Thunder says, "I got it going ON!"
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let me explain to you the worth of his twerking example: when a horse uses his hind end more, he takes his weight and balance off his front end, and carries it more in the middle. This gives him better balance, a smoother gait, and causes him to engage his core muscles to carry himself with better horse posture. I think of a horse who is really heavy on his forehand (his front legs) as something like an orangutan or gorilla running-- those big front limbs making all the strides as the smaller hind end just sort of keeps up. It's not a very graceful picture, is it? A horse who is engaging his hindquarters is also engaging his back and his abdominal muscles, using his whole body to travel like one of those spectral white stallions from a poster or art book. The difference is easy enough to see and feel: of course you'd rather ride a horse than a silverback.
I got to use his advice tonight when I went out to visit my buddy Thunder, who I have not seen in a shamefully long time. I went out to the barn in the early evening after work and I didn't come home again until after 9-- needless to say, my time was well spent!
I arrived at the barn and chatted for a few minutes with the barn owner before I got out Thunder's tack and grooming kit and went to work. The owner mentioned that because of the incredibly awful weather we've been having, the horses have had only limited turnout time and that Thunder hadn't been ridden very much. Cue my extreme guilt for neglecting the poor baby. I put him in crossties and started brushing him, checking his muscle tone, looking for any sore spots, getting all the dirt and dust off him, and creating a work plan. If you can remember back to the Spring, I was trying to get Thunder back into shape since he'd gotten a little on the flabby/lazy side as opposed to being the sixpack-sporting wonder horse he'd been when I first met him. The last time I rode him, he had been very unbalanced and heavy on his forehand-- he wasn't very comfortable to ride at the canter and he fell in on the corners like a motorcycle.
I decided that the first thing to do after he was all brushed up was to take him on a longe line and see how he was moving from the ground. I started with a regular walk, then kicked it up to a trot, then canter, before I switched sides and started the walk, trot, canter cycle over again the other way. He seemed even and decently balanced from side to side (he wasn't falling in towards me as he went around the circle, and he kept the circle fairly round as opposed to jerking it into more of an octagon, etc), but he was obviously heavy on his front end and was acting pretty lazy. He wouldn't keep a faster gait unless I really kept after him (he'd always try to slow down), and when he would try to keep cantering or trotting, he'd also speed way up to keep his balance-- it seemed to be a constant struggle for him of "she's not looking, so I guess I can slow down, thank God!" and "have to canter faster, or I'm going to tip over!" Poor baby.
At that time, I recalled a trick I'd read in Biomechanics of Horse Training by Jean M. Kirschman (from Chapter 3: Exercises; Longeing (stretching exercise). I don't want to take up the time explaining the exercise when I'd rather have the people who are interested study for themselves, and the people who are just reading for fun maintain their interest) that helps to teach a horse to bend on the lunge line, so I used it to help him regain his feel for bending on a circle. He didn't bat an eye at learning something new, and he caught on very quickly. I could easily see the difference from when he was longeing the normal way to working him through a nice walk, trot, and canter both ways while slightly bent: as he bent and put his hind inside foot underneath his belly when he stepped forward rather than just letting it catch up behind his front foot (like a silverback), he was much more balanced and his pace was much easier for him to maintain. Hooray!
After longeing him for about twenty minutes total, I let him take a little break and checked to see how hot he was-- I didn't want him to get too warm just yet. If he was getting hot and/or sweaty, he'd freeze to death waiting for me to tack him up to ride or I'd have to cool him down and dry him off with no ride at all. A sweaty horse in the wintertime quickly turns into a walking icicle when all that wet fur freezes-- we don't want that! Luckily, he wasn't sweaty at all and hadn't worked hard enough to get really warm. I took him back to the crossties and tacked him up, then rode for around twenty minutes to a half hour (again, I didn't want all the hassle and health risk of a hot, sweaty horse when I had no idea where any blankets, sheets, or towels could be to keep him warm and soak him up. He ended up warm but with only two sweat spots around his girth when I was done).
Under saddle, we worked in the walk, trot, and canter while focusing on keeping that hind end engaged. We circled in the corners, spiraled, and serpentined to give him plenty of bend and stretch. He held it together really well-- better than he ever had since I started riding him again last year. I of course chalk our success up to George Morris' sage twerking advice and the voices of all my past and present trainers ringing in my head "Inside leg, outside rein!!" He did beautifully! And-- best of all-- I felt him canter in balance for the first time in years. Granted, it was only a few strides at a time since he was still struggling, but it was there and he was reaching for it. I was glowing the whole time I walked him on a long rein to cool him down, the whole way into the barn, and through the entire post-ride grooming ritual. He was such a perfect angel.
After riding, I brushed him down really well until not a drop of sweat was left on him. He stretched his neck to and fro so I could brush and scratch under his jawbone where he likes and up by his ear-- he was in horsey nirvana. I then decided to keep on brushing and to finally do something with his Fabio-turned-bird's-nest mane. I brushed, detangled, and pulled out dead hair as he rubbed his head against me and softly sighed. It was one of the very best times I've ever had with him and it's a memory I'm going to cherish for a long time. All in all, we had a perfect evening of twerking, getting our hair done (oh yeah-- he tried to groom me, too, bless his sweet slimy face!), learning, and hanging out.
Such a pretty boy...! :)
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