I am certainly no expert in classical dressage, but I couldn’t agree with this more.
Honestly, upon first looking at those images, I thought the lady was in the midst of stopping her horse mid-bolt. And not in a good way. Lordy.
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Being “broken at the 3rd vertebra” means the horse has been ridden in a position (usually via hyperflexion/draw reins/some other gadget) where rather than getting all its flexion at the poll, the horse is either choosing or being forced to flex at the 3rd vertebra. They develop a distinctive lump in the upper third of the neck. Whether that’s just caused by weird muscling or eventually evolves into some level of damage to ligaments/tendons is beyond my knowledge.
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It’s a dressage term referring to an incorrect positioning of the neck. The top photo is “Broken at the third vertebrae”. Bottom is “normal”.
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When I said 'its fiction" I was referring to Wills assessment that every single horse he touches, when it becomes difficult to ride or does not progress or breaks down, came to him ‘broken’ and thereby needing an extra two or three years to be ‘healed’ by his miraculous work. Even Q, who came unstarted. And Lego, who came to him very well started by a soft and knowledgeable trainer. ALL of them. And his little inexperienced fangirls ooh and ahh and swoon and repeat his lies.
I remember seeing something in the last year that discusses whether the ligaments are actually damaged…or if this is strictly a training issue that can be resolved.
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I’ve seen a number of horses rehabilitated and its a training issue. The neck muscles will remodel over time. The difficulty that a horse that has learned to go behind the vertical has also learned to evade contact and hasnt developed true self carriage.
Its useful to ride such a horse on a longer rein asking them to reach forward and take the bit.
WF has got the longer rein piece but even on a long rein his horses roll btv so his ehe program is pointless.
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His whole premise is that a horse can not progress until “the back is lifted”. This “”lifted back” can only be achieved thru his super secret learned at the lap of Nuno (until it wasnt) and then Nuno sent him to Henriquet since he had learned all he could teach him. So no SI, no transitions, no backing, no nothing until that magic lifted back has occurred. It takes at least two years, and more if the horse is “broken at the third vertebrae” which amazingly every horse he touches has manifested that sad state.
Every horse is lunged every day. Onthe forehand, nose in dirt. Iften with long sidereins bonking them in the mouth every stride. Over and over, round and round. There are hours and years of Will talking into his camera. Years of videos of horses like Legolas who are fantastic and amazing and then poof,!gee, disappear. He constantly contradicts himself, but since new sad innocents come along he is rarely called on it, and if someone dares mention anything on the fan page, kaboom goes the banhammer. One doesnt question The Master. Then one gets accused of slander, stalking, and gets threatened with a defamation lawsuit.
Friends dont let friends do A2R.
Please keep exposing this guy. Hes not as funny as old Nick but hes a lot more dangerous.
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Maybe Will can take lessons from the Maestro!
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Those photos are horrific. That poor green (?) horse gaping his mouth trying to mitigate the pressure. It looks as though she is using the horse’s mouth to keep herself from falling over backwards.
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Shes teaching him to stretch in to the contact and lift his back, silly.
And he wore a flash because he bites.
Amazing.
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I don’t see the flash.
IMHO that is barbaric. Why are people so uneducated as to treat a horse that way (any horse but especially a greenie?)
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Its off now, finally.
Everything has an excuse. Lip was an aggressive biter because he had lived in a pasture with other horses. Ergo needs flash so he wont bite us. Not that he might be confused, unhappy, have ulcers, be sore… nah.
Hokay!
Q needed a flash (which Will called a dropped noseband) because Diana Murphy had broken her at the third vertebrae and Q “dropped her jaw below the bit.”
Hokay!
More training tips oh his endless you tube videos!
I learned:
Arenas are about 6 to 8 ft deep.
Working gaits means the horse is working over its back.
When riding what might be a fractious horse, use a double for safety!
When you ride a horse this way, it doesnt need to be turned out because it will just stay in its stall in a state of euphoria…
If a young horse wont load, just put a lip chain on it and shank it so hard it flips off the trailer, concusses itself, and later goes blind and gets put down. But hey, it always had a screw loose…
All these and more, courtesy of the Master Horseman!
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Sweet jebus. What the actual you-know-what is going on in those photos?? It looks like a Monty Python parody of training a horse.
Just thinking out loud here to no one in particular: I can’t figure out this weird obsession with Nuno and “classical” dressage or whatever the heck they want to call it. The fact that something is old doesn’t automatically = better. Think about it. It wasn’t until the 1870’s that anyone fully understood the footfalls of the horse at a canter & gallop. We’ve made greater advances in our understanding of subtle anatomy & sport biomechanics & sports medicine over just the last 30 years or so than we did in the 5000 years preceeding. Why do people insist on clinging to a method based on outdated, long since discredited assumptions?
