Stone Ridge Stables

Stone Ridge Stables We are a 50 acre training facility just adjacent to Dover-Foxcroft, Maine. We have scenic trails an We have miles of scenic trails. Call for a visit anytime.
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We offer a safe, clean and friendly environment for you and your horse. Our staff consists of all adults with experience in handling horses. We offer lessons from beginner through intermediary and training. We have ample access for trailers.

I highly recommend joining any of the Science of Motion online studies.  Once you add science to your training and your ...
02/03/2024

I highly recommend joining any of the Science of Motion online studies. Once you add science to your training and your horse will thank you too!

A New Body of Knowledge.

A change of tension anywhere within our physique is instantly signaled to everywhere else in the body, both mechanically and chemically. The horse’s physique reacts to hoof adjustment, but not necessarily as the theory expects. The horse’s primary survival reflex is to protect his body state. The horse’s initial reaction will likely protect his physique from the change. The ones who can help the horse benefit from hoof adjustment are the rider and the trainer who live with the horse and know his habits, reactions, and mental processing. Only this deep relationship with the horse permits us to follow the horse’s adaptation to hoof change. In case of mild discomfort, there is no lameness or inflammation. It does not mean that the hoof adjustment works. If the discomfort is on the forelegs, the horse might try to reduce the impact forces, lessening the hind legs’ propulsive thrust. The horse might try to shift the weight on the toes, contracting and lowering the neck. A horse can express discomfort in many subtle ways that only the rider and the trainer can identify.
A hoof adjustment could be beneficial, but the horse’s physique might not be coordinated to benefit from the hoof correction. Expectations theorize that the horse will adapt to the corrective shoeing. The reality is that the horse will compromise to protect his familiar dysfunction. The compromise might convert logical corrective shoeing into more severer dysfunction.
For instance, the horse in the picture carries excessive weight on the forelegs. The right foreleg should be off the ground into the swing phase in this stride sequence. The left hind legs should remain on the ground, ending the propulsive phase. All the weight is on the right front leg with a knee no longer in stable alignment. Corrective shoeing rounding the front shoes to improve the brake over would worsen the dysfunction.
A mild discomfort of the front hooves might not cause lameness, but the horse will try to please the rider while protecting the discomfort. A common strategy for the horse is holding the thoracic spine in isometric contraction. The movement does not go through the thoracic spine, reducing the foreleg’s load. A few months ago, I referred to the case of a horse who had extreme fetlock dorsiflexion due to isometric holding of the thoracic spine. Recreating proper thoracic spine function returned the fetlock dorsi and palmar flexions within the safe norms. In a matter of months, proper training did what corrective shoeing was unable to achieve through years. The reason is that the thoracic spine dysfunction canceled the expected benefits of the corrective shoeing.
It is unlikely that a hoof adjustment would benefit the horse’s gaits and performances without the trainer’s experience and the rider’s work. Dr. Gian Piero Brigati restores soundness and competitive activities on Jumper horses in Italy through specific hoof adjustments. Dr. Brigati does not decide the adjustment based on the hoof structure and deformation only. Dr Brigati analyzes the horse’s motion and performance over the jump and advises the rider on necessary riding and training adjustments.
The horse’s physique does not always follow the rules, and only the rider and the trainer who live with the horse have enough understanding of the horse’s mental processing to pick up the signs that could prevent irreversible damage.
Today, a large body of knowledge allows riders to efficiently coordinate the horse’s physique for the athletic demands of performances. Properly using this knowledge can prevent injuries. Arthritis is irreversible, and prevention is more efficient than drugs such as Hyaluronic acid, which accelerates the development of arthritis. I have helped horses benefit from the hoof work, reducing the load on the forelegs a thousand times, and a thousand times, I have helped horses from improper hoof work, reducing the load on the forelegs. The main teaching of new knowledge is the capacity to protect the horse from expectation. The expected response to an adjustment is just a hypothesis, and if the horse expresses discomfort, we need to reconsider the hypothesis before lameness occurs.

