(6)...c. ...not only lateral bending of the spine from poll to tail, however, matters. More important almost is the suppleness of the haunches... Only strong and elastic haunches permit the mounted horse to do fast and agreeable turns... only on the basis of a secure support from the hindquarters is the forehand able to turn with easy and without any threat to the soundness of its limbs...
...at this point I think a bit of text critique is due... Steinbrecht is not the author of this text... It was composed by a student confidant on the basis of the master's notes... This fact may account for the apparent juxtaposition of some sort of public opinion, and the more private view of the master himself. It may be good to further research this public opinion and its origins... Who, in other words, says the horse's vertebra must bend laterally poll to tail...? And why...?
(6)...d. ...the lateral bending of the horse's spine is in some way only the means to an end... If we did not need it to supple backhand and haunches we could considerably shorten the lengthy work of bending, needed to make the hindquarters pliable...
!...!...!
(6)...e. ...proof of a need for supple hindquarters and their significance in equitation are those few excellent horses, which are naturally born with strong, elastic hind legs... They right from the start ab initio turn with dexterity, because their main support is free of all restrictions. That is, in them no rigidity and no resulting stiffness of the hind legs exists...
...that is a big statement...! And, is it true...? It for sure has opened every door ajar for the concept of superior breeding and has constituted a licence to push those horses, which are considered to be of minor breeding quality... Who says their haunches aren't stiff simply because of untimely and inappropriate demands...?
Obviously stiffnesses of the hind legs are not natural to the horse. They may, aside from general health problems, result from the following factors...
(1) ...lack of opportunity to move, especially as horses move on in age...
(2) ...sudden and forced demand of exclusively forward movement, especially if asked on the circle...
(3) ...lack of suppling, i.e. slow movements in all directions and in a variety of postures...
(4) ...forced false postures...
(5) ...continued lack of poise, elevation and engagement...
(6) ...false concepts, and hence images, of equine physiology and bio-mechanics in the rider's mind...
(7) ...false concepts of force and opposition in the rider's mind and body...
Stiffnesses of the horse's hindquarters, in my view, are not a result of asymmetries in the horse's body. They often result from improper approaches to the rectification of such asymmetries...