ISES 2010: "directed perception"

As Maria wrote last week, we both attended the International Society for Equine Science Conference (ISES) at the beginning of August. Sadly I'll have to agree with Maria about the impressions from the day at Strömsholm.

Some of the research presented was however very interesting. I will share with you the studies I found most interesting, but that will be for later. Now I will do something completely out of character for a Swede and first share with you the result of my study.

In my role as a master student in didactics, I had submitted an abstract and after review and approval from a scientific committee, I was invited to give an 10 min talk. The title of my abstract was “Learning to ride a horse – A study of concepts and thought styles in three textbooks from three centuries”.

I have read three books:
1)”School of Horsemanship” by F. R. De la Guérinière written in French 1733, translated to Swedish in 1828.
2)“Ridskolan eller ridläran” (“The riding school or the principles of riding”) by A. Ehrengranat (1836)
3)“The Principles of Riding (Complete Riding & Driving System)” by Miesner et al. Swedish translation from German in 2003.

In these books I've identified the concepts used for describing how to teach a beginner rider. I've seen these concepts as the result of the common thought style. A thought style can be explained as “directed perception”. What this mean is that we, you and I, don't see things simply by looking. We need a mental readiness to notice objects and processes. What this means in practical terms is that whatever your teacher talks about, this is what you will learn to notice. From that point of view, I've analysed the way that the teaching of the beginner rider was described in these three books.

Teaching a novice rider includes teaching the seat, the aids and equestrian tact. All these areas were included in all three books. No surprise there. What is interesting is how concepts used in these areas where explained.

In the 18th and 19th century literature, the focus for the seat is the position of the upper body. The placement of the rider's legs are said to be the result of correct posture and position of the upper body. In the 20th century literature the starting point is the placement of the rider’s legs.

Regarding the aids, the 18th and 19th century literature emphasises the rider's hand and states that this is the primary aid. The reason for this is that in all gaits the horse's head and shoulder come first. In the 20th century literature it is stressed that all aids should act together. The driving aids, here defined as the legs and the seat, are seen as more important than the hand. One reason for this is, according to the authors, that it is the nature of man to use the hands for all different kinds of purpose. Therefore the rider should focus on using the legs and seat instead

The most hands-on explanation of equestrian tact is presented in the 19th century literature. Here it is stressed that it is the rider's ability to register how the movements of the horse affect the rider's body which is the foundation for equestrian tact. The focus here is on the rider paying attention to what goes on in his or her own body,

In the 20th century textbook equestrian tact is described as “The ability to give aids at the right moment and with the correct interplay between the legs, seat and hands”. Here the focus is on the rider giving aids.

In the 19th century textbook it is said that the rider cannot receive information from the horse and give aids at the same time. I think this is the core difference between these two different thought styles. As a rider, are you foremost concerned with registration of movement (the movements in your body as a result of the movement from the horse), or on giving aids to the horse (using your own body to create impressions on the horse's body)?

My abstract is included in the conference proceedings (page 36), which you'll find it here >>