The new body of knowledge is new. It cannot be integrated into classical literature as it often contradicts beliefs created when understanding the horse’s body function was elementary. Approaching the problem from advanced education of the thoracolumbar spine expanding to the hooves is more effective but demands more knowledge than theorizing the mastery of spine function from the hoof capsule.

Jean Luc

Science of Motion 2024 Programs

Simple upgrades our understanding of the horse’s physiology and body function to actual knowledge. The purpose of knowledge is to be applied, and to succeed in the practical application, riding, and training principles need to evolve with knowledge.
https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/simple24.html

Master One studies human and equine bodies at a deeper level. The horse’s physique and human physiques have previously unknown capacities. The term fascia, for instance, has been known for decades, but understanding how fascia connects the whole physique and how to train fascia opens the door to sounder gaits and performances. https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/masterone.html.

Master Two explains the athletic demand for superior dressage movements. Master Two is the course that everyone should enter. Knowing about the athletic difficulty of higher-level movements allows one to distinguish riding and training techniques, preparing the horse’s physique for the effort or hampering the horse’s ability to perform at his utmost potential. Not every horse can execute Piaffe, Passage, Canter Pirouette, and Tempi Changes, but every horse deserves an education supporting the horse’s potential and preventing injury.
https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/mastertwo.html

This right here!  Growth happens outside of our comfort zone!!
10/21/2023

This right here! Growth happens outside of our comfort zone!!

The Comfort Zone
Jean Luc Cornille
“Inside of every seed is the DNA of an entire tree and the blueprint of a forest that will grow out of it. You are a seed. You do not ‘have’ what it takes to fulfill your purposes; you are what it takes.” (Jordan Viera)

The question is, why do we perpetuate pre-existing notions that defy the evidence of reality? Why do we turn off our intuition and expect that tradition will fulfill our purposes? We are what it takes to become a good rider, but our DNA is unique. We can feed it with knowledge, but we cannot force it into a posture, which does no fit our physique. There is no rider’s position; there is a coordination that is proper to each individual. Saddles placing the rider in the “right posture,” are pre-existing notions that defy the evidence of reality. So are training techniques placing the horse’s neck in a third level or FEI frame.

Our comfort zone is a litany of antiquated theories to which we have been forced fed under the name of tradition. We are even menaced of ex-communication if we question tradition. This is tyranny; this is the destruction of our senses and intelligence. This is abuse from which we have a hard time to free ourselves. There is no comfort in the comfort zone, not for the horse, not for the rider. The comfort zone is just words, formulas, statements, principles, which became familiar because, paraphrasing Joseph Goebbels, “If you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself.” We are manipulated both mentally and physically. Our Central Pattern Generators CPGs) involved in locomotion adapt to the discomfort giving us a familiar physical impression.

Our CPGs involved in locomotion can relearn proper motion but only through the practice of proper motion. The difficulty is that while the parts of our brain monitoring our body, such as the cerebellum, feel ease and effortlessness in a better way of using our body, our central pattern generators are used to the old way and resist innovation. There is a conflict within our nervous system that lasts until the CPGs have been reeducated to the new pattern. The same conflict occurs in the horse’s nervous system. The horse’s brain registers the ease and effortlessness associated with better coordination of the body, but central pattern generators remain wired the wrong way. The brain explores, but the nervous system resists.

Moving away from the comfort zone is a laborious and complicates task. “Go easy on yourself. You are clearing thousands of years of outdated conditioning.” (Tohungia Kara) Thomas Pain explains why taking conscience of the problem is a problem. “A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right.” On a positive note, Ralf Waldo Emerson assures, “The good news is that the moment you decide that what you know is more important than what you have been taught to believe, you will have shifted gears in your quest for abundance. Success comes from within, not from without.” Maria Angelou kindly advises, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better” But Voltaire exposes the complexity of the human nature, “It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.” Even knowledge has its illusions; “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance; it is an illusion of knowledge.” (Stephen Hawking, 1942-2018)

The horse’s willingness permits such an illusion. If talented enough, the horse performs movements despite the training techniques unrelated to the proper function of the horse’s physique. The horse has done that for centuries, and humans have taken the credit. Charles Darwin noticed that “Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” The trend opens the door to approaches using comfortable words, “simple,” “thoroughness,” “stretching,” “relaxation,” which are not even closely related to the horse’s function.

