NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/rec/equestri/5615

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-17 | 3.5 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!know!mips2!news.bbn.com!noc.near.net!news.Brown.EDU!qt.cs.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!nimoy.ipac.caltech.edu!deblev
From: [e-mail] (Debbie Levine)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: Dressage bitting
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 16 Nov 92 19:50:51 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Lines: 62
NNTP-Posting-Host: nimoy.ipac.caltech.edu

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Patty Howell) writes:
[LOTS of stuff deleted]
>... If we were really holding to
>tradition, the top levels would be ridden in the curb alone,
>with one hand on the reins.
>...
>Realistically, by saying that the highest levels of
>dressage will be shown with a full bridle, we are admitting right
>up front that we have no intention of schooling to the highest
>levels in the art of horsemanship.

Well, this is only true if you assume that the ancient masters were
absolutely correct and that horsemanship has made no progress in
the intervening time!  One certainly HOPES that that is not the case,
though arguments can be made for giant steps backward...

What is the argument, aside from simply tradition, for the "superiority"
of a severe curb as sole bitting?
            ~~~~
>Having said all that, the real reason we use a snaffle at the lower
>level tests *is* a legacy of one great master, de la Gueriniere.
>(he didn't use a snaffle for long, as I have said, but he was
>an extremely skilled rider who would not commit the errors most
>people of today would, like overbending and getting the horse
>behind the bit on the curb).

Many lower level riders prove you can also do this with a snaffle!

>It is his "balance through bending" approach that emphasizes
>bending in early training that lends itself to use of the snaffle.
>Basically, you put a horse in this position (frame), and through
>lateral bending exercises that require the hind legs to engage more
>and more, the horse eventually discovers where his balance needs to
>be. It is at this point that we go to the double bridle. Most
>people use the snaffle to control bend and frame, and the curb
>to control balance (although they probably wouldn't explain it
>that way). It is also interesting to note that the horse starts
>to close down on his hocks at 4th level.

Since a number of upper level riders do school in a snaffle, it
seems to be the case that balance can also be contolled with
the snaffle.  Also, how do you seperate "frame" from "balance"?
It seems to be that "frame" without balance is a "headset", and
incorrect by definition.  Bending is something else entirely.

This implies that the curb is what CAUSES horses to begin to close
down on the hocks -- the curb does seem to be a more refined tool
for longitudinal control, I am not disputing that, but I thought
it partially went the other way around -- you begin with the curb
when the horse is sufficiently advanced!  It also does SEEM to make
sense to me that a snaffle is a better aid for bending than
a curb, so why, other than convenience, would one want to do
away with it?

What IS the real goal of modern dressage?  Is it the same as
what de la Guerniere was after?

I suppose the bottom line is that bitting is still much more of an
art than a science!

Debbie
[e-mail]