Saturday
Yesterday was Brie's birthday!!! She is now 12 years old. It's incredible to think we've had her since she was 3. She truly is the reason for this blog and is the motivation behind all of my efforts to become a better horse trainer and to help others work with their horses. I've learned so much from her and although I've shed some tears over excusals and bad days, I've gained so much more happiness. She is incredibly smart and loving. I only wish that, when I have my own kids, that I will have a horse as special as Brie for them to learn from.
Enough with that before I cry, haha. For her birthday, we brought her a banana and split up the remainder of those Stud Muffins from Harry's birthday last week. It was only my mom and I today, so we didn't ride Nina. Out of the three of them, Nina is probably the only one who will be totally normal with an extra day off. I brushed her off and longed her for a while. My brother never longes her, just hops on and rides, so she was very hoppy and bouncy! I think it made her happy though =]
I rode Brie while my mom rode Harry. She is coming along better, getting way more relaxed walking. I'm finding that having a deeper seat and keeping my hands low is really effective on keeping her steady and her head collected, although it still could use some more work. I might use the draw reins next weekend and see how that goes, but mostly I just do more flexing and circling, but not too much because she gets dizzy easily.
We got ear poms for Harry. Not entirely sure if they worked, because he is pacing again! =[ I rode him and he paced pretty much the whole way, but kept wanting to bolt and go fast, but then we all know that he will pace in a largo too...We really don't know what to do, and it's awful to leave feeling like a failure, especially when you know he's not doing it out of spite. He genuinely wants to do what you ask him, but he just is not gaiting too well. Only in gait over the sound board, and in Pleasure classes they don't have sound boards, so it doesn't even matter. He will never place if he is so visibly pacing.
Sunday
Getting to the end here. Day 287. 13 days left before I officially close this blog. I don't think that will be after show season starts, so I might add a Show Season Summary at the end of the summer. I just can't leave this open-ended! Depending on where I end up for law school, if I end up here I might create a "Notes from a Horse-Trainer (In Training) Part 2", but we'll see.
After some research, we found that Harry is pacing because he has a hollow back. This is fixed by having a slightly lower neck position. Right now his neck is pretty high but his head is tucked and collected so he looks fine, but it's affecting his gait. There might also be some muscle tension, but we can't call out a chiropractor or a massage therapist because they're expensive =/ so we might just put lineament on his back and rub him a little and see what that does.
Brie was fantastic today. Near the end of our work, I felt her really suck herself under and collect, raise her back up and it was phenomenal. I tried to notice what I did differently, if I did anything, but it seemed like I was doing the same as usual! Have to keep noticing the little things until I figure it out.
My brother rode Harry and he was a little upset that he couldn't get him to stop pacing either. My mom used the draw reins and said they worked a bit, but my brother couldn't feel it so he took them off and Harry wasn't much better either.
I rode Nina today instead and she was harder to ride this time than last time! It was hard for me to keep her head set. I guess I should probably add in a ride on her at the end of the days so that I know what I'm doing if I get the chance to show her this season!
After all of the disappointment over Harry, it's hard to be sad when you realize how much he loves us. Some people say it's impossible for a horse to love people, because we're people and they're animals, but you can really tell that he loves us. He was still hot when we were going to put him away, so my mom put a rope around his neck and led him into the arena to walk him around just like that. She dropped the rope and kept walking and he followed her along everywhere! My dad has the video, but didn't send it to me, otherwise I would put it on here. After she got tired, I went in and walked around and he followed me too. I could abruptly turn and change directions and do serpentines, make like I was going one way and then go the other, and no matter what, he followed me! He even stopped when I stopped. And just the look on his face while he was following us was so sweet. Yep, he definitely loves us. That makes up for everything.
Showing posts with label collection. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collection. Show all posts
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Days 279 & 280
Saturday
Today, my goal was to get Brie on the makeshift Pessoa system that my mom created for Harry. In getting her to move her backend away from me, crossing her legs over each other, I've noticed that she is not as good going counterclockwise as she is going clockwise, but she is making great progress. She knows what I want her to do with that now and she is working to do it.
She was very confused when I put the makeshift Pessoa on her and only walked, but that was all I wanted from her. We did that only for a short while before I got on her. She is getting better at not cantering the corners, so I'm glad for that. Hopefully, I will be able to bring her to show this year. I'm also working on not letting her canter her reverses, since she has a tendency to do that.