In 1896, Jean-Leon Gerome explained his famous painting, “The naked truth coming out of the well.” “The Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because the World, in any case, has no wish at all to meet the naked Truth.” Our ancestors did not lie. Indeed, their wisdom, when updated to actual knowledge, is a portal to the truth. The interpretation of their intuition, as well as their literature, was influenced and limited by the scientific knowledge available at their time. The lie started when an advanced understanding of equine dynamics and functional anatomy, demonstrated the inaccuracy of traditional beliefs. The teaching of our ancestors satisfied the needs of the equestrian society, and riders and trainers had no wish at all to meet the naked truth.

Submitted horses willingly try to execute the move with a dysfunctional physique. Many became lame, and as the difficulty of the performance increases, even more, became lame. For many horses, lameness is the price of our comfort zone. Paraphrasing Albert Einstein, it takes courage and a touch of genius to go the other way. We are the seed; we have the genius in our DNA, but we have to have the courage to question pre-existing notions that defy the evidence of reality.

When an elder dies, a library burns to the ground burrowing the seed, but the seed grows, became a tree, which provides oxygen, houses wildlife. If we have learned from the elder to respect the tree and the life, we can further the elder’s wisdom, and we can upgrade the wisdom with actual knowledge, we can explore in the unknown, we can push the limits of the possible. “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.” (Arthur C. Clarke).

Nancy Deuel identified in 1990 the limb kinematics peculiarities predisposing the horse for the superior flying change. “The higher-scoring horses increased the contact duration of the hind limbs and decreased the length of step and time between forelimb impacts to prepare to execute the lead change in the succeeding airborne phase.” (Nancy R. Deuel - Canter lead change kinematics of superior Olympic dressage horses - 1990) The ones comfortable in their comfort zone rejected the finding stating that it was impossible to increase the contact duration of the hind limbs. It is indeed impossible acting on the limbs, but if we venture beyond the usual paradigm, limb problems cause back issue. If we explore the thought that limb kinematics are directly influenced by back dysfunction, we can correct limb kinematics abnormalities addressing the thoracolumbar dysfunction. We can venture further and improve limb kinematics abnormalities through subtler education of the back muscles. We can increase contact duration of the hind limbs; we can correct limb kinematics abnormalities leading to navicular syndrome and other issues, we can prevent hocks problems. We can, we can, we can. The journey out of the comfort zone is rich, pertinent, and unlimited.

Want to learn more? Learn about our Online in-hand dressage course https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/in_hand_dressage_therapy_courses.html Or Upcoming 2024 courses online https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/science_of_motion_2024.html

Started the horses on grass this week and have some expecting parents staying with us in the back field until their gosl...
05/10/2023

Started the horses on grass this week and have some expecting parents staying with us in the back field until their goslings are hatched…. Living the good life! 😍

04/30/2023
This will be full of useful information!
04/22/2023

This will be full of useful information!

Preventing Cervical Arthritis Zoom Webinar
Saturday, May 20th. Starting at 11 am Eastern time

They say it is genetic, and there is nothing you can do. We say genetics is a predisposition. There is still the need for abnormal forces to develop the problem. Reducing impact and compressive forces can prevent the development of osteoarthritis. The hypothesis is worth to be studied. Elizabeth Uhl, DVM, Ph.D., Dip, ACVP, and Michelle Osborn, MS, Ph.D., have investigated 10 cases. The 3D equine skeletal computer model confirmed that cervical hyperflexion was a source of compression. Elizabeth and Michelle will show and explain their findings.

