We have covered the first five steps of the German Training Scale:
First – TAKT = RHYTHM and REGULARITY
then – LOSGELASSENHEIT = FREEDOM which includes RELAXATION
then – ANLEHNUNG = CONTACT which includes ACCEPTANCE OF THE BIT and SEEKING THE CONTACT
then – SCHWUNG = IMPULSION and ENGAGEMENT
then – GERADERICHTUNG = STRAIGHTNESS, which includes BENDING
and now we are at part two of
VERSAMMLUNG = COLLECTION, including ROUNDNESS
We talked in the last issue mostly about what we find
in our rule books about collection, and since the word
comes up only in the “collected trot,” which is only
required at the intermediate level and above, it might have
created the impression that lower-level drivers don’t need
any of this. However, that is not the case. Any horse will
benefit greatly from the complete Training Scale. Our
aim is to train a horse that is willing and able to perform
his work properly. For the horse to be able to do that, he
must be in balance. For that, he must distribute his work
evenly over all four legs. By nature, his front legs are
burdened with more of his weight since they need to carry
the weight of his neck, and far out on the end of that long
lever, nature even attached another big weight, the head;
whereas, the hind legs just need to carry the hindquarters
and tail. Thus, we see horses at the beginning of their
training “on the forehand,” carrying most of their weight
on the front legs, and having their hind legs at times
trailing behind, almost like a truck pulls a trailer behind.
So, one of our earlier steps was to get the hind end
connected, or “engaged,” with the hind legs reaching more
forward underneath the body to take up more of the
body’s weight in order to carry their fair share of the
weight. We do this not only so the horse looks proper in
his “dressage frame,” but also, and more so, so that he is
in balance and, with that, is really a safer and more useful
horse because he will stumble less over his front feet, and
if he does stumble, then he will not fall down right away.
Also, we want to do this so that his front legs are not worn
out prematurely. This shifting of more weight to the hind
end is the basic idea of collection.
To shift more weight onto the hind legs, all three of the
hind-leg joints need to bend more, and the hind feet need to
step further underneath the body. Each amount of extra
weight that the hind legs take up lightens the load of the
front legs. Since the hind legs need to bend more and be
brought more forward, the steps are then more elevated
and pronounced at the hind end; but the same also happens
in front as the weight the front legs have to carry is now
less, and thus they can move with greater ease. Through
systematic training, the muscles of the hindquarters—the
engine of the horse—can become much stronger, enabling
much more pushing power for engagement and impulsion
from behind; whereas, the front legs are mainly designed to
carry the front end but not so much to push the horse
forward. When the hind end gets more underneath of the
body, the result is a lowering of the croup as the legs are
bent more in their joints. I grant you that we don’t often
see much of that lowering of the croup in driving, the reason
being that it is so difficult for the driving horse to achieve
much collection. But this is the goal and sign of true
collection—the lowering of the croup, together with the
front end being lightened with the horse raising and arching
his neck, which brings in that far-out weight of the head
and helps in shifting the center of gravity more to the hind
end and results in shortening his frame. These are the signs
of true collection with which he then can move in balance
in what is called an “uphill” manner, meaning that the front
end of the horse is elevated while the croup is lowered.
The start of that is already in any good engagement.
We have discussed in our chapters about contact as well
as impulsion and engagement—the basic steps for how to
develop the forward trust of the hind end, which is the
route to collection. (Again, I suggest you re-read those
chapters in the February/March and April/May 2003 issues
of this magazine.) This cannot be forced by the trainer by
pushing or pulling the horse “into a frame” or by artificial
training aids, such as a biting rig, but must be developed
with a careful, steady, and elastic hand by driving the horse
on the contact, by the careful use of half halts to make him
take up more weight with his hind legs, and by careful
whip aids to activate the hind legs even more. We must
keep a soft feeling, with our hand helping the horse to
always balance himself, as we ask for more push from
behind. We cannot simply force the horse together by
holding with a rigid hand in front and pushing with whip
and voice aids from behind. That would not only make
the horse very frustrated, but also would make his back
rigid, and instead of working through the back and engaging
the hindquarters, it would result in the opposite, blocking
the hindquarters. The hind legs would not reach further
underneath the body but would only move up and down
under a rigid back. That is not collection and proper
training; that is the opposite. So as we need to balance the
horses, we must also find a careful balance with our hands.
Done properly, the neck will be raised slightly, but should
not be pulled up
artificially by the driver’s
hand; instead, it should be
raised and arched by the
horse on his own to help
shift the balance of the
body further to the rear. The nose will go more on the
vertical, the hind legs will take up more weight, and the
horse will work with engagement and energy in balance.
