Movement for dressage horses

dressage diva

cobs are great for dressage

Blue - Much Loved Dressage Cob - A Consistent Winner

Photo courtesy of Kevin Sparrow: 07917 336694
  • From 0 to 52 British Dressage points in less than a year
  • Topline changes shape
  • Presenting weak right-hind gained strength and connection
  • Spontaneous stretches and piaffe-like steps to release tension
  • Increasing suppleness & strength
  • Evermore presence, demeanor and dexterity 
  • A very strong horse-owner relationship

The owner started Affiliated Dressage in April 2005. She found Jo and the work of Buqi in November 2005 and loved the work and its effects so much that she has afforded Blue a fornightly session ever since (currently Jan 2007). Blue won her first ever British Dressage point in March 2006 and by January 2007 has gained 52 points, won 6 Novice Affiliated Dressage Competitions and qualified for two separate Regional Finals - both Winter Novice Regionals 2007 and Novice Freestyle to Music Regionals 2008. Both the mare and the owner have continued to go from strength to strength and look set to continue in this vain. 

Andrew Gilham Photography

When we all first met, Blue was experiencing difficulty in her right hind and wasn't able to easily get into, or sustain, canter on the right lead. On initial observation her slightly long back was evident, which predisposes the lower back to weakness. The connection from her hind-legs to the back, especially the right, was weak energetically creating subsequent tension and stiffness.  One of my first reactions (incorrectly) was also that the saddle may have been pinching as the muscles behind the wither were a little 'empty'. We discussed saddles, which had in fact been checked recently, and the mare's way of working. It turned out that this lack of muscles was more to do with the mare's posturing and use, or not, of herself. There was a very fast change within the first few sessions where this very same muscle tone changed completely and much to my own astonishment. The change in shape was as a direct result of the release of the shoulders from the Buqi sessions which allowed the mare more availability of those muscles and they then built up quickly. The mare also became quickly stronger in the right hind and in schooling was cantering to the right with increasing ease after the first couple of sessions. 

There is not an area that I have not worked on now and Blue has gone through many processes and changes both within the sessions themselves and through her general work. On many occasions she has relaxed so deeply that her head has practically been on the floor. This lengthening and general relaxation of the head and neck has allowed us to observe, on many occasions, its effect of lifting the back (as the nuchal and supraspinous ligaments pull on the spinous processes of the spine) and the increasing lowering, or moving backwards, of her centre of gravity. 

It has been clear that each and every time this mare finds this level of stillness and relaxation she gains a deeper sense of self, gains self-assuredness and increasing presence which she takes away with her into both her normal day and into her competition work. Her owner is often stopped by passers by who want to admire her mare. 

Blue has displayed many reactions over time. She went through a phase of relaxing very deeply and then makingsome extremely impressive spontaneous stretches, about every other session for a while. These stretches varied, often started in the neck and each stretch has progressively involved more of the body and further back towards the lumber area to then including the whole of the back-line. There was a phase where Blue would make a stretch out behind in the hind legs on leaving the stable in the morning (a movement which I had suggested to her owner would be of benefit to her and which she found herself).

Blue is predictable now. We know when something is difficult for her because she comes out of deep relaxation and uses some clearly distractive behaviours to avoid the process. This has been apparent when binqi moves down the hind leg. She might swish her tail, even nip, move about and stamp but then this is quickly followed by a 'letting go' and a return to deep relaxation once the discomfort has passed. When the lower back was clearly 'in play' she would move from hind-leg to hind-leg in fairly quick succession, as if she was in a piaffe movement. This behaviour has diminished over time but indicates her idiosyncratic weaknesses and the change of behaviour gives us good clues as to what is working well, what she is struggling with and what needs more help.