08.15.06
Encouraging forward gaits in horse
AUG. 15
Hi mums,
Thought I’d send you another quick update. Gil continues to be great! I’m going to have a hard time letting him go home at the end of the month. I’ve been to the barn every day since he was dropped off. He’s such a sweetheart and I think he’s going to be such a perfect horse for you and dad.
Emmie encouraging Gilford to soften at the poll and walk energetically
This weekend I started doing some in-hand leading work with him. It’s a good thing I’m working with him, because he has no idea how to lead ‘properly’, or at least how they want him to [at an AWS Inspection.] The walk is fine, I can give him a loose rein and use my whip to ask him to walk next to me and forward and he’s pretty good about that but the trot is a whole other story. He was so confused that I was asking him to trot. Poor guy thought I was nuts. Every once in a while he would get it and I’d give him lots of praise and he’d seem to understand, and then I’d ask him again, and we’d start all over again. I’ll have to keep working with him to get him to the point where he’ll transition up to a trot consistently and forward. I’m also having trouble keeping up with him at the trot. Though he seems lazy, he covers A LOT of ground when he’s moving forward. I’m going to have to try to find time to keep running on my treadmill even while he’s here, just so I can run him around the ring like we’ll need to. But he continues to be such a good boy, and so willing to learn.
Yesterday I had a great session with him almost entirely at a walk. I spent a good hour, and even worked him into a sweat, just at the walk. I worked on getting him to move forward and lengthen and stretch his body out and down, and really use his hind end to propel himself. We also worked on circles and staying round on the corners, and working on keeping him straight on the long ends. By the end, I finally got him to break out of his little quick, short stepped baby horse steps and into a real ‘manly man’ big horse walk it was wonderful! When he really reaches with his steps it feels so nice. Then I did just a little trot work to see if it could carry over and I managed to get a few strides of ‘big horse’ movement at the trot, too. That’s what I call his gaits now”baby horse gaits”. He’s still stuck in the short strided, quick steps of a baby/young horse. He’s really good at walking faster when you give him leg, but I realized that he wasn’t necessarily tracking up just walking faster. So that’s when I decided we needed to start with the basics and begin with the walk. He picked it up in one session and I’m sure he’ll get it again right away tonight.
The other reason I decided to spend most of my session at the walk was that I’m have really trouble with my left ankle. You probably remember how I had an ongoing problem when I was younger, but it was manageable b/c I was riding consistently and able to maintain the strength in my ankle. It really only came up when I was really tired, or over working it. I’ve been really frustrated this last week because I’ve only been able to do minimal trot work b/c my ankle locks up so quickly. I think the muscles are completely out of shape riding, combined with it likely being weakened even more b/c of the break last Fall, it’s just been a real problem for me. I think that it’s getting a little bit better every day, but it’s still a handicap, and I’ve had to cut sessions short several times because I’m not able to keep my foot in the stirrup or post any more. I think I’m going to try to find a brace or wrap for it today and see if that extra support might make the difference. It’s SOOO frustrating.
Watch out for the meter maid!
I gave Gil a bath on Sunday and he was so good. Now he’s shiny & clean and I’ve managed to work through his mane some. I found a thinning comb and have used it a little just to neaten it up. It’s looking much more manageable. I still feel strongly that his fetlocks need to be trimmed for the inspection. Yes, he’s a percheron, but those fetlock hairs don’t look any different than what the mare’s would look like if you let them grow. He doesn’t have the ‘percheron feathers’ that would look OK if you left them. Right now they just look kind of messy and unkempt. Just sayin’
He’s really looking like a big warmblood, and I swear he’s grown since he got here. If only he had another hand or two in height, he’d be perfect! I think he could make a nice little dressage horse if you wanted one.
EM
BACKGROUND:
Gilford, our 3 yr. old Arabian/percheron, was started to ride and drive at age 2. We have boarded him for August near our daughter Emmie, who grew up riding and schooling horses through 4H and Pony Club, open showing and the Arabian show circuit. Training descriptions are from Emmie’s Emails reporting her progress, working with Gilford under saddle and doing prep work for his upcoming American Warmblood Society inspection.
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Connie Moses, petArtist– website since 2001:
Portraits With Pets.com aka PortraitsWithHorses.com
