Hyperflexion of the Upper Neck

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A Failure of Olympic Dimension

There are millions of riders all over the world who are outraged by the practice. James Crook wrote, “A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.” Perhaps there, is a good idea. Educating efficiently the horse’s vertebral column is about orchestrating numerous and minute muscles contractions. Such sophisticated orchestration cannot be done submitting the horse to ineffective principles. Each one of us would not hesitate to stand up and applaud a great performance. Like -wise, each one of us should not hesitate to stand up for the horse and turn our back on the ring or even leave the show area when a rider practicing the hyper-flexion of the horse’s upper neck enters the scene. If 10 or 50 or 100 spectators stand up and turn their back on the ring or even leave the ring area, perhaps riders, trainers, judges, stewards and even the governing body might realize that if they do not respect horses,  they may have to pack and go because a very large body of real horse persons will not let go.   Jean Luc Cornille©2009

Stand up for your horse and leave the show area

Upper neck hyper-flexion is primarily a problem of education. For a large part, riders and trainers applying the system do not have any clear idea of the effects that hyper-flexion of the upper neck has on the horse. A few successful riders applied the approach and everyone copied the technique, hoping that the hyper-flexion of the horse’s upper neck would generate success. If the same Olympic riders had warmed up their horses wearing  green shirts, we would be talking about the” greenkur”,  and many will convince themselves that the color of their shirt has made a world of difference to their horse.

In the business of showing, the governing bodies will “investigate” the matter a little further, hoping that the problem will go away. The tactic is known as “drowning the fish”.  Action will not be taken, and therefore, action belongs to the individuals who are outraged by the approach. There are several petitions going on simultaneously. Sylvia Loch has now collected 6000 signatures, and Philippe Karl, who started his own movement in March, now  totals  12,000 signatures. As of today, November 23, our own petition is in its 29th day and we have already received 2011 signatures. There are many other petitions in progress, and these different petitioning groups are now talking to each other hoping to draw a common strategy.

Several ideas suggest wearing a white hat or other clothing devices in protest. Our suggestion is to stand up and leave the show area when a rider practicing hyper-flexion of the neck enters the ring. Our thought is that it would be unethical for the show organizers, as well as good riders to start manifestations around the show area that could end in confrontation with Rollkur proponents and create disturbances.  America is a free country; if  you do not like it, you stand up and you leave the periphery of the show ring. This is a win/win situation. First of all you do not have to watch a performance that would be unpleasant to watch anyway. Second of all, there are often good vendors or concessions to visit.

The impact would be very strong. It would normalize the offending rider’s ego, and concern eventual sponsors. It would make the steward or technical delegate wonder about the policy of passive compliance. It would raise the same concerns in the judge’s mind.

Whatever action is ultimately decided, union is power and it would be very effective if everyone in the world applied the same tactic. We are hoping that a common action will be decided promptly.

Meanwhile, we continue to explain why hyper-flexion of the upper neck is handicapping dressage as well as jumper horses. Also, we further open our newsletter to the thoughts of competent trainers. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, small minds discuss peoples.” By contrast to small minds trainers who apply a technique because other peoples are doing it, there are many advantages to consider the thoughts of riders and trainers who are presenting pertinent ideas.   

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."  - Margaret Mead, US anthropologist (1901-1978)