It sounds trite, but social media has changed the world. And dressage too. Our discipline has broken out of its inner circle and has come to the attention of the public. In the midst of divergent extremes, comparison with those who see us with a ‘fresh’ eye has provided valuable input for improvement. Even from a technical point of view. And also in our relationship with horses, which are increasingly a sensitive and respected part of any equestrian duo. Hence the need to review, also within the Fei, the standard of evaluation and judgement that need to be overcome.
In this context, we have asked Enzo Truppa to explain in detail the much debated issue of the ‘horse short in the neck’, one of the aspects that increasingly attracts the public’s dislike on dressage. We asked Enzo to explain why this way of riding and presenting horses needs to change.
We must all be aware, and particularly when acting as a dressage judge, that when horses with “short neck” or “behind the bit” are shown in competition, they must receive non-positive or better negative scores if judged correctly.
– It is a matter of fact that in the past, even in international competitions, horses that were presented short in the neck during most, or even all of the test, have unfortunately received high scores and often finished paradoxically in the top places in their category.
“Short in the neck” implies that the horse’s profile does not show the freely carried neck with a visible arch from withers to the poll.
Very often horses ridden “short in the neck” received too high a score, which led riders and trainers to believe that this was a correct way (mostly let’s face it, this in the past was tolerated by the judges) of maintaining the horse’s profile and thus it was almost a logical consequence to detect the use of some much-criticised training methods in the warming up later associated with this way of presenting horses also in competition.
It is always necessary to bear in mind what is stated in the FEI rules, which are in fact the guidelines to follow in order to present a horse correctly, i.e. ideally a horse that moves well forward with active flexion of the hind joints so that the impulsion is directed on a flexible and swinging back that favours, in turn, a freely carried neck with the poll as the highest point.
The rider’s hands remain soft and the horse willingly accepts the bit.
Excessive contact with the mouth leads to showing the horse “short in the neck”, in fact hindering the correct activity of the hind legs, with the result that the forelegs are lifted and extended a great deal without correspondence with the movement of the hind legs, giving the “inexperienced” spectator a (false) impression of spectacular gait to the detriment of the horse’s general decontraction. The main visible result is therefore a lack of elasticity of movement, with exaggerated movements of the forelegs and hind legs that do not go towards the horse’s centre of gravity and do not move in relation to the movements of the forelegs.
The walk tends to become a problem or, at least, is not shown at its best. Often in canter the gait becomes fast and short, with flying changes, for example, that tend to lack amplitude.
This way of riding leads to an extreme overload of the horse’s physical abilities, elasticity is lacking and the walk usually, presents the ‘bill’ for this way of training horses.
Horses presented ‘short in the neck’ will have a stiff neck, the horse will not lighten in contact, perhaps for some very willing and good-natured horses, the gait will be acceptable, but never ideal and the hindquarters often show poor flexion of the hips and hocks with the result that one can observe ‘two horses’, so to speak, one in front and one behind!!!
This is often also true when observing the extended trot!
In addition to the marks awarded for each lesson, the collective marks are where a good judge further emphasises the origin of the problems described above. This is not to be confused with a horse that carries the neck correctly (not SHORT!!), but which sometimes drops slightly below the vertical in preparation for certain figures so as not to allow the horse to evade collection by tending, in that case, to seek contact above the bit.
We should not accept the short neck just because we have somehow, over time, become accustomed to horses presented in this way. It is not correct and should not be tolerated! And it should be pointed out that this aspect is now a top priority within the FEI and brought to the utmost attention of international judges.
Riders, trainers and judges should act, in their respective roles, according to the FEI rules; the duty of the riders is to ride correctly according to those rules and trainers should act accordingly, but judges, ultimately, have the responsibility to judge in accordance with those FEI rules and to indicate to trainers and riders, by their judgement and comments, the correct way to train and show a horse in competition.
When one speaks of “short in the neck” is referring to a profile of the horse far from the ideal one required by the FEI rules as mentioned above.
It has already been outlined that showing a horse “short in the neck” is absolutely not correct and mostly results from a very “strong” contact with the horse’s mouth.
But there is another problem, even worse, when the horse does not take contact (“behind the bit”), i.e. when the horse’s attitude of stretching his neck to follow the rider’s hand confidently is lacking. Visually the horse shows a “false lightness” i.e. it does not take contact with the mouth, with a connection with the hindquarters that is lacking, with great problems for the rider in maintaining control of the horse’s hind quarters. Ultimately, both “short in the neck” and “behind the bit” are serious problems in the training and presentation of the horse in competition that should be clearly sanctioned by the judges and in a very different way from a simple mistake, for example, in a flying change or a break in canter during an extended trot.
For those who, like the writer, have a passion for ‘historical’ authors, we quote what Colonel Waldemar Seunig writes in his book ‘Von der Koppel bis Zur Kapriole’, making it very clear what problems arise from a short neck (‘short in the neck’), namely that the connection between the activity of the hindquarters and the horse’s mouth and vice versa is broken. In fact, the horse needs the neck to be able to arch its back when engaging the hindquarters. If the neck is short this is impossible. Unfortunately, many riders misunderstand this incorrect posture citing the motto ‘the important thing is that the head is low’. In reality, if an incorrect neck is imposed on the horse, i.e. ‘short in the neck’ or ‘behind the bit’, the contact becomes vary strong or non-existent and therefore the horse does not follow the rider’s hand with confidence. The back is not swinging, the horse moves without amplitude and elasticity of gaits, because in fact the activity of the hindquarters is limited and there are often attempts to compensate for this limitation of the hindquarters by increasing the speed of movements, as already highlighted above.
