Here is the translation of the first chapter of E.F.Seidler's book on
training difficult horses. It contains a number of very valuable tips for
training horses as well as becoming a thinking rider.
E.F.Seidler, Die Dressur diffiziler Pferde, 1846.
Pp. 3-16:
The Training of Difficult Horses
I mentioned in the introduction to Part I that we have to view the horse as
a living machine, and that the mechanism of this machine requires a correct
posture in order to function according to our wishes.
Balance is the main pillar of the training of horses.
Difficult horses are those who make it difficult for the rider to achieve
the necessary posture of the horse's body that is required for the correct
balance, due to the incorrect conformation of individual body parts, whether
their bones are too long or too short, or whether their muscles are too
tight or too soft, and who require special attention with respect to the
establishment of the balanced posture as well as the necessary adaptation of
the aids. Under a practically experienced rider who takes their shortcomings
and weaknesses into consideration, and who possesses the knowledge and skill
to bring each body part into a posture that is appropriate for the overall
conformation, and who furthermore adjusts his demands to the horse's
strength, these horses become serviceable. Under a less experienced rider,
however, who interferes thoughtlessly with the mechanism, they become
nervous, anxious, stiff in their neck, hard in the hand, and finally
vicious.
Training a horse with perfectly regular conformation already requires
practical knowledge of horsemanship, in order to keep the rider's demands
within the horse's natural performance limits. To train a difficult horse,
very thorough practical, anatomical, and physiological knowledge is
indispensable.
On a horse with regular conformation, the rider's increasing demands lead to
a suppleness that spreads evenly through all limbs. If this suppling becomes
difficult for the horse, and the rider lessens his demands, contentment
spreads throughout the entire horse. A horse with regular conformation
yields to the rider's fair demands without resistance, since the flexion of
his limbs does not cause him any discomfort, and therefore does not give him
any reason to resist. Nature has endowed this horse with a harmonious
conformation, a regular mechanism, so that balance, bend, and self carriage
come naturally for the horse and the rider's task often merely consists of
acquainting the horse with and making him aware of his aids. This is the
horse of whom we say in the equestrian terminology: "The stallion (a well
conformed sire) has already trained him".
Things are different with a horse whose mechanism is not harmonious. Such a
horse experiences the rider's aids not just as going unpleasantly against
his natural shape, but very often as painful. That is why he seeks out
various means of keeping these aids away from himself, or to evade them, or
even to oppose them with force. With a poorly conformed horse the rider has
to try to "flex stronger limbs with the help of weaker limbs, or to make
limbs more supple that are connected more stiffly, without approaching
weaker limbs too much. He furthermore has to find out which parts need to be
worked in motion, which parts need to be worked at the halt, which parts
have to be protected, and which parts can be exercised more".
It is always a mismatch of the horse's conformation and his muscling that
makes a horse difficult. The rider who is training a difficult horse must
therefore recognize precisely where, in which limb, the resistance
originates; whether it is a connection between body parts that is too tight
or too weak that causes it. He must think about how to make the horse
serviceable with art conform work, in spite of his shortcomings. He has to
try to make the work easier and possible for the horse through an
appropriate frame. With horses of this type the rider cannot work the entire
horse, as with well conformed ones. Instead, he will periodically have to
pay more attention to the gymnasticization of poorly connected parts, in
order to help them along with art, so that they catch up with the naturally
better conformed ones as much as possible. It is therefore necessary for the
training of a difficult horse that the rider is not only a fully trained
practical horseman, but also a practical connoisseur, and a thinking rider
who uses not just the reins and legs as the only aids, but his head as the
main aid.
If some riders train well conformed horses (who always have a moderate
temperament as well) with the usual succession of movements, they do not
succeed equally with difficult horses, and some riders who consider
themselves great masters of the art when they succeed in training these
quiet horses to whom they limit themselves, have to realize that training
difficult horses requires much more practical experience and diligent study
of the horse's physical as well as mental attributes after all.
The art of training a well conformed horse is to the training of a difficult
horse as ordinary riding, which you see so often in riders of older, trained
school horses, is to riding young horses, who may be trained, but who are
not finished yet. On such a finished arena horse who guesses the movement at
the slightest hint of an aid, many people appear to be excellent riders. On
a young horse, who may be trained, but who does not guess the movement right
away, who still expects the appropriate posture and the necessary aids
first, it often shows that they are not just much less accomplished, but
even weak riders. Just as an old school horse enters all the movements
willingly, a well conformed horse accepts the training willingly. And just
as the posture and the aids must be applied with good timing and
coordination before each gait on a young horse, a difficult horse requires
an even more careful and tactful posture and aids.
