What-the-Topline-Says-about-Horse-and-Rider-by-Manolo-Mendez

WHAT THE TOPLINE SAYS ABOUT HORSE AND RIDERexplain what I look for and whatI consider good and what is not. Iwill review the horse’s topline andunderline. By topline, I mean allthe muscles and skeleton parts thatare above the spine - and includethe hamstrings and the abdominalwall muscles because in my way ofseeing the horse, the topline is onelong chain of muscles woven intoone another that starts right behindthe ear of the horse and travelsdown its neck, over its withers, backand croup, and down to the pointof its hocks. I include the underlinebecause it is impossible to look athow the topline functions withoutalso looking at the base of the neck,the muscles that go from the head tothe shoulder, the chest and pectoralmuscles, the abdominal muscles, andthe psoas muscles. You see, a horsereally is a whole and even for thisarticle, looking at it in parts is provingimpossible.After I have observed the horse, Ilike to have the rider ride him forme a little, but my analysis is morethorough if the horse is brought tome in a halter without a saddle andbridle. Then, not only can I look atand touch him, but I can confirm myimpression by testing his elasticity,looseness, flexibility, and supplenessby asking him to do very simplemovements. This also gives me anunderstanding of how he feels insidehis body.For example, when I look at thehorse’s face, poll, and neck, I lookat his/her expression, whether it isafraid or content, whether it is tuningme out or curious, or whether it isangry and impatient. I look at thewrinkles of its nose and the tightnessor relaxation of its mouth. I look atwhere the noseband would lie andif the flesh is marked there or if thehair is discolored or rough under myfingers. I touch the horse’s cheeks,and I feel whether they are fleshy ordry and flat. I lift the forelock, and Ilook at the two small round muscleshorses have on their forehead justabove where they sometimes carry astar. Are these muscles even? If notthen I will ask the owner if this horsehas had a tooth problem, or I willwait to see the ride, and I may noticea rider that is holding on to one sideof the mouth and causing the horse tochew or resist more on one side of itsbody. I will be likely to find that thishorse has contracted and dry muscleson that side of its body, maybe evenstrides shorter and finds it difficultto bend in the opposite direction.Or I may find that a horse is sounbalanced that he divides his bodyto use his neck as a balancing rod,causing his neck to flex to the outsideand his body to flex to the inside.These patterns will need to be gentlyunraveled and the horse’s posturegently restored. Trying to force a goodposture on a horse that has heldhimself incorrectly for a long time canbe a disaster; we must proceed slowlyand without force.In hand, I will gently swivel thehorse’s head in a “no” motion or havehim nod “yes” to check whether hispoll has muscles or spine restrictions,then I like to ask the horse to reachwith his neck forward, down, and out.Sometimes, I will meet a horse thatcannot stretch his neck with an openthroat latch anymore, the hinges ofthe poll and the span of his withershave been frozen in place by trainingthat insists on curling the headand neck and placing the nose wellbehind the vertical.The owner will complain that thehorse cannot sit. It won’t be able toshorten its body because it cannotlengthen through the topline anymoreand therefore cannot equally bendall the joints of its hind legs deeplyenough to lower the croup and allowthe front end to lighten and rise.Why? Because its neck has beenshortened and is be so tight it cannotaccommodate the arc that collectiondemands of the entire body.As the horse moves up the levels, ifthe horse is trained properly it willlook as though the rider has moreand more horse in front of him than456FEATURED IN THIS ARTICLEDINAMICO XIIImported Andalusian StallionSire:Salinero XV by Enojado IIDam: Dinamica IX by Celesto• 2000 • Grey • 16.2HH •4 I am checking for tightness in the masseter/cheek area, touching and gliding down thesemuscles, and Dinamico responds without anyconcern and a relaxed mouth.5 Asking for a gentle flexion of Dinamico’s jawto the right without meeting any resistance.6 I flex him at the poll both left and right, gentlyguiding his head and holding his jowl and nose.This tests the mobility through the poll.I pay attention to any differences in rangeof motion to the left and to the right.www.equinenaturally.com.au 3

WHAT THE TOPLINE SAYS ABOUT HORSE AND RIDER7897 Dinamico shows that he is able to flex throughthe poll and jaw with a loose and relaxed lowerjaw. He holds no tension in his TMJ.8 I continue the flexion and note Dinamico isable to flex without shifting his body weightto counter balance. I assess his flexibility andbalance. Flexion should be soft and fluid withouttension or resistance.9 I ask Dinamico to lower and extend his neckand head. I check his overall balance andmuscular state. He is softly balanced.behind him because the backendjoints will fold deeply in collectionand the horse’s neck will rise beforethe saddle. Today we see many GrandPrix horses that look very short infront of the saddle and quite longbehind it. That is not correct training.I look to see if the muscles on bothsides of the neck, one hand behindthe ears are even, if they are bulgyand hard, or stringy and dry. I checkto see if