“Always go too far because that’s where you’ll find the truth.” (Albert Camus) The equitation allowing cervical arthritis prevention is not in the correct aids and book dogmas. You need to enter the world of biotensegrity. Every fiber of our physique talks to the horse’s body. It is an intelligent and respectful equitation. Ronda Hanning and Jean Luc Cornille will explain how to evolve to biotensegrity.
https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/preventing_cervical_arthritis_.html

Good reading!
03/11/2023

Good reading!

Quiet Legs

Decades ago, I removed my spurs. Research studies suggested that lack of forward movement was not due to insufficient propulsive activity of the hind legs but instead, the incapacity of the thoracolumbar spine’s muscular system to properly transmit forward through the thoracolumbar spine, the thrust generated by the hind legs. Basically, lack of forward movement was due to spine dysfunction instead of lack of a hind legs’ activity. The thought behind removing may spurs was that keeping my spurs, I would likely address problems increasing the hind legs activity instead of concentrating on the thoracolumbar column dysfunction.

It was amazing how fast the horses adapted to the no-spurs situation. In fact, very soon, they responded with greater accuracy to any touch of my legs. At first, I attributed their calmness, subtleness and higher sensitivity to the fact that they no longer feared the sharp contact of the spurs. Equine research had already demonstrated the wrongness of Gustave Steinbrecht’s “spurs attacks.” Jean Marie Denoix DVM, PhD explained that having two heads, on inserted higher on one vertebral body and the other lower on the adjacent vertebrae, backward movement of the rib stimulated by the contraction of the muscles situate between the ribs, “spurs attack,” compressed and therefore altered the mobility of the two vertebrae connected to the rib.

Further studies demonstrated that the old concept of the rider’s legs stimulating muscles engaging the hind legs was unrelated to equine functional anatomy. The muscles situated under the rider’s leg are the re**us abdominis and they don’t engage the hind legs. The rider’s leg touch in fact sensors, which are designed to feel touch. Theses sensors have the capacity to feel a fly. ”Protection against external parasites involves feeling their presence and taking appropriated action.” (Carol A Saslow) In its more elementary form, the touch of the rider leg is interpreted by the horse’s brain as a forward movement signal. This is the simple concept of conditioned reflex. The touch of the rider’s leg is compared in the memory with previously stored stimulus and recognized as an indication of forward movement. The message is transferred to the cerebral cortex and the cortical decision is “go”. The cortical decision is integrated to the elements of the brain such as the olivary nuclei or cerebellum, which monitor the horse’s body state, and the cortical decision is adapted to the body situation. If the body state is a dysfunctional spine, the message “go” is resisted by fear of discomfort or pain. This very basic understanding of equine perception exposes the infantilism of the belief that if the aids are properly applied, the horse responds executing the correct movement. Instead, the horse response is always a compromise between responding to the rider’s aids and protecting existing muscle imbalance, morphological flaw, weaknesses, memories, or other issues.

“Once, we humans, have divised ways to measure the physical world, it became apparent that our perception of “reality” was a constrction of our human minds and not a faithful physical replica.” (Plato) Our sensors functions as filters which pass only a minute proportion of physical energies. Our brain uses this fragmentary information to construct a view of the world that was advantageous to the survival of our primate ancestors. With education, the horse’s brain constructs and refines responses to nuances in direction, duration and intensity of the touch of our legs.

Once chaotic stimuli created by the spurs were no longer disturbing the horses’ perception, the subtlety and precision of their responses suggested a sensitivity beyond the scope of conventional beliefs. Carol Saslow’s recent study provides the scientific answer. “Using stimuli developed for gaging human tactile sensitivity, we were surprise to find that horses sensitivity on the parts of the body which would be in contact with the rider’s legs is greater than what has been found for the adult human calf or even the more sensitive human fingertip. Horses can react to pressure that are too light for the human to feel. This raises the possibility that human instability in the saddle results in inadvertent delivery of irrelevant tactile signals to the horse. And a consequent failure in teaching the horse which signals are meaningful. Horses deemed insensitive to the legs (dead- sided), may simply have never had the chance to respond to consistent, light and meaningful signals. Similarly, the seeming ability of a well-trained horse to have extrasensory perception for his rider’s intentions may be instead its response to slight movement or tightening that the rider makes without awareness. “ (Carol A Saslow, Understanding the perceptual world of horses, Applied Animal Behavior Science, 78 (2002) 209-224) ,