Without experience in seeing the big picture, without identifying and
correctly evaluating the well conformed body parts as well as the poorly
conformed body parts, without being able to distinguish true strength from
nervousness-induced strength, without the correct assessment of the horse's
temperament and character, the trainer is groping in the dark. Only too
often we hear inexperienced riders consider a horse strong, because he
produces flashy movements at the beginning of his training, as a result of
unnatural, cramped muscle tension, although he appears quite weak after half
an hour, when the cramped tension subsides. Often a horse is considered
spirited, fiery and excitable, whereas in reality it is merely fearful
excitement that is caused by his weakness in response to the rider's
increased demands. Later on we frequently see this fearful excitement turn
into laziness and general sluggishness after the fear has been eradicated.
Not infrequently, a truly strong horse is considered sluggish and lazy,
although he is merely holding his strength back, because moving his tight
muscles and tendons is tiresome for him. However, with suitable and
incrementally increasing training demands and muscle strengthening
exercises, the work becomes easier for him, he enjoys moving and develops a
pleasant, willing temperament. Then you hear from inexperienced riders the
statement: "It is strange how horses change their temperament. The hot horse
has become lazy, the lazy one so nice and lively." This change in
temperament was simply the consequence of appropriate training. The rider
relieved the weak body part of the weak horse by shifting the excessive
burden through an appropriate frame toward the part that was able to carry
it without negative effect. The horse therefore had no reason to get anxious
and to try to free himself of the load that often caused the weak body part
pain. Consequently, calmness ensued. The apparent sluggishness of the strong
horse was caused by tight, unexercised muscles for which movement was
difficult. His joints have become more flexible, and his muscles are working
more playfully and more easily through appropriate exercise and suitable
movements. The horse no longer experiences the same difficulties, he appears
more active and goes forward more joyfully.
We often find horses, especially those who have a stiff throat latch area
and a stiff back, who shy frequently under the rider, even though they are
otherwise good natured. They never shy when they are being hand walked.
During their first ride outside they press against the rider's hand, trying
to avert his aids from their poll and their tight back. They go along in
this tension, their attention completely focused on the bit, as if absorbed
in thought. As soon as they see something out of the ordinary, they leap
sideways. As their training progresses they become completely calm, when all
the stiffness is removed. They often show this calmness earlier, when you
ride them towards these unknown objects with long reins. These horses are
not afraid of the objects themselves, but of the unpleasantly tight frame,
and they are only waiting for an opportunity to work against it. Then again,
we find horses, usually with a weak back, who go forward with tense back
muscles, leaning onto the bit with a low head carriage for a long time, but
without shying at all during their first rides outside. They are so
preoccupied with their lower jaw's resistance against the bit, in order to
prevent a higher elevation that would be unpleasant for their back, that
they are oblivious to everything else. Once they enter the period in which
they perfect their elevation and yield their back completely, going under
the rider in relaxation, they suddenly start to notice all the objects that
they had been ignoring so far, and they start shying. These horses need to
be taught to trust these unknown objects.
We see therefore how many different causes there are for shying, how
differently the horses manifest them, some sooner, some later in the
training, and how differently the rider has to act, in order to proceed
appropriately.
I have come to the conclusion that the so-called "ground shyness" - suddenly
leaping sideways - is not caused by the conformation of the horse's eye, but
by back tension and stiffness in the throat latch area. It is usually long
and weak backed horses who are ground shy. In general, spooky horses tend to
shy most often on the side with the greater stiffness in the throat latch
area. On the other side they spook much more rarely, often not at all.
A doctor is only able to heal an illness if he knows its cause and its main
root. The trainer will only be able to treat and train a difficult horse
correctly, if he finds out the cause of his resistance. He therefore has to
use his common sense, instead of hoping to achieve a good result by
mechanical actions, by strict interference with the horse's mechanics, or by
completely letting the horse fall apart.
When we allow a green, young horse, who has no pent up energy, to go quietly
in the posture of his own choosing, he shows himself to us either in a
posture that is caused by his mechanics, or in a posture that he learned in
a previous training experience, sometimes more correct, sometimes more
sloppy.
Therefore, a horse with truly harmonious conformation, whose body has been
shaped negligently by living in a pasture or unnaturally by the previous
trainer's ignorance appears to have poor conformation to a person without
practical knowledge. On the other hand, a horse who has truly poor
conformation by nature, but who has assumed a correct posture by being
stalled early and by receiving an appropriate introduction to the initial
training stages looks like he has better conformation than the first horse,
although in reality the opposite is the case.
This is why one often hears the statement: "The one horse hasn't turned out
to be as good I had hoped by the looks of him," and: "The other horse has
turned out much better than I would have thought."
