In my last blog I looked at the qualities of a good piaffe shown by Jessica von Bredow-Werndl in the warmup area. (Click here to read it) This month I am looking at some of the problems that can occur in piaffe. This one is shown by Charlotte Fry whilst competing at the ECCO FEI World Championships 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohr_Vex4m4c&t=26s and the piaffe starts at 1 minute 7 seconds. In a correct piaffe the horse needs to engage its haunches, lighten it’s forehand and elevate the head and neck position. If the horse is prevented from doing this either by a lack of strength and balance or by the rider blocking the movement, the trot diagonal steps elevation and and straightness are lost. In this clip, as the rider approaches the piaffe from a passage, she makes a backward movement of her hands to bring the horse to piaffe. This action causes the horse to brace its neck and jaw and lose its forward momentum. To correct this the rider uses her spurs. The horse is now blocked between the rider’s hands and her legs and is unable to engage its haunches for the piaffe and the diagonal rhythm of the trot steps is lost (1 minute 7 seconds). (Picture 1.07 A) Due to the disengagement of the haunches, the momentum of the piaffe has gone and the rider is now using a lot of leg and spur to create some steps. Her hand position does not change and forces the horse to drop its head behind the vertical and place its weight into its forehand. (1 minute 7 seconds). (Picture.1.07 B) As the piaffe continues, the horse remains blocked by the rider’s hands and, unable to correctly engage his haunches, there is a continued deterioration of the diagonal trot steps. This results in the horse’s forehand swinging from side to side (1 minute 8 seconds). Picture 1.08 A This picture also shows the left diagonal breakdown with the hind foot moving off the ground before the forefoot and the fore legs stepping out to the sides rather than stepping cleanly up and down. The next sequence of pictures (1.09, 1.10 A and 1.10 B) shows the continued breakdown of the steps as the horse makes sidesteps in the forelimbs and rocks its shoulders from side to side In picture 1.12, the horse is blocked and diagonal rhythm of the trot steps is completely lost as the horse has all four feet on the ground at the same time. © Training Riders, Transforming Horses
![]() With the Olympic games in Paris this summer, I am taking a look at some of the advanced movements that will be shown in the dressage competitions, how they should look and the problems that can occur. In my last blog I reviewed tempi flying changes, “A View of Tempi Flying Changes" (click here to read) and this month I am taking a look at piaffe. The piaffe is on Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s Facebook page, showing a few steps of piaffe in a warmup arena, and can be found here; https://www.facebook.com/reel/389800653416534 Although this is only a few steps of piaffe, it is a good example of the movement. The horse is light and well engaged in his haunches. The joints of the hind legs are flexing and the feet are raised to the same height and move up and down without deviation. The rider sits softly with relaxed legs and the weight of the reins in her hands. The horse is able to place its head and neck where it feels most comfortable without the rider dictating the position. As the rider makes a turn in the piaffe, the steps remain the same. At the end of the movement, the horse moves calmly forward. © Training Riders, Transforming Horses For my blogs this year I am looking at some of the movements that we see at higher levels of competition and reviewing what is desired from the movement, and some of the problems that can occur. This month I am looking at the sequence of flying changes at every stride performed by Edward Gal at the Dutch Dressage Championships in 2021. The full video of the test can be seen here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzwxmnhGWvA&t=274s. The particular section I am discussing in this blog is a sequence of flying changes made at every stride which start at 4 minutes 15 seconds. For reference, below is the definition of a flying change from the FEI rules. 4.8 Flying Change of leg. The flying change is performed in one (1) stride with the front and hind legs changing at the same moment. The change of the leading front and hind leg takes place during the moment of suspension. The aids should be precise and unobtrusive. Flying Changes of leg can also be executed at every 4th, 3rd 2nd or at every stride. The Horse, even in the series, remains light, calm and straight with lively impulsion, maintaining the same rhythm and balance throughout the series concerned. In order not to restrict or restrain the lightness, fluency and ground cover of the flying changes in series, enough impulsion must be maintained. The main issue that can be seen with these flying changes is the impulsion being blocked by the rider’s hands. Impulsion has become the main force that dressage focuses on to the detriment of other qualities. Many horses now perform a flying change with weight in their forehand, disengaged haunches and