Who doesn't love a progress video! Featured here is Sabeaux, a lovely OTTB mare in training here to begin her off the track career, on her 2nd (extremely basic & raw) and 6th (beginning to ask more & coming together) ride. The photo to your left is three weeks after this video, so you can see the "goal" I was working towards.
Sabeaux has the most beautiful nature that compliments training well, but before we can really harness that, we needed to move beyond the tension and tightness she carried with her from her race career. This tension was especially evident in her neck, back and shoulders, and seriously restricted her desire to move forward and in rhythm. More obviously, it meant that she could not soften herself to the bridle through her beck or jaw and was quite 'dead in the mouth' to work with. Do note this is from a lack of understanding and not avoidance.
Our goal with Sabeaux, and any horse, is not to make the situation "perfect" or rush to show off a quick turn around, as this would only create vulnerability and uncertainty in the horse. Our goal is instead confidence, and having horses that are masters of their art, and mentally ready and motivated to advance their training with their owners.
Giving Sabeaux the proper time and explanation to understand these softness, suppleness and rhythmic concepts has seen Sabeaux become quite confident about responding to my aids willingly and maintaining a new "normal" of posture. I personally think such a change over 5 rides is massive considering how long she has held these patterns for!
Thank you to Sabeaux's owners for trusting MPH with her retraining, and for allowing the sharing of her progress here. What happens behind the scenes is very rewarding and valuable and I enjoy sharing it in amongst competition photos and horses at the end of their training here.
Here is what happened between and around these videos of rides 2 and 6:
prior to introducing ridden work I spent time with Sabeaux on the ground lunging and working in hand to ensure her comfort in travelling forward, and being able to release her body via movement, transitions, flexion, stretches etc. As I mentioned, Sabeaux's resistance was not avoidance but (1) physical restriction; and (2) a lack of understanding/ability to change her posture immediately in the desired way. I did not use and would not recommend the use of ancillary reins to remedy her head carriage.
the first set of video shows our initial focus of simply moving forward and between paces, and basic bend/steering - blending her race training with what we are after. At no time did I really ask or expect any sort of frame, just encouraging the flow of energy with a goal of her softening over her back, through her neck and into the bridle.
between the videos of rides 2 and 6, I increased the questions of flexion and bend between paces (so lots of pace and posture transitions), enabling Sabeaux to understand yielding off body aids and releasing to rein pressure. This began on the ground and then transitioned to under saddle, where we can begin to see Sabeaux's change of posture and responsiveness. I would still like to see her open more and relax, but that is not expected on ride 6.
Remember "Progress, not perfection"
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