Round or flat?

YO worked Max for me today, and I arrived at the yard before my shift in plenty of time to make a fuss of him.

That he had worked hard was evident by the fact that he was still damp where he'd been hosed down for sweat. It is a mild day today, and Max is still fairly hairy, so not surprising he managed to get himself into a lather.

He greeted me with a lusty neigh and a request for comfort. He tucked his head into me and told me he'd worked very VERY hard that morning and was spent.

"Oh, Max! Look at the state of you! Did you do well? Did you behave yourself?"

He assured me that he had been stellar but he was starving, so I gave him an armful of hay and a teensy apple for being such a good boy.

The YO, when she turned up on the yard, had another tale to tell.

"Max had told me he worked really hard today," I opened.

She told me that he'd been like "a plank of wood". Just didn't want to work at all, and really didn't want to be "round".

Now "round", there is a thing. You don't want your horse working with a hollow back under saddle, struggling to accommodate your weight by hollowing the back, and not working through the hinds or fronts well. The idea of round is to get them to collect themselves, raise the back, power through the hinds and tuck up those neck muscles so they're light in front, holding your weight and their own in optimum position, and working well through their shoulders and hinds. I'm probably not describing it very well, but it goes to something called "outline" and it's important in that it helps the horse work efficiently and powerfully, builds up the right muscles to keep fit and hold a rider's weight, and remain light in the hand for directions through the bit, and supple through the back for fitness and "feel", so that commands given by the rider's seat and legs can be felt with just the slightest shift of weight in the seat, just a brush with the legs at the right moment.

Oh, I could go into classical schools of riding here, and dressage and all sorts, but that's not really Max. I'm only interested in "roundness" to the extent that I want Max to be fit and healthy, and strong so he can use his body in the best way, the same way I watch my own fitness. It's a bit like posture, in a way. Don't slouch else you'll get a back ache. Hold yourself up, back straight,shoulders back, power in the legs, to avoid injury.

Whether Max is collected and "on the bit" when we're out and about on a hack, well, that doesn't really matter to me.

After talking to the YO, I went back to Max.

"So, you don't want to be round, young sir?

"Pfft. I'm round enough, don't you think? Look at me! Round as a peach, sound as a pound."

"Well, she said you were flat, like a plank of wood. Wouldn't you rather be round, like an apple?"

"I do like apples, but I also like toast, and that's flat. Flat is good."

"Round is good too, though, like that ball you like to kick around."

"I kick it around to get it flat. I just need one proper good stomp and that thing is a pancake. Flat as..."

Enough said. He worked very hard, he protested to being round, but to be honest, my boy is never flat. He's got way too much about him for flatness. Anyone who sees Max and thinks "flat" just ain't looking hard enough.

Outline isn't everything, and I know that from the moment when I left the yard today and paused to watch Max and the Boss out in their field, cantering together in a play fight, with mini rears and quick turns. They were having fun, proper horseplay, and Max was anything but a flat plank of wood.

That's a thing to see; horses moving naturally with no rider, no instruction, just doing what they do. That's more beautiful to my eye than any amount of roundness under saddle.