14 / Sport and Trail Magazine
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My New BFF
blind man on a galloping horse coulda seen this cliff-dive coming, but meet my new hoss…
The giant gelding was high powered. I could see his firm shoulder muscles ripple beneath his fuzzy winter coat as I climbed up the side of my saddle while he began the carnival ride early. I was half way aboard. Head high and back tight, his responses to my requests were but a reflection of all previous rider’s commands. At twelve years old, this boy had everyone wrapped up into his personal universe where he made all the decisions: “Don’t wait on them, daylight’s wastin’.”
“Here, have a real life with real riders who want a real riding horse.”
You never start crooning that melody anywhere comfortable, however. That’s dreamland. What I have are horses birthed into the world of riding horses with multiple unsoundnesses. Not physical unsoundness like an abscess or crooked legs, but riding defects that prevented them from becoming sound riding horses. Lack of information more than lack of commitment, I believe.
Let me tell you about these characters. One is a 15.3h gelding who was born into a quarter horse world and thusly named with a quarter horse handle, so there’s that. I could easily call him ‘Jughead’ because of his head size, but he’s very people friendly, with a large expressive eye that totally hooks you in. He was started by a Mennonite girl who rode him from farm to farm—what a nice introduction into the working world for him. He probably quickly learned the route and found security in that, while stabling in different barns just stretched his brain right. I picture him as a teenage boy managing his first paper route. No time for thinking about being spooky or silly. As sensitive as he is, that sound training greets you with every interaction you have with him. He always comes back to "settled." (He’ll stand tied on cross-ties for hours quietly.)
In his next chapter of life he found himself settling into a career as a trail horse for a couple of different riders for a few years, and then I came along. Morgans are like fine wine, they get better with age, and this bright dude has a lot to offer someone. Initially, however, what I have found with him is that along the way his nature—he’s a big dude—took charge. Poor riding habits and "not knowin" gave way to developing a gorilla under the hood that emerges every now and then. I call that half-broke. If you want your arms stretched, he’s the one for you. Is this a horse anybody would want to ride? No.
Another Morgan at my five star retreat is a 14.3h mare who is very sweet and very cute (and has a Morgan name). Her little doe-like face always happily greets you at the door. I was impressed with her ground manners all the way along until I sat in the saddle. Things went horribly upside down wrong from there. Her nose in the air, back-hollowed rhythm sent me into chicken-flapping mode. As a riding horse: Epic Fail. What happened you ask? Lack of information on the essentials of what makes a good sound riding horse.
My next horse, though, took the cake. I think she also ate too much cake. Her withers are so flat you could set up a place setting and have a picnic along her top line with ease. Morgans originated as army mounts and work horses because they are so tough. They can withstand a lot of grind. This 15.3 hand black beauty has withstood a lot of abuse because I think her owner tried to turn her into a beef cow. “Here, have more cake.” Her initial response to my requests:
“Do I really have to try? You want me to what?…move?”
Fortunately, that mindset is short lived and we are off through the woods, hills, and mountains of the Catskills! She has so much to offer someone, and I love her because she is so completely rock solid on the trail.
So my job, the mountain I must climb with each of these horses, is to untrain the defects people trained in. All the abominable mistakes that left these horses on the island of misfit toys.
First of all, we need to get out of a riding ring. If you care to notice your horse as you ride, you will observe that their body position, or frame, mirrors the physical effort they are involved in. It is important to recognize what the horse is giving you, so you do not hinder their natural movement. As your horse travels through the snow, for instance, he uses his legs more dramatically in movement than he would have if ridden indoors. If any of you ride in the snow you know what I mean. A trot through the snow has so much thrust from behind, and so much lift to it, it brings the experience of passage. Their head and neck also mirror the open frame of the body; the strides are open and forward through all the gaits. The neck is no longer tight and upright like it wants to be at the beginning of the ride, but now the neck’s underside is flexed and forward with a nice open throat. And to that, on Dasher.
Why is this important? Think about range of motion, the opening and closing of our muscles and joints. Anyone over fifty knows how valuable that can be. One of our goals of riding is suppleness. A supple horse can freely open and close all its muscles and joints of the body for the largest possible range of motion. Something none of these three horses can do.