The truly practically experienced horse connoisseur will find out the
regularity or irregularity, regardless of how the horse presents himself,
and he will know how to deal with it. The rider who lacks this knowledge
should refrain from training difficult horses for the time being, because
his actions will only have a negative impact with respect to the training
progress as well as to the horse's legs. He resembles a surgeon who wants to
operate without knowing the location of the muscles or blood vessels, who
either hesitates and does not heal the wound out of self doubt, or who cuts
willy-nilly and causes a peril that often cannot be overcome even by the
best surgeon.
Acquiring truly valid, practical knowledge of horsemanship is not so easy.
Some people think they are great connoisseurs after having heard several
lectures by experienced veterinarians, and having read their textbooks. In
spite of this, there will be many cases that show him his lack of knowledge
in this art, in which you can never attain perfection.
Evaluating a horse correctly is the most important thing in training. It is
the key for entering into the art of training horses. This is why you can
never pay enough attention, you can never do enough research, because you
not only have to judge the proper relationship of the limbs and the length
of the bones correctly, but mainly the strength of the muscles that move the
limbs. One has to be able to distinguish true strength from strength that is
caused by the excitement of exuberance or other circumstances. This can only
be acquired in practice. Theory must precede by way of an introduction, but
practice has to lead toward perfection. Practical horsemanship alone,
however, does not teach us this knowledge either, but it is a combination of
practical riding and observation of various horses that are worked by
others, because here we see the effect and success of appropriate or
inappropriate postures and aids. The rider who climbs on his horse, works
him, dismounts and leaves the arena without observing other horses that are
being trained by other riders will never learn to judge and train a horse
correctly.
Practical knowledge of horsemanship is acquired by closely studying many
horses, especially flawed workhorses, trying to find the root cause and
location of each irregular movement, and by visiting the race tracks and
training tracks, the sales barns, horse markets, and diverse riding
institutions where you can often see beautiful, flawless horses side by side
with less beautiful, and even worn out horses. Those who have permission
should also visit the military arenas and schools, because there you find
horses of all ages, from four year old remounts to very old horses. You see
young, strong horses as well as young weaklings, strong middle aged ones as
well as horses who are flabby at this age, with beginning or fully developed
blemishes, old horses who are very strong in spite of their frequently old
age and outperform quite a few younger ones. These old horses should be
watched especially carefully. They either have very harmonious conformation,
or thoughtful training has given them an appropriate posture for their
conformation so that the work did not harm them. In either case, they are of
interest for the thinking rider.
It is not just pleasant, but necessary, that the budding horse connoisseur
is supported in his observations by an experienced practitioner - whether he
is a veterinarian, riding teacher, or cavalry officer - who points out the
horse's flaws and strong points, based on his practical experiences, and
corrects his judgments. Observing military cavalry troops has the advantage
that the horses are not for sale, so that you can openly discuss their
strengths and weaknesses, and the large number and diversity of horses and
riders as well as their different training provide rich observation
material. A major factor in the correct education is that the experienced
horse connoisseur voices his opinions impartially to the student, and
neither holds them back nor lies about them for political reasons, such as
selling the flashy step of a weak horse who is moving with tense muscles as
strength and shoulder freedom, selling the weakness of the haunches as
flexibility, etc., which misguides the future horse connoisseur. One should
therefore not ask the mentor for instruction using his own horses or the
horses of his friends as examples. Horse ownership and horse sales hold such
an attraction that the friend will not give his best friend an honest
answer. He will mostly only say the best things about his horses. If someone
who knows little about horses wants to buy a horse from a friend who knows
more, and if this horse has any flaws, the friend will say as an honest man:
"This is not the right horse for you," but he will not reveal the true
reason.
In evaluating horses who are intended for riding the opinion of a
practically experienced rider and horse connoisseur is usually more reliable
than that of a practical veterinarian who is not a rider, for the following
reason: Many riders study equine anatomy in addition to equestrian art. They
observe the relationship of the limbs to each other closely as a result of
practical training, and they recognize with greater precision from
experience the conformation features that are more suitable for riding as
well as those that are less suitable. By contrast, there are only few
veterinarians who are advanced enough as riders to pay the necessary
attention to subtle deviations from the regular conformation, which present
many obstacles to the training although they appear to be only of minor
consequence.
Therefore, the simultaneous evaluations by a practical rider and a
veterinarian of a horse that is intended for riding do not always agree. The
rider judges the harmony of the conformation in addition to the localized
quality of the limbs, whereas the veterinarian judges the localized quality
of the limbs more. We often see that a horse that comes highly recommended
by a veterinarian presents many training difficulties, whereas a horse that
the veterinarian judged as inferior becomes very obedient. This could not be
any other way, unless the veterinarian is also a practical rider.
