Posture and Locomotion.

Howdy Friends!

Posture and Locomotion. Watching your horse casually stroll along is a great time to check her posture, and overall movement. Do you see the hind end propelling your horse, the big hind muscles lifting and pushing? Toes, the last to lift, pushing down into earth. Can you witness the flow of energy from her gluteal and hamstring muscles and pelvis forward and along the topline? Can you see her abdomen engage, lift and support with each stride? Are those hind legs moving powerfully, and yet effortlessly forward to set down under her barrel in a fluid heel to toe placement? Hind foot placement should be just about where the front foot left, sometimes exactly on, sometimes half a sole behind. Is her head horizontal to her topline, her neck soft and sleek? Do her front legs float like butterflies with graceful, soft lift and effortless heel toe foot placement? Watch closely and you’ll see those feet, front and rear settle then roll from heel to toe. (This can’t happen effectively if the horse is shod). This is a description of a horse moving in correct, healthy posture and body carriage.

My Kessy strolling along

What we don’t want to see is a horse dragging with her front legs, as if that’s where the power originates. Many horses, because of what we do, fall into a “forehand” posture—and it’s bad. The hind end will become disengaged, and begin to fall farther back and atrophy, becoming weaker and weaker. (I’ve worked with horses who had no idea where their hind end was, from all the disengagement and break down). The abdomen cannot engage, the topline will drop. In her effort to find mobility in forehand posture she will be forced to carry and toss her head high, inverting neck muscles and further forcing down her topline. Muscles forced into overwork will tighten, preventing release and even restricting nourishment. Heel toe foot placement will become replaced with a plodding, slapping, jarring footfall.

Have a look at your horse as she strolls. Be honest with your evaluation. Her health depends on you. One of my strongest mantras is, “A horse’s health begins with posture.” Proper, healthy posture and body carriage is easy to establish, and maintain. But we must make the effort, for their sake. This is why I promote, and teach the exercises created by Peggy Cummings, taught me by my mentor Diane J. Sept, for the horse. A little effort can mean a whole new life for a horse. It’s up to us, our horses give for us all we ask. To ignore their posture and body carriage is not only letting them down, it is a form of neglect. ~ Gitty Up, Dutch.

The Feet Matter

Howdy Folks,

My mare Kessy's, beautiful feet. I do maintenance trim every 3-4 weeks. Takes about 20 minutes.

The feet matter. You bet they do and I have come to believe that they matter a whole lot more than a lot of folks realize they do. Yes just about everyone who has a horse can recite that old axiom, “No foot no horse.” But why then are so many horses allowed to endure all the structural damage of poorly managed feet?

In recent months I’ve traveled more than normal working with folks and their horses on posture. For me, just about everything good, great, not so good, bad and horrible can be traced to posture, the horses, and the human’s—but mostly I focus on the horse. Since I’ve been traveling more than normal, I’ve seen more horses than I have been for a while. And I’ve seen a lot of feet causing poor posture. And I’ve begun to speak up, sorry.

For a long time now I’ve devoted a fair amount of my time to helping folks understand and learn the exercises Peggy Cummings put together to promote proper posture, body carriage and self awareness. As folks who know me know, I’m all about the horse’s posture and I’ve often written about it. And for a long time I’ve “mentioned” the feet, but went about meeting with folks, doing a few clinics and trying to help. Inside me though, I was well aware that even though by the end of the day or clinic we’d have the horse in great, healthy posture and body carriage, I knew it could not hold. Not on a poor foundation.

The purpose of the clinics is to teach the basic exercises so that the horse owner can continue to do them, but if the feet, the very foundation, is out of whack—no amount of exercises, bodywork, training or gadgets will keep the horse in healthy posture, free moving and happy.

So I’ve begun to speak up more about feet ... And please believe me it is not always easy. It’s not always easy for me to say, it’s not always easy for folks to hear. It’s certainly not always easy for folks to accept and change, I get that. However, I now always address feet right away, at the very beginning when I first analyze the horse. Instead of simply studying and discussing posture and what the horse needs and what we’ll work on, I talk about the feet. In fact I may not, in some cases, even begin until I trim feet. I’ve found that to be the biggest eye opener when folks can watch the pasterns, legs, chest and topline change right before their eyes.

Folks who know me know I’m an unwavering believer in that all horses can and should be barefoot. If I’ve lost you here, that’s okay. For those of you still interested we’ll go on a bit more.

