Time is short for puting your name forward against the use of hyperflexion. In the following letter, Philippe Karl invites you to make a difference by signing a petition to be submitted in a week’s time at an FEI meeting in Switzerland.
Although science is to be considered at the FEI meeting, the types of tests that are undertaken are difficult morally, difficult to undertake, and the past methodologies have at times been sub-standard, which is why I think that, in addition to the science, ‘common-sense’ should be used and erring on the side of caution is advisable. The petition Mr Karl mentions is one way to add your voice, and I encourage you to do the same.
Dear Madam, Dear Sir,
On 9 February 2010, more than 20 experts will attend an FEI meeting in Switzerland to discuss once again whether the so-called hyperflexion (“Rollkur”) is an adequate method of training a horse. In order to support the opponents of this method and offer them further arguments, a petition has been initiated at www.no-rollkur.com. We’d like to invite you to support this action against hyperflexion – time is short!
You were so kind as to sign our own petition calling for reforms of the FN rules, which was initiated in May 2009. This obviously bore fruit: The German FN eventually invited Philippe Karl for a meeting in Warendorf, Germany. They now have to find an appropriate date. We will of course keep you informed about the outcome of this meeting.
Thank you very much again for your support!
Cordially,
How to use hyperflexion to gain compliance from your show jumper
Downhearted and disheartened with equestrianism, exasperated by recent competition world developments including Patrik Kittel’s ‘blue tongue’ incident, and then, shortly after declaring that they serve the welfare of the horse, equestrianism’s governing body – the FEI’s proposed acceptance of anti-inflammatory/pain relief medication “bute” – phenylbutazone – for competition.
It seems that when humans compete, the horses’ needs are subjugated for the egotistical drives of the human. The horses instead become a piece of sporting equipment on which to pursue personal recognition and possible fortune. The FEI, if they allow this change, is simply fuelling unacceptable levels of damage to horses.
The horse is not a willing partner choosing a competition or riding life, be it dressage, show jumping, eventing or racing. Nowhere else do we subject an animal to the same levels of distress – not even in greyhound racing, where the dogs once they are set free, can run at the pace of their choosing – they are not being kicked, held in, bounced on, suffering concussion on their joints from their heavy weight landing when jumping (and now on drugs with masking effects), suffering muscle and ligament tears, tongue damage, perhaps ill-fitting equipment, gadgets or simply bad riding. Even well-fitting equipment or riding bareback restricts bloodflow, potentially compromising the back tissues in the horse. Horses are ridden at times when – let’s be frank – it is not in their best interests.
I have to stand up for the interests of the ‘leisure’ rider here – so often they are made to feel as though they are some form of second class citizen because they choose not to compete. BUT from my observations they often hold their horses’ needs as superior to their own, perhaps in part because they do not have a deadline, because they cherish a relationship with their horse, and they are often keen observers of their horses’ health and behaviour. This is a very wide statement, I know – as in all things individuals vary as to their position on ‘the bell shape’ curve, in all aspects – be it sporting, leisure or otherwise. My observations have been that even people who may ‘love’ their horse, can still administer a pain-killer, ignore a hint – or more – of lameness (and God only knows how the judges allow it) and take a horse to a competition when it is obviously lame.
I know wonderful people who have put their horse before their own desires – in recognising the need for better saddle fit, the need to get to the bottom of an unexplained behaviour change, or to rest the horse to allow him to grow. My hat goes off to them. Others may point the finger, feel a little more superior when they watch someone not able to ride for a while or working at the horse’s pace, but quietly achieving other(important) things – in groundwork, therapeutic techniques, learning the skills of assessment, observation and thought, reflecting and reading. In my book the rider doing what is right for his horse is the one who is correct. If I were a horse, I know which rider I would choose.
Many trainers make their money via the competition rider. After all, there is often rather a lot of money spent on flashly bred horses, expensive trucks, gear, travelling the country or world to shows – so these people demonstrate their ability and willingness to pay a trainer. A moral dilemma therefore ensues… or does it?
Well, it doesn’t for me. I will continue happy with assisting those who want to learn to work with the horse, and those who are not about to desert the message if the ego rears its ugly head or, in order to save time take shortcuts, happy with people not afraid to do things differently, who are humble and questioning in their approach.
I think it has proved time for a massive shake up in equestrianism, but I actually fear it is too late. I will not complain if competition is banned.
Dressage Disgrace’s teleseminar with Klaus Hempfling on Rollkur was illuminating – it is important that we have these conversations, and I would like to thank Mark from Dressage Disgrace for making this conversation possible.
Photo courtesy of Klaus Hempfling (KFH Archives) http://www.hempfling.com/
What did Klaus say?
Klaus said that the dignity of the horse is lost, his sight is hampered and respiration is hindered when in Rollkur. He noted that if we were to beat a cat or dog, it would not be considered acceptable, but that hitting horses is perfectly legal in most countries.
The control of the horse’s neck has proven a very successful and speedy way to control a horse, and is also used a lot in show jumping; that this form of neck control is mostly used ‘without empathy’.
The majority of horses that are coming to Klaus are ‘depressed’. He thinks that it is a reflection of society and how humans have ‘lost themselves’. He says that a second reason is that in horse whispering and dressage circles
the psychological level of the horse is being brought down, breaking the soul of the horse; there is no light, no magic in the horse; he has lost his dignity, is in permanent panic, and is scarred for life, because there is no way out
In some natural horsemanship practises he sees horses are ‘giving up’, as an antelope does to the lion in a predator/prey relationship when he can do no more to escape.
