Case Study Marie & Gabriel
Marie bought Gabriel, a PRE x, as a semi feral horse who had been left in a field for a year with history unknown. She trained with me for a number of years but sadly Gabriel was lost prematurely due to melanomas growing in his neck, jaw and ear.
Picture 1. This is a BEFORE my help picture as it was the first time I assessed Marie and Gabriel. Marie had tried to do her best to be 'kind' to Gabriel by riding him bitless but from the picture it is evident that even bitless bridles can cause over flexed, compressed horses that can move with a contracted, unhealthy biomechanic. Like many riders Marie had previously been taught to use her hands in a low, fixed position. She had read Twisted Truths and was desperate to learn more about the School of Legerete so started having lessons with me.
Picture 1 Marie and Gabriel BEFORE Kat’s help
Picture 2. Over a period of introductory lessons, we worked on introducing Gabriel to a bit. We taught him to be more flexible using the flexions in halt and in-hand as well as lungeing without gadgets. Gabriel needed to learn to open his poll first and then to follow the hand in a longer, less compressed frame. We taught him Action Reaction to help him to keep a more consistent contact. He learnt to go straight with bend (Flechi Droit) and to move his shoulders around his quarters in neck rein turns in walk and trot.
Picture 2 Marie and Gabriel AFTER Kat’s help
Picture 3. Over a period of time Gabriel learnt to become more mobile using lateral work. He had to learn his lateral work in a more medium position as he would often contract his back and back away from the contact. Picture 3 shows him in shoulder in position. You can see that he is moving a little over 3 tracks here. However, he is in a nice medium position and is taking a steady contact and Marie is in a good position, only needing to lift her eyes to enjoy the view and look to her future! To improve Gabriels’s leg alignment in this shoulder in, on the next stride Marie would have used a light right neck rein and left opening rein to bring his shoulders back onto a 3 track position, combined with a hint more weight in her left seat bone.
Picture 3 Marie and Gabriel in Shoulder-in AFTER Kat’s help
Picture 4 shows Gabriel in Travers position. Marie is working to keep Gabriel’s shoulders straight on the track using an outside opening rein. She is sitting to the inside and is directing Gabriel’s quarters in with her outside leg behind the girth and her stick in the outside hand. You can see in the picture that Gabriel found stretching the middle portion of his neck tricky, ideally his head would be aligned more centrally to his chest. We later discovered he had melanomas growing in his neck, jaw and ear on the right which was why this was so difficult for him to do.
Picture 4 Marie and Gabriel in Travers AFTER Kat’s help
Picture 5 shows Gabriel in Half pass. Gabriel's natural tendency was to carry his quarters to the right, this meant in right half pass position Marie had to carry her stick on his left shoulder and try to encourage him to start half pass in shoulder in position to ensure his shoulders didn't get left behind. You can see in this picture how the quarters would easily overtake the shoulders and lead so to counter this on the next stride Marie would need to give Gabriel a left neck rein and right opening rein aid to encourage the shoulders to lead the movement more.
Picture 5 Marie and Gabriel in Half Pass AFTER Kat’s help
Picture 6 shows Gabriel in left trot half pass, showing a good crossing right hind, which had been notoriously difficult for him initially. Here you can see Marie using an opening outside rein to slow the shoulders and allow the quarters to keep crossing.
Picture 6 Marie and Gabriel in trot half pass AFTER Kat’s help
Picture 7 shows Gabriel in neck extension. This Forward-Down-Out neck extension position is a fundamental part of healthy training. We want to have the option to ask the horse to stretch anywhere at any time, with a horizontal neck to enable maximum stretch and relaxation without detrimentally affecting the horses' balance. When your horse trusts your hand, this position is totally achievable, as can be seen from the image, Gabriel became happy to stretch his top line from a tight bouncy ball to an elongated body, like a piece of tensioned spaghetti! Well done Marie and Gabriel!
Picture 7 Marie and Gabriel in neck extension AFTER Kat’s help
If you would like to learn how to transform your horse from a bouncy, tight, ball to a horse that can move through different movements with relaxation, ease and grace, contact Kat - thinkingequitation@gmail.com