I knew I wanted to get some updated pictures of Grace this weekend. My hat is off to all professional horse photographers out there. I swear it is easier to get a horse to drink water than it is to get one to pose for a picture. Just know that Grace looks even better in person.
I also pulled out some old pictures so we could compare them to the ones I took today.
This is from today - sorry about the lighting it was raining. When I first posted this on Facebook a friend IM'd me and said "didn't your horse used to have withers?" I had to think about it, she still has withers, but now her back has come up to meet them. Her neck and shoulder also tie in to them now.
This picture is from September of 2008. I can really see the difference in Grace's back. Her "suspension bridge" isn't working as the underside also looks weak.
This is from today - one of many pictures with Belle in them! This is becoming her normal neck position. When I am not attempting to take pictures of her, this is where Grace wants to hold her head when I work her. 
This is again from September of 2008. This is how Grace has held her head and neck for most of her life. You can see how much shorter it looks. The underside is much more developed than the top side. 
I took this picture today so I would have documentation of the divot on her right side. I really like her hip right now.
This is from today. I gave up on posing and let her graze. 
This is from April 2006. I believe that Grace clearly looks uncomfortable in this picture. See the short step behind? Even though her head and neck are stretched, it looks very tight to me. It might just be the moment in time of that shot, but this to me does not look like the same horse in the first picture. 
I found this picture in the camera today.
I missed it when I posted the pictures from the clinic.
I love her so much <3
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! She looks like she is bearing much more weight on her hind end now, much less tight through the shoulder, it looks like she doesn't need to "hold" herself up anymore, I like her leg placement much better now and you can see that she is in shape and not in pain or stiff, I like her hind end and hip a lot more, she seems very comfortable and I would give this an 80% improvement from a few years ago! Awesome, I love to see improvement in horses... I always said that every horse has the potential to be a beautiful horse if they are worked properly and given the exercises required. A lot of work comes with getting a horse's back muscled and getting the horse to work in a frame and I think you have totally nailed everything right on the head! Good job!
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