The Frame
In order to facilitate the exciting developments of modern dressage, the FEI determined that major revisions must be made to the Rulebook, specifically Article 401: Object and General Principles of Dressage which describes the correct frame of the horse.
A basic tenet of Classical Dressage stated that the horse must always be ridden
with the poll as the highest point and the face approaching the vertical. The exception to this rule was in the performance of extended
gaits in which the face was to be in front of the vertical, reflecting the lengthening of the entire frame. Lip service was
also paid to the notion of the “Relative Erection of the Head and Neck”, i.e., through progressive training, using the now-outdated
guidelines of the Training Pyramid, the horse would gradually be able to take more weight on his haunches (achieved by the bending
of the joints in the hind legs), thus allowing elevation of the forehand.
Even before the turn of this century the validity of
these guidelines was being questioned, although they were still clearly stated in the FEI rulebook. Thinking outside the box,
Olympic level riders and trainers had discovered that schooling horses to move with their third or fourth cervical vertebra as the
highest point freed up the back and allowed for more extravagant action of the front legs, in addition to achieving the elegant curled
neck that the public recognized as the hallmark of dressage. A further benefit of riding horses in the deeper frame was the
greater control it afforded riders. Riders no longer needed to worry about their mounts being distracted by their surrounding
as the horses’ field of vision was limited to the area directly below their noses.
Initially
the practice of riding the horse deep was confined to schooling, but it was soon discovered that bringing the horses “up” for competition
was difficult to achieve. Riding in the higher frame also sacrificed the leg-flinging movements so beloved of many top judges.
In 2014 the FEI, under the chairmanship of Bengt Fleckchen, was finally persuaded to change its rules to be more in harmony
with the awards given top riders in Olympic and World Cup competitions. The horse was now to be ridden with the croup as the
highest point of the spine with the face a minimum of 22 degrees behind the vertical.
