Das Problem geht also über die Rollkur hinaus. Es geht um die grundsätzliche Frage, ob eine enge Kopf-Hals-Haltung (in/hinter der Senkrechten) für das Pferd schädlich ist. Die Autoren des Artikels vom Februar 2007 fragen sich weiter, ob es eine Rolle spielt, ob ein Pferd diese Haltung selber wählt, weil sie seiner Körperhaltung entspricht (das wäre dann die relative Aufrichtung), oder ob sie ihm vom Reiter antrainiert wurde (also eine absolute Aufrichtung).
Noch eine persönliche Anmerkung:
Als ich vor mehr als dreissig Jahren mit dem Reiten anfing, lernte ich noch, dass die verlängerte Nasenlinie das Pferdes nicht die Linie des Vorderbeines kreuzen sollte, d.h. die Kopfhaltung sollte dem Tempo bzw. dem Versammlungsgrad des Pferdes entsprechen. Mein erstes Reitbuch war G. von Romaszkans "Reiten lernen" von 1957, auf den Fotos darin hat keines der Pferde seinen Kopf hinter der Senkrechten, selbst das Pferd, dass die Piaffe zeigt, hat die Nase deutlich davor.
Da diese Bilder meine Sehgewohnheiten mitprägten, habe ich bei heutigen Dressurprüfungen häufig den Eindruck, die Pferde würden gleich nach vorne kippen und auf die Schnauze fallen. Generell achte ich bei Pferden immer erst auf die Haltung der Hinterhand und dann erst darauf, ob die Kopfhaltung dazu passt, bei sehr vielen gerittenen Pferden tut sie das allerdings nicht.
Ich finde es auch nicht vergnüglich, mir Dressurprüfungen anzusehen, da mir dabei zuviel gemurkst statt getanzt wird, die Pferde wirken unterworfen statt sich freudig zu produzieren. Ich sehe dabei zuviel Verbissenheit und ("strukturelle") Gewalt und vermisse die Lust an der Bewegung, die Vitalität.
Tanja Xezal
Für Leser, die des Englischen mächtig sind, hier noch Auszüge aus dem Interview und dem Artikel.
Aus dem Interview mit Horst Weiler aus der Ausgabe vom Juni 2006:
Aus dem Artikel vom Februar 2007"The attitude dressage horses adopt for their training leads to chronic overstraining of the anchoring where the neck tendon is attached at the back of the skull. This is the conclusion reached by Horst Weiler of the free Universitet in Berlin in a scientific publication (…).
The veterinary surgeon and pathologist examined more than a thousand live and dead horses. He looked thereby at the overloading of the ligaments and tendons of the anchoring of and links to the bone and the impact of it in legs and especially to the bit between the neck and skull.
Weiler's answer to the question of what is overloading is rather shocking for dressage riders.
The overloading of the skull anchoring occurs when the horse makes the highly sought bend in dressage riding. Riding deep and round or with the chin almost on the chest or behind the perpendicular is fatal according to him. [Editor's Note: Fatal as in you are ensured that damage will occur]
(…)
With overstraining bone and tissue growth appear in the area of the anchoring, structural changes which do not belong there. These morbid developments can not be healed, only prevented. There is a direct link between the growths and riding deep and round.
The mechanical pulling strain alone, caused by extreme bending of the head, can cause the bone growth. Research on ponies used for recreational purposes, trotters, cart horses, race horses and some Przewalski horses did not reveal any of the problems with the point of anchorage. These horses don't have to bend their necks.
The impact of the bone growth at the point of anchorage of the neck tendon with the back of the skull reveals itself particularly in 'rittigkeitsproblemen '. Horses which shake their heads as soon as any pressure is put on it, horses which are lame as soon as a rider takes up contact in the reins, or do not let themselves be handled, these horses could well suffer from the problem at this point of anchorage. What a horse that suffers from this problem exactly feels, is not clear. A test with a headshaker revealed a link between the problem and pain. When the animal was anaesthetized locally at the point of anchorage, he kept its head quiet.
