By Jennifer Klitzke

All horses are prone to traveling with a hollow back, but when a naturally gaited horse travels hollow, it often leads to pacing or hard trotting—and that’s bouncy and uncomfortable. Gaited horse riders like smooth gaits, so helping our naturally gaited horses travel with a neutral and relaxed back improves the natural smooth gait.

Here’s a story on how saddle fit, rider awareness, and learning a new exercise helps to improve the quality of my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse’s flat walk.

Rein Back To Smooth Gait

By Jennifer Klitzke

My naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse Makana has a rather long back for her size, and she has been rather stiff. That’s one of the biggest reasons why I registered for another gaited horse clinic with Larry Whitesell and Jennifer Bauer.

At last year’s gaited horse clinic, Larry and Jennifer showed me ways to unlock the tension in my horse’s poll that relaxes her body. They set me on a course to lead Makana into balance and relaxation.

The importance of saddle fit

At this clinic, Larry and Jennifer helped me address my horse’s back bracing issues. We began with saddle fit.

Since 2007, I have tried nine different saddles to find one that fits Makana. I’ve ridden in round skirted western saddles, dressage saddles, gaited saddles, and treeless saddles. Most saddles have been too narrow which pinch her shoulders and restrict her movement. The saddle I have been riding in is all-purpose saddle which is wide enough in the shoulders and fits Makana great (so I thought).

At closer examination, the saddle actually didn’t fit my horse. I had made a ridiculous mistake of saddle fitting my horse in the cross ties. Sure, the saddle had plenty of clearance over her wither—until I sat in the saddle. Then the saddle rested on her wither. This is likely one of the reasons that Makana was bracing her back.

Larry switched saddles to his Freedom saddle with a gaited tree. It fit perfectly (in and out of the cross ties), and we proceeded with the lesson.

The feeling of hollow, the feeling of round and its impact on movement

Larry and Jennifer helped open my riding awareness to the “feel” of my horse’s back—the feeling of hollow, the feeling of round, and its impact on movement.

I noticed that when my horse hollows her back, she loses forwardness, impulsion, and the depth of step. Cueing her forward while hollow only makes her take short, quick steps. It is still a smooth four-beat gait but the not the quality flat walk she is capable of.

Larry explained the bio-mechanics needed to improve my horse’s way of going. Instead of driving her forward while hollow, I need to help Makana engage her abdominal muscles to lift and round her back before encouraging her forward with relaxed deeper steps.

Rein Back and Forth to Smooth Gaits

Larry taught me a great exercise that helped my horse engage her abdominal muscles to lift her back.

Rein Back to Forward Steps
Beginning at a soft and round halt, I gently cue my horse three to five steps of slow and steady rein back. Then halt and gently cue my horse three to five steps forward and halt. Then repeat the back and forth sequence three times. The exercise is not rushed or forced. It is important that the horse remains relaxed and round from nose to tail. Once the horse feels lifted in the back during the last sequence of back and forth, then continue to move forward and maintain the feeling of relaxation and engaged abdominal muscles to lift the back.

When introducing this exercise, I only asked for a step or two of rein back. Now we do this exercise well.

How to perform a quality rein back for smooth gait:

1. For the rein back, I close my fingers on the reins without pulling back. This tells the horse don’t go forward. Then I draw my heels slightly behind the girth, hold my weight in my thighs and move my pelvis upward to lighten my seat. If my horse feels hollow, then I hug my horse with my heels to encourage her to engage her abdominal muscles and lift her back.
2. The forward cues are opening my fingers without giving away the reins, move my pelvis forward and squeezing and release my calves if needed to move forward.
3. Repeat the back and forth three times until I feel my horse’s back lift the saddle beneath me. Then I proceed forward ending the exercise and maintain the roundness in her back, the connection back to front, and engagement for deeper steps.

So each time I feel my horse’s back begin to sag, I repeat the “Rein Back and Forth to Better Movement” exercise and then resume where we left off before the exercise. This exercise has made a big difference in my horse’s movement and willingness to go forward.

Makana is happy that I am now on saddle number ten that is wide enough for her shoulders and tall enough to clear her withers.

Does anyone want to buy a saddle?

Video: Back and Forth to Better Movements

For more information about Gaited Horsemanship Clinics, visit Larry’s website WhitesellGaitedHorsemanship and Jennifer’s website GaitedHorsemanship.com.

Article about saddle fit by Larry Whitesell: “Is it Saddle Fit?”

For more information about the Freedom Saddle, visit FreedomSaddle.com.

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