From: "Karen Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> If the horse is pacey and conformationally > prone to hollowness, then yes, I feel sure you'd want to move him TOWARDS > some "degree of roundness" or at least "lack of hollowness" if at all > possible - as I gather you've done with Stormur. (Certainly not all the > way > to the roundness needed for piaffe, but just "towards" some degree of > roundness...) But if the horse is born with ideal conformation to do an > easy > and natural gait like running walk or saddle rack, if you round him too > much, then I think the soft gait will suffer. Does that mean you don't > want > to work this nicely-gaited horse towards more roundness? I guess that > depends on the rider and the horse. I assume I'm probably not the only > person who likes for their horses who can easily trot to do so, but there > are pleasure riders who'd prefer that their horses never trot. I teach > different cues for trot versus gait and try to use both - or "all" in the > case of some of my multi-gaited horses. But, if a rider doesn't want to > trot, they can certainly work the horse's back in other ways - with > groundwork, lots of walking, doing a three-beat canter, getting him "long > and low" for periods... Hi Karen, Yes, I am referring to roundness. I agree with what you're saying here. I am wondering if it makes the horse lose the ability to rack. It sure didn't make Stormur lose his ability to pace!!!! >Here's > something from the last paragraph on page 35 of Lee's book, which is the > same as I've read in every good dressage book: "There are many degrees of > collection, from the slightly raised back of a horse just beginning to > come > away from a neutral position to the completely rounded frame of a horse > working in a good piaffe." Can you point to something else in the book to > clarify what you mean? > I'm referring to Lee's statement in the section, How Does a Horse Do a Pace or Stepping Pace, on page 157: "Horses that pace always do so with "hollow" or slightly swayed backs." I don't think Stormur's back is always hollow or slightly swayed when he paces. I was just noticing on page 156, there's a series of drawings depicting hard pace and broken pace. Are they mislabelled? Thanks, Mary
