Case Study Amanda and Beau
“Amanda contacted me as she wanted to learn more about how my French Classical Training methods could help her beautiful ISH ‘Beau’.”
When I first met them Beau had kissing spine and a history of moving behind the vertical. Due to his back pathology, he had a very pronounced sway to his back and consequently struggled to use his back and body biomechanically correctly. Amanda was a doting owner to Beau and would never have intentionally hurt him, she thought the way she was riding and lunging him WAS correct and what she was supposed to do. Sadly, this is an all-too-common experience that I find, lovely, well-meaning owners being led down a knowledge path that isn’t helpful and at worse is harmful.
Pictures 1 shows Amanda lunging Beau BEFORE Kat’s help. In picture 1 Beau is being lunged with an all-too-common posture, he is overflexed. Amanda believed she was lunging him correctly. The reason Beau is overflexing is because the lunge lines attached to the bit are exerting huge pressure on his tongue and bars, this hurts! he is backing off the pain by staying behind the pressure. This posture affects his neck (which is contracted), it affects his balance (which is on the shoulders) and it affects his back health because in order to stabilise his balance he will set up bracing patterns along his back and quarters. The additional problem with any overflexed position is the horse is travelling blind, staring at the ground.
In Pictures 2 and 3 Amanda is riding Beau. Amanda believed it was very important to have your horse 'on the bit' and this was the position she thought was correct. In picture 2, Beau is hollowing and coming against the hand, responding to low hands hurting his tongue. Picture 3’s position can follow picture 2’s position as the rider persists in trying to get their horse ‘on the bit’, it often results in overflexion and in this picture overflexing and leaning.
Overflexing (or hollowing) under saddle cause all of the same problems as the overflexed lunging posture (loss of balance, bracing patterns, contraction, pain, pathology). The added issue with overflexed horses when riding is that horses have to carry their rider’s weight in this position, so all the aforementioned problems are magnified. Amanda loves her horse and truly believed she was doing the right thing because most of the horse world does the same as this! Overflexion is the devil for horses and should be avoided completely.
Picture 1 BEFORE Kat’s help Picture 2 – BEFORE Kat’s help Picture 3 – BEFORE Kat’s help
Picture 3 shows Beau being lunged AFTER Kat’s help. Here we have ditched the gadgets, ditched the tongue pressure and ditched the endless circles and instead taught Beau to lunge on straight lines and curved lines with a lovely forward-down-out, neck extension. This is achieved using only a lunge cavesson. Beau started to use his body without bracing, without mouth pain and without excessive wear on his joints. With this type of lunging, horses can learn so much more about balanced movement and relaxation in movement, they can also see where they are going!
Picture 3 AFTER training with Kat
Picture 4. To combat the habitual overflexing, the first thing we had to teach Beau was to raise his neck and open his poll. This improved his balance and also his contact as Amanda learnt to use the reins in a way that didn't cause Beau any mouth pain. We used a technique called Demit Arret consistently every time Beau tried to overflex. We taught him in halt first and then in walk and trot.
Picture 4 – AFTER training with Kat
Picture 5. Once Beau had learnt not to overflex we could teach him how to stretch effectively. Teaching this through bend was problematic as Beau would try to contract his neck, drop his poll and curl so we taught him inhand, using a technique called action reaction from a high neck and open poll into a clearly Forward-Down-Out neck extension position. This worked very well and taught him he could stretch by moving his neck away from his chest and could tighten the reins confidently, understanding no mouth pain would occur. This neck posture is one of many that we use to improve the horse. We teach the different positions on the ground first, then under saddle.
Picture 5 – AFTER training with Kat
Picture 6. Here you can see a much happier picture of Beau. Beau is moving without overflexing because Amanda learnt to use her hands on the corners of Beaus mouth to prevent tongue pain. Consequently, Beau started to confidently stretch with the contact as seen in this picture where he is in a nice open poll, medium neck position. He is confident in the contact Amanda is giving him. He is more flexible, better balanced, has a longer stride and his kissing spine is kept comfortable and supported by the right postural muscles. There are more improvements to come, but for now Amanda and Beau are in a much better place to progress on through their learning journey. Well done Amanda and Beau!
Picture 6 – AFTER training with Kat
If you have a horse that hollows, leans on your hand or overflexes, irrespective of their age contact Kat for help – thinkingequitation@gmail.com