We still read Garcia’s Art of Singing in college vocal pedagogy classes. But it is with an eye towards understanding it’s place in the history of the art of singing. Because even though he was revolutionary for his time, the methodology is largely outdated now. (He teaches women to breath from the chest up to accommodate the corsetry styles that were prevalent in the last part of the 19th century for example.)
Maybe I’m just more aware of the phenomenon now thanks to COTH? Because between A2A, NP, a couple low level trainers I know , and some random “instructors” in a group I belong to on FB, the whole “classical dressage is the one true path to enlightenment” stupidity seems to be everywhere lately.
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@TheDBYC There are some real issues with the direction of competitive dressage today, and folks looking elsewhere for alternatives. There is an interest in the fairly large body of writing that predates the invention of dressage as a competition. That said, people can only understand at their own level. Thus there are knowledgeable conscientious horse people using older methods and also charlatans and idiots. WF started by identifying a real problem many people would agree with but doesn’t know enough to develop a solution.
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Fair point. Though, I wonder then why we don’t see a trend towards people leaning way back on the takeoff to a fence as was the practice in centuries past?
The key point I find fascinating – maybe ironic – it is basically a physical impossibility for most women to ride in the classical Nuno- style due to the structural differences generally present in the gynechoid vs android pelvis, hip joint, and upper legs. Men typically have a much narrower, taller pelvis with far greater congruence than women. Their sitz bones are closer together and 
their coccyx projects inward and immobile. 
Women’s pelvis are typically much wider, with a far greater range of mobility (I have to dig out my notes, iirc we even have one less attachment point at the base of the sacrum) and the coccyx curved outward and mobile so it can get out of the way of a baby’s head in the birth canal. Don’t get me wrong. I think the Nuno practice of riding with a pronounced posterior tilt to the pelvis isn’t exactly great for men either. It absolutely sucks for women, though, because it has the potential to cause major pelvic disfunction. You’re literally tearing your pelvis in two.
Just reason #101 I’d like to see German style certification for equine professionals adopted in the US…
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Most images of Nuno in the 1950s are from his later years and he has lost his posture and body. He has enormous tact but he doesn’t have a great position. I saw one photo once from the 1920s where he sits like a gorgeous young bullfighter.
I don’t know how much you’ve picked up about the current critiques of dressage. In a nutshell, over the second half of the 20th century as dressage grew as a competitive sport, it evolved with tendencies towards a forced head carriage and balance thrown on the forehand to encourage huge front leg motion and a disconnected trot (similar to saddle seat). You can look at any dressage book published before 1970 and see the difference. Obviously the biggest difference is rolkur.
The forward seat in jumping was a clear advance. However the crest release replacing following release, not so much.
Anyhow the critique about dressage is widespread, but because of that it’s available for charlatans as well as good horsemen.
The horse ridden over bent on the forehand tend to go out in the hind, SI or hocks or stifles.
WF sees head and only head and doesn’t realize the real issue is overall body balance. It is indeed possible to get a horse to stretch to the bit in a bascule with open poll, and lift the back and engage the hind end. It works miracles in rehab or basic training. But WF is not doing this.
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I’m talking strictly about rider biomechanics here. They certainly don’t exist in a bubble from the horse biomechanics, but there are people much better versed in the horse aspect than me, so I’m not even going to wade into that.
I’ve seen pics of a young Nuno. The exaggerated anterior tilt has always been there. It seems to be somewhat characteristic of certain pockets of the Portuguese/French schools.
@TheDBYC oh, OK. WF riding is so far off any desirable model that biomechanics hardly enters into it 
By anterior tilt do you mean tilting pelvis up and flattening the small of the back?
The opposite of the duck butt practiced by teen girls in hunters?
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I would like to see images the postures you are criticizing and images of the postures you are advocating.
If the rider is in balance, then he/she does not interfere with the balance of the horse. If the rider is in balance, he/she rides in balance, is not contracted and can follow the motion of the horse allowing the animal freedom of expression.
Here are 2 videos of Nuno in his later years…criticize away
Nuno on a Lipizzan
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I’ve seen both videos before. Yes, he rides with an anterior tilt in both.
Eta: I apologize, it’s a posterior tilt he’s got. I always get them confused because of transverse rotation nomenclature.
Please educate me as I have no idea what you mean by “anterior tilt.” I see a rider in balance…no different than the videos below of women riding. Perhaps you can share videos that illustrate what you are proposing.
Here is Anja Beran riding a warmblood stallion
Anja Beran at the walk
A woman student of Pedro Torres
Alizee Froment and her competition horse Mistral
In all cases, regardless of whether the rider is male/female, I see riders in balance.
