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151 pages

English

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The Howell Equestrian Library is a distinguished collection of books on all aspects of horsemanship and horsemastership. The nearly fifty books in print offer readers in all disciplines and at all levels of competition sound instruction and guidance by some of the most celebrated riders, trainers, judges and veterinarians in the horse world today. Whether your interest is dressage, show jumping or Western riding, or whether it's breeding, grooming or health care, Howell has a book to answer your needs.

Get to know all the books in the Howell Equestrian Library: many are modern-day classics and have achieved the status of authoritative references in the estimation of those who ride, train and care for horses.
The Howell Equestrian Library
Acknowledgments.

Preface.

Introduction.

One: The Relevance of Dressage Riding in Horsemanship.

Two: Training Strategies.

Three: Coordinate Systems for Upgrading Dressage Instruction.

Four: Training Traditions: Sharing the Arena.

Five: The Patterns of the Manege.

Six: Patterns as Training Strategies.

Seven: Longitudinal Exercises.

Eight: The Importance of the Circle.

Nine: Ways to Increase Suspension.

Ten: Lateral Bending on Two Tracks.

Eleven: Sophisticated Gymnastic Patterns.

Twelve: Suppling Patterns at the Trot.

Thirteen: The Horse at the Canter.

Fourteen: Canter Patterns for Gymnastic Advancement.

Fifteen: Patterns for Improving Flying Tempi Changes.

Index.

Sujets

Animal Sports

Sports

Equestrian

Recreation

Sport équestre

Sports équestres

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Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	27 août 2007
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780470253106
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0600€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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The Athletic Development of the Dressage Horse
ALSO BY CHARLES DE KUNFFY
Dressage Questions Answered Creative Horsemanship
The Athletic Development of the Dressage Horse
Manege Patterns
Charles de Kunffy

