By MARLEY LIEN-GONZALEZ
Armchair quarterbacks of our sport this morning got the rare treat of the masters, instigated by McLain Ward and followed up by Beezie and John Madden and more, actually weighing in and having an opinion on current times. It was a great thought exercise and spurred mostly interesting conversation for all of us.
Karl Cook has been building a trademark around “Strategic Riding” as the fiery and fresh face of Nöelle Floyd’s Masterclass series. To the tune of grumbling skepticism, he’s been on a mission to debunk the “Perfect Position.” To Cook, certain aspects of the classic equitation we arbitrarily emphasize in beginner riders all the way up to top levels result in a lack of effectiveness that will hurt the next generation of riders if we don’t update our pedagogy.
In a public Facebook post this morning, 6-time Olympic Show Jumping legend McLain Ward shared his thoughts on Cook’s latest posted function over form theory by reposting the article from Nöelle Floyd’s page and saying, “This theory is absolute nonsense!”
Ward expressed in a concise and passionate paragraph that the foundation of great riding is in correct basics. As a rider who has cultivated himself with militant discipline, Ward writes, “It is true there are some very competitive riders who are successful despite flaws in their position, but their success is not because of those flaws, it is because their natural talent and instinct is so strong they succeed in spite of those flaws.”
Those riders, he says, find caches of success with their style of riding, but in the long term or even on a different type of horse, will not have the same consistency of result or ability as a rider who has a thorough education in the classical position–which consists of, to him, “good balance over the horse’s center of gravity and a solid base [which] allows freedom for the rider to help his horse and not interfere.”
Equitation is essential and the equitation division is “great” Cook quotes in his Nöelle Floyd post, but “the problem arises when function becomes secondary to the way it looks.” He uses the example of a rider being told repeatedly to keep their heel down to the point they think that any margin of error on course is due to the exact angle of their heel not meeting a certain depth. A stop or rail or wrong distance may be caused by a leg not being effective enough but not by whether the heel was far enough down, says Cook, “Function doesn’t follow form; form follows function.”
Feel and function go hand in hand to Cook, who says motion and complete suppleness with the horse should be encouraged. How a rider looks “in the saddle or in a snapshot from a round is secondary to the effectiveness and balance of that rider in the saddle,” he argues. In essence, getting good riding done is more important than riding while looking good.
Beezie and John Madden chimed in with a Facebook post of their own, saying they don’t usually engage with social media debates, but that concern for safety was reason enough to comment. “The entire point of classical position is not about the right look or winning. It is about safety and clear communication. Safety for the rider and, in my opinion most importantly, safety for the horse,” John Madden writes.
According to Madden, classic position is a preventative measure. It best shields the rider from mistakes and harm to themselves and the horse brought on by poor position, as well as gives riders the best chance of control if anything were to go wrong. Madden emphasizes it’s important young riders reading Cook’s article don’t brush off working hard to have a good position, rather he says, “Classic position must be MASTERED before any “artistic license” with position can and should be employed.”
This discussion represents a disconnect in the sport at a transitional period. We’re struggling to connect the pipeline of the equitation division to international level show jumping; we’re rapidly putting miles on young riders to hopefully be able to uphold the standard of American show jumping when the vetted and dependable riders step down; and we’re improving breeding and the athletic potential of sport horses at exponential speed. The Type A people have ruled our sport with an iron fist for over a generation and Cook represents what one might consider a more Type B personality approach to our sport. He is younger and about 5 Olympics short, and no matter what you think of his circumstances, he is rising and delivering in the changing of the sport. If the people don’t evolve, the sport never will.
The landscape of horses and riders has completely shifted since factory line copy-pasting was the most effective method of producing top riders. Body types vary greatly, many successful riders look and ride differently, and the most superstar horses are highly talented and specialized, yet unconventional. Having a strong foundation is critical, so is being able to modify tradition to make it work best case by case.
The days of having a vast pool of riders who have eaten, slept, and breathed only horses for decades are gone. We need to be more efficient with our time because realistically, suburbia means most riders spend less time than ever in a stable. They have more to learn than ever and fewer mechanisms to absorb it all in the average situation. They need to learn the past, the present, and the future all at once. They need to be Type A and Type B at the same time. They need to be disciplined and flexible and know the basics and fundamentals and also always experiment and try new training methods. Our sport is more complex than ever and safety is a larger concern than ever and the challenge has never been greater and knowledge never more accessible to those who want it.
The future belongs to those who can master the perfect position and those who have the sense of which horse and what situations require solely perfection. Both are skills and both need a lifetime of horsemanship, unbelievable repetition, and single-minded dedication. I hope everyone reading and criticizing and agreeing and critiquing has the bravery, gusto, and tenacity to put that into our sport.
