Post by horseguy on Jun 2, 2017 16:32:12 GMT
I have been looking into a horse for a former student. This is a mare, now 7 years old, 1/4 Friesian 1/4 Arab 1/2 Rocky Mountain Filly. Rarely do I see such a chronology of a horse in videos. In the 1st one we see an energetic horse that is just trying to figure out how to move and balance. I see a little more pulling with the shoulders that push with the hind in most of this horse's display. It is this inequality, I think, between hind and fore energy that cause the horse a few small problems or near stumbles, which she quickly fixes.
1st 2/11 as 2 year old
The next video is 19 months later. The horse demonstrates some training, having evened out her gaits. I see in the subtle head lift in the canter stride a tiny bit more push now than pull. I see a power balance that creates lightness and a very nice reach under the belly at the trot and canter, particularly in the trot where suspension is obvious.
2d video 9/12 free striding
The next video is 4 years later. The horse now has a rider and we see the effect this rider has on the horse. The rider halts to begin the dressage test and then we see the rider move off from the halt with cranked down reins and the horse behind the bit as a result. At :47 sec into the video we see a very "corked' up energy and a cranked down horse do a canter transition. In the canter the rider is about 5 degrees AHEAD of vertical due to perching and as a result she is bouncing in the saddle in each stride to some degree. By 1:11 the rider seems to be relaxing and the contact is reasonable, not soft but OK. By today's standards is might be called soft but not soft in the Beaudant tradition. Today we have dressage stars like Anke who say things like "5 loving pounds" in the hands of contact, nonsense. But at least the horse is allowed to move more freely and we see the beginning of the lightness we saw years earlier. The canter transition at 1:45 is more fluid. The free walk at 2:12 shows the horse habitually behind the bit (seeking relief) even off contact, but eventually this horse finds a natural place for her head. By 2:37, near the end, it looks as if the rider is relaxed by coming to the conclusion and we see suspension, rhythm and what the horse wants to do but is not allowed to do.
3rd video 8/16 dressage
Here is a jumping round, again 4 years after the free gaits video. The riding is hurried and sloppy. At :15 we see the rider dropping the inside shoulder in the bending approach to the jump, thus causing the horse to deal with an odd lateral balance. By :18 the horse is rebalancing the rider's mistake, now being corrected in her lateral balance and the result is a snake like wiggle in the approach to the next jump due to the horse compensating for the rider's imbalance. Sloppy again. At :32 we see the rider throw her horse's head to the left to make an abrupt bend to the next jump. This action imposed on a lesser athlete would typically cause a horse's hind to be pushed out to the right, but this horse tracks on well without incident. At :38 if you freeze frame you see just as in :18 how the rider is not laterally centered in the apex of the jump, meaning the horse has to manage the imbalance once again in the landing. Consistently sloppy.
4th video 8/16 stadium jumping
This horse is being sold as having had competition experience which is documented in the last two videos. What we see is a horse that can compete while compensating for very poor riding in both blocking longitudinal movement with excessive contact and disturbing lateral balance with dropping shoulders. What a forgiving horse. The horse is being sold as "registered", but the registry is one of those on-size-fits-all registry homes for horses that have no hope of being called anything intentionally bred. The prospective buyer asked the seller why the horse was ridden in a tight noise band and the answer was, "We don't know why. The trainer told us to."
epilogue: The older sister seen riding has move on from English with this horse and now prefers Western Pleasure with another horse. The little sister, I assume, is now riding (video from last month) the horse (in too short a stirrup) bobbling around in the saddle. This is a very talented athlete and forgiving animal who deserves a decent rider to just let her move as she can and wants to. She has been trained to tolerate humans. That is how I would sum up her job. There are worse lives for horses that this, of course, but when I see a good one like, I hope they reach their potential with a good rider.