November 2007 • VOLUME 27 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

The following is a letter sent to Editors of Horse and Hound. With permission of Heather Moffett we reprint it here.

Dear Editor,

I was disturbed to read Richard Davison’s article in this week’s Horse and Hound, where he states that ‘I don’t use hyperflexion but I have enormous respect for those who do’ adding that they are convinced that it is effective, ethical and offers positive welfare benefits to horses. Incredibly, he appears to defend Coby Van Baalen over the incident where Dutch dressage pony Power and Paint, was photographed with neck winched in by side reins to the point that the pony’s chin was touching his chest . Van Baalen terms it a ‘mistake’ and that it only took place for a few minutes. Mistake?- a few minutes, and not corrected immediately? Come on!!!!

This is a ‘mistake’ that anyone who knows the slightest thing about lunging wouldn’t make, never mind an Olympic dressage rider, and to say that it is not rollkur? It is the extreme form of rollkur, used by a number of top riders, photographed and videoed being openly practised at the highest level dressage events in the warm up arenas, and with plenty of evidence visible on Youtube and in online magazines such as Horses For Life.

For a rider of Davison’s standing to come out with such emphatic support for this abhorrent practise, is likely to encourage less experienced riders to use the method, thinking that it will improve their marks and performance, when all it will do is torture the horse.

This strikes me as peer solidarity, a case of ‘I don’t do it, but if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’. I would personally like to take Mr Davison and winch his neck in, not for just a few minutes, but for the extended periods that rollkur is seen to be used in training, and see just how ‘beneficial’ it is to his ‘throughness’ and how ‘ethical’ it feels to him after even thirty seconds.

Yours truly,
Heather Moffett

Hello Nadja,

Thank you for thinking of us and yes we are well. So far, EI has not come to Victoria – there are rumours of course and most of these were based around the completion of the Victorian Spring racing carnival meaning that when this was over as was last week then we would begin to see the signs of EI in Victoria but nothing so far and hope this stays that way.

Most of Manolo’s national work is based in Victoria and West Aust, Sth Aust – these areas are EI free, unfortunately still running rife in NSW & QLD. For many as you have heard this has been devastating and is made all the worse for the continual drought that is taking place in this country with no sign of letting up. . I feel that many will not be able to continue to sustain the costs of keeping their horses in the long term. Many horses will suffer because of this this year.

Although national work has dropped off for a lot of us we know that Manolo will always be able to travel to the US to teach if needs be (I have had many emails asking for his return which should be in the new year sometime) but many can not because they don’t have the experience or skill to teach overseas so they are in a bad situation and frankly I do not know how they will come out of this situation. It is a big wake up call for all of us.

I have been following your magazine and as always enjoy it. A labour of love I suspect.

I hope that you are well and happy and once again thank you so much for thinking of us – it is much appreciated

Warm Regards,
Kate

Last month we had an article on how to deal with Aggressive Horses. Here is one riders success story.

I worked with my horse today and tried some of the stuff you suggested and although he was being a brat in the beginning, the end result was astounding. We were even riding in the arena with four other girls in there and I had them canter at us and by us do all kinds of silly things and he never dared to do anything and totally paid attention to me today - but I worked with him on 20-30 minutes on the ground prior to even getting on, even took him and walked him by two horses who were grazing with NO fence between us! I wasn't mean to him or anything, just really, really firm and he knew I meant business! <lol> After the ride I hung out with him in the pasture and I thought for sure, he would just walk away from me and join his buddies, but he never did and stayed by my side while I was in there, it was really cool actually... Thanks again,

Dear HFL Folks,

I am a brand new subscriber as of today (11/12/07). All of the articles in your magazine are wonderful, I am so happy that I subscribed!

I have to mention Susan Garvin's editorial...it was fantastic, and she is my hero! So much of what Susan said in her article hit home for me. We have two young horses that we are in the process of training, and an abused Mustang that we are re-training. We have taken a lot of guff from folks because we are not in a hurry to train our youngsters, and we are taking our time with our Mustang. We do not believe in using shortcut training aids. We feed our horses a no grain diet of mostly hay. And our four are out 24/7 with access to run-ins for shelter when they see fit to use it. We blanket in the winter only when it is absolutely necessary. In return, our horses are happy, compliant, and work hard for us when we ask them. Certainly the combination of Susan's editorial, the article on Fear and Training, and the Paradigm Shift article included in the same issue will be food for thought for many folks.

Margaret E. Wolf
Grey Wolf Morgans

Congrats on such a great magazine and for reminding us that the essence of dressage is harmony, not brutality and downright cruelty.

Thanks so much for a fantastic read.

Warmest wishes,

Victoria, Australia

I much enjoyed reading Catherine's article Pneuma (tic) feel from the August issue. My experience in lightness is just that, the energies move through the horse and the rider unblocked (relaxed), the bodies filled and round in a full natural form as if inflated and suspended.

Ideally the so-called aids are hardly physical, only hints to the animal, not mechanical clutches that activate engine gears and levers.

As for the other frustrations about the world of dressage, don't get me started... The idea of making a competition out of training an animal to be ridden it's beyond my comprehension. Then, making a sport out of it is even more vain. Whether one agrees that all aspects of training are measurable or not , it's now also a business.

Whatever brings medals is on demand and there must be a supply for it. And so many well intentioned horse training lovers are paving this road to hell.