To the rider it may sometimes seem that the horse can come up with an unlimited number of evasions that enable him to protect his hind legs. But from a systematic point of view there are only FIVE different ways in which the horse can avoid flexing his haunches and supporting the weight with his hind legs:
One important aspect of horse training is that in teaching a new movement or a better posture the rider first has to improve the horse’s body awareness, coordination, and balancing ability. This includes teaching the horse to place his feet differently, to distribute his weight differently, and to use different muscle configurations than he has been up to now.
This only works, if the horse knows where his feet are, of course. This means creating neurological connections between the brain and these muscle groups, so that the horse learns how to find them and activate them.
There are two groups of parameters that can describe the horse’s movements, and through which the rider is able to determine and influence the horse’s gait and posture. If you change one or several of these parameters, the horse’s appearance and feel changes. The first group refers to the positioning of the hips and shoulders, as well as the posture of the spine. The second group describes the details of the gait, i.e. the movement of the horse’s legs.
