When Purchasing a young riding prospect.

When purchasing a young riding prospect the buyer should look first for an outstanding four beat walk with a natural swing of the back and tail, and a natural usage of the lowering and raising of the head and neck. The walk should also have a good rhythm and a good overstepping of the limbs. Then the buyer should look at the canter, the horse even if young, should canter correct in the right seque...nce of the footfalls, and not disunited constantly, especially an older youngster, say a three or four year old. The horse should clearly push off his outside hind leg and lift himself with ease without much trouble, all talented horses can do this at a very young age and continue to do so most of their lives. The trot is fine to look at, so we can see that the horse steps level and preferably does not forge himself, it is not too important if he does for this can be fixed with training, not shoeing, training, but keep in mind that these faults take long to correct and in my personal preference I rather focus on the development of the horse than in the correction of his morphological faults, which is part of the reason a horse forges. If the horse flips the toe at the trot, it is a sign that he does not step level, but again not to worry too much since this too can be corrected with training if done correctly. If the horse has good qualities in the walk and canter, the trot is not important to look at because it will surely be good as well, and if not it can be improved with training. This is a fact in any kind or breed of horse that is being looked at. A good horse is a good horse regardless of breed, color, lineage or pedigree.

The Seat of the Rider is split into Different Parts.

The seat of the rider is split into different parts. 1. The pelvis and seat bones. With this part of the riders seat, we feel the entire movement of the horse to act accordingly and to follow the movement. 2. The leg, which when used correct it is split into three parts (a.) the thigh from hip to knee. this part of the leg helps us stabilize the hip and helps us give subtle aids with knee and thig...h, it is at times the only muscle we need to flex in conjunction of the hip aids. (b.)the calf from the knee to ankle, this is the only part we use on the barrel of the horse when we are training him and all the way up until he is fully trained until we teach him to learn the aids of hip and thigh only. (c.) the ankle and heel/spur. This part of the leg is the most sever and the most often used incorrect. The heel/spur are typically supposed to be used only for highly schooled horses, for discipline, or for more impulsion. 3. the back and shoulders. The rider uses this part of his body control tempo, control movement, rhythm, to collect and to manipulate the hip and thigh aids. 4.the hands. The rider connects his brain to that of the horse sending the feeling from the hands of the rider to the mouth of the horse, helping the horse understand what the rest of the natural body aids mean.
5.the mind. This is the most important part of the rider. The good rider will think about his horse above all else, will have the patience to wait, the conviction to persist, the ability to discipline in justice and only in justice, the discernment to be a fair, and over all the intelligence to out think his four legged friend, and persuade, not force him, into submission. This is nothing more than my opinion, based on the way I ride and the way I expect those who ride with me to do so as well. Thank you for visiting my page-Antonio Topete Diaz

 

manners

all good horses must have decent ground manners, and should be willing to be directed in a controlled manner. it is wonderful for horses to be able to do all of the grand prix movements or spins and sliding stops, but they also need to load well in a trailer without being difficult. this applies to stallions too. a stallion that is being used to cover mares or is going to be used to cover a mare s...hould learn to mind his handler until the handler gives the green light to mount the mare. mare with babies at their sides should be willing to stand tied and patient if their offspring suddenly go out of sight, while some mares naturally don't care, others must me trained to stay calmer than they normally would. babies will need to learn to be caught in an open field, to be groomed, clipped, bathed, and have their feet trimmed without resistance. all riding horses must know to stand still until they are given the command to move out. a horse that pulls away while tied will need to learn to stop this vice before training him under saddle. no time in basic work is a waste of time, ever. the best time to start teaching our horses good manners are from the first day we, get our hands on them. we must be careful though not to punish the horse if he does not understand and to punish immediately if the horse presents deliberate insubordination. to do this we need to be able to understand exactly the difference between the one and the other, otherwise we will unjustly punish and this kind of punishment can very easily turn to abuse, due to lack of knowledge. a horse that is regularly turned out to play must be willing to have his halter taken off and put on, in an open field. if a horse runs away from the rider or handler in the field, because he is being worked hard every time he is caught, the handler must not chase the horse or rope him but rather bribe him with a handful of grain and given another treat immediately after work, or ignore the work all together and just bring him in to brush and groom him while he enjoys a good portion of grain or oats, then he must be put out again. manners friends, are for all of us and all our horses regardless of our sport, breed or experience. if you need help with your horses and would like to set up a clinic feel free to give me a call.

