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Paul Belasik, highly respected international rider, trainer,
writer and teacher, and avowed proponent of classical equestrian
ideals, has written this book for all serious riders who seek to
align the physical and artistic elements of their training.
At the core of the book is a series of
‘state of the art’ experiments in which he participated,
designed to establish whether certain classical ideas about true
collection could be scientifically proved. Discussion of the
results leads into an exploration of how working towards
collection informs the progression of training and the way in
which the exercises are implemented.
Furthermore, Belasik points out, this pursuit of collection is
likely to take a purer form if it is motivated by artistic
values rather than by the rider’s ego. In this regard, the
author urges readers to focus on their own individuality, rather
than being motivated or misled by external pressures: to
‘collect’ or ‘centre’ themselves, as they work towards a similar
state with their horses. A fascinating and thoughtful read.
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Book Review: A Search for Collection
An American dressage rider and trainer discuss the physical and
artistic elements of training in this review of A Search for
Collection.
By Paul Belasik
Hardcover, 123 pages. Published by J.A. Allen. Available from
HorseBooksEtc.com.
Reviewed by Mary Daniels
This is an extraordinary and unique book, as intensely scholarly
as it is deeply concerned with aesthetics by an author whose
previous work is well-known and appreciated. This book however
is a tour de force topping what else he has done, as it is so
deep and encompassing, as much about a philosophy of living
one’s life authentically as it is about training horses to the
ultimate level of collection--piaffe/levade.It begins
with the most remarkable introduction to a dressage book I have
ever encountered: "Learning to Choose Beautifully." In poetic
language the author relates how he was jogging in Hawaii while
on a clinic/vacation trip, ruminating on how it is one gets to
learn who one really is, as you are born with a kind of
"amnesia" about it, which the whole world conspires to dictate.
"To start to find out what to do with your life, you
cannot go to a society whose primary goal is to homogenize
minds..." he writes. "One has to go to Nature, which has no
stake in the outcome." Through actual practice and experience
one learns to choose beautifully, he says.
As time goes on, he says, he finds two groups have
developed, one is people who need external evaluation and
validation. "For them to do a thing undocumented and unnoticed
is not to do a thing at all. Who they are is always answered by
other people."
The other group "seems to fall in love with motion itself,
resists interpretations and explanation of what they do by other
people." They need direct experience and are suspicious when it
is evaluated, translated, analyzed, rewarded or punished, he
says. Belasik clearly falls into this category himself, which is
at the very core of this book.
And what does this have to do with collection? Everything, as it
turns out.
He is clearly and vehemently against the training trend du
jour. "Some competition dressage riders promote systems and
theories of training that are in complete contradiction to the
classic theory of collection, forcibly pulling and holding their
horses' heads to their chests in complete subjugation,
justifying it with the explanation this 'stretching' is good for
the horses," he writes. It does not seem to matter, he adds,
that this new system contradicts some of the oldest dressage
theory that the whole object of the dressage horse is to
rebalance it upon the haunches. He finds this approach one of
unrelenting aggression against the horse, as demeaning as it
would be to do the same to a human. "There have always been
extremes in riding but rarely have they attained such a strong
hold of center stage," he adds.
And so in courageous and open-minded pursuit of what can
be scientifically proven or disproven, Belasik and his horse St.
Graal take part in a series of scientific experiments at the
McPhail Center at Michigan State University officiated by Dr.
Hilary Clayton, the equine biomechanics expert who has been
working for years to establish a baseline understanding of how
horses move.
One experiment done on force plates with computers
registering reactions, was to measure the forces and describe
the biomechanics of the transition from piaffe to levade. If the
forelegs pushed the forehand up, it would question the great
preponderance of classical literature. If the forehand was
pulled up by the muscles of the back, abdomen and hindquarters,
however, it could validate 300-year old as yet unproven
theories.
Belasik felt a sense of relief that after Dr. Clayton's
analysis, there was a definite proof and description of the
classicists’ idea of collection.
As a result, Belasik had even more reverence for his
predecessors who invented these movements and believed in them
without definitive proofs. He felt very lucky to have his
question answered this time.
But another question remains, was there something in competitive
dressage that was contributing to the loss of collection, and
even to a loss of understanding of the ideas of collection. If
collection was always the heart and soul of dressage, logically
a loss of understanding of collection would mean a loss of the
idea of what dressage really was. But he knew, whatever you want
to do, "there may not be enough science to answer your
questions." There will, however, "always be enough art to
propose them. It will be the artists who propose them." (At the
risk of sounding extravagant I have always thought of Belasik as
a sculptor of living horses.)
And so back to his first chapter and the idea of individuality,
ignoring external pressures to pursue what is real for you.
"Classical riding is all about the process, not goals.
Along the way you are learning emotional control, patience with
insight and physical fitness," he says, which is how he defines
"collection or centering" for the rider, a necessary parallel
education to that of the horse.
There is a great deal more in this book, philosophical,
practical, biomechanical, artistic, scientific, that the
limitation of space does not permit mentioning. Suffice to say
that nowhere else except perhaps in the books of Portuguese
maestro Nuno Oliveira, have I read analyses of the movements,
starting with shoulder-in, that clearly define the objectives of
each exercise.
This book, for me, is like a guiding light home in the
encroaching dusk. I am glad it was written. It has been my
humble privilege to review it.
Paul Belasik is the author of Riding Towards the Light,
Exploring Dressage Technique and The Songs of Horses, the
trilogy which gained him a wide audience. He is also author of
Dressage for the 21st Century. He gives clinics, lectures and
demonstrations internationally and trained clients at his
Pennsylvania Riding Academy. |
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This latest achievement in literature from Paul Belasik will be
welcomed by those who know him well. For those who have not yet
discovered his teachings, this is the perfect place to start. It
is highly readable and very thought provoking. Many will feel a
little twinge of self-recognition in some of the examples he
gives. But it is not in condemnation of riders, trainers, or
judges that he writes, but in hope that his revelations will
help each one of these to better understand themselves and their
motives.
I thought perhaps it would not be a book for ‘beginners’, but
changed my mind when it became clear that if a rider doesn’t
understand these principles from the start, then they will at
some point have to ‘unlearn’ what they are being taught and
re-learn these values. The book aims to take self esteem out of
the equation and replace it with a desire to find your own path
to mutual respect and the reward of being a part of the life of
your horse.
For those lovers of the Classical ways, this book not only
re-enforces the principles, it backs them up with the latest
scientific technology available. Belasik dispels some of the
myths associated with force, tension and discipline. There are
many examples quoted that help the reader to gain insight into
what he refers to as ‘the art of collection in life and riding’.
Leeta Bobart
Australia |
