Will’s Faerber’s Book Club: Balancing Act
San Diego Horse Trainer Will Faerber discusses the book “Balancing Act” by Gerd Heuschmann.
2 responses to “Will’s Faerber’s Book Club: Balancing Act”
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Tracy Walton says: I find your website interesting but do you do work in hand or lungeing with a horse with physical issues? Not really fair on them to expect them to carry a saddle and a rider when they cannot carry themselves? How do you get a horse to carry itself correctly on the lunge for example?
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Kali says:
Answered by Art2Ride Associate Trainers:
Anne Saari You can work and build your horse for years with full benefit without riding if you teach it to work properly over its back. We encourage that you teach the horse to work correctly first doing in hand work. There are many videos on that on the web site. The goal is to teach the horse to stretch and work over its back so that it builds muscles to be able to carry a rider properly. The WIH can be done on straight lines or even on a hack if the horse should work on straight lines because of an injury. When the horse is sound enough you start the lunge work (lots of videos on that too on the web site) aiming for the same work. The horse should stretch and work over its back by really stepping under from behind. You start in the walk and as the horse gets stronger you can do trot and canter work. This really prepares the horse for the mounted work when it is time and I promise you you will feel a completely different horse working under you and really lifting you up if the work from the ground is done correctly. Good luck! 🙂
Tytti Vanhala Firstly when a horse has physical issues, one has to of course make certain that he is in no pain. This you would do by asking a vet over to assess the problems; lameness, stiffness, obvious pain reactions. Then I would go and do what the vet says. If the horse cannot be ridden, lunged or worked in the school, then I would not do it. If some exercise would be permitted, then I would work in that frame and for example take the horse out on walks in hand. I have in fact done this type of rehabilitation with Art2Ride method. Taken him on occasion twice a day out on walks to keep him going and his mental state optimal. Once the vet gives permission to start work in the school, then I would start with some in-hand work with gentle and slight lateral exercise only, and mainly walking around the whole school. This type of in-hand work one can do even in straight lines outside, provided that your horse is controllable and safe to work this way. The best we can do is to listen and observe our horses and never do things that they just simply cannot do. Then next thing (with vet’s permission) I would start lunging in walk only and in as big a circle as possible, even walking around the whole school with him at first to introduce him back to work very gently. And then gradually and very carefully (you can never be too careful with a rehabilitation case) increase work. I would not trot before the walk is working well, and never canter until the trot is supple and rhythmic with a very good stretch long and low. I would start riding only after lunging work had progressed to a good level in trot, and then I would ride only in walk, maybe once a week only and gradually increasing the session time until I feel his back getting stronger and starting to lift.
Of course it is not fair on a horse to carry a rider when they struggle just carrying themselves. This is why we start with this foundation work with in-hand and lunging first. I would start riding a horse only when I’m confident that the horse can stretch into long and low while being ridden in walk. I would always do a warm-up in-hand and on the lunge before riding in the beginning. This is to warm the horse’s back and activate all his topline muscles that have to carry then me as well, without me on top of him. This I have found to work really well. Later on I’ve found that in-hand work for warm-up is sufficient and then at some point when the horse has strong enough topline muscles, no warm-up from the ground is needed.
To get a horse to carry himself on the lunge line requires that he can activate his back and eventually all his topline muscles. This is facilitated easiest by doing in-hand work before lunging. I have found that it improves lunging work immensely. But you can get a horse carrying himself also without the aid of in-hand work.
