looking back: assessing the video still

Just about every action shot published on this blog is a screen shot from a video. There are a few exceptions, but by and large most of my pictures are from videos. Meaning I spend a lot of time scrolling through a video looking for those representative "moments."

Generally my favorite screenshot moment in trot is when the horse's leading fore leg is at its most outstretched, but has not yet hit the ground. Ideally, there will still be a little lift in the fore leg while the diagonal hind will have already landed and begun pushing. This stance often seems to give the horse his best chances of looking uphill, engaged and lifted in his wither.

Obvi this doesn't always quite work out, for instance Isabel never really landed first with her diagonal hind. But that's ok -- It's all relative to the horse's overall strength, conformation, training, and quality of movement anyway.

So again, my #1 preference is for the leading fore leg to be reaching and not yet landed. Usually I tend to prefer the horse's fore leg closest to the camera to be reaching forward, since that can make the shoulder look a little freer imo. I'm not too rigid with this, tho, as evidenced below.

By consistently looking for shots of Charlie in more or less the same phase of his trot, it becomes easier to compare similar pictures over time to assess his development. Particularly in the progression from when he first came off the track up to now, and also in suggesting what might be possible with the horse when he has more strength (or possibly a better rider LOL).

So let's have a looksie, shall we?

still my favorite "before" shot of charlie lol

Let's start by looking at photos of Charlie's trot in the earliest days right off the track when he was also pretty body- and hoof-sore,* as shown above. (*Yea I bought a lame horse. I remind myself of this every time I start whining about him being lame now too haha)

His leading foreleg is outstretched and he's basically looking as uphill as he ever was during this period. But we can easily see that he is totally disengaged and is dropped through the wither with a hollow top line. Definitely lacking strength behind!!

i tagged this photo from charlie's first ever jump lesson as #futureeleganthorse. yep. 

A few weeks later and we're still basically in the same place. Leading fore is outstretched, but will clearly hit the ground before the diagonal hind (explaining why his other fore leg is the only hoof fully grounded). The horse is disengaged and dropped through his shoulders, and heavy on the forehand. 

By this point, at least he has in fact discovered that he has hind legs, tho, and is in the infancy of figuring out how to push forward with them as opposed to just letting them trail behind.

my abs do not miss these days. at all.

But..... they still trail sometimes haha. Here's that not-actually-so-rare moment with both fore legs down and both hind legs up in trot. It's real special, yes?

Frankly, if you chopped Charlie's neck off and stuck it on top of his butt facing the other direction, well.... it would be a nicer picture haha. Bc yea we're basically backasswards in this shot. Or, in nicer words, a tad disengaged and heavy on the forehand. Death by face planting appears imminent.

code word in the early days: forward. that is all. just go forward. figure out the rest later.

In the same ride, but a different moment, you can clearly see how rapidly the green horse teeters back and forth between balance points. 

In this shot he *is* stepping more underneath himself with his hind end and figuring out how to push... But there's no corresponding lift through the shoulders and back, and he's basically propelling himself forward running into nothingness, with a slight downhill tendency. 

bc without that forward.... well.... i mean, there was a lot we needed to work on haha

In fact, for a horse who is not built downhill, Charlie certainly had quite a talent for going downhill. In this shot we see another example of one fore leg outstretched and just about to land, while the other foreleg is still grounded. 

Pretty easy to imagine him dragging his hind legs on a little set of wheelies back there, right? lol...

gosh it's been so long.... this was charlie's last time in a show ring, last september. he was such a good boy <3

Flash forward nine months later and the horse is very comfortably carrying more weigh in his hind end. His whole top line has also become softer and rounder. 

While he's still bearing down a little bit in front and losing energy out the front door, the overall picture conveys more strength and balance in the gait. Also an overall sounder horse.

concentrating so hard. still such a good boy!

And just a few weeks later, the same horse is exhibiting even more of that strength by carrying himself in a much more uphill balance, with significantly more lift through the shoulder. (Even if he still likes to kick up literal clouds of dust with his dragging tootsies...)

This is possibly the best Charlie has ever looked, tbh.

in fairness he was actually a bit lame here and getting worse.... still trying tho!

Aaaaand then another five months and the horse has dropped off significantly in the strength department again (uh, the rider too haha). And as a result is looking more earthbound again. 

But we can still see the difference in his entire carriage from this stance. There's some lift through his shoulder and back, and the ability to shift weight onto his hind end, even if he's currently lacking a bit in engagement. 

He's certainly come a long way from his doggie wheelchair days!!! What strikes me the most by looking at pictures like this, particularly when comparing similar stances over time, is what a huge role strength plays in how Charlie can carry himself. He is at his absolute best when he's strong and fit. All the more motivation to try to stay consistent!


Do you have a favorite moment that you look for in trotting pictures? Do you always pick the same moments like I do to compare over time? What key factors are you looking for? The hind end? Reaching hind leg or hock engagement? The back or shoulder: lift, freedom, or range of motion? Head and neck position? Or just the general overall balance of the picture?

I'm always so curious to hear more about how others assess general conformation and the horse's way of going!