This training manual is designed to help those riders who are struggling with a horse that has been ridden or trained using the wrong muscles. This manual is not so much a dressage manual but is for horses that have been taught stop, go, turn left, and turn right and halt. In addition he needs to be able to understand that the outside rein determines the direction of travel. If he does not have this understanding then this is the first thing we teach the horse.

A horse’s balance changes as he moves, so we as riders must be aware of what the hind end, or engine, is doing. When we develop the engine, we develop the horse’s balance and we get the power of the horse. The hind legs need to come well under the horse to support, lift and power the horse forward. Much like a car when its tires are equally inflated, a horse will run better when he is balanced. All four limbs on a horse that has developed shock absorbing capabilities (think inflated tire) will have a fluid and balanced motion developing his self carriage. Self carriage has been described as feeling like a power boat; when the engine is powered up the nose of the boat comes out of the water.

The object of biomechanical training is to produce correct posture which will give us pure gaits. All horses can benefit from learning correct body mechanics and can develop into an athlete that is beautiful and strong. The way to improve the gaits is to get the horse to use correct horizontal posture which also gives us correct basics.

Jean M Kirschman

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