blocked, disengaged in its haunches and on the forehand. 55 minutes - Piaffe on centre line. Rider pulls the reins back on every stride. Consequently, the horse braces its neck, drops in its withers and back and is on the forehand. No flexing of the hind leg joints. Loss of trot diagonals. Disengaged haunches. Training Riders, Transforming Horses © Diane Followell This moth I am reviewing extended trot. The video is of Juliette Ramel of Sweden on Buriel K.H. at the Tokyo Olympics in the Individual Grand Prix Freestyle and can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGSYdsItiqU&t=1751s. The section I am evaluating begins just before the extended trot at 2 hours 1 minute and 57 seconds. In extended trots that we see today, the horses make exagerated movements with their forelegs, which is incorrect, it is important to look other parts of the horse.
The problems in this extended trot begin on the short side and the turn on to the diagonal. The horse is disengaged in its haunches and on it's forehand. The rider is behind the movement and blocking the forehand with a restrictive rein contact causing a break in the trot stride with the left hind leaving the ground before the right fore (picture 2.1.56).  This impacts the horse through the turn on to the diagonal. The loss of balance combined with a lot of impulsion disengages the haunches continues the breakdown of the diagonal stride. (Picture 2.1.57).  The turn should be a useful time for the rider to check the balance and engagement of their horse, but in this case, it simply increases the disengagement of the haunches. The horse is out of balance and is forced to send its inside hind leg across the outside hind leg, swinging its haunches out of the turn, (picture 2.01.58) continuing the breakdown in the diagonals of the trot stride. (picture 2.01.29)   In this unbalanced position, a correct extended trot is impossible. The impulsion from the haunches over runs the forehand and the rider pulls the reins. This prevents the horse from being able to reach forward from its shoulder. There is no lengthening of the horse through its frame, which is a key element of extended trot, and the movement has a straight, flicking foreleg action. (Pictures 2.02.00, 2.00.03 and 2.02.06) To bring her horse back after the extended trot, the rider shortens her reins, lifts her seat out of the saddle, braces her legs into the thigh rolls, and leans back on the reins. The horse draws it’s nose well behind the vertical to try, unsuccessfully, to avoid the pain of the bits. (pictures 2.02.08 A, 2.02.08B) The canter transition and resulting canter is blocked and hollow with the horse opening it’s mouth. (Picture 2.02.10)    This year has been quite tumultuous and I though it would be good to have a light hearted blog this Christmas. The following is a horse’s Christmas song to its rider, sing to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas, as loudly and as out of tune as you wish! On the first day of Christmas my rider gave to me a much loosened off curb chain 2 soft reins and 3 canter beats 4 beats in walk 5 tasty treats 6 winter rugs 7 softer neck joints 8 daily hugs 9 turnout friends 10 seconds thinking 11 spooky places 12 hours turnout Wishing you all a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.  This month I am reviewing a half 10 metre circle performed by Kimberly Pap and Sonnenburg’s Jersey competing at the VHO Trophy 2023 starting at 3 minutes 40 seconds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cvqPdPVOsI The half circle should give the horse and rider an opportunity to prepare for the next movement, a few strides to help the horse rebalance itself, and for the rider to check the engagement of the haunches. However, this chance is missed by the rider. The half pass preceding this turn is made with very extravagant strides and speed. The horse has disengaged his haunches and become unbalanced through the movement. (Picture A).  To bring the horse back in time to make the half circle, the rider pulls the reins, blocking the horse. The horse has no engagement of the hind leg and is unable to balance itself correctly, and drops his weight towards his right foreleg to balance. (Picture B).  As they begin the turn, the disengagement of the haunchesand weight towards the shoulder means that the impulsion, instead of balancing the horse, causes him to lean to the inside. The rider is unbalanced and using the reins for support and overbending the horse's neck. (Picture C and D).   Because he is disengaged, the horse moves his inside hind foot towards the outside, crossing his left hindleg. With his balance totally compromised, the horse uses his inside foreleg to stay upright. (Picture E and F)   At the end of the half circle, the horse is still completely out of balance as he enters the centre line with his weight towards his forehand, and disengaged haunches. (Picture G)  Below is a photo of a horse and rider correctly balanced on a circle.  Training Riders, Transforming Horses
