Why Green to Self Carriage Just Works

I’ll be honest. I’m still a bit green when it comes to training at higher levels.

I’ve never competed at novice level or higher.

I’ve never had an established horse to work with that I haven’t had to correct physiologically to be able to pursue those higher levels.

Every horse, of the half dozen or so I have worked with for any significant length of time, had to return to some basic level of work if I was really going to hold true to the philosophy that we hold at Equestrian Movement - FIRST DO NO HARM. And that philosophy is what guided us to the creation of our latest online course Green to Self Carraige.

I’m not saying that I couldn’t work at these higher levels, just that I haven’t had the opportunity.

I would prefer to work a horse for it’s own health than to push it into false frames and damage what potential that horse has for any length of career (or life) with any person. If that means going back down to prep & prelim levels, that is what I will do. My ego can take it.

And this is why Green to Self Carriage will work for all horses:

It is designed to take a green-broke horse through the stages to develop true self carriage, but can be applied to ANY HORSE

Yes, that’s right. Even a horse that is well established and winning ribbons MUST step back to these lower levels rectify missing elements in it’s education to be able to continue further in it’s carrer.

The course is designed to scale up and down as your horse and you identify deficits and rebuild the correct physical structure - which horses just seem to relish buggering up in the weirdest way (hoof in rabbit hole, anyone?).

The course is designed to work at your pace

So regardless of if you ride once or 4 times a week, you can create your own lesson plans using the exercises as they are outlined.

If an exercise is too easy for your horse, there is the next progression to up the anty on the challenge.

If the exercise is not possible for your horse, it leads you where to go down the scale to build up the capability for the horse to complete it first.

And you have the added bonus of ongoing support as you work through the program, so if you come across something you really struggle with, you can submit a video to Equestrian Movement and have it critiqued with recommendations on where to go from there!

You can take a break and come back to it - to the advantage of the horse

If you need to take some time away from riding, you will find that a horse that has been developed correctly through the self carriage phases not only handles the break but flourishes from it, coming back to work faster and ready to move up the training scale.

It can be applied to any horse, regardless of your discipline

Whether you trail ride, compete dressage, or ride endurace, a horse that has been taken through development of true self carriage correctly is not only a healthier horse physically but also a much smoother ride.

You can work a horse of any age with a number of potential ailments

Outside of those too young to ride or those that are living in well deserved retirement, your horse is never ‘too old’ to be redeveloped through the self carriage process.

No case is any truer to those words than my Custard. At 22 years young, coming from a life of where little regard for his physical, mental or emotional welfare was given, he has continued to surprise us with how he develops.

Even his attitude in the paddock has changed since working through the course. He used to have limited movement and would only run if he was chased (and could barely keep that up for any length of time). Now, he plays and on occasion even canters all the way from the back of a very large paddock just for the heck of it!

His arthritis (and my weight on his arthritic limbs) limit his ability to hold extended time of work under saddle, and transition into faster paces is taking a long time, and yet he not only builds on each exercise EVERY SINGLE LESSON but is actively seeking and asking for specific exercises which make him feel good - which leads me to…

Your horse will enjoy the process of movement and ASK for more

Nothing is more thrilling than a horse that can perform an exercise you have been working on - EXCEPT for a horse that asks you to up the challenge on that exercise!

When a horse is developed into true self carriage, the pleasure they derived from the movement and scaling up the exercises fills my (and their) heart with joy. Movement truly can feel good and horses are no less likely to recognise that than your personal trainer.

And when movement feels good, and our horse is asking for more, we have a truly willing horse that is engaged in it’s own learning.

It allows you to keep working with the Training Trainability mentality

When we work through green to self carriage correctly, we can continue to implement the Trainabiltiy method - in that our horse has a say in how it developes, will trust us to develop them to avoid pain, and follow our guidance through the movements, knowing that we will keep their emotional, mental and physical wellbeing first in mind always.

So, if you are just riding your horse for the glory of winning quickly, the Green to Self Carriage isn’t for you - but neither should your horse be for you.

But if you love riding, and your horses welfare is the priority in your work, then I encourage you to work through the training scale correctly and provide the best for you and your horse.

Would you like to learn more about how you can access our Green to Self Carriage Course? Check it out here!

Training an elastic topline

Movement is dynamic.

What this means is that it is ever changing, adapts to stress, becomes limited when unsupported and increases in range of action when supported.

When we try to force a certain way of moving, it actually limits the horses freedom of movement. When we focus on their core strength and balance, it increases their freedown to move.

This is why we need to exercise and condition our horses to perform the movements we ask.

When they are exercising we are creating an environmental stress that their body is adapting to. When that stress is too much, or there is an underlying injury or imbalance the body adapts to reduce movement to protect from injury. When there is just enough over a period of time the body adapts to support movement and in becomes enhanced.

In fact, with all things going perfect and no underlying physical or training, from introducing a new exercise it takes:

-        6 – 8 weeks to develop coordination of the movement (the nerves to innervate the muscles)

-        3 – 4 months for muscle condition

-        6 – 12 months for bone and ligament density and the movement to become part of their conformation.

So from the time an exercise is introduced it will take at least 6 – 12 months for your horse to be able to do it easily no matter how hard you push them. That’s just how long it will take for their body adapt to the movement.

When we are talking about an elastic topline that is basically what we are talking about. The horses self carriage muscles are developed so that the horse can relax and swing in their movement, their stride and their frame is adjustable and they have some degree of lateral flexibility for bend and leg yield.

The one place you can go wrong with working on an elastic topline is to do too much suppling work without balancing it with strengthening work. For example long and low with canter transitions, 10m loops with rein back and polls. Suppling the muscles also makes them weak. Strengthening the muscles makes them tight. Again this is what we are talking about with movement being dynamic.

The elastic topline is the end result of combining our suppling exercises with our strengthening exercises. Asking for the movement evenly in both directions and shortening and lengthening the stride, frame and lateral muscles through bend.