Here is a very interesting little piece of literature by colonel Hans von Heydebreck. He was one of the very first competitors and judges in Germany during the early 20th century. He was one of the authors of the famous Heeresdienstvorschrift (army riding instruction), and together with his friend, colonel Felix Bürkner, he administered the first certification exams for professional horse trainers in Germany. A student of Paul Plinzner, who edited and published Gustav Steinbrecht’s “Gymnasium of the Horse”, he was generally acknowledged as the leading thinker and theoretician of his time.
Riding forward-downward has become very popular in dressage circles, especially in Germany. It can be a very valuable training tool in developing the horse’s top line and back musculature. However, it is not a cure-all. It does not solve all problems. Furthermore, if it is done incorrectly, or too long, or in the wrong set of circumstances, or too often, it will create new problems, rather than solving the existing ones. That’s why it is worth taking a look at this exercise. In this blog entry, I will give you Hans v.Heydebrecks explanations. In the next entry, I will add my own commentary.
Hans von Heydebreck, 1935: „It is almost more urgent to revisit another term that was used in the Riding Instruction, viz. the “rein contact with a low neck position”. I want to pick up a remark that lieutenant colonel v. Dreyhausen made following a lecture by veterinarian general Haase. He said: „There may be no other principle in the riding instruction whose misunderstood application has done more harm than the demand that the horse should seek the rein in a low neck position.“
I will go one step further and seek the root cause for Mr. Voigt’s observation that horses that are trained in dressage do not fulfill the main requirement of a utility horse, i.e. secure and comfortable gaits cross country and over fences, in a misunderstanding of the term “rein contact with a low neck position.”
As one of the authors of the riding instruction, I feel responsible for this expression and want to seize this highly welcome opportunity to explain this issue once and for all, which is so important for our German horsemanship.
The expression „rein contact with a low neck position“ was newly coined by the riding instruction. The old riding instruction knew only Seidler‘s „elevation from a low neck position“, but at least it mentioned that the real training of the horse can only start once it “seeks the rein in a low position” with an extended neck and a hanging nose, which it considered to be a sign that the horse has regained his natural posture under the rider. The differences between both views are relatively small, but a few little additions and explanations, that are given about the „rein contact in a low position“ in several places in the riding instruction, have undoubtedly created a mistaken interpretation of this fundamental term.
First, it says in chapter 25 that the young horses should be induced, „with the help of side reins“, to “seek contact with the bit in a low position”. It says further: „The elevation of the neck must not begin until the horse has gained a secure rein contact in a low position.”...
Two pictures in the riding instruction that are supposed to show the posture of the young horse in the trot and canter have a very negative effect (s. picture 3 and 4). They do not show relaxation and natural carriage, but tension and lack of balance, as well as a head and neck position that is too low. However, if the horse takes an „increased downward rein contact“, as the riding instruction (p. 168) requires, then there is already a fundamental mistake that will only get worse, if the rider „resists with engaged core muscles and a shortened rein“. This always tempts the average rider to pull back on the reins.
Based on my experience that the posture which the riding instruction prescribes for this important first training period, and which always culminates in the confirmation of the rein contact with a low neck position, is usually misunderstood, I pointed out on several occasions soon after the war that the goal of the first training phase, viz. the restoration of the natural gait and the natural posture under the rider, is frequently not achieved with this method, and that consequently an incorrect foundation is laid in the horses. ... Lately, one avoids that the horses lean on the reins during the first training phase by denying them the reins. But this is done for too long, and people don’t ride forward enough. The medium trot and the posture that the riding instruction illustrates in writing and in pictures (s. picture 5) are rarely achieved during the first year of training. So the horses never learn to carry themselves higher with the head and neck, but they remain deep, the back does not relax and stretch and consequently cannot swing elastically. But when there is no Schwung there can be no Durchlässigkeit, either.“
Feel free to e-mail me with questions and comments.
Thomas Ritter