My new horses need a GIANT fix. To get a horse to become more flexible means they can perform with ease the movements we enjoy doing with them. A flexible horse enjoys what it can do, and we can enjoy the ride. To get a horse to become supple primarily involves turning on circles, teaching the horse to bend, and moving laterally. Simply speaking, teaching turn on the forehand and leg yield will markedly reveal their suppling effects as they are mirrored through the body; the horse’s frame begins to respond to the increased flexion. But at the start, I prefer to let the natural terrain do that job for me.
Here’s the bottom line: If you don’t have a suppled horse as a riding goal first, you’ll get unnatural body positions, compression, and tension as a result—defects.
So what’s the fix? The greater the range of motion, the greater the degree you will be able to achieve suppleness, then collection and impulsion. A supple horse moves with a forward, open, and arched neck. Its hind legs are open, reaching (flexing) forward, which will reflect in a topline that becomes stretched and lifted as well. Great movement, balance, straightness, collection—all are a result of a chain of events through the horse’s body. Any blockages must be suppled. Congratulations if you achieved this shape in your riding!
get headed in the wrong direction and get trained in quick. Those “bad habits” become the default.
In this case, with my new BFF, whenever I come across a half-broke, high-powered horse previously owned by an over-horsed amateur, and nobody got hurt, I automatically believe in the mission with that particular horse. It then becomes my mantra to turn it all around.
Horse training is about touch. When I talk to a horse, I ask,"What will you do when I touch your mouth with my fingers (via the reins)? When I wrap my legs around your belly, instead of resistance and fear, can I bring up polite and gentle?"
As a horsey physiotherapist, I mostly hear, “I was never like this until I was born,” during the first week of training. Often, when I interject my two cents into their minute by minute thought process, that’s usually when things get interesting. I’m not every horse’s cup of sunshine, I’ve heard them say. But I am their last shot at being usable for riding for a lot of these misunderstood souls.
One cold hard reality we must all recognize: We can’t presume to improve upon what nature hasn’t endowed. We can’t create traits the hoss ain’t been blessed with. We can’t engineer a more balanced neck or a larger hoof. Wouldn’t it be easy if we could transform a nervous temperament into a calm, easy-going one, or spruce up a cold-blooded personality into a more dynamic one? But what we can do, by skillful training and exercise, is develop, strengthen and supple the qualities of the horse that we can affect and discover their potential. That is ours to manage and bring us enjoyment. We can always maximize the qualities that we can affect and move them forward. But that takes work.
ripple beneath his fuzzy winter coat as I climbed up the side of my saddle while he began the carnival ride early. I was half way aboard. Head high and back tight, his responses to my requests were but a reflection of all previous rider’s commands. At twelve years old, this boy had everyone wrapped up into his personal universe where he made all the decisions: “Don’t wait on them, daylight’s wastin’.”
Adrenaline, in some breeds, is an addictive drug. As a licensed and practicing horsey therapist, I get good practice recognizing the psychosis. What amazes me is what some horses can do with it. When I’m psychoanalyzing while riding a cross country horse that never seems to tire, I marvel. Well, I marvel on a broke horse that understands how to use its epic powers in harmony with mine.
“Every command with my legs means go faster with you,” I deduce on my new mount, “…and, every touch of the reins is your opportunity to play tug of war. You’re the gorilla nobody will admit they own.” Gently and friendly, and friendly and gently, my hands and legs begin their crusade. I had a seventh grade English teacher who stood tall and serious before every one of his classes and declared: “This is my favorite class.” I have entered that in my horse training vocabulary and I begin each BFF that way: "You’re my favorite!"
My question to be answered with every horse I endeavor to effect: Will you allow me to guide you through my world of riding, or will you insist on being a wildebeest with a saddle tied to its back? I am truly sorry for all the ways riders wreck a horse’s only shot at becoming a sound-minded riding companion. There are lots of reasons why it doesn’t work out: lack of knowledge on the part of the trainer (dressage is the foundation of riding, and its lack will tell) is the number one reason far ahead of anything else. This is revealed whenever you have extreme temperament issues or conformational challenges. Things get headed in the wrong direction and get trained in quick. Those “bad habits” become the default.