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FEBRUARY 2007 • VOLUME 18 • © HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine
A Control Marker – the Walk
If your horse should start being restricted at the walk or to shuffle, to jog instead of walk or even to amble, as a responsible rider the alarm bells should start ringing. Because, in this case something has gone very fundamentally wrong in the training, not just with reference to the walk but as a whole. It is important to seek some expert advice here and go back several stages in the training. It has to be possible to ride the walk on the bit as well as with the reins long. If it begins to move in a tense way or to display any of the faults (as described above) as soon as the rider takes up the reins, then there is a blockage in its back and this indicates it has not been trained from back to front in accordance with classical equestrianism. So make sure you judge successful riders or a potential trainer for yourself and your horse, not simply on the basis of the high airs and level of difficulty. Watch carefully how he rides at a walk. If he trots as soon as he collects the reins and avoids a collected walk, perhaps there is something he would like to hide. The walk reveals everything! Even at top level sport, some "dramas" come about in connection with the walk. I do not wish to be over-critical about competitive sport in general, but would simply like to draw attention to some abuse and encourage people to look, think and ask critical questions. So don't just go with the flow, think carefully for yourself and keep observing your horse carefully! The author's question: Dear Dr Heuschmann, We work the horses a lot at a walk and generally do not have any problems with this gait. Why are so many dressage horses restrained at a walk or even actually amble? Many competitive riders only let their horses walk on a long rein and then trot immediately on taking up the reins, apparently in order not to ruin the walk. What tensions appear where in connection with this problem? Dr Heuschmann's reply: Dear Ms. Beran, The walk is the most sensitive indication of bad riding. In order to be able to do a good, supple walk in regular 4-time rhythm, a horse has to be able to completely relax the left and then the right funicle of the long back muscle alternatively. This, however, is only possible under the rider if the head-neck axle can clearly sink with every step in order, via the pull this creates on the spinous processes, to tauten the dorsal band and thus release the long back muscle. Horses which are mechanically flexed with the hand or with draw reins have to keep the long back muscle tense in order to carry the rider's weight and thus cannot let the walk flow through their body. The result is an ambling, restricted gait. _______________________________________________________________
At the early age of 15 years, Anja came into contact with the equestrian expert Luis Valenca in Portugal and at 16 she met the trainer Manuel Jorge de Oliveira. He became her "mentor" and still accompanies her and supports her riding ambitions today.
During the same period she got to know Marc de Broissia in Germany and since the age of 15 she has received riding lessons from him. Immediately after completing her A level examinations, she became an established member of his training team and worked together with him for 16 years. In this context she had the opportunity to ride horses of different breeds and levels of training and, after many years in which she was gaining experience herself, she was able to bring on some horses herself right through from a young age to the highest level. These include, for example the Lusitano stallion "Homero", the Cruzado stallion "Jupiter", with whom she has also won dressage competitions a number of times on the occasion of the "Day of the Iberian Horse", or also the Lusitano stallion "Hoggar" Since 2002 she has been running her own training yard at Gut Rosenhof. She has about 40 stallions there for training from Germany and abroad and the yard has meanwhile become synonymous with classical horsemanship. The meeting with the equine vet from Warendorf, Dr. Gerd Heuschmann, in 2004 led to a joint project: "In Deference!" was published in German in 2005, appeared in its second edition just 3 months later and was awarded the title "Equestrian Book of the Year" by the magazine "Bayern´s Pferde Already one year later, in October 2006, the instructional film appeared "The Art of Fine Dressage" at the end of which Dr. Gerd Heuschmann explains medical-scientific facts in support of classical dressage training. Also in October 2006 the first joint event with Dr. Gerd Heuschmann and Anja Beran took place at Gut Rosenhof. A lecture about the functional anatomy of the locomotor system of the horse preceded the practical demonstrations which resulted in an impressive combination of theory and practice. {/viewonly}
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