Sadly Klaus doesn’t have too much hope for horses that have been ridden using Rollkur. He says it is nearly impossible to restore the horse’s internal ‘fire’. Although recognising that he has a special gift, he says horses like this are
typically lost, they are half-killed
It may be possible to bring the life back to the horse, but it takes a lot of time; Klaus sometimes has to tell people that they should never ride their horse again, because the horse will ‘die again’ when the saddle goes on.
What are the alternatives?
Klaus advocates that we should open our eyes to see the reality, that indeed reality is more often not seen by those closest to the horse, but instead by the observers who may see it clearly.
Watch the world with your eyes, see the natural horse, and his typical balance – the balance is very different between native horse breeds such as the French Camargue or Haflinger with short, bulky necks and jaws, than the very different composition warmblood horses.
Go out and look at horses, he says – look at your horse, look at photos. The build of the horse dictates how the horse has evolved or been bred to ride; for example the Spanish horse needs the reins to feel that he hasn’t been deserted. Klaus uses a cavesson halter, vibrating the rein softly, and with a loose contact, he says ’the horse knows I am here’. Klaus says that to forget the reins (e.g. suggest the horse needs no reins at all) is quite wrong for some breeds, and that you must instead bring yourself to the suitable level to ride them.
Klaus himself uses two systems of riding – ‘natural riding’ (his favourite) on one style of horse – the stronger, more naturally evolved horse, but horses bred ‘with another set of skills’ with reins.
It is evident that Klaus has a true empathy of what it could be to be a horse, to respond to the world in the horse’s way, a view that challenges our anthropocentric view and leaves us feeling pretty uncomfortable. Like many uncomfortable experiences, it is a call to move to the next level of realisation and change.
Over on Twitter, TrotonTV (John Bethell) wanted my thoughts on Anky van Grunsven’s reply about her student Patrik Kittel’s ‘Blue Tongue’ video recording, now being investigated by FEI. (I also wrote about it here).
140 tweet characters does not allow a particularly thorough reply!
So John, here you go…
Example of unknown dressage horse ridden in Rollkur (hyperflexion)
We must use a degree of caution, knowing that the link is a translation (for those of us who don’t read Dutch!) With anything translated, there is always a danger of the old problem of ‘meaning lost in translation’.
For the benefit of our discussion here, I am talking about the translation made by Google today, 15 November 2009.
Anky appears to suggest that the horse’s tongue was over the bit. The question arises: ”is it OK for the horse to go with the tongue over the bit at all?; but also why would he want to put his tongue over the bit?
Assuming Anky is right, and that the tongue was over the bit, the answer is: because of pressure on his tongue that he is trying to escape. A horse trying to escape tongue pressure retracts his tongue in his mouth, and can then get it ‘over the bit’.
My thoughts are that if the tongue is blue: (a) it probably not simply over the bit, but is either trapped between the two bits, or under both bits, but with sufficient pressure to limit oxygenated blood supply to the tongue, making it appear blue (unoxygenated), OR (b) [and this is a very unqualified statement on my part, as I don't know of any studies that have addressed this] perhaps it possible that blue tongue is merely a symptom of lack of oxygenated blood to the horse’s whole head caused by overbent neck limiting oxygenated blood supply.
I am not sure what ‘losrijterrein’ means. It is possible this means hyperflexion or Rollkur, but I do not know. If this does mean hyperflexion, I am not sure if she is saying that audiences either (a) are used to seeing hyperflexion, (b) regularly complain about it, or (c) are used to seeing it enough to think it normal.
The translated reply says that horses ‘can put their tongues over the bit for any reason and that it need not be negative’ – perhaps something here is confused in translation, or maybe not. I don’t accept that a horse going with tongue over the bit is acceptable, one wonders why this wasn’t this pointed out to the rider by officials.
Anky recognises that the FEI has to uphold equine welfare, but thinks that the problem has been blown out of proportion and that they need to support riders also.
Personally, I am relieved this is getting attention at the FEI.
Somewhere I have read that Anky says the science does not show that hyperflexion is detrimental to the horse. She is right in this comment – studies of Rollkur have been inconclusive, they are not easy undertaken, and indeed the science does not as yet point firmly in one direction. A recent report to the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality noted studies contained flaws in methodology, limited numbers, or unhelpful parameters were used and that
This leads us to conclude there is insufficient scientific evidence to confirm unequivocally whether or not there are welfare issues involved in training techniques using hyperflexion’.
The case of hyperflexion and the blue tongue is perhaps a situation where rather than relying solely on the current scientific evidence, common sense should enable us to utilise our knowledge of biology, pain, biomechanics (and physics – e.g. the lever action of the curb), which is what I believe many educated people are trying to do.
You will see on the FEI website, their rules governing Abuse of Horses (Article 142, page 35) – specifically notes that no person may use actions ”causing pain or unnecessary discomfort to a horse’. Given what has been observed of recent times, these actions have not been held to account for years.
This raises the question: given the implications for the FEI and equestrian sport in general, is the FEI the appropriate body to conduct and impartial investigation into Patrik Kittel’s horse’s blue tongue? – or is it a case as Bidda Jones of the Australian RSPCA suggests ‘is the fox in the hen house’?
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:
Time is short for puting your name forward against the use of hyperflexion. In the following letter, Philippe Karl invites you to make a difference by signing a petition to be submitted in a week’s time at an FEI meeting in Switzerland.
When I look at this YouTube video 