Swan Necked Morgans

Any one who has ever seen two horses reunited after several days apart knows exactly what I mean when I refer to a Swan Neck. They greet each other, necks extended and curled, heads together and you stand in awe. "I wish I could get them to do that when I am riding/driving/asking them to," you say to yourself. That is what I spend endless hours trying to achieve.

The above photo is a great illustration. Leo was a fantastic Morgan gelding I worked with and he is demonstrating the Swan Neck. You just don't take a horse out of the pasture and park him in front of the camera and get that photo. It took six months of training and conditioning. It is the result of self carriage that only comes from the ability to stretch the horse to his potential. Of course, the horse must be physically capable, but he must also be physically fit.

I have shown horses with out the Swan Neck, quite successfully. But the ones who had the Swan Neck stopped the show. And everyone else. In their tracks. Because these are the horses who are awesome. Cleo, the horse at the top of this blog won Concourse d'Elegance in her first show with that lovely Swan Neck.

What inspires the horse to give the Swan Neck? I think it is equal parts fitness and adoration. If you tell a horse he is brilliant, he believes you. The more you tell him, the more brilliant he becomes. When he achieves the fitness and adoration balance, he gives you the Swan Neck. You have to be the horse he greets after a brief separation. You have to inspire the beauty.

The dullness of a conditioning curriculum is broken when you see a glimmer of the Swan Neck materializing. Then, you know: this is it. Today, Don Pecos gave me 5 minutes of Swan Neck Perfection. It was absolutely and utterly sublime. I came home from the stables a walking cloud of dust and happy as the horses rolling in it. We're on, Folks. We're on.

Kind Regards,

Michelle Blackler

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