This is Mal in 2010 with his previous rider.

Here Mal is definitely better. This is 3 months after I have been riding him in March of 2011. But he is still not softening his neck and spine fully which tells me that there is an even better bascule in him plus more scope.

DeNiro at Midsouth HT October 2008 before meeting Lisa Gaylord and before having bodywork. The overall impression here is that he looks good. When I first saw this picture in 2008, I thought it was the best picture in the world of my DeNiro. And, sure, it is not a bad picture, but when I really pick it apart, I find the stuck points that caused all of our struggles. Especially when compared to the picture to the right, DeNiro looks like his body wants to go in multiple directions because different parts of his body are being pulled in opposite ways. His hind end is propelling him forward but his pelvis and stifle rotation is limited so he cannot have his maximum reach underneath himself. His back is held tightly, and I am sitting like I cannot relax into it because it can't relax into my seat. His withers and sternum are jutted forward and downward causing his neck to come up and suck back toward me, hence the loop in my reins from his inabiity to lift his withers and sternum, elongate the top of his neck and move down and out into the rein contact.  Because he could not push evenly through his body from the tip of his tail to the tip of his nose, his head is too far to the left creating false bend or "neck bend", set there from the withers and sternum being stuck.

Here is DeNiro at FENCE HT in April of 2010. He had been worked on by Lisa Gaylord all of 2009 before we moved to Aiken in December. Here we can see a longer push from his hind end, a raised sternum and withers allowing him to bend through the base of his neck and withers, and an elongated neck into the contact. This means the joints of his spine from tail to nose are softer, more flexible, more hydrated, and able to perform as efficiently as possible to minimize stress on the body through compensation. The overall impression compared to the picture on the left is that of fluidity. He looks as if he could bound across the ground remaining forward, straight, and supple. I am sitting into him relaxed and moving with him (although my arms should be softer). We are an elastic connection moving in harmony. DeNiro won the dressage at this show for a reason.

This is Monk in March 2011 before any bodywork. Again, this appears to be a nice photo. But when you look closely at the horse's body you can see the resistance in his spine from how he is holding his back and neck so tightly. Here, his withers and sternum are jutted forward and downward. The area above the stifle is flat until you get to the sole bulging muscle telling us that he cannot take a straight step off the ground without twisting his left hind foot outward and overusing that bulging muscle. To allow his neck to elongate outward and downward from his withers and the base of his neck, his pelvis needs to lower by lifting his withers and allowing his neck to come longer, as if in a long-and-low frame until the horse can find that supple place on his own.

This is Monk in May 2011 after just two sessions. I had been riding him for 3 weeks prior to this show. You can see the difference in carriage of the horse compared to the picture on the left. Now his energy is more underneath himself instead of it runnning out in front of him. You could ask him to halt, and he would not "run out the front door" for even a moment. There is an athletic, supple, confident look to him now that the joints in his spine are more mobile and loose. As he finds strength in this balance, his pelvis will lower and lift his front end off the ground effortlessly. His muscles above his stifle are filled out and that one sole bulging muscle from the previous picture is soft and working in unison with the others. I love these pictures for comparing the stifle area. You can really see the twist in his left hind in the picture to the left, and you can really see how it has filled out to allow a straight purchase off the ground in the above picture.

Here is Norman at Sporting Days in March 2010. This is prior to his summer sessions of bodywork with Lisa Gaylord. My horses and I were only home for 2 months over the summer of 2010 so I had Norman worked on multiple times in that short period. This is a very impressive picture at first glance. He looks quite scopey and appears to have very good form. However, this is a very misleading picture. For starters, the biggest issue glaring at me is how his hindend is trailing out behind him, and he is just about catapulting himself over the fence. His pelvis is not flexed downward at all, and he is holding his lower back and hindend very tightly over this fence, which is why he looks so impressive up front because all of the work is being done by pulling himself over the fence rather than pushing over the fence. This is going to lead to knocking rails with the stiff, trailing hindend. This is why he is overjumping this fence so majorly because he is a careful horse by nature, and he does not want to hit the rail with his stuck hindend so he found a way to get the job done without hitting it. He is using his neck excessively (because he has to in order to make it over), and it is tense and stiff as a result.

This is Norman at Full Gallop HT in March 2011. Wow, look at the difference in his form! He is making a soft, upside-down "U" shape with his body now that he is comfortable in his hindend and able to use it! His neck is much rounder and softer. He is not overjumping the fence. In comparison with the picture to the left, his balance has shifted back to his hindend to push from it to get over instead of pulling himself over. This is a great comparison to train our eye to what is really going on in photos of our horses!