The Supple & Rounded Horse Part 2 By Glenn Stewart
Last month I spoke of what I think supple and rounded is: a horse that is mentally, emotionally and physically balanced. Suppleness comes before roundness in the order of preparation. The suppleness is soft, bendable and maneuverable. The roundness is a way a horse carries itself, a shape and muscling developed over time.
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verything we do from day one and every day on the ground or on their back should be working towards becoming more supple and round, and that there is a multitude of exercises or things to do and look for to help a horse become this way. I’ve been very fortunate to have ridden and worked with many horses across Canada, United States, Mexico and Brazil. At a quick count, 25 different horse breeds that I can remember. On one occasion I rode 30 stallions the day I arrived at a very fancy breeding and training facility. They kept bringing them, and I kept riding them. I was like a little kid in a candy store. The horses ranged in price from $30,000 to $120,000. They were all rode in English tack and most with a double bridle, two bits and four reins. The horses were all led in to me one at a time, because the horses were doing most of the leading. When I got on to ride the head trainer kept saying, “More contact, more contact!” Now I’m not little, and the horse had two bits in his mouth and as far as I was concerned, I already had way too much contact. It felt like I had both feet in the radiator trying to pull the steering wheel off. The horses had
been rode a long time in a way that was trying to pull them into a frame, super This stallion’s mental and emotional state is athletic horses solid, calm, and engaged, posture and cadence with no mental is smooth he is supple, easily rounded, and not or emotional fighting to be levelled out in a hollow-backed preparation for the nose-out flight or fight response. physical look they were aiming for. I tried to sit on one of the stallions with a loose rein and give him a rub. That ended in the horse being so completely lost about the unusual occurrence of a loose rein and a rub that it spun around every which way, tangled its feet and fell over with me on it. It happened in seconds and I found out real quick that I had 30 stallions that needed a lot of help. (I might mention, it was over 40 degrees Celsius and 100 percent humidity.) The only English words the locals knew were ‘more contact’ and ‘tranquil’ but neither word seemed to match in any way what was going on or needed. The goal of the training facility was trying to develop round and supple horses, but two very big ingredients were being missed. It was a very big Inspiration • Education • Fun! adventure. Supple and round starts on the “Janice and Dave Jarvis of Jandana ground, some very easy things to Ranch look forward to another season of look for is how soft, bendable and connecting with guests from near and far. maneuverable your horse is. When We will continue to teach empathy, a person leads their horse, the horse leadership and communication with horses should stay with them not ahead or and offer ‘NEW’ themes such as: Women’s behind, at a walk, trot or canter on a Wellness Weekends, Synchronisity with loose line connected to the handler Riding, in addition to our Horsemanship not the rope, in case one day I have this Clinics, Kids Camps and much more! ” horse at Liberty with no rope at all. In the meantime I have a snap or clip on Offering a beautiful venue for people who love to travel with their equine partners. the end of my lead line that clips to Lake view Guest Cottages and RV Campground • Enjoy the Peace and Tranquility! the halter. When I ask my horse to do something such as lead, circle, side pass, 250-573-5800•www.jandanaranch.com change direction at any gait, my goal 30 minutes from Kamloops at beautiful Pinantan Lake would be to have them do the maneuver
Jandana Ranch
6 • MARCH 2019
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