You need to firstly keep contact to him with the lunge line – it must not be slack. Secondly, you have to ask him to move forward in good pace – meaning that he needs to step forward under himself properly (aiming at tracking up/overtracking). Thirdly, you need to pay attention that the horse’s hind legs follow the same track as the front legs – that is, that they do not step inside the lunging circle making the horse straight on the circle. Once you have all these three main points in order (and these may take time to get right), your horse should start stretching down long and low (the third point is actually fine tuning and not necessarily needed for the stretch down to happen, but it will make the work far more effective). At first the long and low is not very long or low… but it will improve gradually as the horse’s muscles get used to the work and start stretching themselves. Once you have the long and low, you have to then maintain the forwardness… without it, nothing will happen. At this point you are building muscle and having a horse carrying itself correctly – or as correctly as he can at the stage he is in with his condition. You should notice a clear and distinct difference in how the horse lifts his hind legs and places them under himself in comparison to how the horse moves when his head is up and back hollow. You may be able to see how the back starts to swing and muscles starting to move there and in the abdomen, not to forget the upper neck muscles. Lower neck muscles should start relaxing.The idea is not that the horse should always stay in the long and low position. This is only for the foundation work. Once the horse has built good enough topline muscling, you can start to ask for higher head carriage when riding – but returning always to the long and low after more difficult work to relax him. This long and low muscle building basic work can take a year. Or even more, if you are starting with a rehabilitation case, and of course depending on the severity of the issues the horse has in the beginning. But once you have built this foundation of a good topline on the horse, you will be amazed how easily more difficult movements will come to him.
Yvon Hoogervorst When a horse has physical issues you should let a vet examined your horse. You must be sure that the horse doesn’t have pain or what so ever.
And if a horse is not capable to carry himself, you shouldn’t do mounted work.
When you are sure he isn’t in pain, you can start by work in hand or lunging. You build muscles over the whole topline and strengthen his abdominal muscles by stretching work. When he’s strong enough you can do the mounted work as well.
Good luck!Elisabeth Spetschinsky Hi, i would say that yes as a rule, we can work in hand or lunge a horse with physical issue, provided that the vet confirms that he can walk in straigth lines or on a large circle. You get a horse to carry itself on the lunge by asking him to go forward, waving the lunge whip towards his hind part and encouraging any movement of the neck forward and down. progressively your horse will understand that making long steps with his head down will relieve his back and the pain if he has any and he will become more and more consistent in this attitude. It takes months and sometimes up to a year to start healing a bruised back for instance. Good luck with your horse
I find your website interesting but do you do work in hand or lungeing with a horse with physical issues? Not really fair on them to expect them to carry a saddle and a rider when they cannot carry themselves? How do you get a horse to carry itself correctly on the lunge for example?
Answered by Art2Ride Associate Trainers:
Anne Saari You can work and build your horse for years with full benefit without riding if you teach it to work properly over its back. We encourage that you teach the horse to work correctly first doing in hand work. There are many videos on that on the web site. The goal is to teach the horse to stretch and work over its back so that it builds muscles to be able to carry a rider properly. The WIH can be done on straight lines or even on a hack if the horse should work on straight lines because of an injury. When the horse is sound enough you start the lunge work (lots of videos on that too on the web site) aiming for the same work. The horse should stretch and work over its back by really stepping under from behind. You start in the walk and as the horse gets stronger you can do trot and canter work. This really prepares the horse for the mounted work when it is time and I promise you you will feel a completely different horse working under you and really lifting you up if the work from the ground is done correctly. Good luck! 🙂
Tytti Vanhala Firstly when a horse has physical issues, one has to of course make certain that he is in no pain. This you would do by asking a vet over to assess the problems; lameness, stiffness, obvious pain reactions. Then I would go and do what the vet says. If the horse cannot be ridden, lunged or worked in the school, then I would not do it. If some exercise would be permitted, then I would work in that frame and for example take the horse out on walks in hand. I have in fact done this type of rehabilitation with Art2Ride method. Taken him on occasion twice a day out on walks to keep him going and his mental state optimal. Once the vet gives permission to start work in the school, then I would start with some in-hand work with gentle and slight lateral exercise only, and mainly walking around the whole school. This type of in-hand work one can do even in straight lines outside, provided that your horse is controllable and safe to work this way. The best we can do is to listen and observe our horses and never do things that they just simply cannot do. Then next thing (with vet’s permission) I would start lunging in walk only and in as big a circle as possible, even walking around the whole school with him at first to introduce him back to work very gently. And then gradually and very carefully (you can never be too careful with a rehabilitation case) increase work. I would not trot before the walk is working well, and never canter until the trot is supple and rhythmic with a very good stretch long and low. I would start riding only after lunging work had progressed to a good level in trot, and then I would ride only in walk, maybe once a week only and gradually increasing the session time until I feel his back getting stronger and starting to lift.
