By the Letter - Notes from the Dressage Desk.
By Gina Krueger, VP of Dressage, GDCTA
(Originally published in the GDCTA newsletter)
Let's look at the specifics included in each phase of the training scale.
The Familiarizing phase is comprised of the first 3 elements of the training scale:
The first element is Rhythm (Takt), which is the characteristic sequence or footfalls and phases of a given gait:
The second element is Suppleness/Relaxation (Losgelasslenheit), which is the beginning of the Circle of the Aids. "Losgelasslenheit" means "let go ability" in direct translation and refers to the ability of the horse to give himself to the rider. This is the basis for confidence in the horse. He relaxes his body and mind and relies on the rider to keep him safe. Positive communication can only grow when this state is achieved.
The third element is Contact/Acceptance (Anlehnung) and is the lack of evasion, resistance or protest! The horse is willing to allow the application of the aids and/or placement of the rider's weight while maintaining a steady contact. Correct contact is manifested in a soft elastic connection between the horse and rider.
The interactive progression of the Training Scale becomes apparent as the last two elements of the Familiarizing Phase are also the first two elements of the Propulsive Phase. The Fourth element of the Training Scale and third element of the Propulsive Phase is Impulsion/Thrust (Schwung). The power emanating from the hindquarters propels the horse forward and travels through an elastically swinging back and relaxed neck. This fourth step in the training scale connects the "Circle of the Aids". Now as the horse moves, he is easily influenced by the rider's aids. The rider's aids are transmitted to the horse's hind legs that push through the back and neck of the horse to the bit, to the rider's hands, and finally back to his seat. As the horse becomes straight and collected, throughness improves.
The fifth element, Straightness (Geraderichten)is the last element included in the Propulsive Phase. The old adage "last but not least" is by far an understatement here if your horse is not straight, (i.e. the hind legs following the same path and stepping in the same directions as the fore legs on straight as well as on curved lines.) Then all that propulsive power you've just mustered up will simply be lost.
The final phase of the Training Scale, the Carrying Phase is born in Impulsion, is balanced in Straightness as is expressed in the sixth element - Collection (Versammlung). Collection , or as Dr. Reiner Klimke commands "Close the horse", is the state in which the horse is gathered together and includes the following:
Now if we have tactfully, sympathetically, and honorably brought our horse through this interlocking maze of the Training Scale phases and elements, we will have developed Throughness. This collective, ever elusive apex of the Training Scale is what hopefully we all ride for: the elastic, unblocked, connected state in which the flow, back to front and front to back exists nearly effortlessly. There are no longer actions and reactions, there is only horse and rider as One.
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