Loosening a Musclebound Horse

For me personally it is easier to stabilize a flexible horse than loosen a muscular horse.  This past weekend I attended a Lientje Schueler Dressage clinic and took a muscular mare.  This was very helpful to me in my overall understanding of loosening up the movement.

The fist thing I have to say is that the riders knee can be very helpful in this.  The knee seems to be very effective at moving the shoulder.  I have been using the knee to fine tune tempi changes on a flexible horse but not in basic movements.  Now I wonder why I did not make this connection before. 

The muscular horse is stuck in the shoulder more than I would have ever guessed.  Loosening the shoulder was done with moving the horse off the knee in shoulder in and leg yielding very effectively.  This helped the shoulders immensely.  As did Renvers on the short side.  The frequent repositioning of the shoulder helped the movement relax and develop.
 
The other obvious maneuver was transitions within the trot.  They were more effective though after the lateral movements. 

The half pass on this mare just felt tight all over.  After the shoulder loosening, the half pass flowed more like you would expect it to flow.

The canter on the other hand was loosened more effectively with haunches in.  I had also always asked a canter rhythm each stride.  I changed my request to close my legs around the horse without a rhythm  but to ask the horse to come up under me more.  I did set a rhythm with my whip instead.  Then allowed my mare to canter in good balance with quiet soft legs.  I came in with both legs and the whip rhythm if she lost her balance.  This allowed my legs to be quieter and allowed the mare to hear the directions more clearly.  I am thinking clearer communication may be critical to advanced canter.  I am going to try to change my canter approach for all of my horses so I can get better communication!

I have lots of things to think about but I am thinking I will see an improvement in my horses and I am super excited to play with these refined concepts.