Re: Nose in the air horse

["GESA BRINKS" <gesaeqfx@pe.net>]

Your high headed horses are traveling upside down.  They are hollowed in the
back instead of rounding in the back.  This is usually caused by the withers
and the area just behind the withers being out of alignment.  Usually caused
from an ill fitting saddle or a saddle that is riding too far forward and
pinching the shoulder blades and/or the area behind the shoulder blades.
(before I get too far, check the most obvious,  look at the teeth )    If
you watch your horse travel, you will see that the hocks will not come up
underneath the horses belly very far if at all.  Instead they hit at about
flank level and then jutt out behind the horse. Way behind.  The pelvic area
is very flat instead of rounded.  You can check your horses back by using
your thumb and tracing a line from the side of the withers alongside the
spine over the croup to the tail.  You will see flinching and spasming
pretty much down the entire back.  (press the thumb into the horses back
with about 2lbs of pressure)  Start lightly,  if no reaction then add a
little more pressure.  No need to hurt them,  if a little pressure works no
need to add more.  If there is a reaction to this test then it is time to
call a chiropractor out and check saddle fit.  After your horse has been
adjusted, please do not ride them for a few days.  Lunging in side reins
(not too tight) with a rump line (see Tellington Jones procedure for
rounding) would be great for your horse at this point.
A good exercise to stretch the cervical and thoracic area is to have your
horse do some carrot stretches.  For this particular problem the stretch
that has the horse bring its head between its fore legs and touch its lower
lip to the girth area is really good.  Also, start doing some backing
exercises.  Back your horse (straight) appx. 21 steps back - stop - then go
forward to your starting position.  Do this 3 times, slow , med, fast. (tie
long tails in a knot)  Keep your horses head in a natural balanced position,
not up in the air.  If your horse gets hesitant, then only back 10 steps and
work up from there.  Its sort of like touching  your toes when you arent
used to it.  This backing exercise will lengthen and strengthen the hind
quarters.  With adjustments to your horse , saddle and using side reins,
encouraging the horse to move long and low  you will be amazed at how well
it will start moving.  Note:  5 of the top ten horses at Caspers Park
Challenge this weekend were clients of mine :))))) gesa n clovis
-----Original Message-----
From: Deanna German <dgerman@earthlink.net>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Sunday, October 24, 1999 10:36 AM
Subject: RC: Nose in the air horse


>Hi!
>
>Could anyone replying to Carla about her nose in the air horse reply to
>ridecamp? Or at least cc: me since I'm very interested in the subject.
>
>Isn't getting the horse to carry its head properly necessary before
>engaging the hind end? As in, if the horse is travelling nose in the air
>and all strung out, there's no way to achieve collection. Wouldn't
>travelling that way be very fatiguing to the horse and thus a concern
>for a distance rider? The fact that the horse can't see what's ahead
>would also seem to be a concern....
>
>I've heard/read/been told that collection cannot be achieved from front
>to back. But I just can't fathom how collection would be achieved at all
>unless you have at least the beginnings of a good head set (which to me
>means flexing at the poll and no ewe neck).
>
>Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?
>
>One other thing: somehow I managed to take lessons and learn to ride
>without ever learning to do a good sitting trot (bouncy horses is my
>excuse). I guess I probably did it long enough to appease the trainer,
>then started posting the instant the trainer looked away since I never
>got "cited" for it. Does a sitting trot accomplish anything a posting or
>standing trot doesn't? I just can't get the idea out of my head that it
>can't be good for the horse's back.
>
>Deanna
>
>
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=