The American Baucher

Tom Bass (1859-1934)

My title "The American Baucher" is not meant as an insult to Tom Bass. Although Francois Baucher (1796-1873) is controversial in dressage circles--to say the least--few people deny his talent. I associated Bass with Baucher because both trained equines to canter backwards and do other circus dressage movements that are unnatural and hence outside the parameters of "classical" dressage. In fact, Bass rode saddleseat and trained gaited horses. So he wasn't a dressage rider at all.

Or was he?

Take a look at the photos below.

June 2014 UPDATE:  This site has much info: http://www.audrain.org/tom_bass.aspx  

This recent video of Edward Gal's freestyle ride on Moorlands Totilas, a Dutch warmblood, inspired me to look up more info on Tom Bass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEMHt1dUzQg

Read the comments about Gal's ride. Some people are wowed. Others are appalled.

I'm both.

It's not that Gal's ride is bad. It's not. It's masterful, but it's not classical dressage. It's "modern" dressage, and "modern" dressage is starting to look less and less like "classical" dressage and more like a version of the movements of many gaited horses. Disengaged hocks, lowered backs, tight necks, and obvious front end flash.

But then there's old Tom Bass and HIS gaited horses.

Look at the trot of Gal's horse and then look at the photo of Bass on his gray Columbus. Which horse has more impulsion and better parallelism of shannon and cannon? How many contemporary dressage riders with their deep seat, heavily blocked saddles get the sort of forward movement that Bass is getting from his position on his cutback saddle? Need more proof that dressage masters like Walter Zettl and Paul Belasik are right about the seat being more important for impulsion than the lower leg?

From everything I know, Bass was a natural, a gentle genius. He surpassed the limitations of his time and culture, but for lesser mortals, problems usually creep into a riding system without an emphasis on the classical principles descending from Xenophon to Pluvinel to the other great dressage masters.

It's ironic I suppose that after watching Gal's ride, I immediately sought out photos of a saddleseat rider. But, after studying the photos and the video, which reflects a deeper understanding of the principles of "classical" dressage?

In fact, if Bass had studied "classical" dressage, might I have been able to retitle this entry "The American Master" instead of "The American Baucher." I think so because the gifts and sympathy I see in these photos and read about in his biographical information reminds me of Nuno Oliviera, the man still known simply as The Master.

Brag time.

I once met an old, old man who'd ridden horses trained by a "colored boy down the road" in his hometown of Mexico, Missouri.

I said, "Mexico, Missouri? Tom Bass?"

Old Nolan nodded and said that these horses were the kindest, most responsive he'd ever ridden. This moment was in 1976 and it's still a highlight of my life. I not only met a man who KNEW Tom Bass; I knew a man who'd RIDDEN Tom Bass-trained horses!

I'm still sorry so few people know about Tom Bass. What a remarkable human being.

The New Improved Razz

Relaxed rider. Relaxed horse. Beautiful.

The Essential Paul Belasik

How did I miss reading ANY of Paul Belasik's work for so long? Oh well, better late than never.

This compendium of three of his works--Riding towards the Light, Exploring Dressage Technique, and The Songs of Horses is not typical of any genre. Belasik's excellent in his technical analysis. For example, I'll never look at a pirouette or piaffe the same way again, but that's not why I fell for this man's work. This man connects eastern philosophy, western psychology, and mythology to explain the deep connections between the art of life and the art of riding.

What especially struck home with me is that in Chapter 10 of Exploring Dressage Technique, the most analytical and also the most philosophical work in this group, he talks of "Riding as a Meditation." Riding is, he says, "in itself the reward, the path to enlightenment, education, self-development. The gratification is determined internally, as each individual reaches his or her own very unique potential."


OK, as a writing instructor, I winced at the superfluous and technically incorrect phrase "very unique," but everything else expresses my own reasons for riding. As for him, horses link me to "a metaphysical, spiritual, psychological place." I believe in no specific religion. I hold no specific creed. And, like Belasik, I find competition "the Way of Death." Egocentric striving tires me, and it was so wonderful to have Belasik nail down the whys by bringing in Jungian and eastern thoughts about such striving. For me, communicating with the horse, gaining first its confidence and then, with patience, its gracious cooperation is the end in itself.

One of the first things I tell my students is that I do not want to teach anyone whose goal is to show and win pretty ribbons and bring home silver trophies. As Belasik says, "Learning to ride is not learning to compete." Riding--whether at the Grand Prix level or at a walk-trot level--is/can/should be a meditation.

I've waited a long time to find Paul Belasik, but I quickly added him to the LIST, one that contains only a few names, names such as Seunig, Oliveira, Podhajsky, and a few others.

More on Ears

This innovative earwear courtesy my creative riding students Kendell and Erica.

All Ears

Some comments left in response to bridleless riding videos on YouTube reminded me that too many people are ignorant of horse body language, specifically their eloquent ears.

Too many people still think pricked ears are desirable. For example, I was at a Saddlebred auction many years ago at the invitation of a would-be owner who pointed to a mare in the ring and said, "What spirit! Look at that noble expression!" To me, the mare's forward ears indicated tension, even terror. Her ears were snapped forward as if she saw in front of her a lion in full crouch. A horse with both ears pricked ears ain't thinking about its rider.

When I'm working in a ring or enclosed area, I want ALL my horse's attention on me. In the field or on the trail, I still want part of my horse's attention. My old Arab stallion used to delight me on the trails because he'd always have one ear forward and one ear back. Watching--or rather listening--where he was going while still being attentive to the rider was one of his invaluable traits.

