Case Study Sally and Jaffa
Sally contacted me because she had been following the principles of the School of Legerete online for a number of years but hadn’t found a trainer who could give her expert tuition on this.
I had recently started travelling to London to teach at various yards and Sally was delighted to be added to my lesson list.
Sally is an experienced, quiet rider and had owned her very elegant Andalusian mare Jaffa for a number of years. When I first started helping them Jaffas main issue was that she would overflex and also found travelling in a straight line very difficult, she was a wiggly worm. She was stuck in a cycle of overflexion, crookedness and balance loss.
Picture 1 shows Sally and Jaffa BEFORE working with Kat. In this picture Jaffa is overflexing with her nose behind the vertical, her poll dropped and she is leaning on Sally's low hands. As a consequence of the overflexion Jaffa’s shoulders were blocked due to her heavy head. This overflexion position limits the ability for the postural muscles of her thoracic sling to work effectively. You can see in the picture Jaffa was having to use the muscles of the top portion of her neck to hold her head and neck in that position. In this position achieving a light, balanced, straight horse is impossible, instead with the shoulders so blocked it can only develop bracing patterns and a horse travelling on their forehand.
Picture 1 BEFORE Kat’s help
Picture 2 shows Sally and Jaffa AFTER training with Kat. Sally learnt how to ask Jaffa to stop overflexing by using the bit on the corners of Jaffa's lips not her tongue. We used a technique called demit arret to teach Jaffa to open her poll, balance her shoulders better and then we were able to work on her asymmetry issues with various flexibility exercises.
The difference between the before and after photos in this case are more subtle but it is these head and neck position changes that are crucial to enable development of self-carriage.
In picture 2, Jaffa’s poll angle is more open, her nose is in front of the vertical and her poll is higher, this change in posture has unblocked Jaffa's shoulders and enabled a better stretch through her whole top line. The over development of the muscles of the high portion of her neck were no longer visible as she began to use her postural muscles to support her neck position. In this position training Jaffas body to travel correctly in balance and with straightness became possible. Well done Sally and Jaffa!
Picture 2 – 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