Sunday
Spent a longer time with Brie on the makeshift Pessoa. She is also better going clockwise on that than going counterclockwise. She only walked counterclockwise, but was moving out going clockwise, so that was exciting! She collected her head today, but I didn't feel that same whole-body collection while riding like I did a couple of weeks ago. I took her off of two reins today and went back to using one rein. I'd been using two reins for a while now, I forgot when I started, probably late last year, but she responded very well to one rein again. It was also a lot easier to control her speed, probably because there was only pressure on the bit instead of split pressure between the bit and her jaquima.
I didn't get to ride Harry, but my brother did. He had a bit of trouble at the start, but came around. It's good that he got to ride Harry, he always only rides Nina and none of the rest of us ever get to ride her, so that was a nice change.
I wish I was able to go out and ride every day. We can only stay a couple of hours now on the weekends when we go out because my dad's work schedule changed and we have to come back home really early. It'll probably be really hard to be able to ride more than one horse now, because we all like to each ride for over a half and hour and we only have about an hour to ride if this weekend is any example. I'll have to alternate horses each weekend.
Today, my goal was to get Brie on the makeshift Pessoa system that my mom created for Harry. In getting her to move her backend away from me, crossing her legs over each other, I've noticed that she is not as good going counterclockwise as she is going clockwise, but she is making great progress. She knows what I want her to do with that now and she is working to do it.
She was very confused when I put the makeshift Pessoa on her and only walked, but that was all I wanted from her. We did that only for a short while before I got on her. She is getting better at not cantering the corners, so I'm glad for that. Hopefully, I will be able to bring her to show this year. I'm also working on not letting her canter her reverses, since she has a tendency to do that.
Sunday
Spent a longer time with Brie on the makeshift Pessoa. She is also better going clockwise on that than going counterclockwise. She only walked counterclockwise, but was moving out going clockwise, so that was exciting! She collected her head today, but I didn't feel that same whole-body collection while riding like I did a couple of weeks ago. I took her off of two reins today and went back to using one rein. I'd been using two reins for a while now, I forgot when I started, probably late last year, but she responded very well to one rein again. It was also a lot easier to control her speed, probably because there was only pressure on the bit instead of split pressure between the bit and her jaquima.
I didn't get to ride Harry, but my brother did. He had a bit of trouble at the start, but came around. It's good that he got to ride Harry, he always only rides Nina and none of the rest of us ever get to ride her, so that was a nice change.
I wish I was able to go out and ride every day. We can only stay a couple of hours now on the weekends when we go out because my dad's work schedule changed and we have to come back home really early. It'll probably be really hard to be able to ride more than one horse now, because we all like to each ride for over a half and hour and we only have about an hour to ride if this weekend is any example. I'll have to alternate horses each weekend.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Day 277
Finally, getting the chance to write on the day that I ride.
Didn't go out last weekend. I was in a car accident =[ So I was told not to ride for a week or so. Thankfully, I think I'm okay. Unfortunately, my car is not. For now it's back to hitching a ride with my parents back and forth to school.
I was beyond happy to finally see the horses after such a long time. They're all in different stalls now! The rows used to be:
Sadie Nina Harry Dora
Entrance way
Brie Tobacco Taco
Now it's:
Brie Nina Sadie
Entrance way
? Tobacco Harry Taco
The Question Mark is a new horse. We have new boarders!
But first, let me go over the change. Apparently, unbeknownst to us, Sadie and Nina didn't get along. Sadie has issues getting along with people in the arena, but I didn't think that she wouldn't be friends with Nina. Everyone is friends with Nina. But sometime this past week they must have gone at it and Sadie actually managed to get her leg caught above the wall, between the solid wall of the stall divider and the first slot for boards. The stall dividers are half wall and then every other slot is filled in with a board so that the horses could see each other. So that's where Sadie got her leg caught and cut a huge gash in her leg down to the bone. The vet came out and did his thing and now she's by herself, hopefully on her way to a full recovery.
