This is a lovely horse who is clearly demonstrating an incorrect neck position–that is he is falling behind the vertical. You can see how the topline just before the poll is broken, thus preventing the energy from the hind legs to push through the back and into the bit. The rider should try to ride this horse forward, offering her hands toward the mouth to allow the horse to stretch for the bit. Unfortunately the dressage scores will be severely marked down if all movements are ridden in this postion. Remember the purpose of training level dressage is to “confirm that the horse’s muscles are supple and loose and that it moves freely forward in a clear rhythm, accepting contact with the bit”.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 10th, 2007 at 11:41 am and is filed under Dressage, Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.