This short got a few comments on Facebook that we felt should be answered and our answer ended up longer than what we could post there, so here is the answer.
The commenters stated that they disagree and that the piaffe is definitively related to the trot and absolutely not to the walk. They cited a few masters and what they said in certain sections of their books. Here our answer to the comments:
The debate over whether piaffe is a form of diagonalized walk or a form of.trot has been raging for over a century at least. We do indeed – as is expressed here in the short -both train it and think of it as a diagonalized walk, because we come out of the french portuguese style which tends to describe it that way and which does get great results.
So let’s have a look at what the old masters say.
The strongest historical voices who describe piaffe as conceptually related to the walk rather than the trot are primarily from the French classical tradition.
Lets examine François Robichon de La Guérinière (1688–1751) who most of us feel is an original authority.
As has been pointed out in this thread – in one section of his wonderful book La G does indeed call the piaffe a passage in place. But elsewhere he describes it
as a “ collected, cadenced elevation of the diagonal limbs developed from extreme collection, closely related to and emerging from school walk, and work and shoulder-in/renvers in walk.
In his system, piaffe then becomes a Passage-like elevation, but its components are shoulder in to renver in walk, rein-back, school walk and work in the pillars, which also gathers and lowers the haunches from a side to side swing in walk after which the horse picks up a diagonalized step.
This is certainly our interpretation too and it does work for us and the numerous horses we’ve trained in piaffe over rhe past 15 years or so.
Importantly, the mental and mechanical preparation comes – in La Guerinieres system – from the walk, not from driving trot energy forward and containing it.
Next lets look at François Baucher (1796–1873)
In both.his first and second manner, Baucher very clearly treats piaffe as:a mobilization and elevation of the diagonal limbs, originating from immobility and poll and joint flexion, then
Developed through halt, rein-back, and slow diagonal lifting
His second manner especially removes any forward thrust as the origin of the piaffe. For Baucher, piaffe is born from:
Balance + lightness + lowering of the haunches, not from trot propulsion.
This again makes it philosophically closer to the walk/halt spectrum than to an energetic trot.
Steinbrecht
Steinbrecht – as pictured in the thread – does seem to describe piaffe as a form of trot but we have to be a bit careful with Steinbrecht because his book isn’t actually his book. It’s the edited assembly of his notes interpreted by one of his students and then by various editors since and it has been amended massively over rhe decades. For instance he talks about work in the pillars and working in a very La Gueriniere-ish way in the early editions and then this disappears in later editions so are the words of the modern editions actually his words?
Certainly the work in long reins for piaffe that most of todays Germanic trainers use and which they often credit to Steinbrecht comes out of working at the walk with leg lifts and taps on the croup to get a lowered, diagonalized half step. Whether that is a walk or a trot is open to debate and will probably be argued about forever. The main thing is, does a piaffe emerges? If so then we can be happy.
Finally its always a good idea to look at Nuno Oliveira (20th century, but consciously old-school)
Nuno Oliveira repeatedly said:
“The piaffe is a walk in place with diagonal elevation.”
He insisted that It should be calm.It should “breathe like walk” (admittedly a bit cryptic).and that it should not be a hurried trot in place without ground cover.
Nuno often prepared piaffe from: collected walk, half-steps with a single.long rein and in-hand diagonal lifting a la Baucher.
So who does define piaffe as trot?
The more German 19th–20th century tradition does lean this way, and particularly tends to describe piaffe as:
“A highly collected trot on the spot.”
This formulation became dominant in FEI definitions. But there is by no means a concensus here and many even within the FEI argue endlessly about what piaffer actually is.
So historically…what we find is a philosophical divide which I guess we can simplify as follows
French classical tradition (La Guérinière → Baucher → Oliveira)
→ Piaffe grows from collection, walk mechanics, lowering of the haunches, and diagonal elevation from immobility. Even though in the end La G does describe it as a passage in place, he seems to train it from the walk and Nuno and Baucher do treat it as a form of walk.
German system (post-Steinbrecht institutional dressage)
→ Piaffe = collected trot without forward movement.
So lads – pick the interpretation and training method(s) that seem to work best for you and your pony. And watch out when reading the old.masters, as they do often contradict themselves (only human after all, even if dead human). Good luck and we wish you and your ponies many many happy hours of piaffer. And many decades of happy , harmonious dressage collaboration and curious exploration rather than the unhappy argument and conflict that can make the process sad.
It’s.worth noting that until the 19th.century the old masters, though sometimes disagreeing, never trashed each other and engaged with each other in a collegial fashion. One day, hopefully, the dressage culture will return to this happier state.