There are riding techniques as well as saddle designed that result in inadvertent delivery of irrelevant tactile signals to the horse. Basically legs instability result from seat instability. Saddle with high cantle and enormous knee pads often lead to rider rolling on the back of their seat bone and lifting the knees into the contact of the knee pads. The aberration makes then squeezing the thigh above the knees moving the calf away from the horse flanks. In order to have contact, riders have to squeeze the legs disturbing the horse’s sensitivity with intermittent and strong physical contact. Riding techniques emphasizing such approach as well as techniques such as kicking with the heels, causes disturbing stimuli in an area of the horse’s body that is highly sensitive.
Jean Luc Cornille

I highly recommend Science of Motions online courses.
03/09/2023

I highly recommend Science of Motions online courses.

The new PAB video, "On Fascia" is posted. Fascia enables all body systems to operate in an integrated manner. The work of our gluteus maximus and upper thigh muscles prestresses our body for work. The tone of our muscles that are directly in contact with the saddle and, therefore, the horse’s back influences the tone of our whole physique, including the freedom of our shoulders and forearms. Jean Luc https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/pab_biotensegrity.html

02/03/2023
02/03/2023
12/31/2022

Wishing everyone a Happy New Years!

12/07/2022

Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

Extension of the thoracic spine lateral bending coupled with an inverted rotation, and sagging of the trunk between the forelegs and the rider's driving seat are the reason why the impact on the right front will overload the hoof structure. The farrier can at the best minimize the damages. The problem is the rider and the training technique. The horse is in a pseudo shoulder in with a dysfunctional physique and the forces will act down onto the hoof in the wrong intensity and direction. The problem cannot be corrected from the hoof up to the back. the problem has to be addressed from the back down to the hoof.
Jean Luc

11/30/2022
Thank you Colleen for helping out with Napoleon Dynamite (AKA Pony).  Colleen is helping me prepare him for my young stu...
11/18/2022

Thank you Colleen for helping out with Napoleon Dynamite (AKA Pony). Colleen is helping me prepare him for my young students. He is doing well and learning to relax. He came to the farm a little arena sour and herd bound.

11/11/2022

To all those who served bravely we honor you today! 💜 🇺🇸

This is a great read!
11/04/2022

This is a great read!

Jean Luc Cornille and Quolibet Z at Pompadour
Selection trail for the world championship

If I had had my say, I would have retired Quolibet from international competitions after the World Championship. In three years, he went from death row to the World Event. He completed one of the most challenging cross-country courses ever built primarily due to his rational thinking and generous heart. His successes were not attributable to extraordinary athletic abilities. If I had had my say, I would have given Quolibet to a talented young rider. He loved his work; he liked the long Pignot jogs, and he truly enjoyed the weekly two-hour walks on long reins in the Fontainebleau forest. He would never have been happy in full retirement. The difficulty level of the young riders' competition would have been recreational for Quolibet. He would have taught to one or more talented young riders that the training scales are not the equestrian education's purpose by any means. They are only the canvas upon which skilled riders and gifted horses express their talents.

Great horses and promising riders are destroyed by the preposterous idea that every athlete should be submitted to the same training regime. Often, the casual conversations that we had between riders and guest riders of the Fontainebleau's Olympic Center delved into the training scales' subject. The principles varied from one school to the other, but the discussion was really about the limitations created by any system. As early as 1949, General Decarpentry addressed the issue. "The officer who decides to prepare a horse for international dressage tests is going beyond the limits of his equestrian education." (General Decarpentry, Academic Equitation, 1949) No one questioned the fact that the demands of equine athletic performances were beyond the limits of conventional education. The conversations were about how early in their careers skilled riders should explore beyond the system. Each rider coming to the center had his or her own Quolibet story. While the large majority of the horses were well-bred athletes coming into the competitive world with an expensive price tag, some horses were damaged by a training system that crippled their athletic abilities. Not one of these horses ever revealed their hidden potential when confined to the very same system which shattered their talents in the first place. Any horse's resurrection was the result of a rider's ability to think outside the box.