a lack of lightness. This forces the horse to make the flying change by pushing up from their fore hand and swinging their haunches from side to side, not straight and effortlessly flowing as they should be. In a flying change the rhythm and tempo of the canter should not change and the horse’s legs should appear to switch effortlessly under their body with no upward bounce. The issues with this sequence of flying changes begins with the turn on to the diagonal. At this point there is a backwards action on the inside rein, and the horse swings it’s head to the right (4 minutes 18 seconds). This is immediately followed by a heavy action on the left rein causing the horse to twist its nose to the left. These aids take the horse off balance immediately prior to the flying change sequence. Throughout the sequence of changes, the rider maintains a backward pressure on the reins. This blocks the horse from coming through correctly with its hind legs, placing weight into the forehand and causing the horse to make the transition from one lead to the other by swing its haunches from side to side. (A) (B) (C) (D) The rider continues to contract the horse through its head, neck and shoulders with a restrictive hand through the sequence of steps. This prevents the horse from flowing through with its hind legs and after a few strides, the 3-beat canter breaks down into a 4-beat canter. The horse makes more exaggerated movement in each stride, bouncing up from its front legs rather than swinging smoothly through. (E) (4 minutes 25 seconds). Correct flying changes should be straight and flow through the horse’s body from the hind legs. This gives a smooth transition between the strides where the leg sequence changes effortlessly under the horse without the forehand leaping off the ground and preserves the 3-beat rhythm.
© Training Riders, Transforming Horses This month I’m taking a look at some footage of dressage shown at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The video is of Canadian rider Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu riding the transition between passage and piaffe. You can watch the full test here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGSYdsItiqU. I am focusing on the quality of the passage, the transition into piaffe and the piaffe itself. This is a complicated sequence of movements that require the rider to have great tact and timing of the aids. The passage starts at 5 minutes 37 seconds as the pair come out of the extended trot. The rider makes a backward movement on the reins which contracts the horse’s head and neck position creating a passage that lacks suspension. The steps are uneven, showing a breakdown in the diagonal movement of the horse’s legs because the horse is unable to correctly bring its haunches under due to the contraction in its neck and braced back. As they turn out of the corner, the horse’s inside leg hind is disengaged and it has braced its ribcage placing weight in its forehand. The horse loses balance and rhythm through the turn from the long side (5:44) As the horse approaches the piaffe transition, the rider makes several heavy backward movements on the reins, causing the horse to open its mouth and cross its jaw, and for the trot rhythm to falter (5:51). In the piaffe steps, the horse is contracted in its neck and disengaged in its hind legs placing weight in its shoulders with no engagement of the haunches.
The next sequence of pictures shows the horse with its right hind leg moving straight up and down, whilst the left hind leg swings outwards. At the top of the step there is a circular movement of the foot, and the left foot moves inwards as it is replaced on the ground. The horse starts to swing its haunches from side to side with greater disruption to the diagonal pairing in the stride. The piaffe is incorrect and beyond improvement (sequence of stills from 5.52 to 5:55). © Training Riders, Transforming Horses In a previous blog I looked at the causes of a horse rearing whilst in the middle of a dressage test, What Went Wrong? In this month’s blog, I wanted to look closely at a piaffe shown in a grand prix freestyle competition and the qualities that the horse shows in the movement in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch? =QElJ6Og6bp8 I am focusing on the piaffe that begins at 1 minute 8 seconds. Before this piaffe, the horse is in passage and to bring the horse into piaffe, the rider makes a backward pull on the rein (1:09) whilst simultaneously using her spurs and bracing her body backwards. This has the effect of compressing the horse through its neck which puts the horse on its fore hand, disengages its haunches and disrupts the diagonal steps (below). Consequently, the horse can only bounce its haunches up in the piaffe as it’s front legs barely come off the ground (1:13) and there is no elevation of the neck and withers. Unable to correctly engage its haunches the horse is now fully on its fore hand as the front feet land significantly before the hind feet and the rhythm of the diagonal steps is completely lost. Through the piaffe, the horse swings its left hind out to the side whereas it should move up