as I said I would on another thread that had a very lively, interesting, and generally civil discussion regarding how to get a horse soft, and the use of neck flexions in training came up.
ok. the type of neck flexions raised as an example are those shown in this video:
the concept of flexing the neck to help with softening the horse is not a foreign concept to me, but my own exposure to it being used as a training tool differs so much fron what is shown in that video. frankly, to ME, that looks all wrong, against all I was taught.
so, what was I taught? why am I even bothering to start a whole thread on this? because so many people think it's the be all and end all of training, and I think, that done incorrectly, it is not helpful, and in fact , can be harmful.
flexed correctly, the horse's head will bend laterally to the side on the joint (the second to the poll, I beleive) just behind the skull. there will be a soft bend throughout the whole neck, no place where the neck 'breaks' from the shoulder, nor the head breaks from the neck.
if while reaching around, the hrose rolls the head so that the nose comes up higher, and the ears point off to the other side, then the horse is avoiding the lateral 'unlocking' of the axis joint, which is the very reason to ask for flexion in the first place.
when the hrose tips the nose up, ears off to side, he may even bring his nose upward, and the end is that the base of the neck drops, rather than lifts. horse will be more pushed over the front legs, harder for them to move the front legs any direction but straight forward (harder for them to step off to the inside laterally, since this action will put them more on their front legs and outside shoulder and tend to encourage the outisde shoulder to want to fall outward.
it does not encourage lightness in front, doen not raisethe base of the neck, and often just trains the horse to tilt his head to avoid the contact, twist out of it. j
most dressage trainers do not want this sort of training to happen because they see it as creating a rubber necked horse , who has less connection between front and hind, between bit and impulsion.
it can also build in a bad habit of going behind the bit all the time, even on feather light contact.
this is a video made by Buck Branaman that describes how I was taught to flex the horse's neck;
I wish he spent more time explaining why he thinks it's important.
but he does speak on wanting to keep the horse from tilting his head to the side.
this is an open discussion, so I hope that any and all will feel free to share what they were taught, what they have since learned works for them, and what they think about the way things are in the big leagues.
ok. the type of neck flexions raised as an example are those shown in this video:
the concept of flexing the neck to help with softening the horse is not a foreign concept to me, but my own exposure to it being used as a training tool differs so much fron what is shown in that video. frankly, to ME, that looks all wrong, against all I was taught.
so, what was I taught? why am I even bothering to start a whole thread on this? because so many people think it's the be all and end all of training, and I think, that done incorrectly, it is not helpful, and in fact , can be harmful.
flexed correctly, the horse's head will bend laterally to the side on the joint (the second to the poll, I beleive) just behind the skull. there will be a soft bend throughout the whole neck, no place where the neck 'breaks' from the shoulder, nor the head breaks from the neck.
if while reaching around, the hrose rolls the head so that the nose comes up higher, and the ears point off to the other side, then the horse is avoiding the lateral 'unlocking' of the axis joint, which is the very reason to ask for flexion in the first place.
when the hrose tips the nose up, ears off to side, he may even bring his nose upward, and the end is that the base of the neck drops, rather than lifts. horse will be more pushed over the front legs, harder for them to move the front legs any direction but straight forward (harder for them to step off to the inside laterally, since this action will put them more on their front legs and outside shoulder and tend to encourage the outisde shoulder to want to fall outward.
it does not encourage lightness in front, doen not raisethe base of the neck, and often just trains the horse to tilt his head to avoid the contact, twist out of it. j
most dressage trainers do not want this sort of training to happen because they see it as creating a rubber necked horse , who has less connection between front and hind, between bit and impulsion.
it can also build in a bad habit of going behind the bit all the time, even on feather light contact.
this is a video made by Buck Branaman that describes how I was taught to flex the horse's neck;
I wish he spent more time explaining why he thinks it's important.
but he does speak on wanting to keep the horse from tilting his head to the side.
this is an open discussion, so I hope that any and all will feel free to share what they were taught, what they have since learned works for them, and what they think about the way things are in the big leagues.