I wanted to work on Brie today. She was already in a good mood because we brought her a banana, but I decided that before I rode, I wanted to start implementing the program that my mom made up for Harry. I want Brie to get more collected that way I could bring her back to show if I ever find a spot for her in someone's trailer, since ours only holds 2 horses. So I took her out with the longe line and my carrot stick and she cantered away for quite some time. She would be going steady and then just snorted and speed up to a gallop and then slow back down. She had a beautiful trot going once she calmed down a bit. At that point, my mom took my longe spot so I moved, took her of the longe line and onto a shorter line and had her move out on that for a bit before I started working on her moving her back end away from me, so that she was more turning on her front end. This works to round her out and stretch her back and neck, which she hates doing, without me pulling her to flex while mounted. She always cheats when she does that by bringing her head really low, not directly to the sides, but during this exercise she either had to keep her head up for balance or didn't realize that she wasn't cheating, but it worked! We did that for a while, stretched out, and then I went back to tack her up.
I was so proud of her! I've been working on getting her used to the mounting block again for quite some time and today I just walked up to it, pulled it out and put it next to her and got on and she didn't move! It usually takes a couple of tries because she walks away from it or swings her butt away so that I can't get on. So I knew this ride was off to a good start.
It took a while for me to figure out my seat again with her, I don't know why I was having trouble with that today but I just couldn't get in the saddle and work. So while I was trying to figure myself out, Samantha started riding Tobacco....and then he started bucking, and she started screaming, and eventually she fell off...she's okay, thankfully, and that's really weird for Tobacco to do that, but she got back on and rode him, so good for her.
After that, I somehow managed to figure out what I was doing and set off working. My goal: looser rein, Brie not pulling out, and maintaining a steady gait without speeding up without me asking or cantering. Mission accomplished! I never understood what riders were talking about when they said they wanted the back end engaged, but I could feel Brie engage her back end. She set her head perfectly, pulled her butt underneath her and really worked from her core. I felt like I was floating! She had wonderful boards, better than usual! She was responsive, we worked on transitions, and my reins were lose. I only had to check her every now and then, but she never pulled out and never tried to speed up. It was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to ride her tomorrow and try to recreate today's ride.
Didn't go out last weekend. I was in a car accident =[ So I was told not to ride for a week or so. Thankfully, I think I'm okay. Unfortunately, my car is not. For now it's back to hitching a ride with my parents back and forth to school.
I was beyond happy to finally see the horses after such a long time. They're all in different stalls now! The rows used to be:
Sadie Nina Harry Dora
Entrance way
Brie Tobacco Taco
Now it's:
Brie Nina Sadie
Entrance way
? Tobacco Harry Taco
The Question Mark is a new horse. We have new boarders!
But first, let me go over the change. Apparently, unbeknownst to us, Sadie and Nina didn't get along. Sadie has issues getting along with people in the arena, but I didn't think that she wouldn't be friends with Nina. Everyone is friends with Nina. But sometime this past week they must have gone at it and Sadie actually managed to get her leg caught above the wall, between the solid wall of the stall divider and the first slot for boards. The stall dividers are half wall and then every other slot is filled in with a board so that the horses could see each other. So that's where Sadie got her leg caught and cut a huge gash in her leg down to the bone. The vet came out and did his thing and now she's by herself, hopefully on her way to a full recovery.
I wanted to work on Brie today. She was already in a good mood because we brought her a banana, but I decided that before I rode, I wanted to start implementing the program that my mom made up for Harry. I want Brie to get more collected that way I could bring her back to show if I ever find a spot for her in someone's trailer, since ours only holds 2 horses. So I took her out with the longe line and my carrot stick and she cantered away for quite some time. She would be going steady and then just snorted and speed up to a gallop and then slow back down. She had a beautiful trot going once she calmed down a bit. At that point, my mom took my longe spot so I moved, took her of the longe line and onto a shorter line and had her move out on that for a bit before I started working on her moving her back end away from me, so that she was more turning on her front end. This works to round her out and stretch her back and neck, which she hates doing, without me pulling her to flex while mounted. She always cheats when she does that by bringing her head really low, not directly to the sides, but during this exercise she either had to keep her head up for balance or didn't realize that she wasn't cheating, but it worked! We did that for a while, stretched out, and then I went back to tack her up.
I was so proud of her! I've been working on getting her used to the mounting block again for quite some time and today I just walked up to it, pulled it out and put it next to her and got on and she didn't move! It usually takes a couple of tries because she walks away from it or swings her butt away so that I can't get on. So I knew this ride was off to a good start.
