Rollkur: WHAT is it?!?

Rollkur is a method used mainly in dressage but also in other horse riding sports, people say it's a warm up method and it stretches and flexes muscles in the horses neck. Some people think it looks lovely but to be honest do you think this looks lovely?

http://www.yourhorse.co.uk/upload/22550/images/Blu...

or how about this? http://www.dressage-academy.com/images/rollkur.jpg

This is a traditional dressage head, this is how horses are MEANT to carry their heads.

http://www.nqqha.com/dis_Dressage.jpg

Rollkur is an unnatural head carriage, the force of the double bridle and heavy hands pulling the horses' head down cause an extra bone to grow somewhere near the poll. The heavy hands and constant pulling on the mouth with such severe bits cause excessive foaming at the mouth. Again this is unnatural. You wouldn't see a beautiful stallion in the wild holding its head rounded in between it's front legs and foam dripping from it's mouth would you?

This method causes bad circulation, one famous dressage rider made his horses tongue turn blue from using rollkur as his warm up method. The people that use rollkur often refer to it as Low, Round and Deep.

The horses head is "past the vertical" meaning it's nose is further in that the top of the head if this makes sense, whereas it should be a straight line, this causes the horse to not be able to see where it is going. The best dressage head is when the head is slightly rounded and the poll is the highest point. This is not the case with rollkur.

Rollkur also causes a horses' hind quarters to not be engaged. In dressage a horse should be "on the bit" this means there should be engagement of the hind quarters and you should feel the elevation.

This picture is of a horse going perfectly lines 1 and 2 are parallel lines meaning the horses hind quarters are with the front of the body and not lagging behind, lines 2 and 4 are the same too. This horses head is on the vertical and it's head is rounded slightly. I looks nice hey? http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7oK7Zy-Gycc/UFZrx5SSqsI/...

This horses head is behind the vertical and it's hind quarters are obviously lacking engagement. http://www.happy-horse-training.com/images/rollkur...

I hope this helps you to know what Rollkur is. You can also watch videos on YouTube.

It is when the rider uses force to achieve an outline by making the horse hyperflex. One of the main ideas of dressage is getting a horse to accept the bit and bend naturally, which is the opposite of the rollkur method. To put it simply, it's tearing at the horse's mouth to achieve the illusion of collection, a poor excuse for a training shortcut that should never be used.

Enjoy this lengthy, in-depth rollkur discovery. The first link is extensive, be sure to check out all of the sub-pages in relation to it.

http://www.sustainabledressage.net/rollkur/index.p...

http://cs.thehorse.com/blogs/2012-london-olympics-...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuhQBbthFck

ETA: No normal person, just as no normal horse, can function with their chin to their chest. It's a completely unnatural position for both creatures. I mean, unless you're a proverbial giraffe with a neck that's a foot long, then I can see how it wouldn't be a difficult move initially. But then try running around and doing your own exercise routine and see how easy it is. Because it's not, even if your neck is a mile long. Eventually it becomes difficult to breathe. You can't see properly. Your movement is restricted.

Terror. Rollkur is just awful. Rollkur is when the horses head is past the vertical, meanting if the horses head was in a perfect straight line, then was collected more, he would be hyperflexing. No high class dressage riders and judges seem to think rollkur is stunning, and a winner!

Stupid.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=rollkur&num=10&hl=e...

Happy horse indeed. (Don't know why the adress is so long...)

Now I that horse and this stunner where in a competition together, the foamy mouth pony has a higher chance of winning.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=dressage&num=10&hl=...

Rollkur is banned in FEI rules but many people still practice it and show in it. It does not seem a very strict rule. It saddens me how cruel the rider is and how much they must be in it for the money.

There once was a famous event, the Olympics. A swedish rider was warming up with everyone else, and he was practicing rollkur. Somethings was odd about his horses mouth...Foamy? Yes, but that is not it. Scared? Yes, but that is not it. He had a purple tounge.

Some people say that rollkur is just a way to get their horse to respond better, to collect more. Or that it makes the horse trust you because he cant see well, so he has to follow your guideance.

Now rollkur is not only used in dressage, it is also used in western.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=rollkur+in+western+...

Not as common but it is used.

Hope I helped.

I think I did something wrong with the links, oh well.

Take your chin and bring it down to your chest and keep it there. Try moving about. That's basically what rolkur is. It's hyperflexing a horse's neck when working on creating an outline.

It's been becoming more popular in the recent times with Dressage (which is disgusting in my opinion) but has been around for quite some time. It's stupid cheat method, that looks unnatural.

basically it is when a rider (mainly in dressage) makes the horse touch its chest with its nose in order to make the horse look prettier ,in my opineon if i were the horse i wouldnt even let the bit get in my mouth if i knew that was coming

Its a training technique used to gain optimal suppelness (not collection) by hyperflexing the horse at the neck and poll. Currently banned in FEI arenas and labeled as abuse by most equestrians.

Its most commonly used in Europe by top trainers in dressage but also in jumping.

I've ridden dressage for 15 yrs, under many many trainers and have not seen anyone use this technique. Vets opinions seem to be split if it causes short or long term damage

I don't use the analogy of putting my chin to my chest because I can do that for a long time. I don't ask my horse to do it, so he has no comment :)

I agree with OS's sentiments. Literally the word translates "biting the chest." It's hyperflexion in an attempt to. . . . .what? Achieve collection (through suppling exercises like this)? I don't think so. All it succeeds in doing is causing the horse to WEIGHT his forehand which is the exact opposite of what is desired in dressage training. A couple of top - "top" - dressage competitors were doing this with their horses (in warm-up and training) and they were winning at shows, so of course, the mindless lemmings began to copy them, to the detriment and extreme discomfort of their poor horses.