Our work at the previous step of straightness and bending
in the Training Scale has also helped in the education of
the horse toward collection, as there we have asked the
inside hind leg in all turns to take up more weight, which
now, for the collection, we need from both hind legs.
But, unfortunately, there are many ways that the training
is done incorrectly. The fault most often seen, especially
on lower levels, is that the horse does not go “round.”
Instead of working through the back, his back is stiff and
hollow, his jaw is rigid, his nose is stuck out in front of
him, and he leans on the bit with a big muscle bulge
underneath his neck. That is a horse that has not learned
to properly accept the bit or to stretch down and forward
seeking the contact after a giving hand. Usually, that is a
horse that is not relaxed and has developed the wrong
muscles underneath his neck. We would need to go back
to an earlier step of the Training Scale and work on freedom
and relaxation as well as contact, and only when we have
mastered those, can we go on to impulsion and engagement.
We should also keep in mind that, when we say the horse
must stay relaxed through all of our demands, we must
never confuse relaxation with being lazy. The horse must
actively work forward. For proper roundness—and even
more so for collection—the horse needs to stretch his top
line and arch his back upward, which results in a shortening
of his bottom line. False collection with a horse pulled
together artificially does the opposite; the back becomes
hollow, thus the top line shortens and the bottom line
becomes longer. This would also happen when using
overchecks, sidechecks, or biting rigs to force a horse into
a “frame.” Instead of taking up more weight with the hind
legs, in false collection, even more weight is on the front
legs, his withers are pushed down instead of elevated, and
his hind legs are not engaged but just moving up and down.
This is also what will happen when a horse is asked for
collection when he is still too young for it, and has not yet
developed the correct muscles to carry himself properly
for any collection. It takes years to build up a horse’s
muscles enough, and not only does he need to develop his
hindquarters for it, but he also must develop his shoulder
muscles—especially so for a driving horse, which needs the
shoulder for pushing the carriage.
Another fault is when the horse comes with his nose
behind the vertical, either by being pulled there by too
strong a hand of the driver or by avoiding the contact and
going behind the bit. Both
cases need re-schooling,
too, by giving with the
hand and encouraging the
horse to stretch out while
going forward and then
very carefully taking up the contact again to establish a
soft give-and-take balance between driver and horse.
The proper education of the horse, thus, can only be
achieved by following the logical steps of the Training Scale
with great patience through the training process. We have
worked in our previous lessons already on stretching and
bending the horse. With collection, we are now working
on bringing him more together. In the collection, our horse
looks like he is becoming shorter. Working on impulsion
through up-and-down transitions and alternating straight
lines with bends to both sides will increase the amount of
collection that the horse is able to develop. The driver needs
to use his forward driving aids with voice and whip to
actively send the horse forward while using his hand on
the reins with very careful restraining aids and with proper
half halts to keep him together so that he doesn’t just run
faster in response to the forward-driving aids, but instead
is developing the impulsion and push from behind in
response to the half halts.
Again, we see why this is so much harder to accomplish
with a driven horse than with a ridden one, as the rider has
his seat and legs on the horse as his forward-driving aids
with which he can help the horse at every step and especially
push him forward, as necessary. We cannot achieve that
amount of constant helping forward aid with voice and
whip, which is especially necessary when asking the horse
for any collection. Collection is not a goal that any horse
has himself. Going forward, yes, many horses have that
desire, but going collected, definitely not, because that is
very hard for them to do. For that reason, we also should
not ask for any long periods of collection, especially not at
the beginning of our training. A few strides are all at first,
very moderately, and then we can very slowly try to build
that up to the requirements of the dressage tests. Ask little
in the beginning; it takes time to build up the muscles and
understanding for it. Don’t overdo it. It is hard on the
muscles and joints of the horse as well as on his mind. Quite
often, asking for a little less will give you actually more. If
the horse gets nervous or
frustrated, go back a step to the
previous level and only start very
carefully again at a later lesson.
During these exercises, the driver
should alternate between
lengthening the horse and stride
by giving with his hand and taking
up a little more contact to collect
the horse, but that part has to be
done very carefully so as not to
block the horse.
During all of this, the horse
must keep his balance. Keeping
that is so much harder for a
driving horse than a horse under
saddle because, for the driven
horse, the amount of pull of the
carriage changes a bit with every
step (that’s because the carriage,
at times, rolls easily behind him
and, a fraction of a second later, needs another pull to keep
the forward momentum). This is not a constant force on
the horse; this is a changing force all the time. Add to that
the changes by rolling over different terrain, even up and
down hoof prints in a dressage field, and you will notice
that it must be very difficult for him to maintain his balance
through these constantly changing forces on him,
constantly changing his center of gravity, through which
we can help him only very little with the reins. In contrast
to that, look at a rider whose weight and balance shifts
very little during each step on the horse, and by a good
rider, will even be there to help the horse keep his balance.
