• Dressage Flow success stories

    Proof of the Flow magic!

  • Success stories!

    The magic of Flow

The horse make-over! It’s so gratifying to see improvement in our equine partnership

It’s so fun to showcase Before-and-After photos because it’s nice to see just how far you can go within minutes to years. But remember that a lot of hard and sometimes frustrating work goes into these transformations. 

If you don’t make a change, things will never change

Developing humans and horses is not for the ‘quick fix’ kind of person. Slow, smart and diligently patient training helps make lasting changes. After you the human as made corrections to help your horse and your horse has understood what you want, you then have to wait. You have to wait for all the muscles and tendons and ligaments to stretch and strengthen. People have a really hard time waiting. Imagine that your goal is to do 20 pushups on your toes. For some people that could be done within minutes, but for the majority of us it would take months or even years to build enough strength and stamina to complete this task. It is no different for horses. 

We love to hear your success stories! Send your Before-and-After pics, AHA moments, comments, or questions to us by going to the Questions page

Celebrate the little achievements everyday. Realize that you are going in the right direction even if it feels like it is tortoise speed. Take lots of before and after pictures. You can make a difference!

Send us your success stories and pics—we’d love to see them!

Take me to QUESTIONS and CONTACT

TOUCHE

15 year-old 16.3H Rheinelander mare

IN THIS FIRST PHOTO

Touche is showing a very typical form of resistance. She is coming above the bit by bracing her back so it looks like a ‘u’ shape and is carrying tension—notice her ears. Also the bulge on the side of her neck is prodominently at the top of the neck which isn’t desirable.

THIS SECOND PHOTO

This is another great example of resistance but now Touche is behind the contact or the bit. She is broken at the 3rd vertebrae which leaves her poll lower than her neck height. Still the muscle bulge is focused at the top end of her neck and there is a pinching underneath her jaw. There is a feeling of two separate pieces of horse, one in the front and a different one in back.  

IN THIS FINAL PHOTO

Now we see a completely different picture of Touche during the same ride. Touche is happily connecting her hind end with the rest of her body. You can tell this because her back is lifting and her neck is coming nicely out of her withers.  Also the muscles on the sides of her neck are flatter, or even beginning to widen at the base of the neck which helps your horse hold their balance and is therefore very desirable. Her ears are both forwards and back thus her brain is connecting to the rider at the same time happy in her work. Her head is being correctly carried on the vertical. In time Touche would take more weight on her hind legs which would give her a more uphill look and raise her poll. Overall this is such a nice transformation of a resistant horse to a happy horse. Outshine!

STELLA

17 year-old 16.1 Holsteiner mare

IN THIS FIRST PHOTO

The rider is not holding the head as seen in the loop in the reins, however we see a very common neck build of a horse that resists contact. If you look at the bottom of the neck you will notice a stronger muscled area rather than the middle of the neck. When you ride your horse, look down at the neck muscles. They should be widest near the base of the neck and taper up to the poll. If you have a large bulge close to the poll, your horse is resisting you in some way and not coming up through the withers or the base of the neck.

IN THIS FINAL PHOTO

2 YEARS LATER, you will see a connection with the bit and the horse is lifting up towards the poll.  The entire neck over this time has grown in size and strength. The power exhibited in this photo is shown through the cadence in the horse’s step. Quite a remarkable transformation! Outshine!

LEXI

12 year-old 17H Clyde cross mare

IN THIS FIRST PHOTO

Here, Lexi is resisting a longitudinal flexion. Notice how straight her neck is, she looks more like the letter ‘V’. The rider is holding tension in the front of your body which is transmitted to the horse’s mouth. The seat is too far back in comparison to the ear, shoulder, hip, heel alignment.

IN THIS FINAL PHOTO

Look at the alignment now! One year later and a properly fitted saddle helped to perfectly line up of ear, shoulder, hip, and heel. The rider’s body is balanced in front and back and the leg hangs underneath her body. You can see that the horse is also reacting well to a properly placed human, she is round in the neck and square in her leg placement. Amazing changes in rider position. Well done. Outshine!