Can You Spot The Differences?

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Can You Spot The Differences?

The truth is that many times with horses things that go "wrong" are our fault and not theirs! And this is one excellent example of that.

These photos show a beautiful comparison of how the rider's posture influences that of the horse.

In the top photo, the rider is in a posture familiar to many of us! How many of you have been told to ride with your "head up, chest out, sit up tall! HEELS DOWN!!!" But now look more closely at this photo. When the rider brings her chest out and forward, she hollows her low back. This causes the horse to hollow his back as well. Notice also how when she pushes her heels down, her leg moves forward and is now out of alignment with her hip (I'll save my rant on how overrated "heels down" is for another day!) . One of the most interesting things about this to me is how the horse's neck mirrors the posture of the rider's cervical spine.

In the second photo, we see a flat back, slightly tucked chin, leg in correct alignment, and heel parallel to the ground. Some of these are big "no-no's" to many trainers! However, from a human and equine biomechanics standpoint, this is a much more healthy movement pattern. Better for the horse, better for the rider, and more stable for the rider should an invisible monster happen to emerge from the trees!