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QUOTES BY GUSTAV VON DREYHAUSEN
On the Aids
"The passive receptiveness of the hand must be just as strong as the incoming pressure. The active half halts must not be stronger than absolutely necessary to achieve the purpose. They must cease immediately, when they have been effective. Otherwise, they would bring the horse behind the hand, i.e. they would make the hind legs step short."
(1951)
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"Stirrups that are too long destabilize the seat, thereby ruining the rider’s most important aid, and are therefore incorrect under any circumstances."
(1951)
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"Some riders don’t realize that a conditio sine qua non for a successful communication with the horse is on the one hand to apply the aids with increasing intensity, as needed, and on the other hand to cease the aid as soon as it is effective, regardless of whether it is a seat, leg, or rein aid."
(1951)
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"The order in which the aids are applied plays a role in collecting work as well. The calves come first, asking the hind legs to step under. The weight is second, bending the hind legs and directing the horse’s body towards the hand. Finally come the limiting and flexing aids of the hand.
The final result must be an elastic horse, an unweighted hand, and a rider who joins the movement in the horse’s center of gravity with an elastic seat and an active leg that maintains impulsion and hence collection. The horse has to step underneath the rider’s seat by himself on account of the impulsion from the back, and he must absorb the rider’s weight with his hind legs. Triggering himself the flexion of the haunches as well as the impulse to swing, the horse must absorb the rider’s weight with his hind legs.
When the rider gradually feeds the reins, the correctly collected horse has to follow the bit, while remaining in front of the leg and in the same tempo. He may adjust his posture only gradually to the lengthened reins without changing the rhythm of his footfall sequence. If he does not do that, the collection was surely incorrect. "
(1951)
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"Every aid can achieve the exact opposite of its intended effect through exaggeration and poor timing. The continual rein aid lets the horse get stuck and resistant. The poorly timed or rough driving calf can bring disorder into the legs, the gait. The seat that drives too long and too intensively makes the horse roll away on the forehand.
It is too often forgotten that the horse is no automaton, no machine. He may react mechanically to mechanical aids. But he will react correctly only if they are applied at the right time and with the right intensity. The rider must “listen into the horse”, in order to judge when the moment for an aid has come, which aid is needed and how intense it must be. He must know how to create or wait for the right circumstances, to prepare the horse. Otherwise, even the greatest physical skill and strength would not help him. Being able to let the horse carry oneself correctly under any circumstances, and being able to wait is perhaps the greatest art in riding. One needs first of all a quiet, supple, and firm seat. Any major deviation from the basic form that has been recognized as correct will entail a mistake in the aids and consequently also in the horse’s gait."
(1951)
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"Seat and legs cooperate in driving the horse forward. Initially, the leg had to enable the seat to drive by sending the hind legs forward and under. In cases where the calf met with resistance, because the hind legs did not want to comply at all, or not enough, the more or less energetic seat aid backed it up, broke the resistance, stretched the back, and brought the horse into the bit, which is its domain. These two aids complement each other, yet have their very own individual responsibilities. Just as the calf cannot bend the hind legs by itself, the seat cannot send the hind legs forward and under by itself – especially over a prolonged period of time. That is exclusively the task of the legs, or the spur and whip aids, respectively. They set the hind legs in motion for the seat and position them so that the seat can have the optimal influence over them. The calf aids literally “bring” the hind legs to the seat, and make sure that weighting and bending them with the seat does not make the horse evade by getting strung out. One could even say that the seat can only bend what the calves bring and maintain. Finally, the driving calf loosens the horse up off the rein into which the seat has sent it, because the leg makes the horse step lively and diligently, which robs the horse of the opportunity to oppose the engagement and the aids. It softens all the muscles in the horse’s body, including back and neck, by stimulating them to lively activity. However, what hand and leg cannot achieve together is the flexion of the haunches, which seems to be a specific result of the engagement and the stretching of the back."
(1951)
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"As the seat cannot drive forward by itself, neither can it engage and collect by itself – with the exception of a perfectly trained horse. The counterpart towards which seat and legs work and with which they shape the horse is the hand.
In this sense, it should be basically passive, but even this principle must not become a false dogma out of an exaggeration, which would achieve the opposite of what is intended. Although the hand generally receives the pressure coming from behind passively, until the horse releases his poll, but it can very well squeeze backward to regulate this pressure. It actually has to squeeze backward if the pressure becomes excessive, and the horse leans onto the hand, “throws himself onto the forehand”, i.e. shifts his weight onto the forehand against the rider’s will and aids, thereby jeopardizing the rider’s upper body posture. In other words, the hand must become active as soon as the seat is no longer effective and becomes overburdened. Obviously, the hand must never get stuck. It must only be used as intensely as necessary. Then it has to soften or yield again. By squeezing backward – even closing the fingers is a backward squeeze, because more weight is applied than the horse puts into it – the horse’s front lever is raised, the rearward lever is lowered. The horse has to “sit down” behind. Getting stuck, however, would make the horse brace and stiffen against it, whereas yielding as soon the aid has been successful invites the horse to carry himself in the requested posture. "
(1951)
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"Another thing is important. It (the hand, TR) must let the seat and legs bring to it what it needs to be able to work the horse. It must not be hasty, but it has to wait patiently until the result has been achieved. If the hand has to elevate, raise the front lever, it will wait until the calf has driven the hind legs under. If it has to flex the poll, it has to allow the seat to send something towards it that it can receive and that the calf dissolves again. Waiting calmly and patiently is the fastest way to the goal. If the horse has come above or behind the bit for whatever reason, the hand has to wait until seat and legs have done their job. Pulling back would only make the horse contract those muscles that he needs to stretch, i.e. the exact opposite of what is correct."
(1951)
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Last Update: January 13, 2007