In a previous article, we discussed how overbent horses have a dynamic upper airway obstruction. I would like to take this discussion one step further. In addition to the fact that the horse is suffering from the inability to acquire enough oxygen to work, he is also not collected when ridden in this manner.

Round and low, or deep and round, does not mean the back is supple, warming up, or that the horse is about to spontaneously become collected. In fact, the more you haul on your horse’s face and point it at the ground the more you turn your horse into a wheelbarrow, with all the weight rushing ahead onto the forehand, and thus mock the sport and art of dressage. Over time training in this way, the rider will lose any ability help their horse become truly collected

True collection - or rassembler - is a picture of the horse moving in the following manner: more weight is carried on the hind quarters, and the haunches are usually lower than the withers as a result. The hips are basculed or tilted IN towards and under the body. The back and thorax are LIFTED between the front limbs. The front limbs are LIGHTENED and become more expressive in movement compared to the hind legs. The head and neck are lifted and lengthened. The POLL is the highest point on the horse. And the forehead is at or AHEAD of the vertical. Such horses are not being suffocated; neither are they struggling for air.It is to be expected that the young horse, or any horse in the early stages of dressage training, will occasionally lower their heads and/or slip behind the vertical, this being a sign of immaturity. However it is also a sign that they are not fit enough to perform the work and indeed this is the manner in which they can evade proper work for a time, to give themselves and their muscules break. The aware rider never encourages the novice horse to work behind the vertical and makes attempts to correct it as soon as possible. It is also a red flag, to the thinking rider, a warning that their horse may be being pushed too far or too fast if the over collection occurs too frequently. A true horseman knows that this is a sign to back off their pupil and allow them time to become stronger through basic work, before moving on to movements that are more complex and more physically demanding.

Now let us move on to discuss in what ways overbent horses are not collected. We will move through a series of pictures and attempt to train your eye to see where the weight is carried by the horse. How a lifted back from a low head actually results in stiffness. How the hips of these animals are extended behind them and not basculed or flexed.