Sadly I see way too many barefoot horses with poor posture brought on by poorly managed feet. All I’m hoping to point out today is, the feet do matter. In fact, they matter most of all. When posture begins to fail, everything goes downhill with it, health, attitude and money. And posture will always fail if the foundation is lacking.
Gitty Up, Dutch Henry 

 P.S.For a bit more about my thoughts about foot care please read "For a Beautiful Barefoot Trim-Keep it Simple" HERE

You might also be interested in my book, "It's for the Horses." Find it at www.itsforthehorses.com  

"Horse's Growth ... Starting too Young"

Howdy Friends!

After a recent lengthy discussion about “issues” with a horse I was again re-enforced in my belief in the work/teachings and wisdom of Peggy Cummings, I learned from my mentor Diane Sept. Her groundwork, exercises and posture correctness is indeed the single best route to a healthy, happy equine partner—it is the reason I’m so devoted and encouraged to help folks learn and understand how to master them. This chart indicates the growth patterns and maturity of the skeletal system of horses. It has long been my experience and belief that most, if not all, “issues” with horses are pain, discomfort or confusion driven. Many of these “hidden” issues were caused years earlier by horses started under saddle too young, and show up later. Helping the horse find correct posture, freedom of movement is, in my belief, the very best thing we can do for our horses.

Gitty Up, Dutch.

"A Compliant Horse or a Willing Partner—There is a Difference"

Howdy Friends,

There is a difference between a compliant horse and a willing partner. A horse trained into compliance by the use of dominant tactics, force or stiff unrelenting repetition and gadgets will always feel the need to test each new rider, owner or caregiver. They will not test out of rebellion or defiance; rather they know no other way to understand what is expected of them.

Kessy walking on a loose lead in a circle, in good posture with her inside shoulder up. Note her left ear to me, happy and willing. To see more exercises see my blog, "Restarting your horse" HERE

Never knowing the connection that comes with existing as a willing partner, the compliant horse understands no other feeling than worry. The compliant horse worries ceaselessly about “getting it right.” That limits their ability to welcome their person into their heart. It limits their ability to truly soften, think and become the partner they could be, and want to be.

Worry may not always be easy to recognizes, horses hide worry. But simple things like tight lips, ridged or semi ridged posture, distant eyes, sensitive to touch, crowding, hurrying when leading, dancing about on the lead or when tied—anything that seems restless, unsettled, IS restless and unsettled. Yes, with what folks commonly call discipline, training, gadgets and “firm” commands a worried horse (too often referred to as a “disobedient” horse) can be made to be compliant.

Repetition in training (I despise that very word), schooling, perfecting movements, over correcting, over schooling, our impatience, all build roadblocks to creating a willing partner. Those things build walls around the horse that prohibit her ability to see you as someone with whom she would like to partner ... Don’t get confused here by thinking, “My horse loves to drill and practice.” Sometimes a horse will give flashes of willingness and excitement during repetitive drills and practice, because they have become familiar with them. It can actually become a safe place for the compliant horse ... But the softness, contentment and ability of a truly deeply willing horse will far outshine the ability and contentment of a compliant horse.

But what of another paradigm? One of, putting the horse first. Yes we have horses because we want to do things with them. With them should mean, “With them.” With their willingness, happiness and love of being with us, playing with us, competing with us. That is putting the horse first.

How do we do that? How can we have a willing partner? A major component to building that partnership is to “put the horse first.” Ask yourself, “What’s in it for the horse? What will my horse get out of this?” We all know what we want ... Why should our horse care or want it if they are not our partner?

Little things like allowing the horse all the time she needs to understand. Whenever I work with someone and there horse the first thing I say is, “We are now on horse time, not people time.” We must always, “Ignore the negative and celebrate the Positive.”

Our human instinct is to correct, we must stop that. Replace correcting with leading. Gently show her the correct way—replace correcting with leading, show her what you are asking and give her time to understand. And be sure to reward the slightest attempt with grand celebration. NEVER, ever not a single time, scold or interrupt or discipline. Go with it; allow her to progress with encouragement—do not push her with force, harsh words and demands. To do that is the very definition of rude behavior. Never be rude.

