Bending

I thought it was a good time to talk about Mick and bending. Not all Percherons are created equal. Mick is almost sporthorse in confirmation. You look at him from the front and he is relatively narrow. The Amish would not choose him to pull  logs. BUT that makes him far more suited to the world of dressage. When choosing horses for "jobs" keep in mind that a horse that is "blocky" from a frontal view will have better balance. The one that is narrow or oval in this view can better develop supple bend. So here is a guy weighing nearly a ton that can bend easily -in the trot- on  a ten-fifteen meter circle.

The canter will be a different story. We have a lot of work to do to develop that. First, I need to get my round pen back up to work on any canter at all. To start a horse that size on a canter, one needs  some containment. Moving him and containing him with that much energy and mass is like working with a diesel locomotive I can't compensate for variables the way I do when working smaller horses. OK...MAYBE if I was still in my twenties!

Back to the trot. For his size, lovely and fluid. I truly enjoy watching him move in the field. See his natural movement tells me a lot about how he will be once he is schooled to compensate for the effect of a rider. On the lunge he can be moved through several sub-gaits of trot via vocal cadence. he understands voice cues very well. In fact, one has to be very careful not to send out the wrong signal. My stupid Basset  loves to "get involved" when I am lunging and when I raise my voice at the dog, I can get an unwanted reaction from the horse. Sometimes they are smart enough to know where it is directed but not always. I am anxious to do more work with caveletti but I need to rig something up or invest first. he does well with what I have done so far. I have rigged two up on a small circle. he might hit them the first time but after that he knows how to pace himself and use his body to adjust.

If no one ever rides this horse he will still be a reward to school. It is such fun to see his development through incremental groundwork. I tell students "its not about the ribbon, its about the ride" but I take it a step further in my own experience- its about the school.

More about "the school" in my next entry! Philosophy 101!