they are hot, cold, if thehorse flinches or ignores me, or onthe contrary welcomes my touch witha sigh of release. I check to see if theneck is wider at the base and thinneras it goes toward the poll or if insteadthe “patting” places on both sidesof the neck are hollowed in and theneck is thin at its base and wider atits apex, behind the ears. If that isthe case, I know this horse has beenridden without being allowed its ownbalance, it has been ridden in a rigidand containing frame and more oftena backward hand action. Its riderwill complain that it is uncooperativeand hard in the mouth. It will be stiffin the body because these musclesare those that develop when a horseis bracing at the poll or has had itsmouth clamped down and is riddenconsistently broken between thesecond and third vertebra with its jawbone aiming towards its under neckand its nose behind the vertical.When I touch the long muscles thatrun from head to shoulder on the sideof the neck and those from the headto the chest, I may often find thatthey are painful and sometimes thehorse will look ewe necked becausethese muscles are overly developedin comparison to an under developedand weakened topline.In general, if I encounter a horsethat has overdeveloped muscles onthe underside of the neck and thin,stringy, dry muscles on top, I knowthat this horse will have balanceproblems because it won’t havebeen allowed to seek and establishits independent balance and stepinto, and carry the bit, and it willnot be able to collect. It will be asthough the energy travels throughits body and stops at the withers,never traveling through its neck. Thishorse may also have hollow spacesbehind its shoulders instead of anelastic apron of muscles that link theshoulder to the back and hind end.Often these horses look odd becausethey have large bodies and eitherpencil necks or short and very thicknecks, weak looking or hollow backs,hunters bump with under developedhindquarters and croups with skislope angles rather than round andelastic muscles. As there has been noeffort to develop the horse’s elasticityhorizontally, if this started as aconformation issue, it soon becomesworse through training that makesthe body tighter instead of looser andfreer with every training session.I can see this reflected in the musclesof the back. The ones that run fromwither to croup and line the spine onboth sides. If I see a horse with thespine protruding and sharp inclinesdown to the ribcage with muscles thatare so flat I can barely see them, andwhen I touch them are hard as wood,I know this horse is being restrictedin its movement and I will want tocheck the saddle and the riding.Such muscles, whether found on theback or elsewhere in the body tell methat the horse is not ridden elastically,that the rider does not know thatmuscles need to contract and releaserhythmically to develop into wellness.Muscles can contract, but they cannotlengthen themselves on their own andso the topline can only lengthen whenthe underline shortens and vice versa.If a rider keeps their horse’s head andneck pulled in and kicks the hind legunder to try and bring the back upand muscle the topline, all they willdo is train the horse into a leg moverinstead of what is desirable: a backmover. Back muscles develop properlywhen we ride the whole horse in agood posture in the right rhythm, it isall they require.Over rounding the horse is the kindof posture that destroys the elasticity4 Equine Naturally

WHAT THE TOPLINE SAYS ABOUT HORSE AND RIDERin the topline as any fixed and hyperflexed position will - I used a bow andstring analogy in previous articles toexplain why. If you keep a wood bowstrung all the time, soon enough itwon’t send your arrows far becauseits body will have set into that curve.By loosening the string of the bowafter each session, the body of thebow retains its flexibility and it willshoot arrows much further becausethe archer will be able to bend itfurther and charge the string andarrow with more energy.While the analogy is importantto explain the importance offlexibility and how much betterit accommodates and transformsenergy, of course we must rememberthat a horse is not a bow. An archercan keep its bow strung for hours, butthe horse’s body needs the releasefrom the pressure of the tightened“string” after being asked for severalstrides in collection, after an exerciseor movement that asked him to gatherhimself and carry himself more.This is especially more so when youare introducing collection. Horsesthat are ridden into wellness arethose who are encouraged to moveelastically, that is with a long neckand a slight arch from poll to pointof the hock after being asked for anydegree of collection.A horse will stay content in itswork when he trusts that the riderwill treat him fairly and ask for alittle bit at a time. A content horseis calm and relaxed, its musclesare loose and supple, and its bodyis ready and willing to take whatshape and form the rider asks itto. Before we start looking at thetopline and the underline, beforewe examine the horse’s body, wemust always remember that thehorse is an individual with a mind,a temperament, and a collection ofexperiences and memories that weneed to know and respect. Only whenwe know our horse in both mind andbody can we hope to help develophim for the better by adjusting ourtraining to his particular needs.As I look at the horse’s hindquartersand in particular the croup, I look