Maybe, maybe not.
My mom ended up with a three day weekend so I was lucky enough not to have to go out to the barn totally alone - score. So on Friday we started off in the ring since Midnite was last worked in the pond field. Poncho was warming up very nicely and trotting out well. Of course, as the pattern seems to go, once we started to canter things unraveled quickly. He was falling on the right lead - OF COURSE. He was rushing and then stopping on the left lead. Overall he was just falling apart in there. We worked out of it somewhat. Even got an almost complete circle on the right lead (he even jumped a pole on the circle). I was proud of him for regaining his composure and trying to work it out. We walked and trotted around for awhile until I got quite determined this would be the ride where he would remember how to go on the bit correctly. It may have taken us awhile and he may have fought quite a bit (violent headtossing if you were wondering) BUT he finally got it. And then it was just like "oh I can do this, why didn't you say so before". Silly Pony.
Saturday Midnite got the day off so Poncho and I headed to gelding field to do some hillwork and work on our canter some more. He started off fighting go on the bit a little but quickly worked out of it. However I do not ask him to stay on the bit the whole time we are out there because he deserves a break for the hillwork and such. Moving on he seems to really love hill work! I'm not sure why but he just lights up and has some extra pep to his step when you do it. We did hill work for about 15 minutes straight then moved out to hack around the rest of the field before starting our trot work. (We still to break up things sporadically add hill work back into the mix though) Since he moved out so well I almost immediately turned around to head to the "big" part of the field to canter down it. Poncho is still grasping the idea that I just want him to canter down the field. He gets a little confused the first time or two like "are you really sure that's what I'm supposed to do?" goof ball. But finally I got someone, my mom, to really see what's going on with his canter. To me it seems he's out somewhere in his neck or poll area. However that's just how I feel when I'm on him - we'll see what the vet says on Wednesday. My mom agreed though that some thing is up. Since the issue appeared out of thin air one day I find it hard to believe he just randomly sprouted a training issue. Anyways once he got the idea of what we were doing he ofcourse got right to work (play). Then we cooled out and called it a day.
Sunday we went back to the gelding field Mom thought it just looked like so much fun that she wanted to come out with Midnite too. So we walked around for who know's how long probably somehwere around 50 minutes before Poncho and I got to "work". Mom hopped off Midnite to take some video to hopefully show the vet, however the quality turned out BAD so that's probably not an option anymore. Oh well. So instead of essentially doing the same run-down of Saturdays ride here is the video:
[vimeo 39982961 w=500 h=281]
This is so interesting! I loved the use of video by the way, and believe it or not, I had a similar problem with my mare. She was getting very crooked without it being my fault, kind of like a newly developed habit. The vet will definitely be able to help you out and I'd mention the possibility of deafness in the one ear cause he might just be unbalanced from a slight hearing problem. If he turns up ok with the vet, maybe try doing what I did. I would work Raven along a fence line for about a half hour continuous. Trot him up and then down the same fence line and when you get the corner, counter bend him in a circle, basically turn him the way he's not expecting. By doing this with a trot and a canter, It will get him use to having to be on both leads and turning when he's not expecting it. It might make him forget what he was trying to do by being lazy and always picking up one lead because he thinks he's uncoordinated. Hope this helps! The video just reminded me of my girl and she looks great now so I wish you guys luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you sooo much for the advice! I will be sure to try it out next time I ride him. I actually just had to vet out yesterday and long story short we are just going to work as if it is a training issue for now. It was sooo windy and cold yesterday he was too frisky to effectively see if it's a physical or training issue. I'll also try to get some more video too see if there's a noticeable difference in the next few rides, I'm really hoping there will be. I'd much prefer him just be lazy and not want to work correctly than have a physical issue. Thanks again for the advice!
ReplyDeleteNot a problem! When I needed advice I felt like no one had any answers so I'm always willing to help someone out:) Hope you both are doing well, love your blog.
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