The German Training Scale:
Some Explanations
0/ HanlY Zantke
/lfter halJinggit!etIYOilliarious neWf items in the lastfew iuues Clnd./ollowin,g my earlirr Jelies on combined dril'ing, let me
embark on allother nelv project 1I'il/)yo", whirh mil take ajell! isslles to cover. i"'i11 try 10 explain, to the but of my limited
kllo1J'iedge, the
Training Scale, lI)bicb in G'erman,v is helielJed to be the basic concept for drmage
tmder saddle as
It.'ell as in harnt!Js. AJ we ,~o along with this, as alway, J II'ill add my persoJJalperspectiJJe and Irainit,g tiPJ the IV'!Y I tee them.
YeJ, T/'JT4ch of this is geared toward
bId I hope that Jl!ord II'ill not funt any ~J']Oll au'ay to u,hom dreHage m0Y be a
double 'JOur letter word. " Realiv, dreHage is jtlSf has/wily t"lining the hom 10 do hifjob properly. Althol(~h I do admit that
,rome of our dresJage requirements tfJdy not apply eClually to a dmft lJ01:re/JulliIZ€ a heal:Y Ivagol1 <ltld" racehoITe on the track, it
all does help aNI' car/iage horses.
As IJJilh all of tl!yarticieJ', Tdo not beliel'/' thtlt I dill an authority Oil the subjects copered, and there certainfy can be diJJering
viet)!s. There are many IJ"!YS that lead to Rotl1l'. Mille iSlllst thefirstfew little .rIps in a lifelong/oume)! oj' learniflg, hopefully in
fbI' right direction for NS to become better driver.r and/or 0111' hOJ,re.r to be able to do their n'Ot'k ,lor liS with pleaJl1t'e and slIccess.
with my ciinic'yotl take, JO also with tMr series, difJimnt clinicians halJC different opinions as do different It'riter.r. 'iON need to
be tbe lIltimateju4ge to cboDJe Ivhat makes JB1IJejor..r0tl and in lJihitb direction to tI'ork. EX/Jlorin € different ideas {'an be
(onftlsing at timeJ, bllt tlltimalely and bopeft"ly, n'ill lead 10 a betler tmdmtanditlg of tbe totalpiclllrl+·~-,our relalionship vJilh
tbeJe Ivondetjid Cretltlms, our horses. lcly IJ)a, oj' doillg things, I belieIJe, ir baJed on my unden·tanding oltbe German Training
Scale combined n,.;th tbe Achenbad? DriJJing ,~)'Jtem.
c
The German Training Scale has seven steps d,at huild
on each other but which are also interrelated. The first step
is: ''D1KT'' = RHYTHM and REGULARITY.
ror good reason~ we find this is the first criteria to be
judged in the colleetive remarks in everyone of our drees":lge
tests because it is the first basis. The horse must go
REGULAR wid1 even steps at the walk as well as the trot.
Irregularity will get you
marked down, as it is either
a sign nf a health problem,
like lameness, or a sign of
insufficient basic training of
the horse so that he cannot
halance himself pwpedy. For
t110St horses, rhythrn and regularity do not seem to be a big
problem. Vrtless they have lameness
most go regular
naturally if driven at the proper speed. But it often is a
problem for gaited horses and for breeds tbat pace hecause
they can get mixed up in their
and become irregular.
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for o"\vners and drivers
to sornetimes have very heated discussions with judges, and
even the 5ho\v veterinarians, to convince them that their horse
is not unsound but just bas thi.s "funny" gait, or is just mixed
up \vith trying to "pace," \'\leJl} under our show requirements,
that is not acceptable and will get you at least marked down;
or, jf it looks like lameness, will usually be the re\1S0n for
not allowing you to participate as soundness is one of the
basic requirements. Let's take a look in the i\DS Rulebook:
Article 14.4
"Horses must be serviceable sound and must not show
evidence of lameness .. , "
Note it does not sa\' they MUST be lame to be excluded,
it says "show evidenc~ of l~meness." So if he LOOKS lame,
he should not participate, even if you think he is sound and
just at times goes a "'ljttle funny.H But clearly, if he looks
lame to a judge, or at rimes c\"en to a veterinarian, then he
certain] y must look lame to spectators, and we cannot present
a proper picture of OU::- sport if we allow h9rses that look
lame to compete. The general
public would be all oyer us.
So please don't try to argue
about it with show officials
oreyen with trained and
certi6ed show veterinarians,
but gracefnlly and in good
sportsmanship \vithdraw if you arc asked to do so.
