EponaTV has sparked much-needed debate on the use of Rollkur in horse-training, having taped a 2 hour video of a World Cup dressage horse ridden by Swedish rider, Patrik Kittel in warm-up.
The horse is seen in hyper-flexion (the scientific name for Rollkur), and the tongue is well extended, flapping outside the horse’s mouth and appears to be blue, leading to the footage becoming known as ‘the blue tongue’ debate.
You can view some footage here (there are extended versions available):
The journalists asked for comment by the horse’s rider, who apparently felt he was not contravening FEI welfare rules, although he was interested in speaking through his lawyer.
Submission to 5 veterinarians for comment noted hypoxia of the horse’s tongue, and YouTube viewers are increasingly vocal on what they see, resulting in petitions and letters to the FEI.
If you would like to follow through in petitioning the FEI, you can do it on iPetitions
UPDATE: As a result of the video that has emerged, the following has been reported in Horse & Hound:
At the Global Dressage Forum on Monday, FEI executive sports director David Holmes announced the FEI’s decision to investigate, saying: “The FEI’s main concern has always been and will always be the welfare of the horse. We are taking the issues raised in the video and in the comments made by other Youtube viewers very seriously and have opened an investigation. The conclusions of this investigation will be made public.”
However, BHS chairman Patrick Print has since written to HRH Princess Haya requesting the FEI launch a second investigation into the practise of hyperflexion.
Print’s letter reads: “The concerns so widely expressed are reasonable and therefore deserving of an urgent two-part investigation: first, an inquiry into the treatment of this particular horse on this particular occasion; and, second, a broader inquiry into the ethics and consequences of hyperflexion. In this second aspect The British Horse Society stands ready to assist the FEI in any way it can.”
In my opinion, Julie Taylor and Luise Tomsen from EponaTV deserve an award for services to horse welfare.
Do you go into the pasture or stable and slap a halter on your horse’s head?
The horse sees you approach, there are likely one of 3 responses:
he looks at you dully and allows the headstall to be put on
he turns away (and would prefer to run away)
he comes to you with a bright eye, lowering his nose
We are in a hurry, do we even notice? Well, the horse notices.
There seems to me to be a similarity between how horses like to make a person’s acquaintance, and how some indigenous cultures like to make social contact.
In the Maori culture, for example – first one makes small talk, talks about the geneology and family, explores connections and builds relationships BEFORE the business side of things is ever done. It builds confidence and feeling between the two parties, establishing a common ground of understanding at the commencement of the relationship. This is re-established each time a reconnection is made, although it may be in a more contracted form.
How does the ‘white man’ (Pakeha) do things? Well – he pretty quickly (and often without much in the way of an introduction), launches into the business aspect of the deal. However, if you watch people who are good socially, they will establish the bond first – relaxing and including you. You already like them before the next bit.
You have seen how horses greet each other – they always sniff each other’s nose. A good way to greet a horse is to extend your hand, inviting the horse to sniff it and establish the contact. No doubt, when you do this, the horse recognises that ‘you get it’, that you speak his language.
A while back, Molly from goldentheponygirl asked about Klaus Hempfling training – what did I think about it ‘as a training method’. This is not a simple question, but fully worthy of further discussion…
Klaus Hempfling clinic (www.hestebasen.com)
In thinking about what I know of Klaus, his books and watching a few video clips, I realised that if I only had two months to live, I would like to spend a huge chunk of that time with Klaus and dedicate myself to experiencing horses as he experiences them.
Klaus Hempfling: what an inspirational man… but look beyond… what is happening here?
I think with his background of dance and performance, his deep creativity, coming to horses relatively late in life, and keen powers of observation give Klaus an absolutely different way and perspective; one that is so valuable to us who may become entrenched in our perspective or ‘way of seeing’, and consequently ‘way of being’.
I think there are many things going on here. I think he has an advanced user of a form of ‘advance and retreat’, effective user of negative reinforcement (as is seen when he keeps the stallion at a ‘respectable’ distance, through a quick movement of the rope to motivate the horse to maintain appropriate distance), and then using a visual cue and quick timing to keep the horse’s attention, and additionally uses the principles of learning theory (such as ‘habituation’), as we saw in Klaus’s video in my previous post.
His creative mind allows him to empty himself of thoughts beyond the moment to enable ‘being’ and ‘doing’ seemingly effortlessly and unconcerned. However – every cell in his body is tuned to the horse. You can see this in his focused attention.
The breaking down of habitual movement (and thinking) patterns, I believe is really important, and am really interested to see that Klaus has a system of body awareness training that warrants consideration by ’seeking’ riders.
A word of warning – you need to be realistic about your current abilities before undertaking activities such as those shown in the videos unless under skilled supervision. But don’t let this detract you from your mission of learning from the horses.
‘how you treat your horse, what tack you use, and how you chose to ride it really depends on whether you see your horse as a piece of sporting equipment, or as a sentient being’.
I think this is quite profound, thanks Rebecca for sharing that powerful insight…
My beloved soul mate says there was a time when he did not realise that horses had diverse ‘personalities’ and the rich tapestry of behaviours and instincts that he now sees.
How do you see your horse? Has it changed over time? Did something happen that made you think about horses and the horse-human relationship differently? I would love to hear your stories.
What happened to the reasons people began to ride? Do you remember as a child, the joy of being with your horse, trying to understand him? Do you remember how his skin felt, his unique scent and all his likes and dislikes? Do you remember the first time he truly taught you something? Do you remember when you truly taught him something? When it was as though he could talk?
I was listening to psychologist and parenting expert Nigel Latta’s interview yesterday on Encouraging Lateral Thinking in Children, he said that if children and adults were asked the same thing ‘here is a pot of margarine, if we didn’t have a container, what else could we put it in?’ A child will come up with a range of funny and thought-provoking suggestions such as ‘in a monkey’, or ‘in your underpants’… whereas an adult will say – ‘well, you could use a bowl’. He noticed that people are sheep, they follow the crowd.
When did we lose this childish sense of looking at the world? Was it was trained out of us? Did we just fall asleep along the way? Perhaps along the line we were told how something should or shouldn’t be done, so we followed along. Perhaps we are in busy lives, too busy hustling and bustling to slow down, ‘be’ and take the time…
Perhaps it is time reawaken the child-spirit – to re-discover the horse.
Here is Klaus Hempfling helping a horse re-discover humans:
When I look at this YouTube video 