Rollkur in dressage is a very controversial topic. To some it is a good method of making the horse supple.To others it is an unnatural form of coerced submission that is injurious to the horse. It has been causing controversy for the past couple of decades. So it is often seen as something new. Here is proof it is not.

The photo above is a statue on the side of a building in Blackfriars, London England. It is one of those neoclassical representations of a smallish man dominating a powerful horse despite the horse’s huge neck and shoulders and obvious strength. Horses are often depicted like this in statuary and painting.

It’s ridiculous really. This small semi naked man could not hold onto his loin cloth and grapple with this horse at the same time, and this powerful horse would never submit to being cranked into this neck position.

Anyway, long story short, the trainers who say they invented rollkur just stole it from old statues of unrealistic horses and equally unrealistic humans.

Happy Monday !