Of course it is not fair on a horse to carry a rider when they struggle just carrying themselves. This is why we start with this foundation work with in-hand and lunging first. I would start riding a horse only when I’m confident that the horse can stretch into long and low while being ridden in walk. I would always do a warm-up in-hand and on the lunge before riding in the beginning. This is to warm the horse’s back and activate all his topline muscles that have to carry then me as well, without me on top of him. This I have found to work really well. Later on I’ve found that in-hand work for warm-up is sufficient and then at some point when the horse has strong enough topline muscles, no warm-up from the ground is needed.
To get a horse to carry himself on the lunge line requires that he can activate his back and eventually all his topline muscles. This is facilitated easiest by doing in-hand work before lunging. I have found that it improves lunging work immensely. But you can get a horse carrying himself also without the aid of in-hand work.
You need to firstly keep contact to him with the lunge line – it must not be slack. Secondly, you have to ask him to move forward in good pace – meaning that he needs to step forward under himself properly (aiming at tracking up/overtracking). Thirdly, you need to pay attention that the horse’s hind legs follow the same track as the front legs – that is, that they do not step inside the lunging circle making the horse straight on the circle. Once you have all these three main points in order (and these may take time to get right), your horse should start stretching down long and low (the third point is actually fine tuning and not necessarily needed for the stretch down to happen, but it will make the work far more effective). At first the long and low is not very long or low… but it will improve gradually as the horse’s muscles get used to the work and start stretching themselves. Once you have the long and low, you have to then maintain the forwardness… without it, nothing will happen. At this point you are building muscle and having a horse carrying itself correctly – or as correctly as he can at the stage he is in with his condition. You should notice a clear and distinct difference in how the horse lifts his hind legs and places them under himself in comparison to how the horse moves when his head is up and back hollow. You may be able to see how the back starts to swing and muscles starting to move there and in the abdomen, not to forget the upper neck muscles. Lower neck muscles should start relaxing.
The idea is not that the horse should always stay in the long and low position. This is only for the foundation work. Once the horse has built good enough topline muscling, you can start to ask for higher head carriage when riding – but returning always to the long and low after more difficult work to relax him. This long and low muscle building basic work can take a year. Or even more, if you are starting with a rehabilitation case, and of course depending on the severity of the issues the horse has in the beginning. But once you have built this foundation of a good topline on the horse, you will be amazed how easily more difficult movements will come to him.
Yvon Hoogervorst When a horse has physical issues you should let a vet examined your horse. You must be sure that the horse doesn’t have pain or what so ever.
And if a horse is not capable to carry himself, you shouldn’t do mounted work.
When you are sure he isn’t in pain, you can start by work in hand or lunging. You build muscles over the whole topline and strengthen his abdominal muscles by stretching work. When he’s strong enough you can do the mounted work as well.
Good luck!
Elisabeth Spetschinsky Hi, i would say that yes as a rule, we can work in hand or lunge a horse with physical issue, provided that the vet confirms that he can walk in straigth lines or on a large circle. You get a horse to carry itself on the lunge by asking him to go forward, waving the lunge whip towards his hind part and encouraging any movement of the neck forward and down. progressively your horse will understand that making long steps with his head down will relieve his back and the pain if he has any and he will become more and more consistent in this attitude. It takes months and sometimes up to a year to start healing a bruised back for instance. Good luck with your horse