Documentation Hyperflexion: The Happy Athlete

[joandme83008]

just want to note that you will never see a horse at his natural state with a rider..just sayin

[rainydayz714]

Ughh, sometimes I just want to quit dressage and do H/J or something because of what it has turned into.

[FireFlyHorzey]

What a wonderful horse! I can't quite see where the beaty is in modern dressage

[zhivana]

this horse looks a hell of a lot happier and more beautiful than a lot of the 'champion' dressage horses that are held in rolkur throughout the test...

[i2iwithhorses]

CONT'D (clinic participants - yes he can get the job done through the owners; he's a gifted teacher.) No force, no beatings, just body language, understanding the movement of the horse and how horses live with each other. In a nutshell, keeping horses "balanced" in mind and body.

[i2iwithhorses]

I read their eye expression, facial expression, head carriage, tail carriage and movement, their connection with the handler, their back, the degree of tension in their body and where it is. The horses do talk - they just don't speak english; we have to learn how to speak horse!

Try looking up Chris Irwin's work. He bases his work on the body and mind of the horse. I have witnessed countless "makeovers" of the countenance of horses under his supervision of their handlers. tbc...

[i2iwithhorses]

Just because upper level riders win doesnt mean that their horsemanship practices are horse-friendly. I stopped looking to them for my examples to learn from (of what to do) and have initiated a search for masters of the classical art of dressage. So far, I haven't been dissapointed.

The horse is the one I rely on to indicate if any trainer's approach is suitable.

[i2iwithhorses]

CONT'D I've seen this method of riding used by a very popular western clinician. How many more horses are suffering in other disciplines? The first website above lists ways to get the word out to educate the public and influence the governing bodies. check it out if you want to make a difference. If they start hearing from people all over the world they will have to do something. It's a sad day when such agencies for regulation of a sport have to be shamed into doing their job. tbc...

[HorseofCorff]

Who is the clinician. I would like to know who to avoid.

[i2iwithhorses]

The questionable riding issue is the "rollkur" or hyperflexion. Search "Blue Tongue Dressage" Patrik Kittel is the Swedish OLYMPIAN rider. The western clinician...three yrs ago I saw Clinton Anderson keeping his horse in a hyperflexed position, the horse was obviously searching for a release. Dont know if he uses it still. The problem is these high profile people are who aspiring horse owners look to for examples of what TO do. Chris Irwin teaches people to see what the horse is saying & more.

[ShadowStallions]

looks beautiful and elegant =-]

[Littlekat909]

THIS IS DRESSAGE!!!!

DRESSAGE IS MENT TO BE: capturing natural wild behaviors not all this hyperflextion shit!!

[mirhorselover11]

Yes, Dressage is suppose to be balancing out the horse while using their beautiful natural movements. Contact IS needed (not JUST to look pretty, it has more of a reason then just that!)

HOWEVER..hyperflexion isn't a proper, natural, balanced contact, it is considered 'behind the vertical'. I am appalled that such a great rider, like Anky, has to be so weak as to cheat and use these methods. Rollkur is what gives dressage such a bad reputation!

[toteZitrone]

And that'S it. Hyperflexion ahs nothing to do with the natural movements. Never saw a horse holding it's head like this except of trying to kill a insekt on its breast.... -.-

[FR0STYF0X]

why not?

[EclypseSportHorses]

Beautiful video, beautiful horse. Nicely done

[ZHCITYWOMEN]

WONDERFULL!

[thediplomaticbag]

The point of this video is to show the horse in his natural state is in perfect balance WITHOUT hyperflexion lol!

[hellybelly6]

I know that and appreciate that, but what I mean is that the horse flexed himself as part of his body language - he looked like he wanted to play.

Horses move so much better and more balanced without a rider.

[lemonsrcool16]

the rider is ALWAYS what unbalances the horse

[mirhorselover11]

However, that is a part of dressage - TO balance the horse by using more of the hindquarters, since they generally are forehand heavy...by doing this we make it more of a 50/50 ratio.

[hellybelly6]

Lovely horse. He only hyperflexed briefly. It was his choice and not maintained for long. It shows how a horse would prefer to be given a choice. I was always taught that a horse should flex no further than vertical and it should not be forced through rein/bit pressure or by the rider's weight. 'fashion' has a lot to answer for.

[Lillielyelilliah]

Fashion has a lot to answer for in all areas...

But yes. I thought he looked extremely elegant, and it'd be nice to see him staying like that even when under bit and bridle. There's nothing nice about seeing a horse with a saliva bib.

[Onaziz]

What a stunning horse!