and down under the body of the horse. The rider makes continual backward movements on the reins, blocking the horse and creating resistance in the horse’s jaw, neck and back. Due to the incorrect movement in the piaffe, in the transition out of the piaffe, the horse makes two canter strides before picking up passage steps(1:22). In a correct piaffe, the horse moves its centre of gravity back, the hind legs flex more and the fore hand becomes lighter and more elevated. The haunches should not bounce higher than the withers. The front feet should be raised higher than the hind feet, or the hind feet and front feet should come to the same height if the horse’s conformation or level of training does not allow for the former. If the hind feet are raised higher than the front feet, it is a clear indication that the piaffe is on the fore hand and incorrect. The pictures below show two horses with different conformation showing correct piaffe steps and the piaffe shown by this horse and rider for comparison. © Training Riders, Transforming Horses
Lightness is a characteristic of classical dressage, sought by riders throughout the centuries. For me, lightness is the ultimate goal of dressage training, it brings a unique expression to each horse throughout their work, and it directs all my work and teaching. When a horse is truly light, dressage is elevated to another level, something that, once you have felt it, is never forgotten. Lightness means to be nimble, with a lack of weight, or a lack of weightiness or force and each of these interpretations are relevant to classical dressage. Horses are naturally weighted towards their forehand, and through correct training, the horse gradually learns to use their strength to bring their balance towards quarters. As training progresses and the horse engages their haunches more towards collection, their forehand elevates, and the horse becomes more manoeuvrable. This lightness in the forehand can ultimately create piaffe or even a levade. The aspect of lightness in character should not be dismissed. Both horse and rider should enjoy the work. Where training becomes an effort with riders becoming stronger and the horse becoming resistant, the joy of dressage is lost. Without lightness in movement, dressage horses become physically blocked and laboured, unable to produce the full beauty of which they are capable. The pictures below show two very different piaffes, the bay horse is heavy in the fore hand, it’s head and neck are blocked, which has disengaged the hind legs which are stepping to the side, and the fore leg is drawn too far back under the horse’s body. The horse shows resistance throughout its body The grey horse also shows a piaffe but in a completely different way. There is lightness in the fore hand, the hocks flex as the hind legs are brought under the body of the horse and the head and neck are elevated with the poll raised. There is no tension or resistance in the movement. © Diane Followell - Training Riders, Transforming Horses
Have you ever wondered why it’s worth perfecting a circle? It may feel as though a circle is a basic movement, useful for young horses and in a warmup, but after that the benefits of a simple movement can often be forgotten as we move onto more interesting things. Circles provide a foundation for all the other work and they are extremely useful throughout a training session. For a novice horse or rider, a circle teaches the basics of balance and engagement. For a more advanced horse, a circle rebalances and reengages them, that is, if they are ridden correctly. A correct circle is very hard to ride for both horse and rider. Many horses fall in or out of the shape without the rider even being aware of it. The major benefits of the exercise are wasted, and poorly executed circles can leave your horse more out of balance before. To quote Nuno Oliveira, “a circle is a correct geometric shape, not a potato or an egg.” Whilst different trainers use different aids for a circle, the qualities that come from the movement should be:
To ride a circle, the rider’s hips should match the position of the horse’s hips, and the rider’s shoulder should match the position of the horse’s shoulders. This means that they rider needs to rotate at their waist, advancing their outside shoulder without allowing their inside seat bone to follow the movement, which would bring their hips out of position. Simply trying to make a circle by use of the inside rein only achieves a twisted and resistant position in the horse’s head and neck. The difference can be felt by the rider and can be clearly seen in the pictures below. ©Training Riders, Transforming Horses
