Connected Groundwork™
by
Trisha Wren
This month I want to show you how Connected
Groundwork can benefit your horse. By
teaching your horse body awareness and connecting their hind quarters to their
front end, you will improve not only engagement and performance, but also your
relationship and communication with your horse.
By developing the muscular, postural and movement patterns of
self-carriage you will subsequently have a horse that is more focussed and
willing under saddle. The photos of
Precious’ progress show how just groundwork has improved her body shape.
Beth Godwin bought her mare Precious, a
Clydie cross, 3 years ago. She was an
8yo ex-broodmare, who had done a little trekking. She turned out to be very reactive, with a
hard mouth and no brakes, and was also a head-flicker. Beth says, “By the time I turned to Trisha as
a last resort, I’d ridden Precious only 20-30 times. She would
get very upset if she was circled/lunged and even with the help of an
experienced instructor I was unable to get her to circle calmly. The slightest pressure or stress would bring
on unmanageable head flicking. I tried many different therapists and therapies
but with not much success, and was beginning to think we would never achieve a
pleasurable ride.”
I started working with Beth and Precious in
March 2006. When we started, Precious
was on the forehand and extremely unbalanced.
She would stumble regularly, even in walk, and was inattentive and
distracted by her head flicking. At that
stage Beth hadn’t ridden for 2 months, and I recommended that we go back to
groundwork and build back up to riding.
Over the next 4 months I did 10 sessions with them; mostly groundwork,
with us only progressing to riding in late June. In between lessons, Beth practiced her
groundwork with Precious 2-3 times a week.
To us, not only did those 4 months pass in a flash, but we knew that by
spending that time improving Precious’ balance on the ground we would be saving
ourselves time and effort in the future.
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Before (Mar
06) In halt, Precious looks square, but her back and tummy are down. Ridden, although Precious was stepping under she was tense and hollow. |
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Our first lessons introduced both horse and
rider to new body awareness, via a series of exercises aimed to release tension
and bracing patterns. It quickly became
apparent how stiff and one sided Precious was; even in the paddock she would
stand curved like a banana, never straight.
She was extremely stuck on her right side, and initially objected to us
working there at all. Conformationally,
her head was high and her back and tummy low, and in movement her hind quarters
didn’t seem to belong to her at all. We
did a variety of exercises to release her neck, free off her spine and lift her
back, combined with leading exercises which encouraged her to rebalance herself
and engage from behind. Within about 3
sessions she had started to loosen up.
“It was
really great to do something with Precious that didn't cause her to be
distressed - it became the turning point in our relationship. I started to
notice a real difference in her demeanor while she was being worked; she was
becoming way less reactive and more responsive.
I started giving her homeopathy from Animal Solutions, which did help
the head flicking, but I also found that this type of groundwork very much
worked with her, and gave her nothing to fight against. After 3 months ground work I felt very
empowered; our relationship had improved hugely, my horses’ shape had changed
for the better, and she was starting to be more balanced.”
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After (late
June 06) Note that her back has changed shape; her back and tummy are up;
quarters rounder; softer neck; shorter from nose to tail. Ridden, even in halt she is offering softness. |
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In mid June we decided Precious was ready
to be ridden again, as she was now more consistently able to balance
herself. I started by balancing Beth in
the saddle, and whilst the adjustments made weren’t huge, the different balance
and feel made a big impact on Beth. “I feel so much more secure, and I am not getting off sore from head
to foot!” I then coached her on how to
maintain her position in movement, and how to use the new position to
communicate more clearly with Precious.
Precious went from being strung out, inattentive and stumbling, to
engaged, soft and balanced. “I couldn't
believe she was the same horse. She was
listening to me, and was responsive but not reactive - Trisha's work has given
me my horse back! I now feel like I have
the connection with my horse that I always dreamed of, and this is just the
beginning!!”
©Trisha Wren July 06
as
printed in:
The Organic Equine magazine (Aug 2006)