© Diane Followell I am continuing the theme of looking at some of the faults that can occur with the difficult high-level movements, and this time I am looking at passage. The photos are taken from a video of Steffen Peters and Suppenkasper at the Tokyo Olympics Dressage in 2021. The full video can be seen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGSYdsItiqU&t=1549s and the passage I am reviewing starts at 29 mins 14 secs. Passage is a difficult movement to perform correctly. The horse must have exceptional balance, suppleness strength to maintain the very collected high, slow steps required. This movement must be ridden with lightness and tact from the rider. In the FEI rules, there is a good description of a passage. The FEI rules 2020 give a description of passage and the faults that can occur. ARTICLE 414 THE PASSAGE 1. Passage is a measured, very collected, elevated and cadenced trot. It is characterised by a pronounced engagement of the hindquarters, a more accentuated flexion of the knees and hocks, and the graceful elasticity of the movement. Each diagonal pair of legs is raised and returned to the ground alternately, with cadence and a prolonged suspension. 2. In principle, the height of the toe of the raised forefoot should be level with the middle of the cannon bone of the other supporting foreleg. The toe of the raised hind foot should be slightly above the fetlock joint of the other supporting hind leg. 3. The neck should be raised and gracefully arched with the poll as the highest point and the nose line close to the vertical. The Horse should remain light, and soft “on the bit” without altering the cadence. The impulsion remains lively and pronounced. 4. Irregular steps with the hind or front legs, swinging the forehand or the hindquarters from one (1) side to the other, as well as jerky movements of the forelegs or the hind legs, dragging the hind legs or double beat in the moment of suspension are serious faults. The aim of passage is to demonstrate the highest degree of collection, cadence and suspension in the trot. Having watched many hours of passage, many of the movements I have seen have little resemblance to the way it should be performed, and the marks given do not reflect the requirements for the movement as stated by the FEI. In passage today, horses are blocked in the head and neck, disengaged in their haunches and unable to flex their hind leg joints, which results in a breakdown of the steps and essentially, no passage. In this test, the horse is asked to perform a series of complex trot movements leading into passage; trot half pass to piaffe, then a piaffe pirouette followed with passage. The preceding piaffe is incorrect showing a swinging forehand (see A View of Piaffe and Some Faults in Piaffe) which sets the horse up for a poor passage. Today we see horses performing difficult movements one after the other without being given a rest with a simple movement such as a circle or moving on a straight line in a less collected or extended stride. This type of riding creates a situation where the quality of each exercise deteriorates, and riders have to compromise lightness and balance for the sake of forcing though into the next movement. This passage shows irregular steps in the hind legs, a double beat in the moment of suspension and a loss of the diagonal trot stride. Perhaps the focus of these tests should be more on the quality of each movement rather than making ever more complicated routines? In the transition to passage, the rider holds the horse through the rein and this makes the horse contract it’s neck, resulting in a break in the trot diagonals (picture 29.14) where the left hind is off the ground whilst the right fore is on the ground.  The horse continues to be held by the rider’s hands on the reins which restricts the ability of the horse to move off its forehand, preventing the haunches and hind legs from correctly engaging. The passage rhythm is compromised, and the faulty trot stride continues with the left foreleg on the ground and the right hind is in the air (picture 29.15) .  With the haunches disengaged, the left hind foot makes a double beat in the passage, being brought forward (picture 29.16 A) before being drawn back and placed on the ground (picture 29.16 B).   The horse is now out of balance and the forward momentum continues to be blocked by the rider’s hands. The passage has no suspension as the horse moves its inside hind leg towards the outside instead of flexing its leg joints and keeping the inside hind leg moving straight forward. (Picture 29.19).  Training Riders, Transforming Horses
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AuthorDiane Followell Classical Dressage Trainer
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