It took a while for me to figure out my seat again with her, I don't know why I was having trouble with that today but I just couldn't get in the saddle and work. So while I was trying to figure myself out, Samantha started riding Tobacco....and then he started bucking, and she started screaming, and eventually she fell off...she's okay, thankfully, and that's really weird for Tobacco to do that, but she got back on and rode him, so good for her.
After that, I somehow managed to figure out what I was doing and set off working. My goal: looser rein, Brie not pulling out, and maintaining a steady gait without speeding up without me asking or cantering. Mission accomplished! I never understood what riders were talking about when they said they wanted the back end engaged, but I could feel Brie engage her back end. She set her head perfectly, pulled her butt underneath her and really worked from her core. I felt like I was floating! She had wonderful boards, better than usual! She was responsive, we worked on transitions, and my reins were lose. I only had to check her every now and then, but she never pulled out and never tried to speed up. It was absolutely amazing. I can't wait to ride her tomorrow and try to recreate today's ride.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Day 276
Sunday
I rode Harry today! I started and finished with him. I could tell a huge difference in him from his free longe, he was very calm and collected and seemed very determined in his movement. It was hard to get used to riding him, since before I was encouraging him to be very relaxed and loose and to just go with what he feels, but that makes him walk and gait very pokey which is not good for show. So I have to now keep constant leg on him and be reminding him with the reins to keep gaiting by putting a little more pressure on them and check them if he starts to pace.
The first couple passes on the board were kind of pokey and then sounded even worse in comparison with the new Fino stallion who was also riding at the time. But after I readjusted myself to use more leg and rein, our last pass over the board was phenomenal. He sounded almost as good as Nina! So I was very proud of him. I can't wait to continue working on him now that I've figured out what to do with him and see how good he gets!
I rode Harry today! I started and finished with him. I could tell a huge difference in him from his free longe, he was very calm and collected and seemed very determined in his movement. It was hard to get used to riding him, since before I was encouraging him to be very relaxed and loose and to just go with what he feels, but that makes him walk and gait very pokey which is not good for show. So I have to now keep constant leg on him and be reminding him with the reins to keep gaiting by putting a little more pressure on them and check them if he starts to pace.
The first couple passes on the board were kind of pokey and then sounded even worse in comparison with the new Fino stallion who was also riding at the time. But after I readjusted myself to use more leg and rein, our last pass over the board was phenomenal. He sounded almost as good as Nina! So I was very proud of him. I can't wait to continue working on him now that I've figured out what to do with him and see how good he gets!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Days 271 & 272
Saturday
I think that I forgot to post last weekend...terrible thing is, I don't even remember what happened! But I can't forget to post this weekend, the last weekend of 2012!
Today my mom decided that Harry is ready to be riden again. She was the only one who rode him while I dealt with Brie, who is feeling super good because she had her arthritis injections again. Harry sounded really good on the board and my mom said that he is paying a lot more attention to her now, which is really fantastic because for a while there he was ignoring us and just trying to follow Nina around. He looked like he was concentrating on her and didn't do any tap dancing and never broke gait on the board. It seems like his month off of riding and just doing groundwork has done him a lot of good!
I found out today that during the week, Samantha was out along with Jane and her grandkids to all ride. Samantha's mom was cleaning the stalls and the horse they were most scared of was Brie! That makes me kind of sad, that after all of this time she still is perceived as the crazy horse. She is an absolute doll when it comes to children and she has excellent ground manners. She is so polite when you go to clean her stall, she moves out of the way for you and everything. She even poops in the same spot all of the time so that there isn't a huge mess! So when I found out that Samantha's mom was terrified of cleaning Brie's stall because she was scared that Brie was going to hurt her, it really made me feel awful. Brie is very misunderstood. And it doesn't help that people still talk about her. We don't even show her anymore. I mean, just because she refused to walk in her classes and did her nervous crow-hopping that doesn't mean she's a dangerous horse. She's nothing like some of the other horses I've seen trained at the barn that are actually very dangerous, throwing their riders off of their backs and slamming people into walls while they're being groomed. I mean, Brie is even perfect for the farrier. I just don't get what makes people think she's this evil horse.
Sunday
My mom rode Harry again today and he was just as good if not better than yesterday! I can't wait to get on him and see how he is now.
I only rode Brie again today. She just wanted to fly! She is definitely feeling younger and spunkier now that she isn't in pain anymore. I had two reins on her today to try and work on her collection. She's gotten away with doing whatever for a pretty long time and I'd like to fix that. After we worked, I let her canter around the arena a couple of times and I could tell she was having fun! I swear, she should have been a Thoroughbred. She would've been a great race horse! She could have cantered for hours. Just imagine if I let her gallop!
