1st pic, she's overbent. Her head has dropped behind the vertical to evade the contact, she can't use her back properly - her hindquarters are raised to bring her hindleg through, rather than 'sitting' on her back legs, and as a result her strides have shortened, and her hind feet are falling short of where her front feet landed.
2nd pic, she's hollowed. Her head's up, back's hollowed, and her hindlegs are trailing behind her. She can't swing through from behind because she needs to round her back to bring her hindlegs underneath her.
3rd pic, a much better outline. She's taking the contact forward, her shoulders are opening, and she's working through her back and starting to use her hindlegs more.
4th pic, she's running on a bit in this trot, but she's tracking up well and taking a good contact.
To me not many of theses horses look to be working "correctly." Its not criticism though as I cant do any better myself
This was a jumping lesson on the little baby, he felt like he was really working and moving forwards into more of a contact. He felt he was really pushing and swinging from behind
Finally relaxing a bit more into the contact yet still working from behind, as he is a baby he ends up leaning into the contact sometimes.
This is Mr Woody. Im so tiny
I school him occasionally, well try to
and he always feels very nice, swingy and floaty and moves well. In this photo he works well into a contact, but not quite tracking up
[ QUOTE ]
he does have his welshness against him (tendency to curl up and bounce)
[/ QUOTE ]
Wanna tell Genie this? I can second that Frank's counter is bouncey!
In canter I love this pic of Genie although the light's rubbish... She's really stepping under and working well (in my opinion anyway!)
Then in trot she's working well behind in this photo, to me looks like she's working through her back. She's always easier to get into an outline in a pelham, but won't always work correctly! I had a (jumping) clinic the other week and the instructor said to one person doing it 'he's in an outline, but he's not working forward, just bringing his head in'.
I would be interested in hearing other peoples' opinions however! I don't profess to know everything, and feedback from a less biased eye is always welcome!
for a baby, she is working well, shes tracking up, working over her back, opening up her shoulder and seeking the bit. when he back end is stronger, eventually she will work more uphill and her poll will become higher without falling behind the vertical.
I would ditto the comments about Bob and some of the others - but really, the only way to learn is years of experience and lots of lessons with a good instructor.
This is a Medium level horse in working trot, stretching into the bit clearly and working properly from behind (I think). as he warms up and is asked to be more collected the carriage will be more uphill:
And a good medium trot showing a lengthened topline and equal angles between front and hind legs:
An almost perfect advanced horse "outline" from Lancet:
to see whether horse is giving properly at the jaw and poll, look at the line of the bottom of its neck, from jaw to chest. the top line can be arched but if the under-line isn't arched too, if it's straight or bulging the other way, it is incorrect.
the horse's back should be working behind the saddle, not dipped away. you should be able to see that the muscles are 'up' and moving, not low and locked.
the horse's frame should be higher at the front ideally, or at the lower levels it should be level, not lower at the front.
pic of foal loose, working uphill:http://www.larundelwarmbloods.com/files/SPI.UPHILL.BABY_op_800x724.jpg
this is working really nicely for a young horse: http://www.freewebs.com/scarey91457/Wycliff_trot.jpg
tracking up nicely, swinging through the back, looking uphill, opening the shoulder, stretching the neck forwards to a nice accepting contact.
I think we have the beginnings of it here...
He's starting to work over his back, he was feeling very loose in this pic & he's tracking up quite nicely
Altho on forehand a bit here he's still tracking up nicely & seeking the contact (think the faults are all my doing!)
I think this is a good picture in it's own way - you can see the 'bridge' shape starting to come over his back and he's tracking up & looking nice & loose thro his neck & jaw.
There's still a long way to go from this as none of these pictures really show a 'true' outline but I've found working him long & low very beneficial to begin with & I can now gradually start taking up more contact & asking for a bit more...in theory!
I don't believe you can tell from looking at photos whether a horse is working properly. Looking at the outline alone gives you no indication about rhythm (THE most important element), looseness, suppleness, straightness... Is the horse held in a contact or is it elastic? Impossible to say.
Pony and rider combo look very nice though and she sits up nice and straight
Even pictures of a horse overbent at times would not worry me, if this is a momentary blip or the rider was about to ask for a more rounder, longer outline, this is not a problem.
But how many times have I seen a photo of a well captured horse and rider and thought Wow, only to see them in the flesh or on a video and be a little disappointed.
Just a suggestion for Embob and others maybe wanting to learn more, doing dressage writing is really good to be able to see lots of different types of horses all working slightly differently.
Do it with as many judges as possible, some are better than others and some pick up on different things to others but if you get some good ones you could learn quite a lot about how the horses way of going is viewed which you can then apply to your own
this is my medium mare 19years old doing some trot work after 12months of doing nothing.
she is lovely and soft, tracking up. shes not quite up to the bit as she had not been in work and the aim was just to do some nice trot work with a swinging back and good steps.
my 8months backed mare doing some nice work.as she gets older i will be aimng for more of an uphill collected type of work