Good point. I’m not sure who posted the video, but I know the trainer in question and they are simply amazing. I object to them being attacked here.
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Ha - that’s funny. let’s follow the posting order:
The directives for a judging a piaffe are posted.
Posters post pictures of piaffes to judge by the directives.
Ah, but photos are too hard to judge/score.
A video is posted, in order, one would ASSume, to judge via the directives.
Then “oh no no no - you idiots - don’t judge by the directives. Don’t you all see how beautiful it is.”
During a test: judge: score 3 for counter canter - horse swapped during counter canter. Me - (complaining)- but didn’t the judge see the counter canter before he swapped. I asked for the change so the judge shouldn’t judge that part of it.
I will say - lovely, horse looks obedient and content with what is being asked. Fine. Not a part of competitive dressage.
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Horses grey at different speeds. I would assume someone who is being a smartass about me not knowing about greys would know that, but hey. We’re looking at a backwards moving piaffe and extolling the training virtues of a location that doesn’t permit the horses to be horses.
It’s upside down day I guess.
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I posted the video of Jorge. I consider this the best piaffe out in youtube and thought to introduce it here as a point for discussion. I ASSumed we could discuss the piaffe (conventional) as part of discussion of judging the piaffe and how the rider demonstrates all the attributes in the FEI Dressage Judge’s Manual
Then some posters took a left turn and took exception to showing the piaffe backwards as a fault. They judged it as a flaw just because it is not in the FEI rulebook.
The video of Jorge Gabriel shows exemplary riding…but that is just my lowly, must humble opinion.
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Attacked? Really? That’s a hoot!
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This degree of sitting in piaffe is not hard on the hocks. It is hard on the muscles.
Dr Hilary Clayton and other equine biomechanics scientists showed this result in studies using force plates to measure the pounds per inch on the footfalls in piaffe. And the findings were published 15 to 20 years ago so this isn’t new. They discovered the force on each limb in piaffe is negligibly different from the force on each limb in the walk.
This exercise is for sure developing the horse’s musculature, for funsies. It’s not damaging its hocks, though. Not if you believe the science anyway.
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Teaching a Lusitano to piaffe and perform the piaffe and passage transitions is not too difficult when you consider the breed’s relative strengths. A video of this horse’s transitions in and out of extension would tell you more about the training. But I digress.
Gabriel is not my favorite trainer or my favorite Lusi breeder. Lider VII is not my favorite stud. The piaffe in this video is good. The passage is arguably weak and Im not seeing that much demonstrated in the video. I think asking the horse to piaffe for this long is a bit silly. And riding the piaffe backward is also a bit silly, although you could claim this is an exercise to develop strength behind. The horse has plenty of that. The passage work is hinting that the horse needs more strength in the back and neck.
The piaffe is being called a party trick in this video because it wouldnt be asked for and probably penalized in the show ring.
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This is not even remotely a universal truth. First of all, any color of horse can turn grey, they’re not all black. Some are chestnut, bay, palomino, buckskin, even pinto patterns. Some have accelerated greying and don’t really dapple. Some keep dark dapples for over a decade. There is one Spanish line in particular that greys quite slowly and the horses are quite dark into their 20s. Some are fully light grey by age 5. You cannot gauge age by level of greying.
But I guess I wouldn’t expect you to be able to grasp the nuance of that just like you seem to have trouble grasping the “nuance” of the FEI directives.
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I was asked the age of the horse in the video. I said grey horses are typically born black and lighten over time. I did not mention a timeline, but since the horse is a Lusitano I estimated his age in teens (+ or -) based on how the grey Lusitanos I’ve know have changed color. The horse in the video is a dapple grey. I have never…ever…seen a chestnut, bay, palomino, etc Lusitano turn dappled grey as they aged.
And thus we digress into personal attacks. Ok.
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I’m not sure that the human eye can always discern the difference between training and inborn ability but looking at muscle development, use of back, the mouth, facial expressions there can be signs that give you an idea. Then of course there’s the rider’s use of aids that may give some indication. I’m afraid as one who suffers regularly from the impact of show tension, it is what it is. Sometimes it’s received as a positive and in my case not so much. The biomechanics are also a matter of fact. I get it. Judging is hard and not always black and white; however, I do think there are some things that reveal the truth and can be addressed within the guidelines put forth.
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And here I thought that started with the use of ASSume… go figure. I must be thick too.
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This is Ultra. He was born in 2000, so 12 at the time the video was posted. Probably 9-12 in the video. He looks kind of young in the video to be 12.
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Ok…so my guesstimate of “early teens (+ / -)” wasn’t too far off.
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I used the ASSume as applied to myself…not about anyone else
So rather than just plainly say “I’m not sure of his exact age, I believe he’s somewhere between 9-13 based on his greying pattern.” you launched into a missive about how to read greying patterns in horses.
ok.
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I mean all that tells me is that you haven’t seen many Lusitanos 
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And then exposed that they have zero understanding about the greying process at all 
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well look so long as we aren’t sharing videos that are relevant to dressage competition and scoring, here’s my contribution:
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Little do you know…
So we digress to personal insults. No wonder CE was closed.
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I guess not everyone knows the saying about assuming and whom is made an ass … 
Well, that or an attempt at gaslighting; either way I digress.
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