Incredibly beautiful horses. Impeccably groomed. Beautiful perfect braids. The riders in their top hats, and dressed up impeccably.. black boots gleaming in the sunlight with nary a drop of dust on them anywhere... 

Dressage demands the utmost of the animal. Not only muscular strength, but also suppleness, balance, agility, co-ordination, proprioception and grace. And one of the most basic and effective therapies for tension, cramp, imbalance and poor proprioception is stretching.

Currently the scientific presentations are being compiled and will be reported on when available, however it was clear that based on the current evidence, this method is not detrimental once used in a correct manner.

Who cares? Who cares if we can access the hips or not. We just let them fly up into the air as we hold the front end down!

But working in this position, where the muscles and ligaments between the vertebrae are stretched to their limit, dulls the tone of these muscles and elongates the ligaments, ridding the neck of all natural tone.

In a horse trained to pull his withers forward to raise the back or to whatever, really, you have a constant traction and subsequent locking of the lumbar back.

The German Judges Association for Horse Performance Tests (DRV) reacts with criticism to the FEI Workshop on the “Rollkur” topic. The hearing of various veterinarians, trainers and officials led to no result. No evidence was brought forward to suggest that extreme hyperflexion in deep posture would be suitable to gymnasticise the horse.

The FEI's tendency towards indecisiveness in regards to important issues such as "Rollkur" ( which has after month of discussion been renamed to "Hyperflexion of the neck") does little to improve the situation.

Isnt that the saddest part? They are not mad because we are making up stories or because we are gossiping. They are mad becasue they don't want you to see what they actually do. They will take your accolades and they will take the medals, but they don't want you to look at the method.