Be Inspirational. Be an Equestrian.

If you’re a horse blog

That old guy in the background has an eyepatch, the rider might be a woman, they have a hair-bun(please god don’t try and argue about gender stuff so stfu), and they aren’t even sitting on the saddle

I ride Arabians, not saddlebreds so there are a few differences but saddleseat in both breeds is pretty similar... Those are shoes with pads, but they have some weight to them to get the horse to lift there legs more, although they already have a very high step... Most classes have a weight limit to the shoes though (I'm pretty sure there is a chart floating around tumblr somewhere)... As for the riders position, we sit back further to allow more movement of the horses shoulder, which is also the purpose of the cutback saddle. This rider does seems to be sitting back father and her legs are way out in front of her compared to normal (which is a typical practice of saddleseat trainers), but this could be due to her horses exaggerated movement.

When horses go “inverted”, it means that they raise their heads in front of their withers, which “hollows” their backs, and riders employ all manner of strategies to persuade them to soften in the jaw, drop their heads, without coming behind the vertical, and to “lift” their backs. Years ago, I would struggle with horses about this. I didn`t understand the process of gentle, persistent negotiating, so instead I`d try to lever the head down, brace my arms, sometimes use draw reins, or use fixed side reins for lunging, all methods calculated to win “Pyrrhic Victories”, though I didn`t have enough knowledge to comprehend that. (Nor did I know what Pyrric Victory meant!) No classic work on riding that I`ve read uses the term “gently pester” or “mildly annoy”, yet, realistically, that`s what we do. Face it, we “mildly annoy” them by taking them away from their grass and their friends, so let`s be real here. We want the head down, not up, so we use “negotiated driving aids” into “negotiated restraining aids”, to help induce that rounder, less upside down frame. But when we do this, we also get the horse to engage, and step under from behind, which “loads” the hocks, and this creates “weight lifting”. And if YOU have ever weight lifted you know that it causes discomfort. Yes, done correctly, it will make you a stronger athlete, but it sure as hell isn`t “fun”. So we have to ask the horse so very gradually, and we need to go a little forward, back off, ask some more, back off, not get fierce and relentless. “Gently pester, mildly annoy”, tinker, tinker, tinker, the emphasis on gently and mildly. And little by little, the horse should engage more, drop its head more, gradually start to lift more, carry himself more, approach some degree of self carriage, but here`s the deal—- IT IS SO SLOW A PROCESS. “Build a horse like an onion, one small layer at a time.” No anger, no frustration, no blunt force, no time frame——Hard to keep our emotions this much in check? You bet, but that`s the goal nonetheless, to become real horsemen and horsewomen. Nobody said it would be easy. Or, if they did, they lied!