twenty dressage sketches in twenty days: sketch 19, 20 and beyond!

Ooops - have been offline a few days but the sketches continued...

twenty dressage sketches in twenty days: sketch 13 and 14

twenty dressage sketches in twenty days: sketch 2

twenty dressage sketches in twenty days: sketch 1

It's hard to keep up with drawing when there's a baby in the house so rather than give up I have pledged to do a dressage sketch each day for the next twenty days. They will be quick and unpolished. I will not be a perfectionist. I will not be a perfectionist...

bartabas - equestrian art

Bartabas in rehearsal at Versailles - showing art can exist between man and horse.

online exhibition 1

Here is a 'wall' from my 'Balios' exhibition, for those who couldn't make it. You may have seen some of them before on this blog. I will also put up some of my coloured ink paintings this week. Wish I could offer some nibblies and a glass of champagne online too, but you will just have to imagine.

Horse Skull, ink on acid-free paper. [sold]

Cat Skull, ink on acid-free paper. [sold]

Half-Pass (dressage), pencil on acid-free paper.

Arabian Headstudy, pencil on acid-free paper. [sold]

nothing forced can be beautiful

(Above is an image (not mine) showing a horse in natural, relaxed collection and also on the forehand, as a horse might move without a rider. For the opposite of relaxed, see the 'rollkur' image below.)

Debate has been raging for some time in the (beautiful) sport of dressage. Many dressage riders and trainers (not to mention judges and spectators) are concerned that unethical training practices are being rewarded by some dressage judges. Personally I think we should never forget Xenophon's statement on horse training (from over two thousand years ago) that nothing forced can ever be beautiful.

Following is a link to a petition by rider and trainer, Philippe-Karl. Although not everyone will agree with all the points on the list, it's a great way to keep the dialogue going about modern dressage judging.

Philippe-Karl has made some suggestions for radical changes in the judging of dressage, including:
5. Overflexion (nose behind the vertical) in any movement to be punished with a mark of at most 3.
6. Blocked jaws, tongues pulled up or hanging out and grinding of the teeth in any exercise to be punished with a mark of at most 4.

To read more, and to sign the petition if you wish, go to:
http://philippe-karl.com/703



No idea what this is about? To read about a study into how horses experience 'rollkur', an extreme form of hyperflexion of the horse's neck, go to:
http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/news/2009/01/107.shtml


This might be comfortable for a few seconds. Standing still. Free to move when you wish. But running and for extended lengths of time? To read an article on rollkur by Classical Dressage trainer Uwe Spenlen, go to:
http://www.cyberhorse.net.au/cgi-bin/tve/displaynewsitem.pl?20060403uwespenlen030406.txt

Here's a pencil drawing of a horse doing the dressage movement 'half pass'. The horse travels sideways and forwards at once. This particular drawing was inspired by Ulla Salzgeber's Olympic dressage horse 'Rusty'. I wanted to convey the power and dynamism of his movement.