Susanne Miesner talks about "the connection" between horse and rider, and that it's something that has been persued for hundreds of years.
She says: "When we talk about connection we are also talking about keeping the horse healthy in the long run", along with harmony between horse and rider. Her article is focused quite a bit on the neck, as it seems that riders tend to impact the neck in looking for "the connection". "Many riders and judges think you see the degree of collection in the way the horse carries its neck. So if the horse is very closed in the gullet, and the poll is the highest part, then they think the horse is collected, but they don't look at the whole neck, all they are looking for is that the nose is on the vertical." Susanne feels that riders can work on getting "the connection" and maybe find it for a few minutes at times, but that some riders, most riders, do make mistakes, maybe riding horses too short, and "the question is do we do that purposely, and make that mistake into a method?" She relates typical mistakes mistaken for connection: Going behind the bit. Going behind the vertical. Going over the bit. Going against the bit. Twisting the poll. An interesting part of her article: "Twenty, thirty, forty years ago, it was not like that, then horses were trained slower, then there was no emphasis on producing young horses for competition. And horses then, in general, were not so refined. Their bodies were stronger and broader, so a rider could not so easily destroy the natural balance." Judy http://icehorses.net http://clickryder.com
