More on "Sloggity"

Sloggity: I talked about this word last time, but since then have been studying some videos: including Edward Gal on Morelands Totilas, and a bunch of Anky van Grunsven’s. I’ve also been reading a new book called “Selecting the Dressage Horse” by Dirk Willem Rosie with comments by Anky. On page 69 the author states “only hind legs that can ‘accelerate’ and step far under the body enable a horse to move with an elevated forehand.” So how does one explain Totilas? I don’t know. That horse is absolutely amazing! As one commentator said, “he has to be careful he doesn’t hit himself in the teeth with his knees!” There is no doubt that Totilas has by far the best example of piaffe and passage that we’ve seen, maybe in the history of dressage. However, for us and our merely mortal horses, what does it teach us: that we’ll never compete unless we are very well funded and lucky! Gal and Totilas also present a great picture in the show ring and you have to remember that Totilas is very young and has shown marked improvement over last year’s performances. However, the lack of thoroughness in the extended trot has to be an indicator of something major going wrong. But I think people, even Gal, are working to improve it: namely, thoroughness comes from a horse that isn’t slow with the hind legs and isn’t soggy in the back but it takes a completely sound horse with two strong hind legs to NOT be sloggity in any gait. See if you can find one!Meanwhile, here are some tips to continue working on improving yourself and your horse: Do quick half halts. That is, make the trot actually quicker if you can the shorter you get he stride. This takes a lot of intention and a lot of stomach muscles. Do lots of half halts. Do lots of transitions. Make absolutely sure the horse is so forward from your intention that you don't need to actually use "leg" at all in the upward transitions (you will in the downward ones). If you use leg, the horse is already behind it and will be sloggity. Good luck!