Walking my dog last week, I noticed an ex race-horse turned out in his field flying around the paddock like a colt. Something had got the wind up his tail and this fine, 16.3 bay thoroughbred was racing up and down and round and round, whilst his petite grey Welsh Mountain companion quietly grazed.
It was interesting and lovely to watch, because the horse was covering some pretty testing terrain, his paddock being on a steep hill and full of dips, bumps and undulations. What I noticed was that his horse was fully 'collected' as they say in the horsey world - ie he was balanced, fully alert, at the height of his concentration and using his powerful back end underneath him to propel himself whilst his forelegs acted as suspension posts. He just happened to be carrying out a couple of spontaneous advanced dressage moves too!
I am lucky that he kept up this dance for a good five minutes and I was able to watch as he gracefully swerved, balanced, galloped, dodged and ground to a full halt, then sped off again. I noticed that his head at absolutely all times was fairly high, his poll (between his ears) was at the highest point and that his nose was at a comfortable angle for maximum balance and concentration. His higher neck vertebrae were able to bend and stretch maximising his proprioception.
It was a far cry from what I often see in the showground or at dressage competitions where horses are pulled in with reins to keep their heads artificially low, the highest point of their neck is about6-10 inches behind the poll creating an artificial arch, and their mouths are pulled back and under by strong bits (which is called being behind the vertical for obvious reasons).
What this does to their neck muscles, their cervical trigger point zones and their brain cells is not yet completely known although I believe there is a lot of discussion in competitions by equine authorities to question the wisdom of this forced head carriage. The ancient masters of horsemanship would not have agreed with our current obsession with arched necks, tugged in mouths, and an unnatural head carriage.
I am mentioning all this because it seems to me there may be such a thing as Eco-Fitness for horses. A kind of fitness and beautiful horsemanship based on the horse's inbuilt mechanisms, on maximum flexibility and on naturally exhuberant 'collection'. Us humans are looking for ways to be naturally and sensibly fit with less regard for glamour and more respect for our biology. I hope that our equine friends will be allowed to benefit from less showy, glamorous and competitive horsemanship and develop eco-fitness too!
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