ARG Equine Therapies and Training

24/08/2024

La respuesta a todo, los ojos:

23/08/2024

Muy indignante

This post is for everyone who still thinks the stewards are doing their job. This is of Hans Peter at a show. FEI rule is one finger in the side of the noseband.

21/08/2024

Yo también quiero esa confianza !
I want that confidence too !

20/08/2024

17/08/2024

Fantastic 👏🏻

“I’m teaching my horse to accept contact”

If I had a dollar for every time I heard this! Typically it is accompanied by a horse throwing their head up, diving behind the vertical, gaping at the mouth- essentially attempting to be anywhere BUT the contact.

Here is something I often say to people in my clinics.

Imagine you’re on a date. Your date grabs your hand and doesn’t let go. You squirm to get away, but he holds tighter. He says, some day you will have to hold my hand so you need to get used to it. I won’t release until you accept this contact. Maybe he’s brought up in the school of thought that your display of evasion should be countered with a strap of some kind to prevent you from moving away- a flash nose band of sorts for you.

It doesn’t matter how light or heavy he touches- it is contact that isn’t right for the moment. It’s greedy, and inappropriate.

Now imagine you’re on a date and the conversation has lead you to realize you really enjoy his company. Your relationship is developing, he brushes your hand, you reach out and hold it.

Those are two very different feelings, and they come from two very different places.

When the conditions are there, the contact is taken by the horse. Not the other way around.

Contact has meaning. It is not meaningless pressure on the horses mouth, it is a holding of hands while you dance- it is a connection between your body and the horse’s hind legs. It is the display of everything you believe and who you are- manifested through your hand and into the horse- and the horse’s response is a direct representation of their preparation and feelings about your body and hands.

17/08/2024

To be honest, I haven’t heard such a theory of the bit like this one, thanks to the person who took the time to write this and share it 👌🏻

16/08/2024

💪🏼👏🏻 more explanations of why a fake/forced unnatural neck position is perjudicial

07/08/2024

07/08/2024

02/08/2024

Excelente observación

31/07/2024

Así estamos, la FEI sigue premiando la hiperflexion!

30/07/2024

30/07/2024

La historia mía, y de muchos… que debería ser la de muchos más!

29/07/2024

Cierra boca ajustados por demás… de nuevo! Y en Paris 2024 🙃

28/07/2024

Heartbreaking this is still happening

27/07/2024

EDIT 1: English version below.
EDIT 2 : Ajout d'une photo avec beau dégagement du garrot ( adding of one picture with nice withers clearance). Yes that's possible at high level :) !!

Voici 2 concurrents des JO 2024, parmi tant d'autres concurrents que l'on pourrait prendre aussi pour ce post. Que dire ?!

Aie j'ai mal à mon coeur de saddle fitter 😪!

Il faut se rendre à l'évidence qu'on peut arriver à performer, à ce niveau, en écrasant le garrot de son cheval et qu'hélas ça marche 😬🤮🤐.

Pourtant avec une selle adaptée, ils pourraient être des duos d'athlètes encore meilleurs qu'ils ne le sont déjà ❤️.

Si seulement les mentalités pouvaient évoluer !

Non ce n'est pas normal de voir des creux autour du garrot des chevaux de complet, et non ce n'est pas parce qu'ils sont "secs ".
Les creux autour du garrot, c'est d'ailleurs anormal chez tous les chevaux, qu'ils soient de complet, de saut, de dressage, de loisir, de club,....A méditer !

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Here are 2 competitors from the 2024 Olympics games, among many other competitors that we could also take for this position. What to say ?!

Ouch, my saddle fitter's heart hurts 😪!

You have to face the facts that you can perform at this level by crushing your horse's withers and that unfortunately it works 😬🤮🤐.

Yet with the right saddle, they could be even better athletic couples than they already are ❤️.

If only mentalities could change!

No it is not normal to see hollows around the withers of eventing horses, and no it is not because they are "dry". The hollows around the withers are also abnormal in all horses, whether they are eventing, jumping, dressage, leisure, club, .....Something to think about!

27/07/2024

How is it possible that no one’s say nothing when they see this? 😔👎🏼

Is there justification to tighten flashes to this extent just so we can compete horses at an international level?

Is it fair to them to disable their ability to relieve pressure in the mouth, particularly with a gag bit?

Where do we draw the line in terms of how much discomfort is acceptable to cause horses just in the name of competition?

Do horse sports deserve to remain in the Olympics if it often results in causing our equine companions much discomfort in order to have them perform at that level?

27/06/2024

Let’s check your saddle!

Once you’ve established that the gullet channel is the correct width for your horse (if you missed it, check our Map Your Horse video for instructions), with the panels, or bars if you’re a western rider, resting on your horse’s longissimus dorsi muscles, and not on his spine or ligaments, you need to ensure that your saddle’s panels/bars make even contact with your horse’s back.

Contact of the panels or bars is just one component of saddle fit, but it is something you can easily check yourself at home.

How to check for full panel/bar contact:

👉 Put your saddle on the horse, put your right hand under the stirrup bar area, gently hold the saddle in position with your left hand, and with your right-hand palm facing up slowly move your hand from front to back – you will feel a lot of contact on top of your hand.

👉 Put your hand flat on the horse’s back (you have greater sensitivity on the top of your hand, and feel if there is nice even panel contact from front to back.

👉 Check this on both sides.

What do you feel?

💡If the saddle sits flush at the front and back and loosely or no contact in the middle, this results in excess pressure at the front and back (bridging).

💡 If the saddle is tight in the middle and loose in the front and back (rocking) there is excess pressure in the middle of the saddle.

The goal of saddle fitting is to have the saddle distribute the riders’ weight evenly over the saddle support area, and it is important that the saddle neither bridge nor rock (excessively).

Most riders would prefer a saddle that doesn’t move at all, however, to maintain the ability for loose, harmonious, and supple movement of the horse’s back and to ensure the rider’s body is in positive tension, the saddle should actually be able to ‘rock’ (very slightly) front to back. Saddles that don’t move at all on the back may put too much pressure on the floating ribs and on the sensitive part of the horse’s back outside of the saddle support area.

Do you have any questions? Leave them for us to answer in the comments!

16/06/2024

👇🏼

08/06/2024

Biomecánica:
Postura correcta e incorrectas en el Piaffe:

**New post**

Today’s discussion is about one of the most sought after and technical movements in the Dressage arts. You guessed it, piaffe! When you watch your horse get excited in the pasture, you might observe him/her performing some piaffe steps all on their own. It is a natural movement – a movement that is not of tension, bracing of a rider, or of pulling reins – that can be performed by the horse without rider interference. In a natural piaffe, the horse will not over-flex his fetlocks, he/she will perform over the most balanced points of his front and hind ends, he/she will carry his/her head and neck where it is ideal and comfortable according to the lowering of his/her hind end.

06/06/2024

Espaldas atrofiadas por uso de monturas que no le calzan al caballo

30/05/2024

We must be all like Zero, all of us missing the sunshine ☀️ right now!

25/05/2024

- how to find the perfect place where the saddle should fit

23/05/2024

Las consecuencias de entrenar y montar caballos mal, muy triste de ver… más que nada cuando a esta yegua la sacrificaron porque “era mala”… simplemente estaba colapsada de dolor