[anniponni]

He only did it for a few seconds:) Gorgeous horse by the way!:D

[agathaa502]

that's happy horse :D

[SilverSammet]

And once again Ulrike, thank you for sharing your knowlegs!

[Italianiceisnice]

Oops, that'd be PHYSIOLOGY! (lest somone comment snidely about my typo, lol)

[Italianiceisnice]

In this slow motion clip, there are two 1 second frames where the horse hyperflexed just before quickly turning. During all the forward movements, the horse NEVER hyperflexed--but had his poll where it SHOULD be; the neck's highest point. All the ppl commenting how rollkur or hyperflexing must be developed know nothing about pysiology! Why should something be *developed* that is not natural?? Surely common sense tells us that making a horse do un-natural things will break him down eventually!

[SilverSammet]

Thank you. *bows*

[Sahrafarasha]

That was not hyperflexion. That was just a stallion in high spirits tucking his head once or twice. He didn't hold it there and his chin was not at breast level. All I saw here was a pretty movie about how horses should actually be - natural.

[bausman480]

um, that was the point. xD

[exesblueeyeddevil]

you can't really compare horses at liberty with those under saddle in a competition!

[FR0STYF0X]

why not?

[Katelyn153]

Did anyone see it do "hyperflexion" in there. Well, I didn't. But it did do a classical frame.

[pleatec13]

storm15918 -- ACTUALY horses dont naturaly jump in the wild, they go around whatever the object is. they only jump, if they ABSOLUTLY have to !!!

[EmmaArr12]

You sound like you think you know everything. Storm15918 probably knows that already but was using it was an example!

[pleatec13]

why would i think i know everything...thats would be impossible.

[SilverFlake3]

thanks for the video!

It's beautiful and shows how the horse always ought to be seen ;) It shows the wonderfull spirit that is often killed in competitions :(

[pirouette987]

"money and extensive breeding". I don't know what 'extensive' breeding is but the top horses in the world ARE very expensive and bloodlines ARE a part of their success as well as their training, conformation, gaits. Klimke said, 'You cannot get out what God did not put in', so training AND natural ability are very important.

[pirouette987]

Dressage is about 'natural movements' in a certain sense, but they are not performed exactly as a horse would when playing in a field and a horse hardly would do competition quality things when loose. It can demonstrate that it is naturally loose and has a wide range of motion.

[irishcobfan]

Of course they don't perform movements the same when they are free as when ridden! The horse has no need to judge himself or worry about the weight of another being on his back. He will perform manoeuvers at play that anyone can compare with the movements asked for in dressage. If it were not about natural movement then the whole point of harmony and being at one with the horse would be totally lost.

[GallopingGreys]

With dressage, you go slow, so the horse develops the muscles. Unless a horse is trained, it can't do those movements in the wild. However, classical dressage lets them go long and low first, to strengthen the back muscles, then starts asking for just a small amount of collection, then moves into the upper levels. Bad dressage is things like Rolkur, where the horses are forced in a frame.

[bausman480]

actually, all horses can and do collect naturally. "teaching collection" just refers to getting the horse to exhibit collection when the human asks in order to accomplish a difficult task that would otherwise be close to impossible.

[GallopingGreys]

Yes, and to correctly teach it, you must build the muscle, which rolkur doesn't do.

[fleur4198]

and when making this into practice NEVER forget that vitally important difference between NATURAL and FALSE collection(the one with bits, bridles and spurs)!! It is extremely important as if you forget it you will only make harm and never will really TEACH the horse to collect....

[bausman480]

Of course.

[Mapleminis]

not to mention that the horse should be asked to collect himself, not be collected by the rider and held that way

[pirouette987]

Any horse CAN learn dresssage, but very few can win against the best horses in the world. It's good to learn what makes a top horse as well as understand what makes a horse suitable for a lower level rider.

[pirouette987]

"Running around with its head in the air". In competition of course, a somewhat different posture is desired. But this horse is not being ridden, it is free, the point is to allow it to be free and relax when not working.

[pirouette987]

Yes, in fact you CAN compare this to a Grand Prix dressage horse, Jaccko, as many horses of this type do quite well at that level. This horse is a little long in the back and short on the leg and heavy fronted to be absolutely ideal, but no horse is completely 'ideal' and each can be beautiful in their own way - and teach a rider a great deal.

[coversteps]

Sure it's natural but it's NEVER been okay in a dressage competition for the horse to go running around with it's head in the air like that.

[felinapus]

...but why not? It sure looks beautiful that way :)

[katorawuff]

Dressage has always aired on the side of a down turned nose, but it never went beyond the vertical before rollkur.

