Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

Re: [RC] shoes/bits affecting natural gaits - heidi

Is "collected and on a bit" natural for a horse or is it a head and neck
 position that people choose for the horse?  I have never seen any horse
travel  that way without being forced.

"Collected and on the bit" strictly speaking really has nothing to do with
head and neck position--or at least head and neck position is secondary. 
A collected horse is a matter of body carriage--the back is rounded and
the hindquarters are engaged.  This does cause some degree of flexion of
the neck, but how the head is positioned when collection is achieved is a
function of the horse's conformation.  "On the bit" has to do with the
horse being in communication with the bit--you control the hindquarters
with your legs, and "collect" the horse by rounding him and driving his
hindquarters underneath himself with your legs, thereby putting him "on
the bit" so that his body is like a strung bow between your legs and your
hands.  This is a matter of delicate communication when done
correctly--not a matter of force.

And yes, this sort of carriage IS natural for the horse--he can carry
himself this way on his own.  It comes easier for a well-balanced horse
that is a natural athlete than for an unbalanced horse that is a
klutz--but it is, indeed, a natural thing.  The difference is that when
you ride, he does it because YOU ask him to, not because he just happens
to feel like it at the moment.

If a horse is shod based on natural conformation and gaits with its
natural  headset, why change it with a bit?

If you are collecting a horse properly (not just forcing him into some
predetermined "frame"--which, granted, sadly passes for collection in some
circles), you won't change his "natural" headset by collecting him--you
merely ask him to travel in what is his natural position of collection. 
You ask with the bit (actually, you ask mostly with your legs, and simply
use the bit as a way of defining a forward barrier)--you shouldn't be
altering what he is, other than honing his ability to become collected
when warranted.

Heidi


============================================================
If you treat an Arab like a Thoroughbred, it will behave like a Quarter
horse. 
~  Libby Llop

ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/

============================================================

Replies
[RC] shoes/bits affecting natural gaits, Sonshine575