Ridecamp: Re: [RC] right-left diagonals

At 12:11 PM 11/08/2002 -0800, you wrote:
>   Every time I try to use the left he
> either pops me back over or he interferes.

It may help you to practice your diagonals in an arena -- I've had to work 
one of my horses who was really lopsided back into being symmetrical and it 
took many months of work.   One of the things my trainer taught me at the 
time was that when working a lopsided horse you don't spend all your time 
on the weak side.  You have to also keep working the strong side so that it 
stays strong.  Things like this take a long time to fix -- be patient with 
it.

My advice is don't go out and ride a LOT on the weaker diagonal.  Or you 
risk making your horse sore and/or transferring the problem somewhere 
else.  This is especially true during an endurance ride.  Don't try to 
spend a lot of time on the side your horse is uncomfortable with -- instead 
change back and forth for a few strides here and there and gradually work 
up.  If you realize that now you are spending 85% of the time on one 
diagonal, don't go and try to ride the horse spending 85% on the other 
diagonal -- instead, make it progress slower and maybe increase the 15% to 
25% on the poor side and go up from there.  I like to think in terms of 
this:  that it will take me twice as long to undo something as it took to 
do it -- so if it took me a year to get him going solidly on one diagonal, 
it'll take me twice that long to get him back to solidly going evenly (this 
gives one a perspective and the patience they need when dealing with these 
things).

One good way to get an idea of where your horse may be out of balance 
(i.e., built up more on one side or favoring something) is to watch him 
trot from behind.  Get somebody else to ride him -- ride their horse and 
follow him (or have them follow you) down the trail at a trot and see how 
he goes.  I spend a lot of time observing how other horses move down the 
trail, paying the most attention to the horses that spend a lot of time 
going down the trail <G>, and getting an idea of how they move and carry 
themselves.  Usually if a horse is favoring one diagonal, you can pick up 
on that with the opposite hind leg -- it's very interesting.  I have a few 
friends that are able to pick up on stuff quickly and if one of my horses 
is starting to travel oddly or sightly off center or whatever, I get the 
chiropractor out to do an adjustment and straighten them back out (yes, it 
really does make a difference).  Also, if I have had an injury or something 
(not that I ever get injured :+>), I pay close attention to how I am riding 
so that my disability doesn't become the horses.  Which usually requires 
that I take some lessons to make sure I am riding correctly.

>  The last training ride I took
> him on about a month ago I was practicing the left diagonal and we seemed
> to be getting more comfortable at it and he got a splint behind his knee
> above the tendon.  Now he's done for this year.  My question is about the
> splint--how long do they take to heal?  Will it be a problem in the
> future?  Does he have an endurance career or should I move on since I've
> never even gotten him to a ride and he's already hurt himself?  Thanks
> for the help.

I'll let you in on a secret.  Most of us have horses that only tend to hurt 
themselves when they aren't being ridden in endurance rides.  The splint 
that my horse Rocky has-- he got when he was a youngster and had not ever 
done an endurance ride.  If I give my horses time off, that is when they 
seem to be sure to do something to themselves.  He's now done over 115 
rides.  Oh -- his splint is also high up.  We were worried that it would 
maybe interfere with the soft tissues, but so far <knocking on wood> it 
hasn't.  Your horse should be fine, and if by spring he isn't you may want 
to talk to your vet about an ultrasound or something before deciding what 
to do with him.

Happy Trails,
Karen
in NV



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