But, alas, if too many people like snapped forward, worried ears, too few appreciate the position showing relaxed attentiveness, utter submission. I heard a neophyte complain that the Lipizzaner stallions were disappointing because, while they were obviously well trained, their ears were "all floppy."

The only thing that's more dear to me than attentive swept back ears are floppy ears. I remember seeing one of the Spanish dressage team's Andalusians come down the centerline at the end of a test. This passage was probably the best I've ever seen, and the horse was so relaxed his ears were flopping in rhythm. The goal of dressage is for a calm horse to mimic the movements of an excited horse, and I don't think I'll ever see a better example than those ears swinging freely with each powerful stride.

Of course, sometimes glorious submission gets horses into real trouble with ignorant people. Many years ago I had the use of a wonderful Arab gelding as a school horse. The owner had him for sale, and I was around when a potential buyer came out. The would-be buyer asked to bridle the horse herself, which I thought boded well for her savvy. However, it was soon obvious she was unfamiliar with a snaffle bridle. Seeing her fumbling with the bridle, the gelding kindly lowered his head, swept back his ears, and opened his mouth. As he stood their trustingly, she dropped the bridle and punched him square in the nose. Simultaneously, the owner and I yelled, "What did you do THAT for!!" Self-righteously, she said, "He was going to BITE me."

An equine saint, the gelding was forgiving. I picked the bridle off the ground, slipped my index finger under the crownpiece, and dangled the bridle in front of him. He reached down and took the bit by himself. With one finger, I slipped the crown over his sweetly reversed ears.

If I'd had horse ears, mine would have been pinned flat against my head as I stared at the poor ignorant girl who punched one of the kindest horses the planet has ever seen.

I love horse ears and all they tell us.

More on Early Horse Domestication

Science Daily has several more articles on archaeological discoveries in the Ponto-Caspian region, steppe country now including some of Russia, as well as the countries of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Romania. The area is unsurprising considering the strength of horse culture in this area over the centuries.

But "Archaeologists Find Earliest Known Domestic Horses: Harnessed and Milked" pushes the history of the domesticated horse back quite a bit:

The researchers have traced the origins of horse domestication back to the Botai Culture of Kazakhstan circa 5,500 years ago. This is about 1,000 years earlier than thought and about 2,000 years earlier than domestic horses are known to have been in Europe.

I did giggle in horror a bit when I saw the illustration of an animal that looks like a Przewalski horse with a leather loop in its mouth. The current incarnations of these creatures are about as intractable as any wild animal can get. My neighbor, a former zoo worker and fine horsewoman, said the stallions are especially fierce. I wonder if the people of the steppes actually did breed domesticated horses starting with this stock:



I wonder if they've gotten DNA to support the domestication of these creatures. I'm just skimming the articles, and I'm no archaelogist, but I wonder if other varieties of equids were lurking around. Right now though, the only support I have for this from "Mystery Of Horse Domestication Solved?," another Science Daily article:

Based on ancient DNA spanning the time between the Late Pleistocene and the Middle Ages, targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat colorations allows to shed light on the timing and place of horse domestication. Furthermore the study demonstrates how rapid the number of colorations increased as one result of the domestication. As well, it shows very clearly that the huge variability of coloration in domestic horses which can be observed today is a result of selective breeding by ancient farmers.

Of course, people have reverse engineered horses to reconstruct the ancient Przewalski and get back their consistent coloration.

If ancient horsemen started with this little equid, I'm in awe of them. The Kazakhs are still amongst the toughest horsemen in the world, but I wonder how many would-be horsemen died and how many generations of equids were eaten before one person stayed on and the equid agreed to be ridden.

A bit more on the Przewalski here.

Razz--Not Quite a Rescue, but Close

In May of 2005 I agreed to go along with a friend who wanted to see a purebred Arab gelding that needed a "good home." One guess who ended up with a new horse.

The horse was living with an old mare in an enclosure that included automobile carcasses and hogwire--some up, some down, some with sharp points. The owners were caring people who'd received him as a gift when he was a yearling. They'd even laid out over two thousand dollars to repair him when he'd punctured a knee in 2004, but caring doesn't make people horsemen. Luckily, they recognized they were not up to dealing with Razz. In fact, they said he was almost impossible to catch, or lead, or even hold onto.

I found that out right away. It took the owner quite a while just to snap a lead onto Razz's outgrown halter, and when I took the lead rope he jerked free so fast I ended up face down in deep, fluffy manure. Most people would have said, "Crazy Arab" and left. But his eyes told me he was basically kind and intelligent and willing to learn.

His registration papers backed up that. Razz, registered as Sunsaba, was in fact line-bred to *Witez with a bit of Bay Abi thrown in as well--good working stock.

So, a few days later, Razz, then six, arrived at my place totally untrained and completely without manners. Luckily, he proved to be a quick learner.



Within a month, the horse that wouldn't let anyone lead him much less pick up his feet was much more amenable to working with people.



By August, he was already on his third month under saddle.



And Lion had found a playmate that also liked to run--summer, winter, whenever.





Razz's still not a beginner's horse, but he's more than kind and he tries to be tolerant. In fact, he'll stand like a statue to be mounted, but once up, his rider needs a quiet seat or he'll still become tense and confused.



Here's one of my favorite photos of Razz. By June of 2008, a couple of my teenage students were developing those nice quiet seats. When Erica dismounted, she said, "That was actually fun." I already knew that from Razz's attentive ear position. We're seeing relaxed trust more and more often from him now.



In fact, the horse that used to be nearly impossible to catch is now nearly impossible to get rid of. Here's one last shot of him "helping" my husband clean stock tanks: