Today's post is about my personal journey, I started Art2Ride about 8 weeks ago and in this time I have been learning how to teach my horse to stretch his muscles from Poll to Tail. There is so much as a Trainer and rider,I did not Know, The horse is in a longitudinal balance first before they can become laterally balanced. If you think of how we have to stretch and train our bodies to become symmetrical on both sides, the horse is no different! Through systematic teachings,the horse over time,will start to very slowly elongate their back muscles,neck muscles and hind muscles. When a horse starts to step under their center of gravity, they start to bend the hocks and knee joints more fluent and become supple in the process. As a result of training the horse to seek a consistent rewarding contact, the horse can then engage their hind quarters to be able to lift its back , thus the horses core muscles are responding and strengthening the horse every correct step they take. What I am learning is to recognize the process,the feel of the horse using their body correctly and to help my horse to be a stronger athlete. When a horse is seeking the contact and actually taking the bit down and forward, the horses shoulders align, the hind legs step evenly in a diagonal pair under the horses stomach. As a result the horses Top line begins grow , the strength in the back muscles increase. The horse has many muscles in the neck ,back,loins,hind quarters , they all work together to form a massive intricate muscle. With out a Strong Top Line, a horse can never truly carry the weight of the rider,nor can they perform advanced exercises correctly!
horse,with out this the horse can not carry a rider safetly and icorrectly.