[irishcobfan]

I love this video! This horse is expressing himself naturally and demonstrating some wonderful movements. Anyone who says dressage is about making a horse do unnatural movements should watch this!

[kmty]

i think warmbloods are good in the higher levels =)

[catinahat121]

I think this vid is very relavant to dressage the horse is moving freely which can be rare in ridden lippazaners and is unspoilt swinging through his back this is how a dressage horse should move when ridden as the trainer should have built on its natural movement without spoiling it but i think you'd find most are not nearly as free nor do they move so well through their backs

[WarmbloodJumper]

any horse can be a dressage horse...its about the movement not how much money and extensive breeding goes into it.

[hristina123456789012]

acctually u have to put loads of money to traine a horse correctly 4 dressage and save his natural good movement.good breeding also helps because the horses parents have a ''history'' of good movement.but correct training is the main thing

[WarmbloodJumper]

no kidding!? wow! your so insightful!

[beowulf333]

most of you are a bunch of SNOBS this horse is GORGEOUS!beautiful natural talent.

[Jaccko14]

You cant compare this to a Grand Prix dressage horse!

[bassguitarfreak4]

Actually, you can.

[USNhcc]

Why not? Dressage is supposed to judge the horse's TRAINING. Any decently built horse w/3 clean gaits can be a GP horse. Dressage should make the horse look and move better than before you started. If you've ever watched some of the really old (like 50's, 60's) clips of competitions or seen a good classical trainer the horse can look stunning while performing, and when you see it standing there in the stall it's not built well, sometimes a downright ugly horse even.

[Jaccko14]

i agree, it does not matter how good looking ur horse is, as long as it has good movement. But i must admit the warmbloods always pull it off better! not all warmbloods, but alot of them

[storm15918]

It's like jumping. They can do it in the wild, but humans refine the skill, and it shows. Dressage only ENHANCES natural abilites the horse is born with. Humans didn't instill those movements in him, nature did.

[ropincowgal]

its very perty BUT to me and it may be just me i think the horse knows nothing else apart from that movement, but he carries himself realy nice, but his moves there not natural look at a wilid horses movent who has had no contact with humans notice the way theye carry themselves and compare them to him notice the differance?

[lightordark24]

actually, if you look at posturing stallions, they do carry themselves very much like this..

[RoanArt]

This horse's moves are *very* natural for this breed. You can't compare a Lipizzaner at liberty with "wild horses" and their natural movements. Lipizzaners have been selectively bred for these types of movements for centuries and are natural dressage horses.

[Minga90ame]

So this is the opposit of anky then? well i would like to see this horse on the grand prix...I don't understand this at all..this horse insn't caring a freaking rider! you can't compere this to an high level dressage winner like salinero.

[EquineJunkie88]

this video is to whow what DRESSAGE is aimed at doing it is too imitate the natural movements of stallion at liberty and playing and doing what they do....this video is to show that the horse is not for long periods of time extrememly flexed behind the vertical only for very short periods....totally opposite of anky. which hyperflexes her horses for long periods of time ,

[annemarieke]

Every horse can look beautifull and have perfect balans on his own. The goal of dressage is to train the horse to also do this with a rider. But not every horse and not every rider can. So you can't tell this horse is a dressage talent just because he looks pretty here.

[RoanArt]

That would be true for most breeds, however the horse in this video is a Lipizzaner.

[horsyfreak]

With a right rider you can. If the rider is patient, then horse will react like rider wants...

this is just my opinion :Sž

[corpseburrito]

I like his whiskers. =]

He's gorgeous, a real Dressage talent.

[storm15918]

I think all dressage riders should aim for being able to ask your horse to do that and have it performed just like this horse did all on his own. That was truly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen...

[pauline608]

Thats why I love horses. Thanks for another great clip.

[nickinac1]

Please check out my comments on clip 3A. Thanks all

[horsegodess]

Oh my God, i could watch this horse the hole day!! It made me so calm... One of the reasons why i love horses so much is how they make me feel when i'm close to them. Or just watching vids like this one :) :)

[SilverSammet]

Where can I find the version with the english in teh end? Where you write:

"...Please also realise that posture and movement in the horse are closely connected to its state of mind, its emotions and itswell being."

I loved this movie and those words,I would like to link it from my homepage.

[clominus55]

This is the prettiest horse I've ever seen! It ttok my breath away and made my jaw DROP!! please email me and tell me about it pleaseeeeee

[cadenced]

I love this elder srs stallions balance. What a sqaure halt which we spend years trying to get....it is a state of nature!.