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In the first pic, Demi was 12-13 and I'd had her not quite a year. If I tried to sit into her, stretch my legs down, and flatten my back, she would hollow and brace her neck against me. The best I could do was try not to cause her to resist me. I haven't ridden lots and lots of horses over my life time and lacking skill and experience, I just wanted to keep her happy enough in her work that she would continue to try through all my mistakes and experimenting.
The second picture was 2-3 years later. At this point she allowed me to sit up straight, lengthen my legs, use my back, and she was responding to subtle half halts. Also, she was happily accepting a shorter rein. She was comfortable in the program and trusting me.
Something I noticed in several of our comparisons were the horses ears. In the early pics, the ears were forward, but in the later pics the ears were focused on the riders. They seem to be waiting and ready for instructions. Demi and Flight have one ear back and listening, and Klark kent, in one pic,has both ears zeroed in on his rider. It's hard to see the after photos of Brydie because of the bonnet.
My after pic is too fuzzy to see if Demi had any muscling improvements but I doubt she would have had much. At that point with her, I was still just trying to go straight and forward in a nice contact.
I am just an amateur but I can see that Klark, Flight, and Brydie all have some nice muscle improvements, as well as improved carriage.