07/20/2026
Awesome!
This image probably looks good to many riders, but it is not. Real self carriage is when a horse moves in a relaxed symmetrical "frame" with both the forehand and the hind swinging freely together in centered balance.
In this picture we see the opposite. The cranked down, over flexed poll acts like a cork bottling up the horse's hind energy as it moves. This forced artificial "frame" that is being imposed on the horse holds back the hind's energy and it impedes relaxed hind reach. We see evidence of this restrained hind energy in the distance between footfalls 1 and 2.
There is no frame of self carriage here. If the horse was balanced in true self carriage, the distance between footfalls 1 & 2 would be zero. It is not zero because the restriction of the forced poll flex is creating braced resistance throughout the horse's body. This prevents the hind from engaging softly but powerfully.
By contrast, when we coax a horse into relaxing their poll, the hind naturally wants to push forward to maintain symmetrical balance, and the hind legs then swing forward in reciprocal hind-forehand balanced movement with suspension. In the picture we see some suspension but there could be much more if more freedom of movement was allowed.
The yellow arrows show the direction of the forces applied by the rider that have cranked down the horse's head and neck. Arrow "A" shows how the rider is employing the saddle's thigh blocks to obtain greater leverage on the bit to amplify the force shown by arrow "B". Arrow "C" shows how the force of the pull on the reins has moved the rider's upper body forward. Combined, this is the energy the rider imposes on the horse in order to create the artificially flexed poll that has the head tucked behind the vertical.
For me this is a picture of coercion made possible by a saddle design that gives the rider increased mechanical advantage over the strength of a horse. Instead of the head and neck giving way to the power of a driving hind with natural reach, we see the opposite.
The power determining the movement in this image comes mostly from the rider not the horse. We see the rider tensing their horse's entire body, starting at the mouth and continuing all the way back to the hips.
Restricted hind reach is the first thing we see from a horse controlled by a rider's force. This horse is trying hard to move correctly in spite of the rider blocking the horse's hind power. We see this effort in the horse delivering some suspension. If the rider would relax, the horse's movement would be much lighter.
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