atwhere the dock of the tail is placed.Is it lower than the hip points? Howdoes this horse stand? Is he balancinghis weight squarely on all four feet, ishe parked out and trying to compresshis back, are his hind legs wayunderneath him, in an effort to openhis back and de-compress its spine,stretch its muscles? Are both croupcheeks even when I stand behind? IfI place one hand on each of his hippoints (when he is square) do I findthat one is further forward, backward,up or down then the other? When Icheck the opposite shoulder on thatdiagonal, what will I find? Will itbe less or more developed then itsother one?Finding these landmarks will tell mewithout the rider needing to open hismouth that the horse is crooked andthe gaits are not pure. Only bydeveloping a straight horse can youhave pure gaits.Straightness is an integral goal ofevery training session. To be straight,both halves of my horse’s bodymust be symmetric, they must beeven. Muscles must be developedidentically on both sides of the bodyand have the same tone, elasticity,and strength, because muscles arewhat keeps the skeleton in alignment.This is why dressage is calledgymnasticizing the horse and isdesigned to help us ride them intowellness. Designed to build theirbodies to become strong and suppleso they can live long lives with us. Wedo not want to ride them into painand lameness and shorten their usefullife and sour their experience with us.1010 I check Dinamico from the back and lookfor differences in his body mass and bonystructures from left to right. I check his spinalalignment and the condition of his back.Sometimes, I will rock Dinamico gently totest his balance and reflexes.11 1211 One way to remind your horse to travel in a good posture is to ask for a gentle back lift.You can practice this everyday while your horse stands quietly. I like to place my left handon the croup to feel the muscle’s reaction while my right hand asks him to lift his back.12 Dinamico has lifted his back. His neckstretches forward and his pelvis tucks in a littlebit showing good mobility.www.equinenaturally.com.au 5

WHAT THE TOPLINE SAYS ABOUT HORSE AND RIDER13 14151613 As he lifts his back, I check his withers andneck alignment and test the muscle tone andelasticity of his deep cranial pectoral muscle. Itshould be soft, pliable and allow my hand to sink.14 I have adjusted Dinamico’s posture toshow what we DO NOT WANT TO SEE becauseit is is unhealthy for the horse: a droppedback and legs camped out behind.15 I go over his body testing for soft, pliable,blood filled muscles. No part of his body shouldfeel like concrete. Muscles should be elastic tothe touch. The hindquarters are connected to theneck and back. What does your horse feel like?16 Checking Dinamico’s pectoral. I look forrestrictions, I compare both pectorals for sizeand consistency. I check to see if Dinamico isapprehensive or sore.I pick up the tail. Is it clamped down?Can I move it equally to the leftand right or is it stuck a bit in onedirection? If I pull gently on it holdingit at the base does it feel like it hasa solid connection to the rest of thespine, or does it feel weak? Does thehorse lower its neck and pull forward,using me as a resistance to stretchits entire spine? Or does it throw itshead up, collapses its back and lowerits hindquarters, trying to avoid anymovement in its back? What clue canI pick up from that?I gently run my fingers underneaththe horse and ask him to raise hisback. I allow him and encourage himto lower its neck forward, down andout, and I feel to see how much heis able to arch his topline and wherethe restrictions are. Sometimes whena rider is on the horse and they donot understand how blocking orcurling the neck affects the wholehorse, I will ask the horse to bring1717 I check Dinamico’s range of motionin his fore and hindlegs gently looking forrestrictions or pain. I compare his flexibilityone leg to the other.his back up while they are mounted.I will let them feel for themselves thedifference between how much theback is dropped and where it shouldbe. Not by asking for a full blownstretch but just lifting it to where anunrestricted back and ribcage wouldfloat up to if the rider had not cagedthe horse’s back in tight incorrectlydeveloped muscles.Another way I demonstrate this isby placing my bamboo pole on thewither and the croup and asking thehorse to raise his back so that therider can see what the true toplineof the horse is as the space betweenwithers and croup fills up.Being able to visualize the differencebetween a healthy, strong toplineand one that has been pushed downand hollowed by poor training isan effective way to demonstrateto a rider how much training canimpact what we sometimes see asa conformation limitation. Seeingthis, a rider can make the decision toeducate themselves and change theirriding for the better.The topline of the horse receives somuch attention because it carriesthe rider and showcases the archof the horse’s neck, his noble head,the powerful span of its hindquarterand his expressive tail, but we mustbe careful to learn to read the bodyof our horses and understand thatno matter how flashy and brillianta horse looks like, a neck broken atC2-C3, a tight back, underdevelopedquarters, the inability to executemovements equally well left and right,6 Equine Naturally

