FEI Assembly Response to "Blue Tongue Dressage" Uproar: Steward Control, Partners with World Horse Welfare for More Studies on Hyperflexion

The follow statement was received today from the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) General Assembly meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark. The statement is in response to international furor over a clip of videotape from a warmup arena at an FEI World Cup dressage competition last month, as featured on this blog.

The clip has become known around the world as "blue tongue dressage" and refers to a horse ridden harshly (in the opinion on many people) on the curb rein so that the horse's tongue turned blue, as seen when it flopped out of the horse's mouth for a moment and just happened to be caught on video. The tight frame exhibited in in the video is known as hyperflexion of the neck, formerly called "rollkur" or "bite the chest".

Here is the exact statement from the FEI, released today:

"The FEI condemns all training methods and practices that are contrary to horse welfare. The welfare of the horse has always been and will always be at the core of every aspect of the Federation’s work as the international governing body for equestrian sport.

"During its meeting in Copenhagen (DEN) on 15 November, the FEI Bureau had extensive discussion on the issue of hyperflexion. The FEI Bureau insists that, with immediate effect, stewards in all disciplines use the disciplinary measures available to them, such as verbal warnings and yellow warning cards *, to prevent any infringement of FEI rules.

"The FEI is now engaged with World Horse Welfare, a leading international equestrian organisation, in addition to continued consultation with riders, trainers, officials and veterinarians to thoroughly research the issues. The further education of stewards will also continue to ensure that welfare issues at FEI events are dealt with promptly and professionally.

"The FEI acknowledges and welcomes public opinion and will continue to ensure that the welfare of the horse, which has been central to this debate, will remain its absolute priority.

"* If a rider receives two yellow warning cards within one year, he / she is automatically suspended for a period of two months immediately following the event at which the second yellow warning card was received."

The Jurga Report will have more on this important news story as more information is released. Please check back.

Blue Tongue Dressage Outrage Goes Viral and Global; Rollkur Opponents See Abuse on Video, What Do You See?

by Fran Jurga | 23 October 2009 | The Jurga Report at Equisearch.com



It was just a video clip posted on YouTube. But in a few days, 19,835 people all over the world had seen it.

It was just a group page on FaceBook. But within 24 hours, 841 people had joined it, again from all over the world.

The viewers and Facebookers are gawking at the four minutes of warmup arena action you see posted here. This latest incident in the moral outrage of the rank-and-file horse sports supporter has surpassed the snarly debates over eventing safety, Isabell Werth medicating her horse and Big Brown (who?) losing the Triple Crown combined. And it did this only by showing a horse's discolored tongue, swishing tail and unnaturally bent neck. They took it from there.

This video clip was shot at an FEI World Cup Dressage qualifier in Europe last week. Videographers Luise Thomsen and Julie Taylor from Epona TV were surprised that a rider at this level schooled this stallion for as long as two hours in a hyperflexion frame.

They grabbed the camera when they noticed that the horse's swollen tongue had turned blue. The horse's lips were curled and apparently even the rider could see it, as he stopped and put the horse's tongue back into its mouth.

Apparently the schooling ring steward did not see anything wrong with this rider's method.

Click here to read the full story about this videotape and about the effects of the curb bit of a double bridle on the horse's tongue.

FEI rules discourage what is called hyperflexion, rollkur or "bite the chest"--riding with the horse in an overbent neck and head position for a prolonged period of time. The practice is the subject of last year's best-selling horse book, Tug of War: Classical vs Modern Dressage by German veterinarian Gerd Heuschmann.

Rollkur first made the news a few years ago when Dutch Olympic dressage champion Anky Van Grunsven was videotaped in a warmup arena riding her horse in the allegedly abusive manner. A German dressage magazine pumped up the volume and an international outcry concerned the FEI that it was not protecting the welfare of horses at its competitions.

A panel of world-class biomechanics and equine anatomy experts met in Switzerland on January 31, 2006 to discuss the problem with the FEI, who concluded that there was no evidence that rollkur caused direct harm to the horse, stating in a press release, "There was clearly none evidence that no structural damage is created by this training exercise, when used in the right way by expert riders." They did add, however, that it could cause harm if used incorrectly by inexperienced riders and that hyperflexion cannot be self-maintained by the horse for an extended period of time.

Since last spring, Heuschmann's DVD If Horse's Could Speak has been on sale and goes even further than the book to tie overschooling, disconnected riding and especially overflexion/rollkur to unsoundness and musculoskeletal injuries in dressage horses. But it is very, very hard to prove the dots are connected.

In a special interview with Olympics champion Anky Van Grunsven on Epona TV, filmed at the same FEI World Cup qualifier as the blue tongue, Anky defends her use of hyperflexion as a training method, saying that she uses it for a few minutes at a time, then lets the horse relax, but that she only uses it on her advanced horses, and horses that are strong enough to do it, and for whom it is easy to go to that frame.

In other words, she paraphrased the parameters under which rollkur is more or less allowed as a warmup method by the FEI.

The FEI can only rule on what has been proven by research, even though some things seem very logical. "Welfare" and "comfort" may not mean the same thing in translation...or in a court of law.

But after this weekend, stewards may be more aware of blue tongues in the warmup rings. The blue tongue dressage virus will make sure of that. No one will be immune to this one.

Thanks to Romy from my dressage group for infecting me with the blue tongue virus and to EponaTV for allowing the video to be embedded here.

The Drama of Dressage: DVD from Germany Peels the Paint You Watched Dry All Those Years

by Fran Jurga | 14 April 2009 | The Jurga Report


This subtitled trailer is a bit outdated; the new English soundtrack version was launched in the United States this month, but you'll glimpse some of this DVD's lavish effects and drama.

