The Collective Equine

01/07/2024

8 yr old currently schooling 3rd level dressage with green changes and half steps most days. Yo-yo is the clown of the barn and has the most in your pocket personality a horse can have. Unfortunately selling due to life circumstances, I never planned to sell him so I haven’t finished paperwork but I have his DNA complete. Out of Wouter can be registered KWPN or ADHHA.
He is sensitive and forward, is a work horse and wants to please. He requires a rider that is confident and doesn’t mind a sensitive and forward big mover. He has talent for upper levels and perfect for a pro on a budget or AA with a trainer. His lateral work is to die for, you think it he does it. He had been in training with professional riders since his start and is very correct in his foundation. Loves to hack and get lots of attention.
Selling for 4🥕,🥕🥕🥕 to only the best of homes. DM for videos please

06/06/2024

Helios the sweetest guy working on hot guy summer!!!

Check out Jenn Thietje’s video.

02/06/2024

Helios out for a strength training ride. Hills at a nice brisk walk. He is a pleasure to work with ❤️

01/06/2024

Our curent rehab horse, the very handsome Helios. Stay tuned for his story and progress ❤️

25/03/2024

Hello friends. I have 2 stalls open if anyone is looking for full board in Gardiner, NY. Indoor, outdoor, trails with 2 dressage trainers that are available for lessons

18/03/2024

I may be guilty of asking this a lot:) it’s because I care. Leather is actually still living as a saddle …: until it’s not. If you take care of it, it will “ live “ on for many years.

16/03/2024

Filia, a stunning horse, is undergoing rehabilitation for her kissing spine condition. I am utilizing various therapies such as physiotherapy, massage, PMEF, and others, which are showing remarkable results. It's been an incredible experience collaborating with Dr. Sotello; she's fantastic!

09/01/2024

The girls enjoying the snow

13/12/2023

Check this beauty out!! Finally got yo-yo his own custom made saddle by Ian Duncan. Such beautiful leather and design. Happy that it fits Filia also so I
Can break it in prior to our trip down to Florida to fit Yo-yo.

02/12/2023

Tools of the trade :)

02/12/2023

My Friday night❤️

25/11/2023

This!!

- If your torso is collapsing to the right, your hips slipped to the left
- If your right leg keeps creeping up, or you lose just the right stirrup, your hips have slipped left
- If you find it easier to ride to the left, than to the right, your hips likely slip to the left.
- if you find yourself clinging to the right rein, while practically forgetting that you have a left one, good chances are that your hips slept left
- If your left hand is higher than your right hand, it’s possible that your hip slipped to the left
- If cantering counter clockwise, feels okay, but cantering clockwise feels awful, I’m gonna say your hips slipped left.
- if you can leg yield your horse to the right (off your left leg) pretty well,  but cannot lead guild to the left to save your life, your hips are probably chronically slipping to the left.

So many times, when a rider or is collapsing to the right, their coach tells them to fix it by stepping into the left stirrup. 🤦‍♀️ Like, I’ve heard of very famous coaches, giving this instruction.
And the thing is, it does look a little better, because at least when they step into the left stirrup, it gets them to straighten up their entire body -the problem is they are still off-center.
 I think the coach then typically gives students other exercises that bring them back over to the right (like twisting the shoulders to point a little to the left would help), but what I can tell you is these students then talk to me about their ride and they have absolutely no idea how to reproduce whatever straightness they may have accomplished during that clinic. 

The number one, needs solved now, issue in the rider in this sketch is that the hips fell left. I don’t care that the rib cage is collapsing to the right, or that the right leg is creeping way up. All of that will be fixed once the Rider brings their pelvis back to center.

This person is also riding with the left hip forward and the right hip back, but that will also likely resolve once you get this person to scooch over to the right.

 I would tell this student to put their left butt cheek in the middle of the saddle, high centering it, and drop the right butt cheek down into the hole that creates.

Another great exercise (on a trotting horse) is to drop the left stirrup, go clockwise, and posting trot utilizing just the right stirrup. This will feel horrible at first- to the point that I often have to let students try the exercise the opposite direction with the opposite stirrup so they realize how easy it is on their “strong” side. 

If you really struggle to keep from slipping left, it can also help to turn your chest to point a little bit to the left (while traveling right). This can be very effective at putting your weight into your right leg. You can stand up, assume a position similar to riding, and then twist your torso, one way, and then the other. Not all, but definitely most people find that when they twist to the left, it shifts weight into the right foot and vice versa.

Btw- I do virtual video review lessons! Very little tech knowledge needed. $65/lesson.


10/11/2023

To develop the horse symmetrically in body and limbs you can use gymnastic exercises.

*** CORNERSTONES ***

The core of the gymnastic exercises consists of the circle, shoulder-in and haunches-in. All the other exercises are derived from these cornerstones.

🐴 The circle is used to develop the Lateral bending of the body and spine, the Forward down tendency of the head and neck and the Stepping under the center of mass of the inside hind leg (LFS).

🐴 Once the inside hind leg can step under, this hind leg can also start to take weight. To do so we use the shoulder-in and counter-shoulder-in. These exercises are designed to school the hind leg in function of the inside hind leg. As a result of taking the weight, the horse will bend the inside hind leg more and free the outside shoulder.