Equine Anatomy VS Equine Anatomy- taken from FB

Equine Anatomy verses Equine Anatomy

There are two types of horse’s anatomy, the one supporting the thought that lowering of the neck stretches upper neck and back muscles and the real horse’s anatomy which contradict such beliefs. Even i...f they theoretically refer to the same horse, the two anatomies are totally different. One of the strong arguments of long and low proponents is that elongating the head, reaching with his nose forward increases the stretching of the upper neck muscles. The expression commonly use is “stretching through the bit.” The problem with the claim is that the muscles that move the head are not the muscles that lower the neck. There are 21 pairs of muscles moving the head, including reaching the nose forward. They do not elongate at all the upper neck muscles. In fact, reaching with the nose forward shortens the upper element of one of the upper neck muscles.

The two main muscles involved in the lowering of the neck are the splenius and the semispinalis capitis. The splenius is not even inserted on the skull. The muscle is inserted laterally on the nuchal crest. Beside its main function, that is resisting the lowering of the neck, the lateral insertion of the splenius on the upper end of the nuchal crest allows the muscle to bend the head and neck laterally. Instead, the muscle does not elongate at all when the horse nose reaches forward. The other main upper neck muscle, which is the semispinalis capitis, does have its upper element that is inserted on the upper crest of the skull. However, in order to move the horse’s nose forward, the upper compartment of the semispinalis capitis has to pull the skull back and therefore the muscle does not elongate but at the contrary shortens in concentric contraction. I am talking about compartment because the semispinalis capitis is built in numerous compartments. The muscle does have an internal tendon and there are 6 elements situated below the central tendon and 7 compartments situated above. Such architecture is convenient for the horse as it permits numerous variations of movements such as lateral bending, rotations, etc. By contrast, the construction contradicts the stretching theories which think that the muscle elongates as a whole. Due to its architecture of compartments, the compartments situate at the base of the muscle can have a totally different action than the compartments situated at the top.

Most of the stretching theories believe that the lower neck muscles, which are the muscles situated below the cervical vertebrae pull the head and neck down stretching the upper neck muscles. The reality is totally different. The lowering of the neck is not created by the lower neck muscles because they don’t have the power to elongate the upper neck. Instead, the lowering of the neck is created by gravity. The horse’s head and neck weight about 10% of the horse’s body mass and gravity is pulling the neck and head down. The upper neck muscles resist the attraction of gravity and therefore allow some lowering resisting attraction of gravity. Some studies define the upper neck muscles’ resistance as isometric hold, which means that the muscle contract without elongating or shortening. Other studies refer to the muscular work as eccentric, which means that the muscles contract while elongating. Eccentric contraction is also called active stretch. This needs to be soundly interpreted. Active stretch or eccentric contraction is the most powerful type of muscular contraction. Such contraction can be between 15 to 50 times stronger than concentric.

The term relax is often used in the stretching theories. Whatever the neck position, the splenius stiffens as the front hoof impacts in order to resist the acceleration of gravity created by the impact forces. This stiffening that occurs twice per stride is part of the locomotor mechanism at the walk, the trot and the canter. If the neck was relaxed, the head and neck would drop at each impact.
The main argument of the stretching proponents is that the horse “stretches” naturally lowering the neck after work. There is a strong ligament named nuchal ligament that connect the cranial thoracic vertebrae and the skull. The nuchal ligament is not under tension when the neck is up into an alert position. The ligament comes under tension when the neck is lowered into a more horizontal position. The purpose of the nuchal ligament is reducing the work of the upper neck muscles. At the walk, the nuchal ligament eases the work of the upper neck muscles by 55%. At the trot and canter, the nuchal ligament eases the work of the upper neck muscles by 32 to 36%. The horse does not stretch the neck, he simply eases the work of the upper neck muscles placing the neck into a more horizontal position and therefore using the passive resistance of the nuchal ligament.