![]() Whilst a lot of time is spent thinking about which bit to use, nose bands tend to be used solely to keep a horse’s mouth shut. Mostly riders use a flash or a cavesson, done up tightly to prevent the horse from opening its mouth. Apart from the obvious physical pain and harm that this inflicts on a horse, it masks a very important communication channel between a horse and their rider. The art of dressage riding is to finesse the communication between the horse and rider so that, to an observer, the rider appears to be doing nothing. Part of achieving this is having the horse soft and mobile throughout their work, and the horse’s mouth is a very good reflection the level of that relationship between horse and rider. For example, if a horse is finding an exercise difficult or feels too much pressure from the rider’s hands, this will show first through the horse’s mouth with blocks such as fixing the jaw, opening the mouth or putting their tongue over the bit. ![]() Tightening the nose band to prevent this behaviour does not solve the problem. Unable to express himself via his mouth, horses often become harder in the jaw and the tension occurs elsewhere in his body. As the stress ripples throughout the horse’s body, blocks can often be seen in the horses neck, back and hind legs. The solution is to change what you are doing, rather than increasingly tightening the nose band. It may be as simple as modifying an exercise slightly, or you may need to look a bit deeper at how you are asking. Riding with a softer hand and working more tactfully from your seat and back or with your leg. The connection between bit and rider’s hands should always be the weight of the reins. For very skilled riders, the slightest tension in the horse’s mouth is felt in their hands, and they make appropriate adjustments to make the horse comfortable. With a nose band that is done up tightly, the horse is unable to speak to the rider and training becomes an exercise in force. ©Training Riders, Transforming Horses
Shoulder-in is the aspirin of dressage – Nuno Oliveira. In his book, School of Horsemanship, published in 1733, François de la Guérinière describes shoulder-in as the alpha and omega of all exercises for developing suppleness and agility in horses. An exercise used by classical dressage trainers for centuries, unchanged and instantly recognisable, it is one of the earliest lateral movements taught to horses. Well ridden, shoulder-in provides major benefits in the schooling of horses, essentially the suppling of the horse’s shoulders, preparation for the horse to be placed into their haunches and it trains the horse to move away from the rider’s leg. The basic principle of shoulder-in is that the horse brings their shoulder away from the line of travel, with the hind legs remaining on the line of travel, and then the horse proceeds stepping slightly sideways in the original direction. The angle may vary from horse to horse, depending on their conformation, suppleness and level of training, but all shoulder in shoulder exhibit the same qualities.
Common faults are;
Have a look at the pictures below, the horses are in the same stride in shoulder-in, but the pictures look quite different. Both horses show a good degree of suppleness but the horse on the right has disengaged his haunches, hollowed his back and is dropping towards his outside shoulder. ©Training Riders, Transforming Horses
![]() What is a correct piaffe? Over the years I have seen many horses performing piaffe, and the way each horse creates the steps can make the movement look very different. Some horses have the strength to lower their haunches and show strides with good elevation, whilst for other horses the piaffe steps are much smaller and less elevated. It is easy to be impressed by horses who make big extravagant steps, but is the piaffe still correct? A true piaffe should show: -
Common faults in piaffe are:-
Phillipe Karl has a diagram in his book "Twisted Truths of Modern Dressage" which shows some of these common problems. (See right) These faults can occur because the horse is asked to piaffe too early in their training, when they are not strong enough to make the steps or they are asked to give more than they are capable of. The horse becomes compressed into the piaffe which results in these types of errors. That is not to say that every piaffe will look the same, some horses find the movement easier than others and have more expression in the steps, whereas other horses will have small, almost shuffling steps. Looking for the qualities of a movement can show that the less spectacular piaffe is more correct than some of the dazzling steps we see at times. In the pictures below at first the piaffes look similar, but when you look in detail at the position of the horses, you can see that the chestnut horse is blocked by the rider’s hands. The head and neck are compressed causing the fore limbs to track too far back under the horses body, the back is blocked, the haunches are lowered but the hocks are braced and you can see the resistance through the horse's mouth and tail. The grey horse is in a similar position, but he is correctly engaged, more open in the head and neck, elevating the forehand and flexing his hind limbs with correct weight transfer towards the haunches and with the fore legs stepping down vertically. Have an objective look at some videos of different horses in piaffe and see if you can spot the differences and which are more correct. ©Training Riders, Transforming Horses
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AuthorDiane Followell Classical Dressage Trainer ![]()
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