Art2Ride has gained many more followers over the recent years, which is amazing. Several people have realized the benefits with this way of training their horses. Unfortunately, more followers also mean that more critics are beginning to keep an eye on us. 

I've seen pictures comparing a horse that stretches all the way to the ground with a horse that is being ridden in roll kur, under the heading "why go from one evil to another". 

In my world one can not force a horse to be in a deep position with the head in front of the vertical. If the horse work in a long, low, forward frame, the reins will have to be very long. The horse will therefor at any time be able to lift its head before the rider can react with the reins. With roll kur, the horse is ridden behind the vertical with a short rein. That is, if it tries to lift its head, it will meet resistance from the reins. I can not see the comparison.

One of the questions I usually get asked is how to get the horse to stretch in the lunge without side reins. I will try to respond on that in this post.

Side reins

First, I would just like to say that we use side reins. But we do not use them to make the horse bend his neck. We use them to teach the horse to seek contact on the bit.

When we use side reins they are initially so long that the horse can stretch all the way down to the ground. That is, the horse can lift his head as much as he wants. The horse, therefore, does not learn to stretch due to the side reins, but they teach the horse to seek contact on the bit.

The muscles change

Throughout the last year, I have noticed some changes in the muscles of our horses, as I have not seen before. At least not as clear as now.

Lucky Lady

Our horses are not perfect, but I will try to show what I'm looking for. We took some pictures of Lucky Lady the other day, so I use her as a model. Lucky Lady is a relatively big horse she is about 178 cm. She has a long back, short neck and she is a little straight in her hind legs. She does not have much hock action. It is not easy for her to step deep under herself. Still, it is possible to develop her muscles so that she will look more correct and work better.

When the horse goes with a lowered back.

When a rider get up on a horse, the horse's natural reaction will be to lower the back. When the horse lowers its back, the vertebraes will come closer to each other. If this happens, the horse will not be able to work properly.

The horse will then find it difficult to step under himself. It may be difficult for the horse to bend. The fore and hind end do not work in harmony with each other, that is, the horse is struggling to keep the rhythm. The body's "shock absorbers" are put out of service and the horse's joints are put under heavy load, which can cause lameness, unnecessary wear and kissing spine. It goes without saying that this can not be particularly pleasant for the horse.