Excerpt from the Article What is Different About the Iberian

In reality, it takes so little to put our horses off balance, especially with the burden of us on their backs. We can be constantly putting them out of balance. Their only defence, like the child about to fall, is to stiffen to find some way to hold themselves up – to brace the back, to brace their front legs and catch the body falling forward, like arms reaching out to the floor to catch ourselves when we fall. This is what putting our horses on the forehand truly means. It means making the horse put out his two front arms, braced to catch the body that is falling down from behind, on top of his front end.

Throwing the Iberian on his Front End

The Iberian is born on his hind end. Born balanced. Born for quick stops, quick turns, to out-race the hunter, and to escape the horns of the bull. His balance is found in a delicate interaction of bone and tendons, specific alignment requiring, in reality, little muscle, and thus it becomes so effortless. The same is true with us, where the simple acts of standing and sitting upright become effortless, requiring little thought and, in reality, little muscle activity.

Born on his Hind End

It is this ability of our bodies to balance, requiring minute changes in our stabilizing system, that creates our effortless sense of equilibrium. We have minute centers of balance throughout our bodies that allow us to constantly adjust and monitor our stability. The horse is much the same, adjusting from moment to moment.

Challenging the Balance

These alignments of balance can be easily challenged. It is thus our responsibility as riders and trainers to help and not hinder, and definitely to not impair the balance of our horses.

I know many would challenge this, asserting quite correctly that the Iberian can have problems with not having enough stretch through the topline and that, without this stretch, without this long topline, any collection that we have is false, and in fact, the Iberian has his own set of problems with contractions and blocks throughout his body.

But the why and the how is important. We cannot, at any cost, stretch this horse, thinking it will be good just because it is stretching. Lifting weights is good, too, but to lift any weight without preparation and training can be dangerous. It makes absolutely no sense to go for a stretch that drops a horse who is naturally balanced onto his forehand.

There are basically three levels of balance [refer to the Three Levels of Balance]. The Iberian, while needing preparation to reach the third level of collection with a supple and through body, does not need to be dropped into the first level of balance and onto his forehand to get there. We are quite able and actually quite correct to start the Iberian in the second level of balance, allowing the horse to stretch through his topline, with a nice long neck.

This is a caution for all those who love the Iberian. To force the Iberian into a frame and/or a balance frequently seen in the competition arena or in your local riding arena and deemed appropriate for another breed is not necessarily what you want for the Iberian. Dropping these horses onto their front end challenges their innate and strong sense of balance and threatens them mentally and physically.

You will create stress in your horse and, though unhappy, he may try to comply. He will hold his body tight, hip muscles no longer flexing as the stifle no longer bends, forearms no longer lifted as the neck is dropped. The price is just too high to pay. It is not fair to experiment with training when you do not have the experience to work with this breed. This breed is unique in many ways. Celebrate his uniqueness by trying to make him more of what he is, instead of trying to make him into something he is not.

To the beauty of the Iberian.

Balance is Beauty

Excerpt from the Article What is Different About the Iberian

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From Volume 12 Diagonals