Writing of Riding

The movement of the piaffe, or trotting in place, is one long considered to be a movement achieved only through the mastery and ultimate refinement of aids coupled with the correct training structure to develop the horse. Piaffe is often seen performed in a myriad of venues; dressage competitions, horse fairs and demonstrations, circus, trick performances, etc. It has become more of a common sight, to see a horse trotting in place, and the awe and impress that follows is that in accordance with the rumor that the piaffe is difficult to train. This assumption is often incorrect however and is made by those who have not learned to train the piaffe or have struggled with it’s training.

The piaffe, whether forced or encouraged with lightness, is not a difficult task to teach. The piaffe is a natural occurance when the aids are correct - it simply happens when the horse is physically conditioned and able to perform it. The piaffe can also be beaten into the horse’s understanding. It is afterall a balancing of stop and go, acceleration and braking. It is the ability to inspire energy while containing it from escaping forwards.

There are hundreds of thousands of horses who perform piaffe which is not classically correct for one reason or several. There are few who perform a classically correct piaffe. Of the incorrect piaffe, it is often resulting from an imbalance in the aids - not enough energy or not enough posture to contain that energy from escaping forwards, or both. How this translates in the piaffe is that the horse becomes overbent and the hindlegs trail out too far. The horse loses his collection, he falls onto the forehand. He loses tempo, his feet become sticky to the ground, the hindquarters bounce while the forehand is still. The front legs travel further under the horse’s body to assist in balancing. For example…

Anky Van Grunsven – This is a great video to show the loss of balance, sticky feet, overbending and trailing hind legs. Often piaffe is shown only from the side, which discounts any ability to judge the horse’s lateral balance. In the beginning of this video you can see AVG move into piaffe and her horse bobbling from side to side as he constantly attempts to regain his balance during the piaffe. His feet swing side to side and rather than him lifting them upwards there is more lateral displacement of them - that is of him moving his whole body in an effort to move his limbs more effectively. He falls behind the vertical often, the hind legs do not provide any carrying power and the front legs are the major support as the fall in under the horse’s body. There are frequent breaks in the horse’s tempo as well and faltering between transition of movements.

Escola Portuguesa de Arte Equestre — This is an improved showing of piaffe. The horse is taking more weight onto the hindquarters, the front limbs are more upright. There are moments when the horse is behind the vertical and the front limbs are also trailing under the body a bit for support. The cadence and tempo of the horse’s piaffe is broken as well. His posture is much improved, as is necessary for the rear that follows the first piaffe. There also appears to be less side to side lateral imbalance during the second piaffe which cannot be judged in the first.

P.S. Lusitano Pirueta Piaffe — An interesting display not often seen, the piaffe pirouette. This starts out showing promise as the horse’s posture is not easily judged from the front. As he moved around and we are able to see a lateral view, you find the horse’s posture ducking down and behind the vertical. His hindquarters bounce more at times than others, which is masked a bit by the slow motion. It is difficult to tell if he would have sticky hooves, but it is certain to tell that he lacks some mark of consistency as his posture changes along with the bounce of his hindquarters. His front hooves stay beautifully aligned upright from the start, and he has wonderful lateral balance which is evident to see as we get a good view from the hindquarters. It does appear as the video continues that the horse begins to degrade in the piaffe over time, lending to the conclusion that he is tiring.

Matt McLaughlin – This video showing the first in-hand work of piaffe with an 11yr old Andalusian mare shows a good foundation. It is clear to see the energy MM is able to inspire in the mare and he buffers it by containing through postural control. This allows the mare to ’sit’, dropping her hindquarters into the steps of piaffe. This is one of the first sessions of piaffe work according to the video’s description. She shows loss of tempo at times, as does MM in the application of the aids, however she displays no loss of balance through hyperflexion, or trailing hind and fore legs. The video moves on to show piaffe steps under saddle and some passage. I won’t comment on the passage right now…

Spanish Stallion Condor – A lovely piaffe shown in the pillars. Truly magnificent to watch, despite the surroundings. This horse displays balance, tempo and posture in one package. He maintains his piaffe for an extraordinary amount of time and begins to show some tiring by the end. His front legs maintain erectness, his hind hooves are placed so near the center of balance that any further forward and he would be standing. The moments that he attempts to drop his posture you’ll notice he loses balance, only to regain it once again by correcting his posture.

Young Horse Training – Another video showing piaffe started in hand. This is lovely - light and correct. The young horse has energy without the constant nagging from the handler. He shows beautiful posture to support the balance of the piaffe. The hind limbs are stepping under, he is light of foot and maintains erect front hooves. Just lovely.

“El Gordo Dancing His Horse” – One last video, which I hesitated to put on, but illustrates an important point. It does not take skill or tact to teach a horse to ‘trot in place’, or to even trot in place with a measurable amount of collection and balance.  Here it is done with nothing more than a curb bit, spurs, dual purpose ‘whipping reins’ and a rider who just wants his horse to dance…