Proponents of the long and low theory make statements but rarely explain how it works. When they do, they invent a horse anatomy that fit their beliefs. Recently was published a perfect example of “convenient” anatomy. The type of anatomy that fit the belief but is not even vaguely related to the way the horse physique is effectively built and functions. “Since the neck is attached to the withers and the withers to the large muscles over the top of the back, the stretch can reach far back toward the hips.” This is plain false. The two main back muscles are the longissimus dorsi, which is in fact composed of several muscles following the same line, the longissiumus cervicis, capitis, thoracis, lumborum etc. The fasciles of the longissimus system are inserted in oblique down and forward from the dorsal spines to the articular processes on the vertebrae. The fascicle bridge approximately 3 to 5 vertebrae. The fascicles of the Multifidius muscles are oriented in the opposite direction, oblique, down and back covering about 3 vertebrae all along the thoracolumbar spine. During locomotion, there are many circumstances where the fascicles of the thoracic region contract differently than the fascicles of the lumbar region.

Every time that we publish an educated discussion about lowering of the neck we came under nasty attacks of uneducated riders and trainers who want to believe in their stretching theories. Truly, this does not change the real horse’s anatomy. We are willing to explain a little further if you want to know more about the horse’s functional anatomy as advanced research study explain it today. Anyone interested to understand how neck alignment affects or helps the horse is welcome. We have created a course which provides advanced understanding of equine functional anatomy and how to apply new knowledge. Instead, if you think about lowering of the neck as a cult that should not be question and therefore are going to argue base on a horse’s anatomy that does not exist, we are not going to respond because we will not be talking about the same creature. We will simply push the delete button.
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training the high school movements

there are many different ways to train the high school collected movements, Piaffe, Passage, etc. but the rider must know which method is the correct one for the horse which he is working with. while some horses will respond real well with work in hand to get started and familiarized with the high demand of work, others are too sensitive for this work and should be left for under saddle work but o...nly when the time is right. the expert will be able to communicate with his horse in such a way that there is not too much time lost in trying to figure out the method or methods to be employed. also, while the piaffe and passage can be started from, the half step trot, the trot or the walk, at times it will also be only successful if the one depends on the other. for example some horses will not be capable of doing a good quality piaffe and so he must learn the passage first, then the latter can be reduced in length of stride until the passage is on the spot, piaffe, to then release the impulsion forward again. the passage in the same way will at times depend on the piaffe, and only after perfecting the piaffe and learning to flex properly the three joints of the hind leg, will this type of horse be able to spring from one diagonal to the next out of the perfect piaffe, into a good passage. when the basics are established well and the horse is given time to be strong the collected movements will come with ease, when that is the case, it is actually the horse and not the rider who will dictate the correct method for him, but the rider must be able to detect this or he will be like a blindfolded man getting through a complicated maze. it really is a piece of cake. good night everyone.See More

leg yield

the leg yield is only important to teach the horse to respect the rider's leg and to yield to pressure. in dressage tests we often see horses yielding to the leg at the trot from one long side of the arena to the other, most often in approximately a second or first level test. this is good but not the only method of teaching the exercise to a young horse. in classical Spanish riding we use the leg... yield mostly at the walk, along the wall, from the wall to the wall, from the center to the wall, moving in and out of circles and in turns on the forehand. we start the exercise only from a very large circle where the bend is minimal, at the rising trot and by use of inside leg and outside hip we influence the horse to take the first step or two in shifting his body weight beneath our center of gravity. the horse tries to balance himself under our shifting of the body and taking advantage of the moment of suspension at the trot he happily yields, or we give the aids in the exact moment when the inside hind leg comes off the ground at the walk, for this the rider must know exactly how to feel his horse or he must have an expert on the ground to assist him. its that easy, if we build on this day by day in no time at all our horse learns to yield happily and readily without the use of the spur. la lazy horse might need a little encouragement with the spur, but we need to be careful not to over do it, while more exited horses should not be tickled with the spur to not over stimulate and over aid. we practice this exercise mostly at the walk because if it is done too much at the trot, when we reach the time to teach the half pass the horse may recent the bend and try to avoid the aids. again we must be careful not to stop the natural rhythm and motion of the walk so that we don't ruin it and turn a good walk into an amble which has no place in good riding.