Howell Book House New York
Copyright © 1992 by Charles de Kunffy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
Hungry Minds, Inc. 909 Third Avenue New York, NY 10022
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
De Kunffy, Charles
The athletic development of the dressage horse : manege patterns / Charles de Kunffy.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-87605-896-9
1. Dressage horses—Training. I. Title.
SF309.6.D45 1992
799.2′3—dc20
92-3327
CIP
All illustrations are by the author unless otherwise credited .
Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
One     The Relevance of Dressage Riding in Horsemanship
Two     Training Strategies
Three     Coordinate Systems for Upgrading Dressage Instruction
Four     Training Traditions: Sharing the Arena
Five     The Patterns of the Manege
Six     Patterns as Training Strategies
Seven     Longitudinal Exercises
Eight     The Importance of the Circle
Nine     Ways to Increase Suspension
Ten     Lateral Bending on Two Tracks
Eleven     Sophisticated Gymnastic Patterns
Twelve     Suppling Patterns at the Trot
Thirteen     The Horse at the Canter
Fourteen     Canter Patterns for Gymnastic Advancement
Fifteen     Patterns for Improving Flying Tempi Changes
Index
Acknowledgments
Everyone credited with photographic or graphic and design work in the pages of this book earned my deepest gratitude. They helped with enthusiasm and made my compilation of this manuscript not only possible but a pleasure.
My great appreciation to Herr Arthur Kottas-Heldenberg, Chief Rider of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, cannot be sufficiently expressed. His pictures bring excellence and elegance to this modest book. The effort to have them made and sent to me was considerable, yet done so gracefully as if it were natural to toil for the betterment of my text. One of the greatest riders in the world, and one of the busiest, granted me an unparalleled privilege.
My gratitude to Mr. Andreas Jarc of Vienna, Austria, and Mr. Richard Williams of California is special. They contributed pictures for the jacket of this book, and through their art the book will be visually attractive to all who seek it out.
Richard Williams also contributed many of the beautifully executed illustrations and his excellent photographs. While his artistic contributions might thus be obvious to the reader, I must add that Richard’s contribution through inspired equestrian conversations helped develop the themes and the taxonomy of this volume. He fine-combed the manuscript to verify correct expression of meaning.
Dr. Reiner Klimke, with his proverbial generosity, permitted a photograph of his tempi-changes during his Victory Round on the occasion of winning the Los Angeles Olympics to be included. All who look at this book will now share in that glorious moment. The symbolic power of this picture will speak to all equestrians who ride with their intellect and spirit.
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Drake, one taking the photographs, the other gracing them, have responded promptly, generously and with their usual quality of the “product” they donated to this book. They were the first to do so and gave me courage, without which there are no other virtues.
Ms. Barbara Leistico gave much more than the excellent graphics for illustrations. She worked overtime and on some weekends to complete them. To do so much work, and to do it during sacred leisure hours, is work that cannot be thanked enough.
I have been the recipient of many people’s largesse in helping me to complete this book. But I must remind my readers that my thoughts come from my devoted riding teachers, all masters of the art, who gave me whatever knowledge I can pass on. Equally indebted am I to all of my riding students, who allowed me to think about equestrian matters and who allowed me to learn from their needs perhaps more than I could teach them.
My greatest appreciation, however, is reserved for Mrs. Madelyn Larsen, Senior Editor. She encouraged the speedy completion of this manuscript and facilitated its acceptance by the publisher. During my writing and editing, she gave me advice, encouragement and enthusiasm. She edited my manuscript in a way remarkable both for the quantity and the quality of her work. Every line needed doctoring and she found all the troubles from spelling to syntax. More remarkably, she edited so knowledgeably that the contents remained unchanged and I needed to do no more than approve her changes. If she were a rider, she would be one of the most scholastically knowledgeable ones. She has a great command of the subject and a thoroughness in editing that I have never seen before.
Kindness, efficiency, praise, were given during my work and her help has not even ended as I write these words of appreciation. Without her, this manuscript would not be now in print.
Preface
I am not aware of any book, other than this one, that focuses on the meaning of the patterns we ride in a manege. After teaching and lecturing on the subject of classical horsemanship for decades, I believe a book such as this will be indispensable to the serious rider. I say this for two reasons.
First, now that most riding academies have closed their doors, only a few institutions remain that still teach courses of adequate duration (2 to 4 years) for the proper training of equitation. Consequently, the knowledge of the acceptable manege patterns and the particular usefulness of each is rapidly diminishing and gradually disappearing.
Second, the growing interest in classical horsemanship is concurrent with the ever diminishing supply of experts who can pass on to a new generation this vast and wonderful tradition uncorrupted. As the demand by far outdistances the supply of correct equestrian knowledge, books gain an exaggerated importance in filling this vacuum.
I sincerely hope that by passing on some of my knowledge, experiences and insights regarding the legitimacy and usefulness of manege patterns, I can significantly contribute to the reader’s success in schooling horses that remain sound, healthy and happy. Such horses do their work with ease and therefore are a great pleasure to ride.
Introduction
While this book may specifically focus on the meaning and usefulness of patterns in riding, it is also a book about the proper training of horses in the respected dressage tradition. Therefore it is very important to explain general training principles briefly before becoming pattern-specific.
To be sure that patterns are discussed and understood in the proper training context, I must ease the reader toward them by outlining briefly the major principles guiding all training for the gymnastic improvement of horses.
THE HORSE’S DEVELOPMENTAL POTENTIALITIES
Both heredity and environment have roles in determining the horse’s ultimate performance and gymnastic achievements. Thus, we must pay attention to both factors in order to select a sports horse wisely and to train him properly by adhering to traditionally accepted training procedures. Heredity determines the maximum limits of the individual’s possibilities for athletic development. The limitations of the genetic package cannot be overcome by even the best training philosophy, carried out by the best trainer. Environmental influences will determine how much of the hereditary potentialities will be displayed in actual performance. While the environmental influences, including training, cannot create better performance than is genetically predetermined, they are responsible for maximizing the display of the hereditary potentialities.
The following is an outline of the major features of these two influential elements that interact in the determination of the horse’s athletic performance.
Heredity/Nature
CONFORMATION     The structure of the horse has to be correct for optimal motion and powerful locomotion. Also, an ideal balance and correct place for the center of gravity depend on the structure and its proportions. By all means the horse should look as if it could be picked up (by the fingers of an imaginary giant) just behind its elbows and hang there with head and tail in perfect equilibrium while remaining level with (parallel to) the ground.
SOUNDNESS     The legs, which provide the “underpinnings” and locomotion, should be healthy and strong. Equally important is that all four legs be straight when viewed from the front and rear and that the front legs be straight also from a side view. While horses with such requirements are not in the majority, we must make our selection even more difficult by insisting that the horse also moves his legs straight. Pendulum-like, forward swinging of the legs, with no tolerance for crossing, winging, paddling and other compromises of the straight and forward action of the legs, is paramount. The respiration and the heart of any sports horse need strengthening, but in order to qualify as a prospect, the horse must have perfectly formed legs.
TEMPERAMENT     The prospect should be alert but not nervous or fidgety. He should be attentive rather than scatterbrained and easily distracted. He should concentrate yet not be stubborn. He should display a willing nature but without initiating. And prize sensitivity that is without fear! The horse should want to go and offer to sustain locomotion without prodding.

Often while instructing I have to ride a completely strange horse in order to demonstrate to the rider how one does things to make a horse improve .
Here I am riding a horse t