Time for me to go on a wee little horse rant. So every horse person in existence has had to explain to a “non-horse person” at some point in their life that “you don’t just sit there. Riding is hard!” But it’s frequently misunderstood why. It also drives me nuts, and a little unreasonably so, when people see a horse being ridden around with his nose in the air and they say “Wow, he looks so happy and proud and beautiful!” Because if a horse’s nose is in the air, chances are the rest of his body is incorrect too, which is not only bad for his joints and muscles, but not at all beautiful. Because horses’ bodies aren’t designed to carry the additional weight of a rider, it is our responsibility to gently manipulate the way their body is aligned while in motion so that they can be as successful as possible. Like the difference between doing a shitty push-up and a correct one. It’s harder to do it right, but wayyy better for you. Here is a basic diagram I’ve drawn up of what a “hollow” (incorrect) horse looks like versus a “round” (correct) horse. And there ya go!

Time for me to go on a wee little horse rant.

So every horse person in existence has had to explain to a “non-horse person” at some point in their life that “you don’t just sit there. Riding is hard!” But it’s frequently misunderstood why.

It also drives me nuts, and a little unreasonably so, when people see a horse being ridden around with his nose in the air and they say “Wow, he looks so happy and proud and beautiful!” Because if a horse’s nose is in the air, chances are the rest of his body is incorrect too, which is not only bad for his joints and muscles, but not at all beautiful.

Because horses’ bodies aren’t designed to carry the additional weight of a rider, it is our responsibility to gently manipulate the way their body is aligned while in motion so that they can be as successful as possible. Like the difference between doing a shitty push-up and a correct one. It’s harder to do it right, but wayyy better for you.

Here is a basic diagram I’ve drawn up of what a “hollow” (incorrect) horse looks like versus a “round” (correct) horse.

And there ya go!

Tags: horses riding horses hollow round collection correct movement dressage english horseback riding training riding ponies