(Text by Sylvia Stösse, published the Swiss Horse Magazin «Passion» in July 2024)
There is a general consensus in the equestrian world concerning the definition of a correct piaffe:
The horse moves in a trot-like, diagonal movement, almost or completely on the spot. The hind
legs step clearly and actively underneath, the front leg which is on the ground is vertical (or at
least almost). Due to the flexion of all joints of the hindquarters and the elevation of the forehand,
the horse is in a horizontal, unstable balance, which is evenly distributed over all limbs. In a very
good piaffe, the hind legs step under even more and the weight bearing changes more towards
the hindquarters – the forehand is lightened maximally. The poll is at the highest point, the
forehead is at or slightly in front of the vertical. The horse should give the impression of dancing
with lightness and elegance.
Unfortunately, in reality there are a lot of pictures that are very different. We seem to have lost
the understanding of what a correct piaffe looks like. In dressage competitions, high marks are
scored for a piaffe in which the poor, tense horses jump in kind of a passage movement – from
one leg to the other, with their backs held tight – instead of proudly raising in front, arching their
loins and flexing their haunches in a supple way. In social media, a piaffe is celebrated in which
horses show a contracted, stressed piaffe that looks more like fear on the spot – no trace of
lightness or grace. Obviously, there has been a lot that has gone wrong in basic training.
Piaffe is an exercise with diagonal motion which requires a versatile and finely tuned recipe. The
ingredients are impulsion, lightness to the hands, balance, flexion of the haunches, straightness –
but also a mentally loose and relaxed horse. If you mix these ingredients skilfully, sensitively and in
the right combination, practically any horse can learn a passable piaffe by playing with specific
transitions, even if the horse was not born “talented for dressage”. [...]
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