Connected Riding Case Study
by Trisha Wren
Hunter’s
Progress – Part 2
A quick recap: Hunter is a 12yo 16hh
Standardbred gelding, purchased by us in December 2005. He was ridden lightly on our farm that
summer, and then had about 4 months off.
I started doing Connected work with him in July 06, teaching him how to
soften, release his neck and back, and come through from behind (see Jan 07
article). He’s a typical, head high,
gangly type Standardbred; my aim is to show how even this more challenging conformation
and carriage can be improved.
Hunter once again had time off from October
to December 2006, this time because although he was responding to the Connected
work I felt that there was something missing; he wasn’t quite ‘letting
go’. I suspected there was something
physical going on; his neck still seemed quite stuck, and his back was
twitchy. He also became excessively
spooky during this time, so my first avenue was to identify whether his diet
was deficient. Over a period of time I
introduced Magnesium Oxide, Mycosorb (toxin binder), and weekly Selenium, and
his behaviour did settle. I then
enlisted the help of Annette Kopp, an equine osteopath from Te Kuiti; sure
enough, he had issues at his neck, withers, and back, which Annette
released. He certainly enjoyed his
session, and was much softer afterwards.
In January 07 I did a few brief groundwork
sessions, then in mid February started again in earnest, with Hunter showing
good progress each time.
NB: the halter used provides support and
clarity of communication; it is fitted snugly so that it doesn’t move around on
the horse’s head.
I started as usual with a variety of body
exercises, followed by 2 types of S walking; making sure that he was releasing
through his whole body and softly stepping under from behind. Since Annette worked with him he is
understanding these exercises much better, letting go mentally and physically,
where before he tended to tense and worry.
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This photo shows Hunter starting to maintain the connection between us
(ie not putting slack in the rope) at a distance – the very start of
self-carriage. |
The next step is to put him out on 1 line –
the ‘Connected’ equivalent of lunging. Where
conventional lunging might allow incorrect carriage to develop, the 1 line work
continually reminds and supports the horse to release and rebalance. It’s crucial that the person stays soft and
connected throughout, walking with the horse and using their body to help him –
if you are hanging on to the line or bracing against the horse there is no
incentive for them to soften. You can
help and encourage your horse to keep rebalancing by slowly changing the rotation
of your body, allowing the horse to bend to the outside and then asking them to
rebalance back to the inside.
With a lot of help Hunter gradually started
to let go, settle and connect himself better from back to front. You can see that for a naturally head high
horse he is actually staying nice and soft in his neck.
Still to come – we’ll build up to doing the
1 line work in trot, and doing more riding.
Trisha Wren
©Trisha Wren
February 2007
as printed in: The Organic Equine magazine (Mar 2007)