Hi Mike: Thanks for the reply I was wondering if I could send you some photos when the time comes. I respect your integrity and value your input.
best
Bruce Peek

Hi Bruce,

It’s been a long time since I’ve heard from you. Sorry to hear about your old horse.

I think the most important thing to look for in your next horse is that you like everything about him or her. You like whatever size he or she is ,the color of his coat, the shape of his head the expression in his eye, the way he moves, and how he acts when you’re around.

Hopefully you’ll get one that hasn’t been all screwed up by the reining crowd,. So you can start off with a fairly clean slate and always be working to make things better instead of making them less terrible.

Good luck in your search for a new partner.

Mike

Hi Patrick,

the trick to following the 30 second version of the half-halt explanation is to have a good grasp of moving forward to collection, a downward transition, or a halt. Thsi means there is no backwards pulling by the rider or bracing by the horse. I don’t know if this helps – I’m in the proscess of writing much more on the subject and hope to have it ready fairly soon.

Mike

Thanks for your note Vickie, to be sure we do agree that obtaining any frame, be it higher or lower, through backwards force is wrong. However I don’t believe that it’s “riders who are unable to train their horse to higher levels with this positioning.” I believe it’s riders who have realized horses use their bodies more naturally and correctly when allowed to have their polls lower and further forward than what was considered “correct” in the 17’th through 20’th centuries.

Mike

To suggest that ‘The nose must be in front […of the poll…] and the poll at the highest point.” is wrong/amateurish = I consider that to be a very short sighted view and one often offered by riders who are unable to train their horse to higher levels with this positioning. Its is a fairly logical idea that unless the horse is allowed to carry its head in the position that it naturally does in nature = the rest of its body cannot function well. This mainly refers to nose in front of poll….how high head is held re poll being highest part of neck = depends upon what horse is doing at any point in time. I see it a great pity that more elite dressage riders/trainers are not able to achieve this most recognisable aspect of how a horse should be moving over the ground in dressage [check out what most Olympic level horses are doing in recent times] – which is supposed to be akin to how it moves in nature. ‘If horses could speak’ dvd offers wonderful insight on this topic.

Vickie Powell – EA Level 1 [Australia]