Flint Ridge Farm

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❤️ And look at that position. Is he behind the vertical driving his seat into his horse’s back? No. It’s just lovely.

NEDA stands for “New England Dressage Association, “ and each early fall NEDA hosts absolute top of the line clinicians for an end of season clinic.

One year that I went, it was at U-Mass, Amherst, and Klaus Balkenhol was the clinician. He’d been the coach, among many other accomplishments, of the gold medal winning German Olympic dressage team.

Right at the start he insisted that the riders WALK for AT LEAST 10 minutes, He said something like, “Most riders don’t give their horses enough time to warm up correctly. Wear a watch, because if you are a hurry up person, 10 minutes will seem like half an hour.” Not in those words, but that’ was the gist.

Over the years since then, I have repeated what Klaus said to dozens, probably hundreds of riders, and now to the point of this post---

Even though that message came from one of the most successful riders and trainers in the world, not many of the riders that I gave Balkenhol’s advice to, took it. Some did, but for most it went in one ear and out the other. They were either too impatient, or they knew better than Klaus, or something.

That type of response---lack of response is a better term---proves something, I think---

I won’t say it, what I think. See if YOU can figure it out?

In 2019, the USDF issued a revision to the Dressage Training Pyramid, changing “relaxation” to “suppleness," Brenner Klenzman writes. The pyramid is a translation from the original German, where the word in question is Losgelassenheit, a term that does not directly translate to “suppleness.”

I majored in German in college, studied in Graz, Austria, and am a “new” rider, having started in my fifties. As I learn more about how to ride, this incorrect translation made me wonder: Have we in the U.S. gotten off track with the overall intent of the pyramid? Did we translate it incorrectly, and then revise that translation in a way that moved us even further from the original meaning?

Losgelassenheit literally translates to “being in a state of having let go.”

- Losgelassen is the past tense of loslassen, meaning “to let go.”
- The suffix -heit means “a state or condition of being.”
- The entire word literally means “being in a state or condition of having let go.”

Does this sound like “relaxed”? It actually feels closer to “relaxed” than “supple,” but even “relaxed” isn’t quite right. It describes a mental state of non-grasping, of letting go. It’s the absence of external anxiety, a state in which learning and performance can happen freely.

What stands out when comparing the correct translation of Losgelassenheit with “suppleness”? The original meaning is psychological, not physical. “Relaxation” was closer to the intended meaning, while “suppleness” moves even further away. “Supple” is purely physical.

The purpose of the pyramid, as described in German, is:

Basis der Skala ist die Zwanglosigkeit – die physische und psychische Entspannung –, die in jedem Stand der Ausbildung erhalten bleiben muss, um die volle Leistungsbereitschaft und Leistungsfähigkeit des Pferdes zu erhalten. Ein Verlust der Zwanglosigkeit hat meist auch einen Verlust des Taktes, immer den Verlust der Losgelassenheit zur Folge.

This translates to:

The basis of the scale is Zwanglosigkeit (freedom from tension)—both physical and mental—which must be maintained at every stage of training in order to preserve the horse’s full willingness and ability to perform. A loss of Zwanglosigkeit usually results in a loss of rhythm and always results in a loss of Losgelassenheit.

A literal breakdown of Zwanglosigkeit is also informative:

Zwang: force, compulsion, coercion
-los: without
-keit: state or condition of being
Zwanglosigkeit describes a state free from force, compulsion, or coercion.

While the USDF interpretation of the scale leans heavily toward the physical, the original intent clearly carries a psychological component. Looking more closely at the first three steps of the scale reveals a very different, and arguably more complete and humane, understanding of the pyramid.

📎 Continue reading this article at https://www.theplaidhorse.com/2026/04/16/what-losgelassenheit-really-means-and-why-it-matters-for-the-training-pyramid/
📸 © Olivia Danielle Photography

Photos from the show!!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1M1I0J4wjovrhRB4MOWJKj5z0xynigX7_

Photos from the show! Thanks Lauren!

FRF - April 11, 2026 - Google Drive I do not charge for photos, but I do ask if you post them on Instagram that you tag !

Updated schedules!!

Jump schedule....

Schedule for Saturday! Hope to see you all there!