Jumping around in the pasture has nothing to do with school jumps. It’s a very, very bad idea to assume since a horse bucks and runs around in the pasture that it can do this stuff. That’s ANOTHER reason why it’s not in tests, because too many people would assume ‘oh sure, my horse can do that!’ And if they DON’T assume it, someone will be at hand to tell them so!
It’s another classical air. The horse has gotten somewhat out of position in the pillars, but he’s still kicking up just as asked.
There are even those in the Spanish Riding School that say the pillars are very hard on the horses and that they are used today mostly for ceremonial purposes only. It’s rare to see them do anything in the pillars except piaffe or levade for that reason.
I love how canticle starts talking about purpose bred horses so eruditely, LOL. For years we have listened to her say there’s no such thing. Now all of a sudden there is. LOL.
As far as Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses being used to do school jumps, I think that’s about the worst idea I’ve ever heard, it would take a very non-typical animal of either breed to do this work.
There are two breeds that the usual conformation and balance are simply not appropriate, and that’s EXACTLY why the school jumps were so wisely left out of competition tests, because people will immediately assume, ‘Well MY horse can do it too!’
Thoroughbreds commonly have straighter hocks for racing and Quarter horses very often have a downhill build and sickle hocks - to say nothing of the tiny cannons, small joints (so smaller articulating surface) and miniscule hooves holding up a forehand heavy body, so desirable in Quarter Horses these days. One of the worst tendencies of these two breeds is the very fine bones and small joints and feet that so desirable - post a pic of a bigger boned Thb or QH, especially without the huge high hip, massive low forehand, tiny legs and feet and ‘baby doll head’, and you’ll be told he’s a ‘puke’.
Podhajsky even visited an Andalusian breeder in Spain (not recently, obviously) and declared it a very sad shame that the horses all had insufficient bone for the work - even way back then, and they’re certainly often lighter boned now. But he ALSO complained that every year, he had very few horses to select from the Lipizanner breeding farm that were appropriate. He was very selective, and other people should be too.
There are very few breeds that routinely produce high school horses, and very few individuals even in the breeds used, that can do this stuff.
School jumps would be a disaster for such horses, and there is just the level of collection and impulsion required that such conformations simply can’t handle - simply not every horse can do that level of collection, just as very few Thoroughbreds and Quarter horses can be found in the national ranking of Grand Prix dressage horses scoring the top scores, and just as sadly, we have people assuming their horse should do school jumps - no WONDER the original test writers left the school jumps out of the tests. The thought of how wrong that would immediately go must have been very prominently in mind.
School jumpers actually can be either taller horses like the ones used at Saumur, OR shorter ones like Lipizanners (though actually, the type at the SRS is more and more going to a leggier squarer type). The common denominator is balance in the conformation, and joint and bone that gives greater longevity and power - the ability to develop a lot of collection (and stay sound for many years of training!), and wanting to do it.
One of the other reasons for keeping the school jumps out of competition is that competition involves a lot of repetition, especially today, the schedule is really alot of miles and a lot of shows. That is another reason these belong in exhibitions only.
Keeping the tests as easy as possible is kinder to the horses. Any judge worth his or her salt can tell a heck of a lot about a horses training watching him do very basic things - and with the advanced work the Grand Prix test is not only hard enough, it’s sufficient in and of itself, without adding anything else.
Lipizanners that do school jumps do not do them jump after jump or day after day as drills, behind the exhibitions is one of the best conditioning programs in the world, with just enough repetition to keep the animals fit and healthy and no more, and in any case, the jumps come out of collection, so that dressage work, including piaffe and passage keep the animals fit for the school jumps and endless repetition is not required.
The school horses are also retired from the jump work at the right time, and drop down to easier work such as quadrille and teaching students. In an environment where things are centrally controlled and it’s not about competition success, youngsters are coming along and the advanced horses are much more reliably retired when they should be, and pensioned, not kept in work til lthey can barely move. You can’t count in that with advanced horses in their teens and twenties being kept in work by riders who don’t have another one coming along, or need to sell for a profit to get the next horse.
One of the other reasons for keeping the jumps out of competition is that they are extremely dangerous. A bystander could have his head taken off if he’s in the wrong position. These are definitely not something one wants to see going on at public training and boarding stables where people and horses are out of control all over the place. These things need to be done in a controlled environment.
and of course the other reason is that very few people will ever get how to do this work properly, out of collection and impulsion - even fewer people will learn how to do the work properly and WANT to do it correctly rather than just slap it together and impress people.
One can go to any number of dinner theatres and exhibitions and see these jumps done incorrectly. VERY incorrectly. They really look like a mess and are an embarrassment. The horse’s legs are all over the place and collection is nonexistent or at a very low level. Such work is worthless compared to the correct stuff.
The story goes that one day a young student was cleaning stalls at the Spanish Riding School.
He was cleaning some of the new stallion’s stalls and two of the senior riders were standing nearby chatting about the new horses.
Suddenly the kid goes sailing across the aisle, several feet off the ground, and slams into the wall, crumpling to the floor.
‘Which stallion was that’, says one of the riders, ‘he’s going to make a great caprioler!’
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