Straightness vs Bending

Are we creating hyper-mobile horses by over bending, stretching and suppling when what we actually need is alignment and straightness for a supple horse?

Imagine you have a piece of wire and you want to bend it, but without making it weak. If you were to bend it at a sharp angle continuously, over time it would weaken and break. But if you were to bend it gradually and slowly till you created a nice even curve, the integrity of the wire would remain. The same applies to the horse, the more we exaggerate the bend, the more we weaken and destabilise the structure and what we can end up with in a weak noodle of a horse we then somehow need to straighten!

When I say ‘straighten’ I don’t mean literally, I mean in the sense of alignment. Think of the horses body as a set of train carriages, we want the body to follow the train tracks and not veer off so it doesn’t derail! And don’t forget about kinking the hose (see last post).

Whilst there may be horse who are stiff, suppling them doesn’t need to involve these exercises where they are over bent (laterally) or asked to ‘bend’ through their body to a point where they are no longer in alignment. Not only are we at risk of throwing the horse off balance, we are more likely to cause the horse to brace and twist through their body to cope with the added pressures of having to bend them like a pipe cleaner.

A good way to test your horses ability to stay on the train tracks is to simply ask them to walk in a straight line (from the ground) along the fence. As you walk backwards facing your horse, take notice of how easy or hard they find it to stay on those imaginary tracks, the slower you go the more you will see.

Smaller movements and spinal alignment, where the horse can find relaxation and strength, are a much better way of creating a supple horse. Less is more!

I will often incorporate these exercises into a session and can guide you through how to do them correctly with your horse.