[QUOTE=Karoline;4642204]
There are no worthwhile books, and frankly why should there be when we are told again and again that the riders qualified to use this technique can be counted on the fingers of one hand. At least that was the original position.
Personally you cannot convince me that rollkur is beneficial to the body of the horse and I do not like the horses it produces. And this the greater divide. Some believe the horses have never moved better, and some believe that they look like standardbred on crack.
The problem for horses is this. We have been looking at images of horses with their forehead parrallel to the ground, chin on lower chest, eyes by their knees for almost what now? A decade? And it has trickled down in the postures that have become acceptable to dressage rider’s eyes, at home. I know some claim they see no roll necked where they are but I do in warmup and in lessons. Not as extreme as Anky but postures and outlines that would never been acceptable 10 years ago.
When a top rider write they think riding btv should not be penalized in tests or when you find out that in some top barns every single horse is ridden in draw reins - its standard training rather then a tool to fix a problem - you have to ask yourself what has happened to the one riding sport that was supposed to be about listening, teaching, and partnering with your horse.
Obviously I dont practice it and in fact work toward getting the research that will make it possible to outlaw it since the humane argument is obviously enough for the FEI.[/QUOTE]
As a similar parallel, 40 years ago some riders started jumping like a constipated duck, butt in the air, hanging on the horse’s neck, no direct line from the hand to the horse’s mouth.
That looked terrible, like people about to topple off, if the horse did other than jump automatically, because those riders were sure not in control or efficient on any other than a push button horse.
Eventually all got used to riding like that and for those past 40 years that laughable way of riding, called “crest release”, is what wins in the USA hunter classes, COTH the magazine and it’s pictures be my witness.:lol:
To me, that is as bad as RK are to some and I have had to watch it for all these years, wincing every time.
Yes, what we see is in the eye of the beholder, the horses are not always better just because it is the approved way.
I see those horses up in the bridle, fighting hands, just as objectionable, if not more, than those that RK is said to have made so much more soft by overbending judiciously in training.
Do I like the extremes or fads? Of course not, but I am not going to tell those doing it and being successful how to play the game, not unless I was at their level an KNEW what I was talking about.
Practically all here are not, just as I am not, we are armchair quarterbacks at best.
RK as a training technique, I am not sure it is any worse than any one other way of training out there, not enough for this witch hunt of riders that may use and the extreme of claiming the high ethical ground and calling RK abuse and wanting to ban it.
If you really think so, think how many people just watching someone ON a horse, doing whatever people do on them, already considers that abusive and want to abolish horseback riding on principle.
While there are some basic tenents to how we handle horses properly, everyone will agree that beating a horse is abuse, judging what others do sometimes is, as I say, in the eye of the beholder.
It is good to question all we do in life, but please be reasonable.
It is not good to use our questions to bash others over the head, call them names and, if you really think about what you are doing, ruining reputations of those people that have and are making dressage what it is.:no:
A dose of humble is what I would suggest for those here that are taking this controversy a little too far.
