05/20/2020
"Why Absolute Elevation?
Generally this happens one of two ways – a rider wants to compete at the upper levels and knows that FEI horses have their heads higher than old Dobbin at training level. So they slap a double on, shorten the reins and lift that head up as high as they can.
The other option is that perhaps there is a talented young horse with the aptitude for the upper levels. They are paired with a very ambitious rider who does not take the time to develop the horse muscularly and instead lifts the head before the body is ready to support the balance that the headset would imply.
Essentially they are shortcuts, either out of lack of ability, ignorance or ambition and at the expense of the horse. What results from this is a bodily breakdown, for there is never a chance for the muscles to develop once the headset is fixed in such a way. There is no such thing as putting the horse in the headset and then waiting for the muscles to develop afterward."
The controversy of rollkur within the world of dressage is not a new one. Also called hyperflexion, it is the practice of forcefully pulling a horse’s head into an extreme low, deep and round…