Well, next time I post will be 2013. I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve and that your 2013 is filled with success!
I think that I forgot to post last weekend...terrible thing is, I don't even remember what happened! But I can't forget to post this weekend, the last weekend of 2012!
Today my mom decided that Harry is ready to be riden again. She was the only one who rode him while I dealt with Brie, who is feeling super good because she had her arthritis injections again. Harry sounded really good on the board and my mom said that he is paying a lot more attention to her now, which is really fantastic because for a while there he was ignoring us and just trying to follow Nina around. He looked like he was concentrating on her and didn't do any tap dancing and never broke gait on the board. It seems like his month off of riding and just doing groundwork has done him a lot of good!
I found out today that during the week, Samantha was out along with Jane and her grandkids to all ride. Samantha's mom was cleaning the stalls and the horse they were most scared of was Brie! That makes me kind of sad, that after all of this time she still is perceived as the crazy horse. She is an absolute doll when it comes to children and she has excellent ground manners. She is so polite when you go to clean her stall, she moves out of the way for you and everything. She even poops in the same spot all of the time so that there isn't a huge mess! So when I found out that Samantha's mom was terrified of cleaning Brie's stall because she was scared that Brie was going to hurt her, it really made me feel awful. Brie is very misunderstood. And it doesn't help that people still talk about her. We don't even show her anymore. I mean, just because she refused to walk in her classes and did her nervous crow-hopping that doesn't mean she's a dangerous horse. She's nothing like some of the other horses I've seen trained at the barn that are actually very dangerous, throwing their riders off of their backs and slamming people into walls while they're being groomed. I mean, Brie is even perfect for the farrier. I just don't get what makes people think she's this evil horse.
Sunday
My mom rode Harry again today and he was just as good if not better than yesterday! I can't wait to get on him and see how he is now.
I only rode Brie again today. She just wanted to fly! She is definitely feeling younger and spunkier now that she isn't in pain anymore. I had two reins on her today to try and work on her collection. She's gotten away with doing whatever for a pretty long time and I'd like to fix that. After we worked, I let her canter around the arena a couple of times and I could tell she was having fun! I swear, she should have been a Thoroughbred. She would've been a great race horse! She could have cantered for hours. Just imagine if I let her gallop!
Well, next time I post will be 2013. I hope that you all have a wonderful New Year's Eve and that your 2013 is filled with success!
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Day 259
I was all excited to ride Harry after a stressful week at school, but when we got out there, as I was brushing him, I noticed he was bleeding on his back right hock. After cleaning it up, the swelling went down to just a large bump. After inspecting his stall, since he hasn't been outside, I could only find a couple of places where there were flat screws a little bit out, but they were dull...I could only guess that he got mad at his neighbor Dora (she's in heat) and kicked and scraped his leg during the kick. After we cleaned him up, I brought him in the arena to longe a little bit. He walked, although at one point on a reverse he started to speed up a little, but he started limping pretty badly, so he went back down to a walk. After a good amount of walking just to get the blood flowing, I figured "Heck, I might as well play some games with him" since I couldn't ride him. We played the Friendly Game, during which I was super happy because he finally let me swing the rope over his back. We played a little Yo-Yo game and the Porcupine game in one direction, because the other direction he looked like he was dragging his bad leg, so I stopped. He was really responsive in the direction he was good at though! Then I just walked backwards and he followed me across the soundboard at a walk, then I put him in to rest.
I rode Brie and my mom rode Nina. Brie was so snotty today! She tried to bite Sadie and Harry as they walked by her on the cross tie! But you couldn't tell that from her ride. She was a fantastic ride today. Very calm, very responsive. Most of the time I just let her go where she wanted though, since I wasn't in the mood for working very hard. We let Nina and Brie chase each other around the arena, then they followed each other in circles, all while we did nothing! It was quite cute.
Mom pointed out that Brie is not as collected as she used to be and I had noticed that. I think it's just because we've been focusing in Harry and Nina since they show and kind of letting Brie just do whatever. We're going to put the rear end collector on her next weekend, maybe the draw reins. I am not a fan of those reins!
