18/10/2023
🎢🎢The Reality is: You’re taking a Downhill, upside down horse and asking/training towards and uphill ‘pushing’ horse…… 🎢🎢
Can you now see where/why the time is required?
Put to one side the idea of ‘dressage’ or even ‘advanced dressage’, ‘put aside your eventing/showjumping requirements or needs, this is true of every single ex racehorse, whether its for a specific discipline, or as a general riding horse. Even in a ‘riding horse’ capacity, you will inevitably want your ex racehorse;
🔹more off the forehand’
🔹not pulling down’
🔹have them in a better balance’
🔹wanting to be able to perform good, quality transitions
🔹Feel balanced in the saddle
🔹Feel in control in all three paces
ALL of these require for your ex racehorse to be in a better balance and better posture to according to where the rider is positioned, what the communication between the rein and the rider is ‘meant to be’
Ultimately we are trying to get our ex racehorses to become;
🔹More symmetrical
🔹More balanced
🔹Develop a better posture to allow them to balance themselves across all four hooves better
🔹To feel comfortable, happy and able to have the rider positioned across, and around their middle, as opposed to ‘onto ‘ and ‘above’
It is through varying forms of exercises, YEARS of training, development and care (physio, saddler, diet, farrier, vet etc etc) that we can slowly make this change, but its NOT a case of; change the bit, change the trainer, ‘lift them up’ or ‘push them through it.’
So what do we have to consider to be able to make all the development from ‘upside down and downhill’ to ‘uphill and pushing’? The main thing is the conformation of the horse that you are working with/developing. Understanding how your ex racehorse is put together is KEY. You have to train the horse you have, NOT the horse you want. Understanding; how they move, why they balance themselves the way that they do and how they find comfort in what they consider to be ‘their own balance’ and how to develop that in your training will lead to a horse that can be ‘uphill’ in their ‘new balance’ regardless of how their natural stance (downhill) states (it also highlights JUST how awesome they are as a breed-but I don’t need to tell you that😉😉)
These two images are of Saint Gregoire-Greg stood up and Greg 4 years into his dressage training in an uphill, balanced canter. The fact that he isnt continually falling over his as he is so croup high is a bit of a miracle. His hindleg is placed, naturally, out behind him, EVERYTHING says to fall ‘down’ (Check out the size of his shoulder…😳😳😳) YET through years of training, development and having an awesome trainable attitude, we have a canter that has the hindleg under, croup lower than that of the wither and his not falling over (quite the contrary in fact 😉) shows that Downhill and upside down, can become uphill and pushing, BUT we have worked with Greg not ‘the dressage horse’
Equine Exceed HorseQuest Glaze & Gordon Retraining of Racehorses Dengie Horse Feeds
