Academic writing on Rollkur

Rollkur is a controversial training method in which the horse is ridden with its neck in hyperflexion, rather than the nose-line being on the vertical or just above the vertical. The controversy surrounding Rollkur is due to the physical and psychological stress put on the horse during this training method. A study conducted by Von Bortsel et al (2009) with performance horses ridden in a coercively obtained Rollkur position concluded that not only may horses experience discomfort, but it made horses more fearful and therefore potentially more dangerous to ride.

Although it is widely accepted that Rollkur has detrimental effects on a horses welfare it is still a training method used by some professionals, a study compared head angulations of horses competing in the Grand Prix in the 1992 Olympic Games against those competing in the Grand Prix at the 2008 World Cup. Results found horses were ridden with their head behind the vertical in all paces in 2008, compared to horses in the 1992 Olympic Games whom were only ridden with their heads behind the vertical in collected canter and collected trot (Lashley et al., 2014). Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan (2006) observed fifth-teen horses ridden in Rollkur with the use of draw-reins and did subjectively comment that all horses improved their movement and were more responsive to their rider, which is beneficial for riders and may provide an explanation as to why this method is still used.

The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) have acknowledged the controversy surrounding Rollkur, in 2010 a Round Table Conference to discuss Rollkur was held, the FEI concluded that riding a horse in a long, deep and round (LDR) frame achieving flexion without force is acceptable and that aggressive riding or inflicting pain and discomfort on the horse must be prevented, furthermore the FEI produced diagrams of the acceptable LDR. However, Christensen et al (2014) studied fifteen dressage horses and the effects of hyperflexion on acute stress responses, variables measured included; heart rate and cortisol concentration in saliva. The findings indicate that LDR may be more stressful for horses than a loose frame, although this is contradictory to the FEI, this study does only focus on the psychological stress on the horse. However, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan (2006) states measuring cortisol to study psychological stress is not a reliable variable, this is because cortisol production has an adrenocorticotropic hormone dependent circadian rhythm which peaks in the morning and drops in the evening.

Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan (2006) studied whether Rollkur causes muscle damage, his study refers to the work of Weiler (2000) whom researched desmopathies in horses. Weiler (2000) found exostoses of the nuchal crest and speculated that this may be as a result of mechanical overloading of the nuchal ligament caused by the Dressage training methods. To accurately study the effect of Rollkur Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan (2006) measured creatine kinase which would raise in the presence of acute myopathy of muscles. The findings showed no increase in creatine kinase whether horses were ridden in Rollkur obtained by draw-reins or ridden on a free rein. However, this study does not investigate the long term effects of Rollkur on horses.

Although there is evidence that Rollkur has detrimental effects on the physical and mental welfare of the horse, there is a lack of longitudinal studies which could provide information on the long term effects of Rollkur. The FEI need to regulate judging of top-level dressage as horses ridden in hyperflexion are not being penalised for this.

Reference List

Christensen, J. W., Beekmans, M., van Dalum, M. and VanDierendonck, M. (2014) ‘Effects of hyperflexion on acute stress responses in ridden dressage horses.’ Physiology & Behavior, 128, April, pp. 39–45.

FEI Round-Table Conference Resolves Rollkur Controversy (2010) FEI. Available at: https://inside.fei.org/news/fei-round-table-conference-resolves-rollkur-controversy (Accessed: 1 October 2016).

Górecka-Bruzda, A., Kosińska, I., Jaworski, Z., Jezierski, T. and Murphy, J. (2015) "Conflict behavior in elite show jumping and dressage horses", Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research, 10(2), pp. 137-146.

Lashley, M., Nauwelaerts, S., Vernooij, J., Back, W. and Clayton, H. (2014) "Comparison of the head and neck position of elite dressage horses during top-level competitions in 1992 versus 2008", The Veterinary Journal, 202(3), pp. 462-465.

Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan, M., Blok, M., Begeman, L., Kamphuis, M., Lameris, M., Spierenburg, A. and Lashley, M. (2006) "Workload and stress in horses: comparison in horses ridden deep and round (‘rollkur’) with a draw rein and horses ridden in a natural frame with only light rein contact", Tijdschrift voor diergeneeskunde, (131), pp. 114-119. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mm_Sloet_van_Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan/publication/7245334_Workload_and_stress_in_horses_comparison_in_horses_ridden_deep_and_round_(rollkur)_with_a_draw_rein_and_horses_ridden_in_a_natural_frame_with_only_light_rein_contact/links/0f317538ad4770ad7b000000.pdf (Accessed: 4 October 2016).

von Borstel, U., Duncan, I., Shoveller, A., Merkies, K., Keeling, L. and Millman, S. (2009) "Impact of riding in a coercively obtained Rollkur posture on welfare and fear of performance horses",Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 116(2-4), pp. 228-236.

Weiler, H. (2000) “Insertions desmopathien beim Pferd”. Wissenschaftliche Publikation Freie Universität Berlin 24