Thursday, January 21, 2016

German Classical Equitation vs. French Classical Equitation

"J C Racinet in his book ‘Racinet Explains Baucher’, succinctly sums up the difference between   engaging the hindquarters and engaging the hind leg. By ‘engagement of the hindquarters’, Racinet means the closing of the joints of the hindlegs, with consequent lowering of the entire hind end. In ‘engaging the hindleg’, he means the step under and forwards of the hindleg, with consequently no lowering of the hindquarters. In this way, the forehand is not lightened.

In competition dressage today, there seems to be more emphasis on the latter, meaning that the hindleg travels a long way forward under the body mass of the horse. This perhaps, is why the collected movements are often of such poor quality in comparison with the extravagant extensions to be seen in the Grand Prix arenas of today. The emphasis is not on the all important pelvic tilt, that enables the abdominal muscles to engage and lift the back, the back becoming wide and open, and allowing the withers to rise between the shoulder blades."

  ~Heather Moffet~Enlightened Equitation~revised version

Doesn't this make sense?  The French and Portuguese Schools of Classical Equitation typically produce a lighter more collected horse with very good collected work and piaffe but not so dramatic extensions.  The German School of Equitation produces a horse that is very good at extensions and forward power but the piaffe and collected work can be weak at times with minimal tilting of the pelvis/bending of the hindquarters.  When you add in the German Warmblood being bred and cross bred over time from ground covering carriage breeds crossed with thoroughbreds and the French and Portuguese Schools mostly using Iberian breeds or lighter thoroughbred types that collect very easily, all becomes a bit more clear.

Also, this would explain why using the German system with a lot of FORWARD works well for horses that naturally have ground covering gaits but not so well for the "non-traditional" aka "non-Warmblood" horse trying to do anything but basic dressage.  The Warmblood likes the ground covering/more forward to the contact training/aka engaging the hindleg and stays in balance while gradually learning to sit a bit through later lateral work which eventually leads to collection.  In this system the non-Warmblood ends up running around on the forehand in a too fast tempo with the hind legs trailing and any kind of collection nowhere in sight.  Using the French/Portuguese system on the non-Warmblood type of horse emphasizes yielding of the jaw/bending of the hind joints/earlier lateral work at a slower tempo, especially at the walk/aka engaging the hindquarters leading to collection and THEN more mild extensions, which tends to be much more effective for this type of horse.  Could it be summarized as the German School emphasizing balance through movement and the French/Portuguese school emphasizing balance before movement?  Obviously, this is a gross oversimplification, but it does give a good starting place for evaluating different training systems and which will work better for your type of horse.







6 comments:

  1. Excellent article! These differences are so important to understand. All classical equitation comes from the cavalry. The German system was systematically revised and with the last edition of the Cavalry Guidelines - the original source of the 'Training Scale' (see here https://horsehaus.com/collections/books/products/hdv12-german-cavalry-manual-for-training-horse-rider), the goal of schooling became a 'modern' cavalry horse, with increased focus on 'forward'. Thank you for this article!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the post! Understanding the origin of the training and also the "typical" type of horse trained under any given system sure sheds a lot of light into why things do and don't work.

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  2. I dug up this blog post of yours because I've thought about it off and on for a while. I think you've hit the nail on the head with the "balance through movement" and "balance before movement" line. My main trainer is a devoted Jean Luc Cornille fan, and while the "balance before movement" was essential to our development at intro/training and into First Levels, I'm starting to wonder if it's hindering us now. She still wants me to get his balance before I ask for forward in each ride, but I'm finding it easier and faster to get a good quality ride if I ask for forward first and then develop balance through lateral work. Just thinking out loud on an old post of yours that's stuck in my head for a long time now. :) Thanks for sharing this!

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    1. You're welcome! That interplay between relaxation, energy, and balance is the key, I think, and it is easy to concentrate on one to the detriment of the others. Ultimately balance doesn't work without energy and energy doesn't work without balance as you move to more complex work. I have found the solution that works for me in the system of Dressage Naturally but I think there is more than one way to train a Dressage horse well and that different schools of training (French, German) can work better for different physical types of horses.

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  3. Have just come across this!! So pleased those comments in my book made sense, and your further comments in this article, clarify still further. I'm saddened that the true concept if French Classical, certainly as I was taught it is largely being lost, even these days in Portugal, with the younger riders competing and therefore training far more in the competition style. I'm hoping to write another book as soon as I have time on training in the French schoo, but in the meantime am planning on a series on my Online Classical Riding Academy video site, discussing the French methods I was taught. I hope eventually to devise some online dressage tests for those who wish to compete in a different style of riding and training not based purely on power and pizzazz!! Heather Moffett

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    1. Thrilled to see you comment on my blog Heather and so glad you liked my article! I follow you on FB and think your FB group and the OCRA are wonderful. Both are great educational tools shining light on French Classical riding done in an amateur friendly way. Looking forward to your further work!

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