The greater the amount of collection that we desire, the
more difficult it is to keep this balance by the horse; and
the heavier the carriage is, the more difficult we make it
for him.
Let me note here that the extension, as in an extended
trot, is only coming out of proper collection and is different
than the lengthened trot. The extended trot, then, is only
required in advanced-level dressage tests; whereas, up to
and including the intermediate level, all that is required is
the lengthened trot. It takes years of proper training to
build up the horse’s muscles, joints, and tendons enough
for the necessary collection of the horse to come to a proper
extension. We are literally “collecting energy” during a short
period of collected trot—even though working at the
collected trot does cost the horse a great amount of energy
as well, and he can’t hold that very long—in the corner of
the dressage ring or through small circles to then use that
“collected energy” to move forward into the extended trot
across the diagonal.
In driven dressage on the lower levels as well as on the
highest, the FEI level, there are no canter movements
required; although, we do have two ADS tests with canter
movements on the intermediate level, which, however, are
hardly ever used because they are not part of any CDE
requirement. On FEI levels, canter movements are being
used by some drivers in their
musical freestyle presentations. But
almost all our CDE drivers that
move above the training level are
using the canter in some of their
marathon obstacles, and many do
so especially at the upper levels also
in the cones. That was the reason
that the ADS did develop the two
intermediate canter tests. The
careful working of canter
transitions can also be very
beneficial toward further collection
of the horse, both in upward and
downward transitions from and to
the trot, as both require more
action from the hindquarters, more
push in the upward transition, and
more getting underneath of the
horse in the downward transition.
In the two canter tests, there is
only the working canter required, but for marathon
obstacles as well as in the cones, advanced drivers certainly
also use collection as well as extension in the canter. The
training of both in a safe environment, as well as many
transitions between collected canter and extended canter,
is very beneficial to help the horse move toward further
collection. It is very important, though, to keep the horse
in balance through the transitions and not be too harsh
with the commands; keep a soft and giving hand, and keep
the horse relaxed. Thus, canter and collecting exercises
should alternate in short order time periods with relaxing
and stretching exercises, during which, however, the horse
can also still be driven actively forward to use and engage
his hind legs.
In our dressage tests, collection is only required from
the driving horse at the trot; nevertheless, for getting that
collection at the trot, as outlined above, proper canter work
and transitions are very beneficial because they encourage
the hind legs to become more active while keeping the horse
swinging through the back. When the horse gets rigid and
tense, that is often a sign that he has not properly
understood our requests or is lacking one of the previous
steps in our training scale. We cannot force any collection;
we can only encourage a gradual development of it. So we
need to go back to the previous steps and build it up again
from there to come to our goal. However, we must also
realize that different horses also have different limits in
their physical ability, not only due to their different
amounts of training but certainly also due to their inherited
conformation, which makes it easier for some horses to
achieve some collection and much harder, if not at times
physically impossible, for others to ever get there.
As we have seen above, it is very difficult for a driving
horse to achieve true collection and, therefore, only a very
moderate amount of it can be expected in driving. But on
top of that, in all of our discussions above, we have only
talked about a single horse. As long as we would drive on a
straight line, achieving collection should not be more
difficult for a multiple, except, of course, that the driver
has to compromise his aids between the different horses,
which makes it much harder since he can’t help each horse
with the exact dosage of necessary aids to find and keep
their balance. But, on the other hand, the horses in a
multiple have it a bit easier, as they can share the pulling of
the weight among each other; leaders in a tandem or fourin-
hand can even be driven without having to pull any
weight. So they have an advantage there; however, all of
that is only true on a straight line. Unfortunately, all of
our dressage tests that require collected trots also ask for
them on curved lines, such as circles and half circles. That
means that while the inside horse(s) can be asked to collect,
the outside horse(s) having to travel a longer route can
hardly stay much collected through the turn.
So, if all this shows how difficult it is to train for and
achieve proper collection with the driving horse, which
may never be reached by most driving horses, then why
do we even have this requirement in our upper-level tests?
Why even try to work for a goal that most can’t ever reach?
Well, isn’t that the case with so many of our goals? We are
striving for perfection, knowing full well that we will never
be able to reach that goal. But every step into that direction
is of benefit, as it will enable our horses to become better
driving horses—as long as we do our steps in the correct
way.
Toward that goal, we move on to our next and last
chapter in the Training Scale:
DURCHLAESSIGKEIT = SELF CARRIAGE
including Confidence