I remember an extraordinary jumper. His name, if my memory is accurate, was Mon Rose. The horse had tremendous power and a terrible style. He was so inverted over the jumps that the rider told us that the most uncomfortable detail with this horse was that he looked him straight in the eyes as he was flying over the jumps. The horse's career was quite disastrous because the trainer tried to fit the horse to the stereotypes that he was familiar with. Michel Roche came into the picture realizing that this extraordinary horse needed to be ridden the way he wanted to be ridden. Michel adapted to the horse's peculiar style. Then, they both met another genius. Jean Dorgeix was the coach of the French jumping team. He realized that the combination of Mon Rose and Michel Roche was as exceptional as it was unconventional. Dorgeix selected Michel Roche and Mon Rose for the Olympic squad. They won the team Gold Medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

The French school promotes the thought that the rider's hands should be categorized into five specific actions: the rein effects. Quolibet truly disliked the rein effects. I thought at first that painful memories guided his reluctance. Perhaps inexperienced students had pulled on his mouth when he was a school horse. I tried to apply discreet rein effects, but his aversion did not diminish. Since I wore the uniform of a school whose mission is to protect and perpetuate the French equestrian tradition, I could not say that my horse did not want anything to do with the rein effects. Basically, I rode one way and taught another.

Sometimes, the extreme discretion of my rein effects was questioned by the judges. They wanted to be sure that I was in accordance with the system. I explained that I had to be very quiet about moving my hands because Quolibet was hyper-sensitive to any hand movement and traction on the reins. Knowing the power of classical quotes, I referred to the author of the masterpiece Academic Equitation, "Hand movements diminish as dressage progresses to the point of giving an illusion of immobility." (General Decarpentry, Academic Equitation, 1949. J. A. Allen & CO LTD. 1971 p. 44). This was a powerful argument. No one could dispute Decarpentry's authority, even if Decarpentry never referred to the rein effects for the straightforward reason that they were not invented when Decarpentry wrote the book!

Since I am talking about the five rein effects, maybe I should quickly review the theory. The more simple one is known as la reine d'ouverture (the opening rein), which is an action of the rider's inside hand moving toward the inside of the circle and pulling the horse's head and neck toward the inside. The horse is then supposed to follow his head and neck's direction and turn on a circle or only into the indicated direction. The second rein effect is known as la reine d'appui (the indirect rein). Exerting a light pressure of the rein on the neck is supposed to push the horse's shoulders in the opposite direction. The third effect is referred to as la reine direct d'opposition (direct reins of opposition). The thought is to oppose a résistance by placing the inside rein parallel to the horse's body and acting in the direction of the inside hip. The theoretical effect is that such rein action tends to displace the horse's haunches in the opposite direction.

The fourth effect is labeled as reine contraire d'opposition en avant du garrot (contrary or indirect rein of opposition ahead of the whither). Fortunately, this rein effect is easier to execute than to read. The rider's hand acts ahead of the horse's whither in the direction of the outside hip. The theoretical effect is that this rein effect pushes the horse's shoulders to the outside and the haunches to the inside. The fifth effect is named reine contraire d'opposition en arriere du garrot (indirect rein of opposition behind the whither). This rein effect is also referred to as intermediary rein, la reine intermediaire. The rider's hand acts above or behind the horse's whither in the direction of the middle of the croup. The theoretical effect is that the intermediary rein pushes the horse's whole body toward the outside.

Like every so-called rider aid, the rein effects are based on an element of truth. An uneducated horse might respond to one or the other rein effects by moving his body approximately as described in the rule book. However, believing that the horse's reaction will be systematic is a stretch. A horse is not genetically wired to know the rein effects by birth. Like Pavlov's dog, a horse may be conditioned to respond to any rein action, but he will protect existing muscle imbalance, weaknesses, or morphological flaws.