If you're like me, you have often heard people (especially men) make jokes about going to a dressage show being as boring as "watching paint dry". Well, now we have something to wake those people up and get them to pay attention. In fact, we can now roll up our sleeves and have a good argument because German veterinarian Gerd Heuschmann has set the stage for the rollkur/overflexion debate of recent years to continue. With this DVD, the classical vs modern dressage discussion rolls out of the lecture halls and academia and into the streets; everyone is sure to have an opinion after watching this DVD.

Heuschmann comes at the competition/sport side of dressage--trainers, judges, riders, owners, breeders--with charges of "foul!" and uses the sacred texts and artifacts and even icons like the chief rider of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna to help him make his case.

But is this passionate young German a modern-day Don Quixote, tilting at judging box windmills astride a perfectly collected horse? Book buyers who made his Tug of War hardcover book an equestrian bestseller--it is now sold in four languages--certainly thought he had something worthy of their attention and purchasing power.

Heuschmann's best ally in his plea for un-tense, free-moving dressage horses is his producer, Isabella Sonntag. Sonntag spared no expense in creating powerful graphics and very high-tech 3-D computer animation. She also hired a masterful sound editor whose dramatic soundtrack, as evidenced on the trailer, makes you feel that grand prix dressage may be as big a risk to a horse's health and safety as navigating a four-star event course.

This DVD is not without its flaws. It is a one-sided argument: the mainstream "sport" dressage community does not have a chance to defend itself, nor does Heuschmann give us the background of existing biomechanical research on the horse's back and neck, conducted at the University of Utrecht, France's CIRALE, Sweden's Uppsala center or our own McPhail Center at Michigan State University.

In many ways, Heuschmann is debating an enemy who didn't show for the battle. For those who have decided that an about-face return to classical dressage is the answer to dressage's problems and that massive reform is needed in the sport, this DVD will be the flagship to show and share with others. For those who want to learn what rollkur/overflexion is (and isn't), this video will certainly give you a very strong opinion of why the practice has been discouraged by the FEI. Some people from outside the sport will nod their heads all the way through, and embrace Heuschmann for saving horses from a sport they didn't even know could be so perilous, and that is certainly his intended mission.

For all his persuasiveness and all the DVD's drama, the subject is part of a much larger picture of equine biomechanics that is unfolding within the relatively new field of equestrian sport science. Over the next few years, science may well prove that Heuschmann and the Old Masters were right all along, Ms. Sonntag's money was well-spent, and the DVD's high-stakes drama is reality, after all.

This graphic is a still capture from one of the DVD's many anatomy animations.

Yet it is not enough to feel betrayed that a sport's leaders and stars are damaging horses and shortening their careers with rushed training and harsh methods. The public needs to know what to do: where's Heuschmann's plan to reform dressage? I'm sure there is one, perhaps rooted in the great mind of the esteemed Xenophon Society in Europe--great minds that include Dr. Gerd Heuschmann's.

Don't miss this DVD, and the chance to form your own opinion. I thoroughly enjoyed it, though the anatomical/biomechanical detail may be more in-depth than some people are seeking (that's why the remote has that fast-forward button) and we never did find out exactly why that horse in the promo trailer was having surgery on its leg and how it was connected to improper dressage training. But it certainly was dramatic!

Specifics: • 75 minute DVD format in English • USA DVD format (may not play on Euro systems) • "Starring" Dr. Gerd Heuschmann with commentary by Chief Rider Johann Riegler of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Professor Heinz Meyer, Peter Kreinberg, and David de Wispelaere, with introduction and epilogue by equestrian historian Hans-Heinrich Isenbart. • Special effects and animation by Pixomondo • Produced by Isabella Sonntag and Wu-Wei Verlag • Released April 2009 by Trafalgar Square Books

Rollkur Revolt: FEI Makes Official Statement Discouraging Overflexion in Dressage Training

This photo illustrates a horse in the "overflexed" position condemned by many critics. While an FEI special investigation could not prove that the practice actually harmed the horse, the new thinking is that the practice may constitute a form of mental abuse. The FEI supports the concept of "the happy horse" in the competition arena.

In the small type of the April 10th summary from the veterinary committee of the Federation Equestrian International (FEI), the world governing body of equestrian sports, is a paragraph of particular interest to those on either side of the debate over a training method commonly called "rollkur" or "bite the chest":

STATEMENT ON HYPERFLEXION (ROLLKÜR): the following statement was adopted: There are no known clinical side effects specifically arising from the use of hyperflexion, however there are serious concerns for a horse's well-being if the technique is not practiced correctly. The FEI condemns hyperflexion in any equestrian sport as an example of mental abuse. The FEI states that it does not support the practice.

Rollkur was first brought to the public's attention by a German dressage magazine that was highly critical of Dutch dressage rider Anky van Grunsven's warmup routine before her Grand Prix performance. The criticism led to disputes between many factions of the dressage community. Researchers including America's Dr. Hilary Clayton and France's Dr. Jean-Marie Denoix presented evidence to the FEI at a special forum on the subject last year. Veterinary researchers could find no evidence of direct harm to the neck or spine of the horse.

In late 2007, a new book called Tug of War: Classical Versus "Modern" Dressage: Why Classical Training Works and How Incorrect Riding Negatively Affects Horses' Health by German veterinarian Gerd Heuschmann became a manifesto for condemnation of the practice. The book was an immediate bestseller and is the rare example of a horse book climbing into the upper atmosphere of Amazon.com bestsellers. Tug of War is currently #1 on Amazon in riding books, #1 in horse training and #2 in overall equestrian books. (Edgar Prado's My Guy Barbaro is #1 overall in the equestrian category.)

This debate is ongoing and how the FEI statement is interpreted should be interesting. Stay tuned for more rollkur news!