Everyone who knows me knows I believe the most important thing is giving to the horse. We must give more than we ask, we must meet them more than halfway. A part of building any relationship with our horses I believe must be their housing, diet, exercise and comfort. I believe a regular routine of release and relax exercises (Peggy Cummings Connected Groundwork®) that encourage proper posture and movements do so much to “give to the horse” and build that bond—they truly do give to the horse and ask nothing in return.

The secret to having a willing partner is really no secret at all ... Be one yourself. In everything put your horse first.

Gitty Up, Dutch Henry

P.S. If you’ve not yet gotten my book, “It’s for the Horses: An advocate’s musings about their needs, spirit gifts and care,” you can order it HERE 

P.S.S. If you’d like to schedule a Dutch Henry clinic email me dutchhenry@hughes.net

"Writing about a hero - Peggy Cummings"

Howdy Friends

Coffee Clutch and Facebook friends know what an influence Peggy Cummings, her teachings and philosophies have been to me. She is positively one of my heroes. So much in the equine world has been changed by her dogged pursuit of understanding and teaching the importance of healthy, correct movement of the horse. And human.

My mentor, Diane Sept introduced me to Peggy’s, “ConnectedRiding/Groundwork” nearly 20 years ago. Diane is a Senior Certified ConnectedRiding instructor, and under her tutelage I mastered many of Peggy’s techniques. I even had the opportunity to work directly with Peggy at a few clinics. Those techniques have had profound influences on me, and the horses I’ve known over the years.

This week I had the honor of interviewing her and writing her story which will appear in my column, “Holistic Hall of Fame,” in the Jan/Feb/March issue of Natural Horse Magazine. (It’ll be a 2 PT, 2^nd PT will be April/May/June). Talking with Peggy as we relived her life’s journey devoted to the betterment of horses proved emotional for me. An experience I’m so incredibly grateful to have had the privilege to do.

I chose to title her story, “A Journey to unlock the WHY of Horse Movement — Peggy Cummings,” because all through our discussions, and her journey she asked, “Why.” As in this excerpt when she discussed King, a lesson horse of her high school days. “King tended to float his trot which would scare the students, rear at the canter, and he bit at the leaders. Not acceptable lesson horse edict. Peggy realized there had to be a “why.” Why did King do these things? King was the first horse to clearly tell Peggy, there is always a why. She struggled to uncover the whys.”

From her first pony when Peggy was 9, she held a different view than most about horse comfort, manner and behavior. She did not see negatives as training or behavioral issues—rather she saw them as indications of an underlying “why,” as in this excerpt, “She watched his stiff movement, and subconsciously began again to seek the why. Why was moving gracefully so difficult? What causes a horse to refuse to go forward, balk or protest? Peggy knew there had to be a reason, a physical reason ... which then becomes an attitudinal reason. She knew he was not being bad, he had a reason.”

The more Peggy learned, the more she uncovered the “Whys,” her guiding principle here in this excerpt, “Over the next years teaching at summer camp, Peggy began to notice many things. What made horses “happy” to work? What caused them not to be willing? The horses at the camp had big jobs, and Peggy understood they worked hard. How could she help them to remain willing, and not sour of the confusion, demands and hard work? Beginning riders of all ages, sizes, weights and personalities took a great toll on the horses’ bodies and minds. Peggy saw this and worked to find ways to be, supportive of the horse. Horses, she reasoned, should be happy, engaged, not shut down and plodding.”

In this excerpt the “Why” of our posture. “Peggy had long recognized how sixty pounds of a stressed and rigid rider could cause one of her horses to not move well. She also noticed another sixty pound, soft rider, on the same horse would have a willing, soft horse. Why did a sixty pound rider have such an impact on a thousand pound animal? What about an adult tipping scales at 150 pounds or more?”

Peggy has devoted her life to finding answers to these and countless whys, and created a unique, easy to learn, modality for addressing them. Her work, struggles, persistence and devotion has changed lives for countless people and their horses. She is a true pioneer in teaching the way best to understand, and help our horses be happy, thriving and willing.

Thank you Peggy!

Watch for my complete story In Natural Horse Magazine— In the meantime, for your horse’s sake, visit Peggy’s website www.connectedriding.com — Get in touch with her, and be sure to purchase her latest book, “Connected with your horse from the Ground Up.” A must have for horse caregivers, and I highly recommend it.

Gitty Up, Dutch Henry 

P.S. To have a look at my book “It’s for the Horses: An advocate’s musings of their needs, gifts, spirit and care,” please go to www.itsforthehorses.com .