Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Learning from the Caprilli Seat

Federico Caprilli(1868-1907), an Italian Cavalry Officer whose great legacy is the Caprilli seat, gave us all some very significant information about riding which I am not sure has been fully appreciated. The seat, with its shortened stirrup and forward inclined rider with free-following arm, was employed for jumping obstacles, riding between fences and across country and up and down hills and over ditches. The philosophy behind the seat was to allow the horse to move naturally, unencumbered and make independent decisions in his negotiation.
Federico Caprilli observed the horse without a rider under these conditions and decided his theory was best for the horse. Previously a 'full seat' was used with the misconception that it was necessary to help the horse land hind feet first so as not to burden the more fragile front legs. His observations proved horses did not use themselves this way, refuting the idea behind the full-seated rider and lead the way to more fully cooperative horses.
Having learned the Caprilli seat myself, I will say that, done properly, it requires real fitness from the rider who balances himself over his knee and thigh, follows the horse in good equilibrium and does not use the horse's neck for balance but allows it to be completely free through a straight line connection from elbow to bit along the sides of the horse's neck. These days we see riders leaning on the neck. This is not the true Caprilli seat and riding this way robs riders of an appreciation of what real following feels like! It is hard work! It requires strong core muscles and strong well toned thighs. But it is very rewarding when the horse responds at his best.
There is more to be learned from Caprilli than meets the eye though. Firstly, we learn that observation is essential. Observation helps us put our approach into the perspective of the horse, helps us take healthy steps to break away from old habits and unfruitful styles and challenge what we hear and see so that we might come up with something better!! Secondly, we see that Caprilli adopted his style to naturally accommodate the horse's neck and bascule with complete freedom. He recognized tremendous horizontal forces in the forward moving horse that the rider needs to be able to absorb and follow. In proper balance, the rider could remain in a beneficial equilibrium that would make it possible for the horse to carry him easier. Thirdly, I believe Caprilli recognized that the moving horse was balanced mainly over the forehand, that different shaped horses had different needs in the use of the neck and that a standard seat was needed that would allow any shaped horse the full use of his own neck in his negotiations. This was only possible when a rider could center himself forward with a free yielding arm that could follow the mouth forward and supple hips which open and close with flexibility. The shortened stirrup helped to form natural shock absorbers and assisted with lever action in the thigh.
Caprilli knew that only with a stable yet supple seat would a rider be able to let go in the rein. When he demonstrated over and over again how his horses were improving in their performances and in their cooperativeness, he was showing us how the horizontal component of the thigh(in the forward seat) could act as a bridge to connect the rear and front ends of the horse. Did Caprilli recognize an energetic connection born out of correct mechanics?!
I bring up this entire subject about Caprilli to make a point about the dressage seat that previously left me feeling dissatisfied and searching for a missing puzzle piece. Caprilli didn't like the full and deeper seat, collection, and force. But why(apart from the obvious)? It is my belief that he preferred the forward distribution of weight. One must remember that Caprilli was familiar with larger, longer horses and not so much the shorter coupled Baroque style horses more suited to dressage. Had he lived longer and thought more about the school movements with these larger 'style' horses might he have come up with an adaptation of his own theories on forward seat?
In tai chi, as one moves from posture to posture there is a constant shifting of position from one leg to the other so that motion itself never puts the person out of balance. I will often hear my instructor say, "you need to shift60(or 70)% of your weight onto the foremost leg." I think about this a lot and how it applies to riding. To constantly maintain ones balance while shifting postures takes some fitness.....we NEED to know how to balance over our thighs. So many of us do not use our thigh muscles and put too much stress on our back or other parts of the body. Once we can learn to feel life flowing down into our thighs we learn how reliable these large muscles are for helping to stabilize us. So what does this say about the dressage seat?
Recently I had the good fortune to audit a Manolo Mendez clinic. Manolo places a strong emphasis on freedom in the horse's body and especially the neck. When I saw Manolo ride I recognized Caprilli immediately! Manolo could cleverly move from a forward inclined torso to a more upright one as the horse needed and was prepared for because he was properly balanced over his thigh which always had a horizontal component in action. Before mounting he would always measure his stirrup by the 'ruler' of his arm length. He rode in dressage saddles with 'dressage length' stirrup yet he could move elegantly and effortlessly in and out of forward seat, one minute reaching to stroke his horse's neck with full freedom and the next minute he was more upright and the horse was moving effortlessly in shoulder-in!!! Sometimes he was leaning forward, stroking the horse's ears, his neck, his chest---but always he held his own balance, allowing the horse complete freedom through his back and neck. It was amazing to watch the horses unraveling their tensions. It was also rewarding to realize that what I found so problematic about the dressage seat was that Caprilli had been lumped into a 'jumping' category and we had lost what he could offer our dressage seat! The full seat, namely with a vertical leg that does not relieve the back through greater weight distribution in the thigh and does not bridge the rear and front ends of the horse through a horizontal component will pose problems in the development of these large athletes and lead us into greater discord with them. Manolo's seat was a perfect example of how to sit without hindering the horse!
It is time for us all to re-evaluate our seat, especially those of us in dressage saddles. Even in dressage the thigh must carry a substantial distribution of our weight and be positioned to allow the forward motion of the horse to flow horizontally through it. Yes, we must use our thighs to carry some of our weight! This is not easy and it is time we learn how and get FIT! Try taking the stirrups up a hole or two, get forward, and go for a trek in the woods.....feel the horse let go in his body. What is this saying to us? I think it says that we are not helping our horse's body but hindering it in a poor 'full seat'!
If we are not carrying ourselves, and are expecting the horse to carry us, if we are relying on our saddles to balance us and keep us stable, if we are using the reins for our own stability or restricting the neck for vanity's sake or manipulating the reins ignorantly then we are doomed in our efforts to create beautiful dance.
The seat under our buttocks must be softer and lighter to glide with motion. Even if we understand nothing else, note that the canter is a jump.....a bascule! Are we helping this bascule? We cannot grasp these concepts in saddles that lock us into place. Making the seat lighter through better use of the huge core within us as well as the large thigh muscles we have been blessed with will allow us to communicate more sensitively and provide more freedom under the saddle for the horse to respond cooperatively. Taking a few moments to reflect on what Caprilli has taught us might be our new beginning.