A Blog designed for discussion of topics related to, but not limited to, Circus, Zoos, Animal Training, and Animal Welfare/Husbandry. Sometimes opening up the dialog is the best starting point of all. And if for nothing else when people who agree and don't agree, get together and start discussing it, it will open up a lot of peoples minds. Debate and discussion even amongst themselves opens a window where there wasn't one before.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
For Ian--Pasquale Beretta Tandem
I posted this clip about a year ago, but it is well worth a second look. This gentleman, Pasquale Beretta is one of the best I have seen at tandem riding and long lining. Corrections are welcome, but it looks to me like he his holding the ridden horse's reins as well as the drive lines in his hands, but he is not really using the reins with the ridden horse. Note it's high uncollected nose compared to the driven horse. It also looks like the drive lines are run through a ring on the ridden horse's nose band.
He is holding the ridden horse's reins, so I'm thinking it must be all leg work on the ridden and rein 'aids' on the driven.
ReplyDeleteThe passage and Spanish walk in unison are pretty amazing, aren't they. What breed of horse is that in front with that high gait? No long hooves or weights (a la Sadddlebred), so is that a natural gait?
Ian
I saw home movies of a little known American trainer named Austin Smith work dressage/high school in tandem at the American Royal Horse show back in the 50's or 60's. He put this trainer to shame. I was lucky enough to own a horse Austin trained & I think Anderson's White Horse Troupe owned at least one. He was an amazing horse trainer, he trained horses mostly for the very wealthy that never showed them, just kept them to do "tricks".
ReplyDeleteIan,
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking either Andalusian or Lusitano and it is their natural gait if you don't object to winging. The only flaw my amateur eyes noted was that the Spanish walk was uneven on the driven horse. The left shoulder was freer and higher then the right shoulder.
Wade
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteAustin Smith must have been one of those nitwit's who decided he wanted to be rich, instead of famous. :)
Wade
Dianne,
ReplyDeleteCould the ridden horse possibly be a Criollo? It's neck looks awful short and thick for an Andalusian and it does have as much of a wing in it's step as does the driven horse.
Wade
Austin Smith was not rich, he just lived & breathed horses. He was a farmer & blacksmith in Osceola, Iowa. When he was a young man, he decided he wanted a pair of mules that would drive on voice command only. It was his first attempt at training & took him two years. He said that if he had known how to school a horse before that, he would not have even attempted it. He was a very modest man & did not volunteer his stories easily. He was 83 & still training (and shoeing) horses when he died in 1972.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Austin Smith, and appreciate your insight. "Living and breathing horses" is probably what made him so good at what he did.
Wade
Wade after looking closely at the Pasquale video I see what's happening. Number one the rein to the front horse has been run through the snaffle of the riding horse and not the nose band as I thought previously. I would have never thought of that but if I had I could see disaster consequences which even though didn't happen here I am sure it will and has.
ReplyDeleteSince the front horse is so hot the rider is mainly controlling him and cannot adjust the curb rein on the riding horse. Since the curb rein on the front horse is the snaffle rein on the riding horse, the performance of his riding horse suffers I.E. difficulty factor.
Add to all of this the rider is also carrying a long driving whip to keep the front horse moving forward and also keeps him from diving to the inside.
I do think the back horse is an Andalusian just loses a lot in looks because he is not collected and is outdone by the movement of the driving horse.
I could say a lot more but it gets very technical.
Madame Col.
ReplyDeleteAre you insinuating that if you said a lot more you would leave me babbling in the dust? I have clips of this gentleman long lining the grey which is pretty sharp, and I wondered why the riding horse was not as sharp. I too wondered at whether the lines were through a nose band ring or the bit. The thought of the line run through the bit seemed so ridiculous I just considered it for a moment. :)
Thank you for sharing you vast knowledge with the informative thoughts of what we were looking at.
Wade