Classical versus Modern Dressage

Video about the comparison of modern day dressage riders to classical masters, clips include Edward Gal & Anky van Grunsven - two riders who I don't particuarly favour and then my favourite horseman, Nuno Oliveria, it just goes to show that people tend to forget about the real riders and masters of horsemenship and everyone raves about modern day dressage riders and how they ride so 'well' if you put clips of the two together, you can see a huge contrast in the way the horse is ridden and how the rider rides, I am not telling people that they shouldn't like Edward Gal and Anky, but they both use methods which are supposedly frowned upon in FEI rules and regulations however, they get away with this, more so Anky as she uses the hyperflexion method a lot more than Edward.
Despite the fact he passed away in 1989, Nuno Oliveria should be praised a lot more than he is, he was a quiet man that kept himself to himself and trained his horses and produced some extremely well talented horses which he loved, but he didn't do it for the money aspect, the same goes for horsemen such as Alois Podhajsky, Francois Robinchoin la Guerierene, and of course, my favourite, Philippe Karl - who petitions agaisnt roll kur technqiues, these men should be getting double the credit that Anky and Edward Gal get for there work , because Classical Dressage simply is the best- in my opinion

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Edward
• Gal
• Modern
• dressage
• anky
• van
• grunsven
• nuno
• oliveria
• philippe
• karl
• alois
• podhasky
• classical
• riding
• horses
• roll
• kur

[lilmisshorsey14]

nice video, it was well put together. and i am not arguing or being rude or anything, but just because Anky and Edward use these horrid methods that is so called 'modern' dressage, the rest of the world who uses modern dressage do not also do this or use these methods. i ride modern, and basically everyone i know also does, but NOT like Anky and Edward and we never would. we DO NOT use the rollkur or anything, but still ride modern dressage in a kind way. does that make sense? nice vid though x

[lassiesuca]

@lilmisshorsey14 thanks for your comments, when I made this video I think I was a little naive, I respect that and there are modern riders out there who I am sure have respect and empathy for the horse- but then I'm sure you all have classical principles in mind too- because that is what it is based upon!!! x

[Flamingmoonson]

I do not entirely agree with EVERY thing in the video, but I'm really Glad Someone is remembering Podhajsky and Nuno. No one seems to know who they were. And of course classical is the best it has been for the last 200 years! Lovely LOvely video! with very good points.

[lassiesuca]

Thankyou, and would be intrequied to know what you don't agree on, I know not all modern dressage isn't the same, but everything I have seen has been portrayed as this, I am a huge fan of Nuno, Podhajsky and Karl, both very great horsemen, along with other great masters, classical is the most beautiful thing, and Nuno was an amazing horsemen, glad you enjoyed the video x

[Flamingmoonson]

useful, but dangerous tool. I do not think that many people understand how to use it, and I have noticed too, that more and more people are abandoning traditional and safe approaches, inorder to get a "quick" fix. I think that when used sparingly, carefully and professionally, Hyper flexion, can be useful, but it will always be a short cut. and Classical dressage does not allow for proper training to involve shortcuts. Thanks for listening.

[lassiesuca]

Yeah, I respect that, I have passionate hate about rollkur and I just don't think anyone should use it, simply because it can do so much damage, and even if it is useful, riders such as anky will just abuse that and use it in extensive periods, it is such a shame that this is the case of course, thankyou for your views :)

[unicorndream]

I find it disturbing that the goal of many riders (in all disciplines) seems to be domination of the horse, instead of wanting the horse to work with them, that attitude had led towards so many problems.

[bevinallison]

I just saw a show Sunday and a trainer was asked about the horses impulsion by another lady. The trainer said, I don't care about impulsion I care about control. I want to have control of this horse before I have impulsion. Control isn't even in the pyramid and I became disgusted as I watched all these horses in 3rd level tests so unhappy and resisting missing basic elements while their trainers tried t control them. So sad to watch.

[pinkluwink]

I'm personally unimpressed by all the examples shown in this video. The modern most of all though. You can see that all of the horses are behind the vertical and aren't truly engaging their hind end. The quality of the "classic" clips is so poor that it's really difficult to even form an opinion.

[realityrider]

I was at a Clinic with Anky and Sjeff in Spruce meadows about 2007 at the Masters. She was riding the bay horse shown in the night photo, and he was a dropper as soon as he was asked to engage she would pick him up and ask again and some tiny minded person decided to take a photo of him at that moment and publish it, nice. I can't imagine the incredible pressure Anky is under to please her sponsors and "Make" those high priced horses perform under the most difficult and unusual circumstances.

[realityrider]

For instance before about 25,000 spectators, at night under Oilfield type spotlights, with the British House band playing and hiding under the grandstand with little music lights on their music stands, umpteen children and dogs running back and forth in and out of the dark, and to keep composed and perform the highest level of dressage while speaking into a Microphone, on a nervous horse dancing around strange looking HUGE International jumps.

[realityrider]

Tell me how would YOUR horses perform under that pressure? I don't care for some of the shots I've seen on You tube of Anky, but she is a very nice person and an amazing rider.

[horsegirlanna]

@realityrider agreed



[horsegirlanna]

I don't think it's fair that you take a candid clip of Anky having a very difficult ride and put it beside a staged and edited video of Nuno. They ride entirely different horses, and have entirely different goals. Nuno isn't riding difficult warmbloods, nor does he need to develop the horse's gaits to the utmost. They're both incredible trainers, just very different in situation. Modern warmbloods can't be ridden so kindly - trust me I (and many others) have tried - the horse gets behind the leg

[horsegirlanna]

The main difference in classical vs. modern is the level of leg/hand connection used. Modern riders (myself included) ride with their legs and hands always in contact, the horse is constantly pushing himself into the bridle. Classical riders ride with looser reins and legs, using primarily the seat aid with less connection back to front. Watch vids of Klimke and you'll see his legs are looser than say Edward's, and his horse is less round with less power. They are different, not better or worse.

[Luculencia]

Classical Dressage is beautiful to watch. You can see the purpose of it - producing a horse that could maneuver naturally and with agility in battle.

Competitive dressage is rather sad in comparison - forcing a horse into unnatural restrictive movements mostly for looks.

[oliviabodycomb]

neither i would prefer natural horsemanship but for now Im doing english but when i get my own horse ill adopt

[pepinmotion1]

LOL! Dressage means training.. dressage is in any kind of riding and really to get back to "old school" dressage you would be training a war horse... side stepping used to crush a fallen .. leg aids to you can fight with your hands.. that is "old school" dressage. If your horse is broke to ride guess what it knows DRESSAGE! "Dressage" is the base of all riding.