Thoroughbred Logic, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products: Your Horse Is a Croissant
“The idea is pretty simple — a horse that is not entirely straight (what horse ever really is???) generally lines up in a crescent of some variation from nose to tail.”
Welcome to the next installment of Thoroughbred Logic. In this weekly series, Anthropologist and trainer Aubrey Graham, of Kivu Sport Horses, offers insight and training experience when it comes to working with Thoroughbreds (although much will apply to all breeds). This week ride along as Aubrey shares her logic on how a horse is a croissant…
A simile would likely be more accurate — your horse is like a croissant. But I rather prefer metaphor — the horse croissant it is. And no, this has nothing to do with food and everything to do with the persistent shape they make when moving.
The idea is pretty simple — a horse that is not entirely straight (what horse ever really is???) generally lines up in a crescent of some variation from nose to tail. Horses who “drop their shoulder” or lean usually do so consistently to one side. One who drops its shoulder left creates what I call a right curved croissant. Those who drop their ribs and shoulders right craft the left-facing croissant. Like the pastry, each horse is unique in the exact shape they make, but also like the pastry, it is not easy to simply reshape them the other way once they’ve come out of the oven (off the track… been brought along under saddle… don’t overthink the metaphor).
Snowman (Bowing Snowman) was a lovely horse-shaped 4×4 who took a bit of let down and patience to craft a proper bend. Photo by Lily Drew.
I hear this a lot, “they fall in going left, but they’re great going right” or some such similar thing (direction of falling in/going great is variable, of course). If you keep in mind the horse as croissant, in this case that just means that their shoulders are often held to the left of their nose, crafting a right-facing crescent. That crescent appears correct when asking for a bend while tracking right. On the other rein, it is literally the same horse and same nose-shoulder-ribs-haunches orientation, just struggling against the turn because the shape has not changed.
A right-facing croissant horse. Design by author.
Turning and bend has a lot to do with which hind leg a horse is comfortable balancing on. For many Thoroughbreds it is common that one rear limb has taken more pressure and impact than the other on the track. After retiring from their racing career, one leg (often the right hind, but each horse is different) may be comparatively a bit more sore. For the American runners who turn left, that right hind leg has to really dig in on those turns and hold them up at high speed. Of course they can shift to the other lead on the straight or fight gravity and gallop through the curve on the off-lead.
Either way, when they retire, one leg is usually the one they protect, and one is the one they prefer to use. Their bend will normally face away from their preferred hind leg. A horse with a sore/more sore/weaker right hind will often become a right-facing croissant, putting the weight over the left hind, and vice versa. The hind leg preference alone may be enough to inspire their preferred bend, but of course there’s more to it than that. There are factors of where soreness travels, and if they’re compensating for other parts of their bodies or general aches from running and then retiring and changing muscle structure as they move to a new job in the sport horse world.
Neil (Lute’s Angel) sure has ups, but he also protects his left hind, often struggling to land the right lead when asked and existing as a bit of a left-facing croissant, most noticeable when traveling right (yes, this is a left-lead oriented grid and he’s doing it well). Screenshot by Lily Drew.
Often in these situations, riders struggle to fix the shape when the horse is traveling against their preferred bend. That’s when they notice it the most — the dropped shoulder, the increased speed and lack of balance as the horse tries to turn. Add to this that rider knows that they should be supporting with their outside rein, but they find themselves holding and steering with the inside to simply make the turn happen. Fixing the bend there will feel like you’re fighting gravity and 1000 pounds of horse — especially in a smaller arena on tighter turns.
Working to sort out the bend with Rook (Breath of Royalty) by providing space to move his shoulder in and applying outside leg to push his shoulders straighter behind his nose. Photo by Lily Drew.
But knowing that the horse croissant stays the same croissant even when traveling in the other direction, one can actually work to fix the lean/dropped shoulders when they feel the horse is balanced. The left-facing croissant stays left-facing no matter how you turn it … thus the fix for the left-facing croissant stays the same no matter what direction they are facing. So train straight in the good direction where you have balance and then apply that to the hard side.
It seems — and is — probably too simple. But it works.
Jenna (Jenna the Boss) can be (very slightly) a left-facing croissant. Teaching her to travel very straight when going left helps her balance and hold herself up when traveling to the right. Photo by Lily Drew.
To fix the over-bend or the lack of straight, the most important thing to think about is that it is not the nose that is going to change things. We have to move their ribs and shoulders so that their hind feet can step under more evenly and hold them straighter. If we try to pull the nose back the other direction, the only thing that happens is we migrate the full croissant in that direction. Rather, the best way to think about reshaping their bend is to aim to hold their nose steady and move their shoulder and ribs so that they line up behind their nose.
Going in the good direction where the bend seems “correct” works to reduce the bend and get them straighter. Ride off of the rail of the arena and open the inside rein to create space for the shoulder to move over. Apply outside aids to move said shoulder and ribs in and straighten the horse behind their nose while not wobbling off your line. Once you are able to straighten the croissant in the good direction, you’ll feel more power from their hind end. And all of that will help build strength and muscle memory to find straight when traveling the “hard way.” I like to do this at the trot, then use my change of direction to hold the same straight in the tougher direction — ride as long as they are able, reward, take a break, get straight traveling the easier way again, and then change rein and direction without changing their bend.
Manhattan took some ground work to translate this idea of straightening out the bend up into the saddle. Now he’s pretty good at staying straight. Photo by Lily Drew.
This all takes time and perseverance. And for horses who feel more like a croissant baked of metal (yep the metaphor broke down), there are ways to use ground work to get them to understand how to move their shoulders over. I’ll dive more into that in the next week or so.
In the meantime folks, go ride. And enjoy your pony regardless of which way the croissant faces (also please, please, please someone make it stop snowing in New York. It’s mid-April for goodness sake).
About Kentucky Performance Products, LLC:
Choose Neigh-Lox® Advanced when digestive health is a top priority for your equine athlete.
Neigh-Lox Advanced provides a scientifically advanced blend of ingredients that work synergistically to maintain your horse’s digestive tract in peak condition by supporting both the gastrointestinal tissues and the beneficial bacteria that populate the gut. Maintaining a healthy digestive tract reduces the risk of colonic and gastric ulcers, colic, laminitis related to hindgut acidosis, and oxidative stress that damages digestive tract tissues themselves. Horses with a well-balanced GI tract have good appetites, absorb more nutrients from their diets, maintain a strong immune system, and stay healthier.
The horse that matters to you matters to us®. KPPusa.com