Horse knowledge would expand considerably if veterinary students received
high quality, practical lessons in horse training, and equestrian art will
always improve the more the rider studies equine anatomy.
In order to acquire a standard for judging the horse's greater or lesser
conformational suitability for riding, the future horse connoisseur has to
look closely above all at those horses who present themselves under the
rider in all gaits in a decent posture and in a regular, calm movement. This
posture, movement, and calmness are usually based on a harmonious
conformation. (Anxiety is always provoked by disharmony in the conformation
or by counterproductive aids by the rider).
In these horses one should observe closely the head, especially the throat
latch, the poll, the neck; then the legs that move the animal machine, viz.
the scapula, its position, its length, the upper arm and forearm of the
front leg, the cannon bone, etc.; then the back, its length, its depth,
etc., the hip bone, its direction and length, the femur, the gaskin, the
cannon bone, etc. (Later more about the relationship of these parts to each
other). One has to commit these things to memory and compare them to the
movement and posture of other horses. Then one has to try to identify their
differences in terms of their conformation and gaits, and observe whether
horses with the same conformation show the same movement and behavior. If
there are differences, one has to find their cause. One furthermore has to
observe those postures that induce anxiety in horses with good conformation,
as well as those postures in which poorly conformed horses move calmly and
with regularity. This way the student of horsemanship will form a plan over
time, according to which he is able to treat horses with different
conformation differently, according to their conformation.
Every horse has one particular head and neck position that is comfortable
for his conformation type, and in which he is content and trots calmly. It
has to be the main rule for the horse's training to find this particular
posture first with every horse, regardless of how low the head position may
be initially, and to begin the training from this starting point. The
posture is gradually improved and confirmed. If increasing the demands leads
to undue nervousness the horse is allowed to return to his content posture,
and from there the demands are renewed again. This way we get a little
closer to perfection every day, and we always keep our horse content.
As a training tool for practical horsemanship and horse training, a
thoughtful sales business tops the list. A cavalry officer who has the means
and the opportunity to change his trained horses, after having used them for
a while, should do that, even if he does so at first without benefiting very
much from it. The benefit will come later, on the one hand from obtaining
higher prices for trained horses than what he spent on green horses, and on
the other hand from enlarging his knowledge of horsemanship and training.
Both are inevitable. For if buying and selling horses is not to backfire, it
is necessary before the purchase to check very carefully the horse's
conformation, his strength, his temperament, his flaws and strong points.
One starts to think: How can a weak limb be protected? How can an anxious
temperament be calmed? How does the horse need to be treated in order to
have him calm and trained as soon as possible? How much work does the horse
need in order to stay healthy and in good weight? Which frame, which posture
is the most beautiful for the horse and at the same time the most
comfortable one for his conformation and temperament? Which movement is the
most powerful, the most beautiful one, that needs to be shown off for his
benefit? Which movement is the most unpleasant, the weakest, least
attractive one, that one must show the least to a potential buyer? (E.g. the
conformation and movement of a strong horse can be emphasized considerably
with a few strides of lateral movements. On weak horses, however, the
lateral movements will only underscore their fragility). These
considerations will produce horse knowledge as well as a thoughtful
training, and income from horse sales. The horse lover and amateur rider
will strive to gather his own experiences, because every thoughtless action
is paid out of his own wallet.
The riding teacher and experienced horse connoisseur can instruct the
younger student only in the cases in front of them, but he can never train
him completely, because it is impossible to cover every single case. Each
horse is different from the next one in terms of his qualities. After having
received instruction, the riding amateur and horse lover must continue his
education by his own observations. The horse himself becomes the teacher for
the attentive rider, in training as well as in horsemanship.
It would not be difficult to perfect one's horsemanship, if one merely had
to deal with the mechanics of the skeleton. However, it is not just the
harmony, the proper length of the bones vis-à-vis each other, but the muscle
strength (the muscles' tone and ability to stretch) requires special
consideration. We often find irregular movements in a horse with harmonious
conformation, because the muscles of individual limbs are weak. In other
horses, whose conformation shows some irregularities, that would lead us to
predict irregular movements, we find regular movements due to his muscle
strength.
It is only by practical exercise that one can learn to recognize and
evaluate these things correctly. Bone length and their relationships to each
other can be explained with drawings, but muscle strength is something that
needs to be experienced firsthand, not just seen, but felt by the rider.
The horse's stamina is based mainly on his muscle strength, but his
dexterity, the smoothness of his gaits, his posture in tight turns, are
based more on the harmonious design of his conformation. If the muscle
strength is the same in a horse with good conformation and one with poor
conformation, the one with good conformation will always possess greater
stamina, since it requires much less strength to move a balanced object than
an imbalanced one.
