DRATS! 1 bad day, now all good again & getting better!!

Clarissa · DRATS! 1 bad day, now all good again & getting better!!

Yesterday I'd had such a good day's riding yesterday & was feeling like I'd had a solid break through regarding Sonny's carriage. Wearing boots eased the obvious pain in his soft feet & allowed him to work better & easier & work a little in a concentrated frame.

This morning I was standing on the verandah when he appeared below me & lined up for some tidbits. I had the camera to take photos of his feet after removing his boots. I looked down at him & this is what stared back at me!!

The first 2 show his twisted spine & the 3rd is from a bit over a year ago. It is the best I have from that aspect but it's clear to see his spine is aligned.

I just can't believe it!!

He was so good yesterday. He was soft & yeilding & keen to do the exercises. This twist in his backbone apparently didn't hurt him yesterday during riding or he would've told me in no uncertain terms! I'm wondering if all that concentrated riding actually caused it due to him not being used to carrying himself properly for so long now.

I will ride him again in a day or 2 & I will see how his back is then. If it is sore he will soon tell me!

coveredbridgefarm

Many times I have wondered if horses were really meant to be carrying riders on their backs at all. After all, they don't do it in the wild, so just exactly how much does a rider's weight impact their horse's back?

I also wonder how much research has been focused on the issue of the structure of the horse's back and its suitability for carrying perhaps 200 pounds or more.

Larry

Clarissa

coveredbridgefarm

Plus, the horses had to carry all of that armor around too.

My weight plus the weight of the saddle comes to over 200 pounds, and that's on those little cutting horses.

Larry

Clarissa

It tuns out the irregularity in Sonny's back was most likely caused by him using his legs differently as a result of me doing concentrated riding exercises with him that he was properly responding to for a change.

Therefore his easyboot epics, which are a size too big for him, were sliding around & he was having to compensate for that.

I went over his body & found some spasms in the region of his illiac muscle where he has had issues before. The illiac muscle was pulling on his pelvis & rotating it down on that side which caused the twist at the weakest point along his spine. I massaged it & did some little exercises & the problem seemed to resolve. His back is not sore now & the colour of the dorsal stripe has returned. I'm lucky & very happy I found it straight away before I rode it into him & he really got sore! The benifits of a highset house are many & varied!

I am now using his old easyboots which fit him again now that his feet are smaller & gaining better shape from the refined barefoot trim. He is stepping well under himself evenly on both sides & seems to be developing better muscle on his HQ which is a good thing.

I will ride him tomorrow after giving him a few days to recover from the twist in his spine. He has some big weekends coming up over the next few weeks.

Chablis

Glad to hear Sonny's getting better Clarissa.

Clarissa

I just had to post again & say how good Sonny was today! I wanted to skite about it tonight before the vision splendid disspersed into the ether as a bad dream. So good in fact was today's work from Sonny that I need to change the name of the thread & possibly ask for it to be changed to Biomechanics & Purity of Gait section.

Since dicovering that Sonny has sore feet & leaving his boots on for extended days & now a week, his gait has improved dramatically. Also yesterday & today I have done his feet as per my usual 2wk routine but I have 'tidied' the bars & delineated them somewhat. I'm just trying to work out what is causing the soreness. Then his boots went back on for riding.

Today I rode with the intention of just going back over what we did a few days ago because the camera's battery went flat meaning I didn't get that session on tape.

So I set it all up & he was doing so well I took it to the next level of competency.....real indications of a L4 horse appearing now. I am thrilled.

I am focusing on connection & concentrated riding...dressage by any other name I guess! So I'm using Ken Faulkner's method of 4 rein lengths & 5 rein positions....or is it the other way round!!....I'm working from memory as I have lost my notes from those clinics......

Anyway with Sonny not having sore feet he is happier to give me a fair effort rather than whinge & bitch all the time. I have been asking his head down for 'long & low' & getting him to be emotionally capable of traveling further with his head down, then asking it back up into a full 'connection or concentrated'. This seems to lift the whole front end. It never worked before & I stopped trying. Now it is working fine & today he was able to travel in full connection for many strides at trot, canter & transitions up & down into backup. Walk is still tardy.

I got moments of what I would call a good working trot, with definate HQ engagement, 2 beat, soft & carrying me forward with him instead of me having to push myself forward via the stirrups to stay in the saddle. The canter was soft & lifting with his feet coming well in under his belly with a bit of rocking horse happening too.

There is still a lot of opposition reflex going on at various times, but there are just sooooo many improvements it's mind blowing! What I really need now is an arena where Sonny can go along on an even footing in a straight line for 20strides or more so he can feel how nice this better carriage is for him. He is a horse that needs to spend a while doing something before he realises that it is good for him. I'm sure he would change the rest for himself & really get right into it if he could experience this better relaxed movement.

I will put up a short video on youtube tomorrow. I rode in one of my orchards where the land is not too sloping but with trees everywhere there are only short bits of footage that are worth putting together.

here's the video on youtube:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1VT3XwH3aY

Oh....& I'm not sore bodily tonight either which means he was soft enough to ride with no bouncing, or agrivated flailing legs that usually cause me so much discomfort.

Chablis

Sounds great Clarissa. Can't wait to view the footage.

Clarissa

Here's the video I made of his good work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1VT3XwH3aY

I know it's far from perfect, but for him it's a world away from where we were at a few weeks ago.

What I really need now is an arena to ride him in so he can feel how good it feels & I know he would like it & learn to show off too no doubt!

There are people who have been past instructors of mine who said he had the potential to be a very good horse. I just need to learn it all so I can help him achieve that potential!

Playenatural

Great job Clarissa!

I would be happy with that too. Actually Rooster and I had a ride last week that was similar with the quality improvement I was getting from him. But for me it was about the quality of feel I was offering him and he was giving it back.

I just love how improvement feels. I also understand the frustration of not knowing where the problem lies. I'm happy you found yours. You two look great. Congrats.

Clarissa

Thanks Shannon. Tomorrow I'm going to a playday where they have an arena so I'm hoping to get 30mins in it to ride Sonny.

AND.......

I just discovered I can't spell!!!

PROOVES !!!!!!!!