Choosing Tack for the Dressage Horse by: Theresa Truscott

Dressage is a riding discipline that celebrates discipline, grace, elegance, and beauty. It is a riding discipline that is made even more beautiful by its simplicity.

When is comes to outfitting the dressage rider less is better. A rider competing in the lower levels should be wearing well polished black hunt or field boots. They should have invested in a pair of britches. A clean white shirt should be worn with a collar and ta stock pin. Covering the white shirt should be wearing a dark colored jacket. The riders hands should be covered in dark colored gloves that will help disguise the movement of the riders hands. If the rider has long hair is should be gathered up and tucked neatly out of sight. On the riders head should be a black helmet. If the rider is a junior rider, under the age of eighteen, many show committees require that the rider's helmet should meet ASTM/SEI standards and have a fastened harness. Unless the rider is aboard a hot horse (high spirited horse with an excessive amount of go) the rider should have a pair of spurs which help dress up the rider's leg.

A rider competing in the lower levels of dressage should make sure their horses tack follows the same simple guidelines as the riders apparel. Before entering the competition the horses coat should be clean and well groomed. Long before leaving for the show the rider should have pulled their horses mane and on the morning of the show they should have plaited the shortened, thinned mane into several tidy braids, if they have a horse with a nice steady head set they can wrap the braids with white adhesive tape, at the lower levels of competition braids are not actually required but they are a sign of respect. The tail should be left upbraided. The horses hooves should be polished with either clear or black hoof polish. The horses bit should be a simple snaffle, curb bits are not acceptable in dressage competitions, the bit can not include any copper. The bit should be attached to a plain leather bridle. On the horses back their should be a leather saddle. At the lower levels of competition the rider can choose between a black or brown colored saddle and they have the option of using a dressage saddle or a dressage saddle. Under the saddle their should be a saddle blanket, the blanket can be black or white and be either a square cut or can be shaped to follow the line of the saddle.

Once a rider has reached the upper levels of dressage competition their are a few subtle changes in their show attire. FEI rules require that they wear a pair of white britches. Hunt coats are no longer allowed, riders are required to wear the longer, more elegant shad belly. Although their is no rule banning the wearing of a helmet most riders choose to wear a derby style hat. Black gloves are replaced with white gloves.

Just like the riders show clothing there are some changes made in the horses tack. The bridle must be made of black leather, in the horses mouth their should be two bits in the horses mouth, a snaffle bit and a curb bit. A whip is no longer allowed in competition. The horse must be braided. The saddle must be a dressage style cut and be made of black leather. Some riders have chosen to add a jewel encrusted brow band to dress up a plain horses head.

what do you think of long and low?

somebody asked me in a text: "hello Tony, I was wondering if you could tell me what you think about riding the horse, long and low, and if you at all practice it, if it should be practiced, and why or why not? thanks"

I responded I would post my answer here and try to keep it as short and simple as I could. so here it goes:

a horse must be ridden in the long and low form to relax him, to give ...him rest, to help him search for the contact with the riders hands and to help him lift his back. if the horse however naturally raises his head in such a way that he is comfortable and not hollowing his back, it is better to let him travel this way. when the rider misunderstands the use of long and low, the risk is that the rider can over bend the horse producing a false flexion, from the neck or withers, which causes at the same time the hind leg to be left behind the movement, pushing the mass and not carrying it. it is better to have the horse hollow his back and get a little above the bit, because we can push him into the bit by an energetic rising trot and thus fix the hollowing with patience. a horse that leaves his hind legs behind the movement is more difficult to correct, because he tends to get too far behind the bit, producing stiffness in the hind legs and too much softness of the mouth. this is especially so on horses whose morphology demands them to naturally flex in an exaggerated way, such as horses with a too long neck. also a horse which learns to get behind the bit, will also learn to lean on the bit, turning at times into a horse which runs away or rears dangerously. many riders, especially competition riders focus too much on the long and low technique as well as on the exaggerated stretching of the front limbs when at the trot, ignoring what is truly important. the development of the hindquarters and the muscle development of the entire horse. I advice my riders to warm up the horse in a walk, allowing the horse to look around and stretching down as he pleases for a short period of time, keeping in mind the age and training level of each horse of course. with younger horses we want to be more careful with older horses we expect them to be more calm, more mature. once the work, or the lesson for the day commences the horse is allowed to stretch long and low, only in motion and only as a reward for a short exercise well done, especially with Doma Vaquera, or Working Equitation horses whose job is to maintain collection for most of the time that they are at work. (collection that comes with time only and by correct use of seat, legs, and hands, and not by a fixed frame of the horse, which again is nothing more than a false flexion.) allowing the horse to cool off as well in a long loose rein at the walk before he/she is taken back to the stable. the young horse of course is treated differently, and is allowed more freedom and more rest in between shorter periods of work, than the more mature horse with say three years or more of training. for horses that are a little more lethargic it is good to rider the technique of long and low while warming up to get the blood pumping and the natural forward urge going, this should be done in my opinion at an ordinary rising trot, and for only a few minutes in large circles, serpentines and going large along the entire arena. again for a short period of time, we don't want to warm up the hors in this way for an hour and then start work, because the horse would be too tired to do any serious work. if you wish to set up a lesson schedule or sponsor a clinic in your area for a more in depth and detailed study of the latter feel free to contact me..