All right, now let's take it look further. How about the
horse that is not lame but just doesn't mov'e quite regularly.
This is what the rules require under gaits:
Article 99 Walk
"The Walk is a marchins pace in which the footfalls of the
horse'5 fect {oJlow one another in fOLlr .. tlme, well marked
and maintained in all work at the walk. When the four
beals cease to be distinctly marked. even and REGULAR
(emphasis added by me!), the walk is disunited and
broken. It is at the pace of the walk Iha, imperfections in
progreSSive training arc most eVident. "
Dript: on! to p,t.r,~ 18
AJ],d vv"c have the same at the trot:
Article 100 Trot
"The trot is a pace of two-time on alternate diagonal legs
(near fore and off hind leg and vice versa) separated by a
moment of suspension. The trot, always with free active
and REGULAR (emphasis added by me!) steps, should be
moved il1to Without hesitation, The Quality of the trot is
judged by the general impression, the REGULARITY (f)
and elasticity of the steps-originated from a supple back
and weI! engaged hindQuarters-and by the ability to
maintain the same RHYTHM (f) and natural balance. "
There \\.'C have it. Nobody says that your pacer is not a
good horse, There are wonderful horses in all hreeds, and
nobody wants to discriminate
/lny~ but some do have
a harder time fulfilling dressage requirelnents, A pacer "\vas
not bred and intended for dressage, the same as a draft horse
,vas not intended to go in a trotting race, So you should try
to get your horse to walk and trot with REGl'LARITY, or
accept that you will be ,marked dmvl1 if you show in front
of a judge.
Both articles above come from the dressage pages of the
ADS rulebook, but if you are a pleasure driver, we really
ha\'e slnl.ib.r requirc_ments:
Article 28 Description of Gaits
"The followinfj descriptions constitute the ADS approved
standard lor performance of each orthe reQuired gaits in
a Pleasure Driving competition.
I. Walk: A free, REGLILAR (f) and unconstrained walk or
moderate extension is reQuired. The horse should walk
cnerfjetical[y. but calm[y. with even and determined pace, "
The rulebook then goes into the
of the
-various trots, which I won't quote aLl except to note \ve find
the words, "The steps should be as <I'etl as possible,"
So even steps and reguJariry are iJ.nportant. But under
the walk description above, we also had the words "."with
EVEN and determined pace,.." and in the
rule,
\ve had "' ... mainrain the same rhythm ... ') Now that coyers
not only the steps of each foot, but this. also means \ve
ma.intain an eyen
which is part of RHYTHM and
REG ULARl1Y An even speed means not changing between
going faster and slo\ver but a we-ll"babnced speed for the
horse,
In addition, it's not only the even speed, it is also the
hasic speed that is important and covered with RHYTHM,
If you go too fast, the horse wjIJ become unbalanced. At the
walk, he will he rushing, and at the trot be will become
uneven in his
As a driver, you can see that be.st if you
keep your eyes on his croup. \X/hen you drive too fast~ the
movements of his hind legs Vil111 becon1e uneven as he starts
thiuking ahout breaking into the cantet, He then is
unbalanced and u.neven and you have. to slow him down, If
you drive too slowly at the
you can't go forward
~'energeticaliy" as required above under the Pleasure Dr.iving
j
1
rules, nor is he "marching" as requested under the dressage
rules, He is
slowly moving forward, ,"lot a pretty picture,
and a good work attitude cannot come out of that~ no spunk
in it ,vhen the horse .is lazy and looks like he js going to
sIcep any second in that slow wall"
J\ t the trot it's really the same, If you drive too slowly, the
horse will look lazy and not forward. In pleasure driving,
they do have a SLO\'{' TROT, hut eyen there it says (also all
under Article 28): "The horse should maintain fOr\vard
impulsion .. ," as well as ", .. maintaining::t
cadence." In
the \vorkjng tror description we find: '~The horses go fOf\vard
freely", ctlgaging the hind legs". the hind feet touch the
grollnd in the footprinrs of the fore feee'
So there we also see that we need to bave the right speed
and can't go too slowl)" The hind feet
the ground .
in the footprints of the fore feet is very important We call
that "tmcktng up," and it is also an easy \vay for any driver '
to see if his borse works forward enough, But a young and
undeveloped horse "'-ill often not do that yet, 'rhe horse still '
needs more training and needs to develop his muscles and
body to be able to track up, So dodt get frustrated if yoU!
borse has trouble tracking up; it just ShO\V5 you that you :i~~
must work with hirn toward that goal. If he doesn't track j.~
up, you are e1ther too slow or he is not developed enough. :1~
So if ,'ou drive faster, and he still does not track up, then it's ~
clear he needs more training to develop his body. But we i~
".vill co:'er 1110re ~f ,this part \vhen we get a ~ew step: fu:ther
along In the Tratn1ng Scale and come to "Impulston,' Atl
this time, under RHYTHM, I just wanted to explain that it
covers the fight speed~ not too fast but also not too slo"\v ~
either. Most beginning drivers have the tendency to he al
little timid and then, get in the arena and drive t~o slowly. !~
~
Every now and then we also have somebody who gets in 'Wi
there and is off to the race,s. Neither is correct as the horse f':
cannot work '\-vell bali1f1ced at the WfOfig speed.
