Adelinde Cornelissen - happy horse?


An interview where she answered the question "why is it important for the dressage horse to be a happy athlete" with those words first.

It may be important to point out here that the photo I picked up is not just a moment in time. There is extensive video of her doing the same and it is routine for her to school and warm up Parzival in rollkur. In fact that picture shows the horse a lot less unhappy in appearance than others I could have found.
 
An interview where she answered the question "why is it important for the dressage horse to be a happy athlete" with those words first.

It may be important to point out here that the photo I picked up is not just a moment in time. There is extensive video of her doing the same and it is routine for her to school and warm up Parzival in rollkur. In fact that picture shows the horse a lot less unhappy in appearance than others I could have found.

Moment in time.

Not at all, as I already pointed out.
 
Moment in time.
Why do I get the strong feeling the horse didn't put himself in that position?

Why anyone wants to obstruct a horses airway in any way whatsoever is beyond me but especially when that horse is having to perform very demanding work!

I have seen the odd video of him looking relaxed but as they say... it's how you get there that really matters for longevity and state of mind/low stress!
 
I just got that issue in the post, and I did wonder at their decision to include that particular quote.

And it's not a moment in time, there are literally hundreds of photos on google of her riding like this.
 
This witch has already been disqualified when her horse cut its mouth on the bit, stupid horse. Student of Anky van Rollkur, so no suprise there. Moment in time, only if you're on drugs.
 
Why is she leaning back and apparently hauling on a bit with a curb? I thought those bits were for refined/light communication with the horse through its mouth?
Imho, she is lucky the horse is only swishing its tail to show objection! Perhaps her real skill is knowing how much force to apply to just avoid an explosion?
Horrible in my view!
 
I never said she doesnt ride like that all the time but that picture IS a moment in time, she is obviously about to enter the arena to do her test so i dont imagine for one minute she continued to ride him like that thereafter as the marks would reflect it.
Video evidence of the horse being ridden like it for prolonged periods is different.
but drawing conclusions from a photo isnt always fair.
 
drawing conclusions from a photo isnt always fair.


We weren't. There is ample evidence that she consistently schools like that as I made very clear in my post before you said it was only a moment in time. In fact I used the very same expression.

What are BD doing condoning this abuse by having her present at a National BD event?
 
Video evidence of the horse being ridden like it for prolonged periods is different.
but drawing conclusions from a photo isnt always fair.
No, you are right - and I'm sure that single photos have given misleading impressions before.

However, in this case, the photo clearly indicates the horse was ridden in hyperflexion (though not for how long, obviously) which means the rider is prepared to use this method, presumably in the usual protracted manner. It is prima facie evidence for the rider's willingness to subject a horse to this.
 
Didn't she say after the Olympics that she was reviewing her training to achieve a softer, less tense outline?
Learning from the example set by Carl and Charlotte maybe?
 
Didn't she say after the Olympics that she was reviewing her training to achieve a softer, less tense outline?
Learning from the example set by Carl and Charlotte maybe?

I was watching a reply of the Europeans the other night and was caught wondering about Adelinde and Parzival again (really disliked her riding style in the Olympics last year), especially as his Piaffe is so unconventional (yet still gets very high marks). I consequently asked my trainer what he thought about her as he has a heck of a lot more knowledge and experience than I do, to which he replied that a year or so ago he couldn't watch her as she was so, so tight with her hands and consistently hauled the horse's head in whilst leaning backwards and fixing against him, however that he'd since noticed that she'd begun to soften and attempt to have Parzival looser and taking his head forward more, which corresponded to an interview of her sometime last year saying words to the same effect. I still can't say that I enjoyed watching her in this year's ECs, however the horse didn't, IMO, look as tight as he did last year. It's also worth noting that the youtube link posted is dated 2010. Now, I'm in no way a fan of her or her riding style, just playing the devil's advocate a touch and trying to add a little bit of extra info to the conversation.
 
She seems a somewhat odd choice for a BD convention when we have so many better options on site :p - and I would think that most british riders would prefer their methods over hers.
 
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