I rode Brie and my mom rode Nina. Brie was so snotty today! She tried to bite Sadie and Harry as they walked by her on the cross tie! But you couldn't tell that from her ride. She was a fantastic ride today. Very calm, very responsive. Most of the time I just let her go where she wanted though, since I wasn't in the mood for working very hard. We let Nina and Brie chase each other around the arena, then they followed each other in circles, all while we did nothing! It was quite cute.
Mom pointed out that Brie is not as collected as she used to be and I had noticed that. I think it's just because we've been focusing in Harry and Nina since they show and kind of letting Brie just do whatever. We're going to put the rear end collector on her next weekend, maybe the draw reins. I am not a fan of those reins!
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Day 254
Brie might be due for her next arthritis shot soon. She was skipping today and now she's fighting with picking up her one arthritic leg when I want to clean her hoof, so I think that's a sign that she is uncomfortable. The vet is supposed to be coming out this week, so we'll have to ask his opinion. Brie and Harry are also out of their supplements, so we need to order those too. I want to put Harry on a bulk-up supplement. He's so thin and he needs more muscle mass too, but working him and creating muscle also burns off a lot of his fat and he just looks too skinny for my tastes. He is like a toothpick to get my legs around, he is much more narrow than Brie and Nina.
There is construction going on in the indoor arena, so we didn't ride in there. Instead, we rode in the newly finished round pen! It's decent sized, and although I was just going out there with Brie to lead Jane and my mom out on Taco and Harry, I ended up staying with them because Taco and Harry were pretty nervous about the whole thing, being in a new riding environment and what not. Eventually they calmed down and I switched with my mom for Harry, which leads me to this puzzle.
So, he is not wanting to collect himself lately. My mom thinks that we should put a draw rein on him, but I think that he's something going on with him physically. If he's relaxed, he should be setting his head, but he doesn't want to set his head and just wants to bump along in his gait. This makes me think even more that we might need to bring out a chiropractor. While he was not wanting to really do anything, I asked him for a canter.
He couldn't even canter. I thought that cantering was a natural thing for horses, but Harry just seems like he never ever learned how to use all of his legs in sync. He would go for a few strides and then seem like he was tripping over his own feet and then have to start all over again. We never got an even rhythm. Then, he was doing this weird bit when he would start bopping from not having a rhythm and throw his butt up in the air, not like he wanted to buck, but more like a twitch. I'm thinking that maybe there is some discomfort in his back that's preventing him from figuring it out in his legs. My first instinct after his ride today was to go back to basics and work in the round pen and on a circle a lot at varying speeds so that he develops more of a rhythm, but I don't know if that's what I should be doing or calling out a chiropractor. At the end of our ride, he got a good rhythm going, after his bad take at a canter and then walking a bit. So I don't know. Maybe he is just really uncoordinated. How do you build coordination in a horse?
There is construction going on in the indoor arena, so we didn't ride in there. Instead, we rode in the newly finished round pen! It's decent sized, and although I was just going out there with Brie to lead Jane and my mom out on Taco and Harry, I ended up staying with them because Taco and Harry were pretty nervous about the whole thing, being in a new riding environment and what not. Eventually they calmed down and I switched with my mom for Harry, which leads me to this puzzle.
So, he is not wanting to collect himself lately. My mom thinks that we should put a draw rein on him, but I think that he's something going on with him physically. If he's relaxed, he should be setting his head, but he doesn't want to set his head and just wants to bump along in his gait. This makes me think even more that we might need to bring out a chiropractor. While he was not wanting to really do anything, I asked him for a canter.
He couldn't even canter. I thought that cantering was a natural thing for horses, but Harry just seems like he never ever learned how to use all of his legs in sync. He would go for a few strides and then seem like he was tripping over his own feet and then have to start all over again. We never got an even rhythm. Then, he was doing this weird bit when he would start bopping from not having a rhythm and throw his butt up in the air, not like he wanted to buck, but more like a twitch. I'm thinking that maybe there is some discomfort in his back that's preventing him from figuring it out in his legs. My first instinct after his ride today was to go back to basics and work in the round pen and on a circle a lot at varying speeds so that he develops more of a rhythm, but I don't know if that's what I should be doing or calling out a chiropractor. At the end of our ride, he got a good rhythm going, after his bad take at a canter and then walking a bit. So I don't know. Maybe he is just really uncoordinated. How do you build coordination in a horse?
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