~ii
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The ADS Manual for Driven Dress8fjc states:
"Regularity refers to the 'beat' or (ootfall-suspensionrootfall of a given gait. A refjular gait exhibits its proper
rhythm, which is repeated over and over again with the
same order and speed of footfall... Each gait must be
pure, even and level. This means that the walk must have
a clear and even four-beal rhythm, the trot a clear and
even two-beat rhi'thm, " (And) Irrcfjularities may be
momental), or pervasive, and they may or may not be
caused by unsoundness. "
lender RHYTHM, as we move along with our training of
the horse) ,,\,'C unfortunately do have two 'Very different
requirements between dressage and pJeasure driving that
cau.se a Jot of confusion, In dressage, the RHYTHM should.
stay the same between the dIfferent paces, meaning 3.
collected, working, and lengthened gait (e,g" a walk on the
bit and a Ii'ee ,,·a.lk and a lengthened walk) should all have.
the same thythm and the same tempo of the footfalls, A
leng'1:hened walk should not have a faster rh",thm, The same
is true with the different paces of the trot. A collected l!'ot
really should haye the same rbythm as a wo,.king and
extended trot. I know "iTt don't sec this often in our dressagc :' -.._,
•
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I
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ar~Das~ as it is hard to do and requires a lot of propct training,
Thus many cheat" little and dtive a little faster when
lengthening is requested. But that's not what it should be,
and will not bring the required results.
\1(le also don't see it often because many drivers and horses
either don't kno\.\' or ate confused by the differe,nt
requirements in pleasure driving, Unfortunately, the rule book
docs not express this
enough even in the Combined
Driving section, and in my opi:oion~ uses a poor choice of
words under Collected Trot (Article 2041.3) "The pace is
mean
sl.o\ver than the working trot," That is confusing,
that the speed of the carriage is slower since the steps don't
cover as much ground, but the thythm rcal.ly should he the
same. In the dressage section of the ruJebook (Article 100),
fortun.ately we do find a better choice of words, and even
f11ld there under the lengthened stride at the trot as well as
under the extended trot ·"maintaining the same rhythm,"
Unfortunately (ill my opinion) in our pleasure driving rules
the "slow trot" and ruso state
(Article 28), they calI one
that the trot should be slower. Besides the working trot, they
also have the strong trot for which they require a "clear, but
not exccssh~c, increase in pace and lengrhen1ng of stride,"
So we do find the lengthening of stride thete as in the
(ir<?Ss:'ge requirements, but rnainraining the same rhythm
seems not to be a requirement in pleasure driving. Since
many drivers and horses show in both dlyi.sions, it is clear
that both drivers and horses are often confused and don't
know the proper requirements in driven dressage to maintain
the same rhythm, The proper rhythm should ultimately be
established !'tom the Ill'st stride in the gait and be maintained
throughout.
All of the above is included and meant by "TAKT"
Simple Math:
The Essential Harness
Exclusivel), from Driving Essentials
from $695
plus
=
RHYTHM and REGUL.A.RITZ
I will be a hit shoner than usual, as I am afraid that I
YOll a few
might Iose your attention otherwise. I'll still
ne\.vs items in another secdon of thjs issue. But for the
Training 8cale J stay on to the next jSSUt'S in \vhich \"N'e \,vj]J
cover the next steps in the training ~cale:
with rear br'akes, odornetel~ custorn fees & shipping to FA
$5,150
"LOSGELASSENI-IEIT" = FREEDOM
including RELAXATION
equals
'jWLEHNUNG" = CONTACT
including ACCEPTANCE OF THE BIT
Wlnnlnl
Combinationl
"SCI-IWUNC"
IMPULSION
including ENGAGEMENT
"GERADERICHTUNG" = STRAIGHTNESS
including BENDING
"VERSAMMWNG" = COLLECTION
including ROUNDNESS
"DURCHLAESSIGKEIT" = SELF CARRIAGE
including CONFIDENCE
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