An event that occurred at Saumur as I was a teenager exposed the narrowness of equitation based on formulas. The Cadre Noir de Saumur was opening to civilians by offering two-week sessions of intensive training. I was a teenager and thrilled to have been selected. Each afternoon, the training sessions ended in a classroom with two hours of equestrian theory. The instructor was a member of the Cadre Noir. He was an extraordinary figure with his cigarette holder and monocle. I perceived him to be very intelligent and perhaps a visionary. The subject of the theory was Monsieur de la Gueriniere's shoulder-in. La Gueriniere wrote, "Instead of keeping a horse completely straight in the shoulders and the haunches on the straight line along the wall, it is necessary to turn his head and shoulders slightly inward, toward the center of the school, as if one wanted to turn him, and when he has assumed this oblique and circular posture, one must make him move forward along the wall while aiding him with the inside rein and leg, (he absolutely cannot go forward in this posture without stepping-over or "chevaler" the front inside leg over the outside and, similarly, the inside hind leg over the outside." (Francois Robichon de la Gueriniere, Ecole de Cavalerie) We had been told to commence the shoulder-in by utilizing the opening rein and then pushing the shoulders in the direction of the motion using the indirect rein. Our instructor suggested instead using the opening rein all the way through the shoulder-in. We were conditioned to mathematical formulas, Opening Rein + Indirect Rein = Shoulder-In, and we were incapable of thinking beyond our dogmas. Our education was narrow-minded to the extent that the study of rein effects was the training's purpose. In our elemental thinking, we believed that the horse would move on a circle if we were not using the indirect rein.

Our instructor was surprised by our group's reaction. The two theologians of the group then defiantly questioned his views. I could see perplexity in his body language. He went inside his mind to the memory of his last riding session, placing his hands and body as he did when practicing Shoulder in. Then he looked at us. Annoyance had now supplanted perplexity, and he calmly ended the session, saying, this is the way I will teach Shoulder- in to you if you want to learn. I was very uncomfortable with the situation, as I was the youngest member of the group and not secure enough to take a position. The theologians drew up a formal complaint, and another instructor was assigned to our group.

The same night, I thought of the man's body language as he reviewed in his mind the way he asked for shoulder-in. He was inviting us into a more subtle world, but we were so compartmentalized in our little knowledge that we could not see and think beyond the five rein effects' academic application.

Two days later, I approached Capitan de Croutte and asked if he could elaborate on his thought about the shoulder-in. He smiled, telling me if you are ready to think, yes, I will gladly give you the explanation. In a short conversation, he brought everything back into perspective. The rein effects are not the purpose of your education. They are a teaching technique aimed at organizing your hands' actions. Your hands are only small components of your entire body. Any conversation with your horse is not about hand signals but rather body language. The ingenious idea of the shoulder-in is the attitude oblique and circular, which favors the lowering of the inside haunch. Monsieur de la Gueriniere said, "When the horse has assumed this oblique and circular posture, you must make him move forward along the wall while aiding him with the inside rein and leg." There are many ways you can help the horse to move forward along the wall with your seat and legs, keeping your inside rein in its opening position. You do not have to push the horse's shoulders sideways, exerting pressure with your inside reins on the base of the neck. If you do so, you will lose either the horse's lateral bending or the placement of the horse's shoulders one foot and a half to two feet toward the inside of the ring. I thanked him, asking if I could take advantage of his knowledge in the future by asking more questions. He told me yes, of course, anytime.

Anytime occurred more than a decade later. De Croutte had pursued an advanced military career. I instead had taken advantage of the military corps to advance my riding career. I was back into civilian life, and de Croutte has been promoted to colonel. He was the head Riding Master of the superior school of military studies in Paris. We were almost neighbors. We met many times, as the Paris Military School organized jumping and dressage competitions.