🐴 Once the horse can bend the hind leg as an inside hind leg, we can also start to school the hind leg as an outside hind leg. To do so we use first the haunches-in (travers) and later on the renvers. In the renvers the horse can lean less against the wall/fence with his shoulder, so it's a bit more difficult than the travers, but as a result he really supports himself with his hind legs.

*** ALL EXERCISES ARE RELATED ***

All exercises relate to one another and differ slightly:

🐎 The only difference between shoulder-in and counter-shoulder in is the position of the fence/wall. The same applies to the haunches-in (travers) and the renvers, also there the only difference is the position of the wall.

🐎 The difference between shoulder-in and renvers is the bending in the spine, which is the opposite. In these exercises the same hind leg has the opposite function ('inside' in shoulder-in, 'outside' in renvers). The same applies to counter shoulder-in and the haunches in.

🐎 The half pass is 'just' a haunches-in over the diagonal, and the pirouette is 'just' a haunches-in on a small circle. Both half-pass and pirouette require support of both the inside as the outside hind leg. Therefore in both exercises the shoulders must lead to be able to keep the center of mass in front of the direction of the hind legs, only then both hind legs can support the weight. So both the half pass and pirouette also relate to the shoulder-in.

*** NUMBER OF TRACKS AND DEGREE OF BENDING ***

Now all exercises can be done on 3 or 4 tracks, or 2,5 tracks or 3,75 or 3,99 ;) and your horse can have more or less bend in his spine. Now there is no 'perfect' number and the exact degree doesn't matter. What matters in ST is that you choose the number of tracks and degree of bending where your horse can support his body and center of mass best with both hind legs. And that depends on the conformation of your horse: if he has a long back or a shorter one, if he has long legs, or shorter ones, if he has a long neck or a short one. So choose the degree of bending and number of tracks where your horse can move in optimal balance and with most quality.

*** HOW TO DEVELOP THESE EXERCISES? ***

First start the circle, then after a few training sessions add the shoulder-in, and the moment the the horse can do this exercise for 66,6% of quality, add the haunches-in. From there you can start practising the variations.

**** HOW TO DEVELOP THE HORSE EQUALLY? ***

To develop a horse equally in body and limbs all exercises need to be done to the right and to the left (or as they say in English: on the right rein and on the left rein).

When doing these exercises there will always be an 'easy' side and a difficult side. To develop the horse equally, do the 'difficult' side a bit more often and it's also an idea to start with the 'difficult' side and to end with the 'difficult side'.

The moment the horse starts to feel more equal, switch to train the exercises 50-50.

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Click here for more information:

Circle:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/circle

Shoulder-in:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/shoulder-in

Haunches-in:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/haunches-in

Renvers:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/renvers

Half pass:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/half-pass

Pirouette:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/pirouette

Lateral movements:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/lateral-movements

Ladder of exercises:
www.straightnesstraining.com/straightness-training-exercises/a-logical-system-of-ever-increasing-exercises

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22/10/2023

Such a great article about fascia and massage. This clients horse had the same scenario and was all smoothed out with massage.

20/10/2023

“Ohhh this horse just has a little arthritis in his left hock, it doesn’t seem to bother him too much.”

Horses are prey animals and therefore great compensators; they will create alternative locomotive patterns to continue movement.

So, say this little bit of osteoarthritis causes a reduced range of motion of the tarsal joint. In an attempt to maintain stride length and hide this dysfunction to potential predators (because you never know when a lion could be waiting around the corner... or a flapping plastic bag!) the tarsal (hock) joint is rotated medially (inwards) during the swing phase of the stride. This results in asymmetrical & medial weight bearing through the digit (hoof). This places additional stress through medial hamstring muscles, resulting in muscle tension and trigger points. And this is all something that is potentially going on in the affected hindlimb.

A hip hike/drop can occur at corresponding phases of the stride, placing the sacroiliac joint under stress, resulting in paraspinal and asymmetrical gluteal tone/pain.

Decreased impulsion from the left hindlimb leads to increased weight bearing through the right forelimb diagonal. This can create tension and hypertrophy to the right pectoral muscles and related fascial planes.

The spiral of compensation could continue on further, affecting cervical muscles that become hypertonic as a result of weight shifting, digit shape and size, TMJ pain, head tiling, hyoid dysfunction, asymmetric tail holding...

Check ligaments may strain on the overloaded limb, saddles may slip, mouths may open, head shaking may happen. And that doesn’t mean we have to put on a flash noseband, non-slip saddle pads and wear spurs to get more impulsion from the left hind that is through and through p a t h o l o g i c a l.

Often it can be the case where I see a horse that is a chronic stage of compensation and it can be difficult to find the true cause especially when the horse may appear just overall “stiff”.

I liken the rehabilitation of chronic cases to peeling the layers off an onion; one layer at a time and piece by piece to unravel and rewind the compensation spiral. 🐴

If this sparks a thought in anyone’s mind that actually, their horse may be suffering with this kind of pain presentation — follow your gut, trust that you know what is best for your horse and have your vet, physio, farrier, nutritionist, saddler, trainer all work with you and your horse to improve their comfort 🥰

18/10/2023

05/10/2023

This is like the food pyramid of horsemanship ❤️

10/09/2023

Stretchy Sunday!! Stretching before and after riding can assist with range of motion, flexibility, and suppleness. I use a treat after Finns post workout shower.