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QUOTES BY GUSTAV VON DREYHAUSEN
On the Use of the Seat to Influence the Horse
"The entire seat has to be mobile and elastic from the seat bones upward and from the knees down, so that the horse’s motion is absorbed by the rider’s knees, the supple, slightly curved lumbar back, the shoulders and elbows. "
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"The rider has to be carried by the horse and to give him the best, the most conducive posture for carrying and going. The rider’s role is thus an active one, in so far as he has to establish and to maintain this posture and this gait. Once he has succeeded in this respect, his role is a passive one in so far as he has to do nothing else than to avoid interfering with his horse and to make the task of carrying and going as pleasant as possible for him. The main tool that makes the otherwise so different parts, rider and horse, into a unified whole, that allows the rider to control his horse, that gives the horse posture and gait, and that makes him in turn a part of the whole, is the seat."
(1951)
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"The horse that has left the posture that the rein length, seat, and driving calf aids indicate pushes against the bit. The hand now has to either receive this pressure passively, or return it actively. In order to be able to do this, it needs a secure support base, which only the torso can provide by toning the muscles as much as needed. This muscle tone further increases the pressure of the seat bones onto the horse’s back, which is thereby induced to yield. It has a bending, i.e. collecting, effect on the hind legs. In other words it regulates the motor."
(1951)
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"Shifting the rider’s center of gravity backward also shifts the center of gravity of the system horse-rider back. As a result, the horse will step less far forward, adjust his own center of gravity, sit down behind and rise in front. He will stretch his neck more upward than forward and offer the rider a shorter rein: Elevation. It finds its limit in the ability of the haunches to carry, which is defined by their natural strength and muscle development. If the horse becomes hollow between the rider’s legs, the elevation is incorrect. This hollowness is created because the hind legs are no longer able to step underneath the dropped back that is robbed of its activity. This is a dead giveaway for the horse’s incorrect posture."
(1951)
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Last Update: January 13, 2007