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How does one make a horse that is inverted / u-shaped/ has upside-down neck?

793 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  bsms, 
ACinATX
Moonshine came to use super inverted, and even with all the bodywork and my daughter trying to ride her correctly, she never really got over that. Even in the pasture she'd travel inverted sometimes. In her case, we believe it was due to being ridden in a western saddle that bridged by a person or people who were too heavy for her, at the sitting trot, a lot.

I unfortunately don't think I'm a good enough to ride Rowan beautifully into true collection, but I do think I'm good enough to avoid making him inverted, at least as long as I know what to avoid.

So how do you ride a horse and make it inverted? Or, more pertinently, how can I ride him so as NOT to make him inverted?

PS I ride Pony all the time and he's fine, but he has a short back and a natural way of going that's not at all collected but not at all inverted either. Rowan has a longer back.
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ACinATX
Moonshine was 15? 16? 17? when we got her. Her exact age isn't known. But yeah she had a long time to learn to travel like that. Her neck was and is still terrible. I do think it's gotten a bit better since she isn't being ridden any more. Maybe she can finally just relax.

I'm just trying to figure out how to keep that from happening with Rowan. Are there any actions I clearly need to avoid? I'm not a a great rider but I'm not terrible rider, I'm light in weight, his saddle fits him just fine (professionally fitted to him), he gets bodywork every other week, I ride him on a more or less loose rein, and I am decent at feeling how his body is moving underneath me.

Maybe I'm just over-worrying here. I just don't want to create an unhealthy horse.
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ACinATX
Yeah I'm not worried about collection at this point. I understand that impulsion comes first, and we are not there yet for sure. I just want to be sure I'm not riding him in such a way as to cause that inverted shape that Moonshine had.
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ACinATX
@Palfrey yes, and actually the bodyworker is going to watch me ride next week! So I think that might be really useful.
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