WHAT THE TOPLINE SAYS ABOUT HORSE AND RIDER18 19 20problems with collecting and bendingare not born out of thin air and reflectproblems in the training that have orwill impact the horse’s wellness.Every minute we ride, we areconditioning our horses for thebetter or for the worse, and we mustrecognize that their body is like clay, itlooks in the end exactly as the pottershaped it.If the potter is experienced andcareful his vases will be even,balanced, and last a very long time,if the potter is inexperienced or in ahurry, the vases he creates will beginlopsided, with thinner walls here andthere that will lead to a weakened,inferior product that will crack andbreak as we use it.To the eye that takes the time to seeit, the body of the horse tells the storyof its entire training. The body canshow us if draw reins were used, ifthe horse had inconsistent contact, ifhe was asked for forward but blocked,or if as a young horse he was riddenwith the neck high like an FEI horsewithout being allowed to fumbleand use his neck while finding hisindependent balance.The body can also show us if thebasic foundations were skippeddepriving a promising young horse thechance to become an accomplishedathlete. By the same token, thebody of the horse also tells us if thetraining has been progressive andconsiderate, if the young horse foundhis independent balance on his own,and if the more demanding work hasbeen tempered with a period of rest.The body tells us if the horse hasbeen worked in tension or if the riderhas ensured his horse was calmand attentive.By looking only at aesthetic things likehow curved the neck is, the activityof the legs, or the elegance of therider we miss or disregard the othercues like a mouth that gapes or foamsprofusely or eyes that roll and bulge,or restricted breathing. These thingsare the horses’ way of telling us theyare stressed. By thinking that a horsedrenched in sweat and on the vergeof explosion is correct, we minimizeand excuse noses behind the vertical,hocks that trail, and horses that showno bend in corners.We must remember that we seekto develop harmony, and harmonynever looks like fear, tension, andexplosiveness. A harmoniouslydeveloped horse is even andsymmetric, with muscles that are longand full, filled with good blood flowand oxygen, his limbs move freelywith good scope, and his coat shinesnaturally and is soft and has agood smell.When the horse sweats it should beover his entire neck, belly, quartersnot just patches on its shoulders orbetween the horse’s thighs, and thesweat itself coats the surface of themuscles like a wet mist. The horse isnot drenched from head to toe andleft covered with salty streaks andfoam. After a workout, the wholebody is warm to the touch, and thereare no cold zones to indicate that the212218 On the lunge line I look for softness in theatlas and poll area and for a soft, moving gullet.I look or a supple trot telling me Dinamico isworking without resistance.19 I look for correct flexion on the circle.20 Dinamico is showing INCORRECT, crookedflexion on the circle. Note the head is not in thecenter of the chest.21 I look for moments of suspension in thecanter where Dinamico is clearly using his backand showing softness and self-carriage.22 An example of what I DO NOT WANT TOSEE: Dinamico is using himself incorrectly, theneck carriage is high, the back is hollow and stiffand as a result there is very little movement inthe hindlegs.This is not healthy or desirable.www.equinenaturally.com.au 7

WHAT THE TOPLINE SAYS ABOUT HORSE AND RIDERhorse was working incorrectly and notusing its whole body.By observing our horse, by touchingand feeling him, we come to realizequickly that riding theory is wastedwithout an understanding of anatomy.Without an understanding of what ahealthy horse LOOKS and FEELS likewe have no concrete way to measurethe quality of our training.Without an understanding of thehorse’s body, how can we truly assessand correct his straightness, balance,bend, and impulsion? I find that whena rider is exposed to all the knowledgethe body of his horse holds, excludinga momentary upset if the horse isuncomfortable, there is most often agreat relief. Now they know the score,now they have a map, now they canbegin to ride intelligently and withpurpose.All it requires is the desire to learn.2323 Working in-hand showing correct flexion tothe right with the hind legs following the forewhile the whole body arches gently.24 Finally... Dinamico showing correctstraightness through the bend. Note how thehind feet follow the fall of the fore feet.24MANOLO MENDEZ was the firstHead Rider, and one of six foundingmembers of the Royal AndalusianSchool of Equestrian Art. Based inJerez, Spain, the school is one ofthe four classical schools which alsoinclude the Cadre Noir in Saumur, theSpanish Riding School in Vienna andthe Portuguese School of EquestrianArt in Lisbon. A master horsemanwith over forty years of experiencespanning classical dressage, domavaquera and jumping, Manolo isdedicated to a soft, sympatheticand thorough training methodwhich prepares horses physicallyand psychologically for each stageof training from training to GrandPrix and Haute Ecole. For moreinformation and more articles visit:www.manolomendezdressage.comManolo Mendez wishes to thank Alexand Sandra Wolfe for their friendshipand patronage; and Wolfe Civil for itssupport and sponsorship. Featuredin this article is WolfeMen stallionDinamico who belongs to the Wolfes.For more information visitwww.manolomendezdressage.com8 Equine Naturally