According to Weiler it doesn't matter how much pressure is put on the bit, that has no impact; it is really the bend of the neck in relation to the head that counts. If you don't need much strength to get the horse to overbend, he probably doesn't have a growth or a high pain threshold; if you do have to use force to get him to bend, then the horse may have a big problem/ growth or a low pain threshold.
The bone growth in the neck can form in some cases an obstruction to movement because the growth is in the way, in other cases horses simply aren't able to perform optimally. To make things clear, I compare the pain the horse feels to tooth ache. With a little pain you can function normally, but with lots of pain you can no longer concentrate and your muscle tension will increase on its own. Which means that your body will be less relaxed. The same applies to horses.
(…)"
"Fact:
80% of horses that are involved in the sport of dressage and jumping experience ossification at the poll.
(…)
Let us look at the facts.
Fact:
Horses, which were not ridden, did not show this problem.
This is not a problem that is seen in racehorses, or children's ponies. It is seen by horses that are trained in dressage. Dressage is not the only culprit. The same problem appears in jumping horses. It is up to us to reflect and to think through why these incredible statistics exist in these sports but not others.
(…)
So what are some of the differences?
Let's see, why don't we start with looking at the racehorses.
(…)
Racing horses have their noses lifted upward. Raising his nose gives the same effect on him that raising our chins would do to us, thus bringing the top back part of the skull closer to the neck.
While this might be true of the jumping horse going over the jump, it can be quite different between the jumps.
The Western pleasure horse, the child's pony, are usually left to their own devices on where the head and neck are going to go.
The common denominator that makes logical sense is of course the head and neck position. While logic may point us towards the answer, it does not give us the final answer. And so, we return to the question: how much is too much?
While we may know that 80% to 90% of riders do not practice rollkur, we do know that probably 80% to 90% do practice with the horse's head on or behind the vertical. And this is where we get to the question of how much is too much. Is there a difference to what possible damage can be incurred by the horse, whether he is on the vertical or behind the vertical? And after that comes the truly difficult question: does it make a difference if the horse is placed there by the rider or places himself there based on the activity of the rest of his body? The masters of the past have suggested this is the only correct way to train a horse.
Until quite recently, the FEI rules stated that all movement was to see the head ahead of the vertical, coming close to the vertical only in piaffe. Somehow, one is left wondering, that if this rule were still in existence and followed by the riders both in the training arena and in the competition arena, the statistics the researcher would have found would have been far different.
We know that 80% of horses were shown by this research to have damage at the poll. Looking for a common denominator between the horses that don't have these kind of statistics and the horses that do, the obvious thing that jumps out is the head and neck position of the horse. Knowing this, how can we ignore the very real possibility that placing the horse's head on or behind the vertical in all likelihood is the cause of this problem? How can we continue to practice or condone any training method that has the rider in any way fixing or influencing the horse's head position so that the head is at or behind the vertical?
When we are fixing the horse's head to such a degree that the pull of the ligament on the bone is so continuous that we cause damage to the actual bone, how can we even consider thinking that what we are currently doing is good for the horse?
(…)
The masters of the past insisted that we needed to ride from back to front. Have we perhaps, in losing this important guideline, lost far more than we ever realized? And have the horses paid the price?
(…)
It is easy to look at the pictures of rollkur and see horses who are in distress, horses who are in pain, horses who are struggling. It is much more difficult to look at a horse that is slightly behind the vertical and see that the horse is having problems.
(…)
For the sake of your horse, please be careful. Never think that behind the vertical or at the vertical is ever a good place to start. Beware the instructor or the training method that has you in any way fixing the position of head or neck. Remember the words of the masters and always ride from back to front. Your horses are depending on you."
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Das macht mich traurig ! Wir haben einen im Stall der reitet nicht viel anders und es tut weh dabei zuschauen zu müssen wir brav und geduldig die Pferde dieses Martyrium über sich ergehen lassen. Jedesmal, was zum Glück selten ist, wenn ich mit diesem Menschen gleichzeitig in der Halle bin habe ich das Verlangen sofort von meinem Pferd abzusteigen und mich zu bedanken dass ich überhaupt rauf darf !
Aber auch ich kenne von ihr ähnlich unschöne Szenen auf dem Abreiteplatz mit massivem Sporen- und Gerteneinsatz.