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The history of hyperflexion in dressage training – and how the sport can move away from it

In her latest H&H subscriber-exclusive focus on issues affecting equestrian sport, Pippa Cuckson looks at what needs to be done to move hyperflexion out of the dressage toolkit
Pippa Cuckson Pippa Cuckson

    • “Science-informed decision-making” is the way ahead, the FEI announced at its general assembly (10-13 November 2024), when revealing new strategies to sustain horse sport’s social licence to operate and, specifically, to win back public trust in dressage. But where its starting point is for new research into hyperflexion is unclear.

    This, along with the topic of blue tongues, are the two issues that most upset dressage critics and welfare advocates. But how does the FEI commission studies into blue tongues (aka cyanosis) or hyperflexion, never mind how and if they are connected, when the FEI or its stakeholder groups barely acknowledge their existence?

    The FEI “condemned” hyperflexion in 2010, but you won’t find the words hyperflexion (or blue tongues) anywhere in FEI dressage sport rules, nor in FEI veterinary and general regulations, or in the online FEI dressage judging manual.

    Reference to hyperflexion in the warm-up arena does appear in the FEI dressage stewards online manual, in a single sentence that is light on instruction: “Long, deep and round riding is accepted, unless used excessively or prolonged (hyperflexion of the neck). There is a danger when copied by unskilled riders. There is a fine line between training and overtraining!”

    FEI judging guidelines, which are only available as a hard copy book, stipulate that hyperflexion should be penalised, because the horse would be judged to be over-bent. But judges are tasked with marking what they see in front of them, not what they suspect was done at home to achieve it.

    ● What are your thoughts on the current use of hyperflexion? Write to us at hhletters@futurenet.com, including your name, nearest town and country, for the chance for your letter to appear in a forthcoming issue of the magazine

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