directing the horse

the legs of the rider control the hind quarters and asks for bending of the horse, the hands of the rider controls the front quarters of the horse and regulates the degree of the bend. when the horse becomes well adept and the rider is an expert, then it can all be done by legs and body of the rider and one or both hands are free for other things, the reins become only an emergency back up tool. have a wonderful day everyone.

The Classical art of riding is more than ever in a sad and steep decline

The judges awarded extreme scores to a horse and rider which should have not scored so high. As a matter of fact most of the horses in "Dressage" training today hardly ever really develop the gaits and especially the extended trot correctly.... Sadly our Spanish horses are being wrongfully bred to compete with this pantomime of movement turning the "Horse of Kings" into nothing more than just another warmblood for the market of competition riders.

Riders and even breeders recently boast of the "incredible movement" of their horses. They focus however on exaggerated movement of the front limbs and think what they are looking at is not only beautiful but correct. Some breeders focus only on the trot of a colt/filly at liberty but ignore the walk or canter, which are even more important than the trot. Many judges in todays era are nothing more than a joke in competitions, and riders boast of being experts because they BUY a certification through the USDF or other such institutions and by riding a set of patterns on horses which they themselves did not train. The Classical art of riding is more than ever in a sad and steep decline because of the huge ignorance in the world of riding and training horses. An ignorance that awards super high scores on incorrect moveme todaynts, and that dismiss the classical riding methods of the ancient times. Few of us ever get the chance to learn from a real expert, even fewer of us try to not take it for granted. Stupid handlers, to say the least resort to unnecessary punishment of their horses while in training, and many more resort to all kinds of artificial aids to produce a result that their natural abilities and talents would not permit them otherwise. On the other hand, some riders believe that the spur and whip must never ever be used, they too are wrong.

You might disagree with me, and that's fine. We all have a right to have an opinion, but I warn you that what you sometimes think is beautiful or correct, often times is not. If you agree or disagree let me know and please do tell me why. For those of you who try to follow the classical principals I urge you to continue. for those of you who are more into ribbons and competition I urge to reconsider, for when you understand the real meaning of riding, nothing but the well being and correct development of the horse matters.

Thank you for visiting my page.

When a rider changes bits constantly

when a rider changes a bit constantly on a horse's mouth, it should be because the horse has a delicate mouth and the bit must be softer or non existent until through the rider's soft hands and skill the horse accepts the bit. going from a hackamore, serrata, or snaffle to the more severe double bridle or curb over time. changing the curb for a snaffle or hackamore, when ever the horse resents the... bit, and introducing the curb or double bridle again gradually, over more time. when a rider changes a bit constantly on a horses mouth, trying different kinds of ports and/or shanks, to see what helps him/her have more control, it is because of lack of tack, knowledge, patience, and skill this type of rider perhaps should not be allowed to ride without supervision.