Interestingly, we continued the conversation as if it had started the day before. He was interested in the practical application of classical views to the demands of modern competitions. We both agreed that the problem was not the classical views but rather the narrow-minded views that theologians promoted. One saying of the Cadre Noir of Saumur is, "Respect for tradition should not prevent the love of progress." (Colonel Danloux) Progress involves advances in scientific knowledge. However, already at that time, theologians were selecting and interpreting pertinent scientific discoveries to accredit their beliefs. Nothing has changed. In 2009, the psychologist Jonathan Haidt said, "We engage in moral thinking not to find the truth, but to find arguments that support our intuitive judgments" (Jonathan Haidt, 27 September 2009)

The subject of the shoulder-in is fascinating. Actual judging standards score the horse for its ability to sustain an angle of 30º to the rails and with the limbs traveling on three tracks. Better judges may also look at the horse's ability to maintain cadence and suspension. Neither Monsieur de la Gueriniere nor the Duke of Newcastle who inspired la Gueriniere ever talked about an angle of 30º or the number of tracks. La Gueriniere's words were, "The line of the haunches must be near the wall, and the line of the shoulders must be about one foot and a half to two feet away from the wall." That the horse's body formed an angle of 30º with the rail was an observation made a century later. Gustave Steinbrecht was a detail-oriented type of person. His book, The Horse Gymnasium, narrates in incredible detail all the gestures, actions, and reactions he observed in training advanced level horses. Steinbrecht noticed that best results were achieved in the shoulder-in when the horse's body formed approximately an angle of 30º with the rail. Steinbrecht also observed that when the horse was sustaining such an angle, the limbs traveled on three tracks.

The same narrow-minded compartmentalization, which decades earlier kept our group of young theologians within the limits of rigid formulas, Opening Rein + Indirect Rein = Shoulder-In, is today severing modern equitation from the real benefits of the beautiful gymnastic exercise known as the shoulder-in. Interestingly, Gustave Steinbrecht restored the shoulder-in's real meaning, preparing the move with horse body coordination that he named shoulder-fore. Steinbrecht advised using the inside leg and outside rein. Today, the formula, Inside leg + outside reins = Shoulder fore, Shoulder- in, Straightening the horse's body, Taking care of the flue, Winning a blue ribbon, etc., etc.

Watching Quolibet's style over the jump, Pierre Dinzeo's remark was closer to Steinbrecht and la Gueriniere's idea than any dressage formula later invented. Steinbrecht did not introduce the shoulder-fore as a dressage movement but instead as a concept: a body coordination to efficiently prepare the horse's physique for the shoulder-in. La Gueriniere did not introduce the shoulder-in as a dressage movement but instead as a gymnastic. "This lesson produces so many good results at once that I regard it as the first and the last of all those which are given to the horse."

When I first placed Quolibet under my umbrella, my only goal was to ease the last five months of his life. It was then easy to explore beyond traditional thinking. The system had failed Quolibet, both physically and mentally, and the thought that if there were a solution, it would likely be out of the box was a rational working hypothesis.

I will never thank Quolibet enough; first, that he was who he was. Also, because his dramatic situation directed my thought toward applying advancements in scientific knowledge exclusively for the good of the horse, I am grateful to him. Later, as Quolibet started to be successful in competition, I deviated, using progress in scientific knowledge to gain one more success. Fortunately, Quolibet's partnership had tempered my sense of competitiveness with a sense of decency. The fever of winning took over many times, but I had evolved and so pursued foremost the thought that the science of winning meant that a real victory involves the happiness and soundness of both the rider and the horse.

I did my share of indecencies, pushing horses beyond their limits, or entering the show ring when I should have rested the horse. The memory of Quolibet's teaching tainted these ephemeral glories so darkly that in my memory now, these victories are more embarrassing than glorious. There have also been other extraordinary horses and extraordinary men. The next horse presented in my greatest teachers' stories did not come into my life directly after Quolibet Z. Still, if it were a rational order in the evolution of life's lessons, Vanzep would have been the next partner.

Jean Luc Cornille

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