Watching the foal's abilities

 

The horse by nature already knows the way he or she is supposed to move, to keep up with the heard in the wild or in the field, for his/her survival. Not too long after the foal is born, he/she will get up and begin to nurse on it’s mother and move around. With in a few hours he can carry himself and move around as he wishes. In a matter of weeks the foal can run and play with other youngsters, rearing bucking, running, striking and terrorizing his mother. If we pay attention, real close attention we can see an approximate set of skills that the foal will have when he/she is older; at the same time we can kind of see what kinds of faults the horse will present later in life during his training. The experienced trainer/rider will be able to determine an approximated training regime for the horse simply by observing him/her at his mother’s side and by watching him play in the fields or turnouts. We can see, depending on the foal’s conformation, disposition and natural movement, in what areas we will have more difficulties and in which areas we will consider a walk in the park. Common sense will tell us that depending of the breed of the horse, we will have an approximate idea of the range of careers that horse will be suitable for. Like people, not all horses have the same abilities and/or attributes however, all horses have the same basic movements, and the same basic reactions, more or less. Keeping this in mind we know what to look when choosing a horse as a foal for a certain career in the future. Judging the youngster, by the way he plays in the field, is not always a guarantee that he/she will be what you expect in the future. Some breeds of horses mature relatively late as does the Iberian and Lipizzaner breeds and therefore, sometimes we must wait until the approximate age of three or four to really determine if their movement, disposition, morphology and over all appearance of the horse matches what we wish to use for our personal goals and purpose. Certain breeds of horses, and especially some of the working type of horses are started under saddle too young and therefore aged prematurely, because of the strenuous work on their limbs and joints. All sorts of artificial aids and tools are used to “train” the horse forcing him into desired frames, whether it’s for dressage, reining, or other sports, over taxing the front limbs, shoulders and withers by false flexions and wrongful practices. The horse knows how to carry himself. We do not need to teach the horse collection, because he knows how to collect himself and show off, such as the stallion when he approaches a mare in heat or a mare who looses sight of her new foal. The horse by nature knows how to collect his energy and use it when he needs it. As riders we don’t teach the horse collection as much as we think we do, instead we shoot to get the horse collected on command, and we hope to do it correctly in a way that it is useful for us as riders and comfortable for the horse at the same time. Like collection, everything else that the horse does by nature we only ask on command hoping to get it as perfect as can be, and as useful as can be given the circumstances. Three quality basic gaits are essential for any breed of horse regardless of the future career of said horse. However, it is absurd in my opinion to overlook the walk, and canter, and focus in that way only on the trot of the horse especially when he is very young. Many “professionals” judge a young horse’s movement based on his/her extension at the trot or lack of it. Many amateur breeders, and even many seasoned breeders overlook at times the importance of the walk and canter over the trot, due to the demands of their market. Sadly enough, many of these said professionals DO NOT understand what they are looking at when judging a young horse and therefor misjudge the colt or filly's movement due to lack of understanding and lack of exact knowledge of the aero dynamics of the horse in movement and the use of the horse’s muscle skeletal structure in movement. As mentioned, many times the horse will be judged by an exaggerated front end movement of the front legs at the trot, and even believe that the hind legs have correct hock action, ignoring the way the hock should move under the mass of the horse driving the front end forward and not leaving an exaggerated bend of the hock behind the movement. The trot of the horse can always be developed and even perfected to an extent over time if worked correctly. The walk on the other hand is also judged based on the abilities of some handlers who DO NOT understand once again the exact way to present a horse in hand and therefor interfere with the natural movement of the horse. Sadly the canter is hardly ever seen as important even though the young horse tells us at this natural gait if his hind leg, loin, and back are physically strong or able enough to carry out this natural gait more comfortable. We know all of the three basic gaits are important, the walk the trot and the canter, since from these gaits we will develop any sport or job in the future of the horse. Even though the trot is the gait in which the young horse will take our breath away while he trots in the field at play, it can be improved with time and work when he is older if it is not very good at a young age. The horse will have a good walk or he will not. But, we must discern when it is and when it is not, and when we think the young horse does not have a good walk, we should step away and let him grow for some time before we make a hasty decision. We do not need to be experts to know when a colt canters correctly or not, when he has natural born talent or not. Patience is usually key, luck and a gifted eye are also key when patience is not an option, and a truly trained and gifted eye is the only thing that can save us time and luck. I wish you all to enjoy your foals this spring and don’t judge too soon what you see, but be realistic at the same time and don’t praise what you are not 100% sure of either.