Re: Stumbling

[Ruth Bourgeois <ruthb@tdsi.net>]

Bob & Amber Roberts wrote:
> 
> Does anyone have problems with their horse stumbling, no matter the
> angle of the hoof?  If so, what is the solution?

My mare had a chronic problem with stumbling. She's built very solid and
wide in front. When I first started training her and riding her, I
followed some basic TTEAM practices, using a Lindell sidepull (actually
I started riding her in a halter, then graduated to a sidepull when we
went out on the road). She was easy to handle and responded well using
this. But, after a couple years of riding, she started stumbling
frequently. I did all the usual - got a better farrier, took her to the
vet college for x-rays and soundness checks, they even evaluated her
coordination by doing things like spinning her in circles then trotting
out straightaway, or spinning her around and then having her step up and
down a curb. She never stumbled once for them and they said she was very
sound and well coordinated. So why did she keep stumbling with me riding
her? I then started working her in a snaffle bit and doing basic
dressage work. That helped a lot, but she still stumbled at times.
Finally, I had a very good trainer ride her a few times. It seems that
the problem was that she was a bit heavy on the forehand to start with,
partly due to her conformation, then by using a sidepull on her for
riding, she never learned to shift her balance back off her forehand,
which led to stumbling. In the years I'd ridden her, I'd "taught" her to
stumble very well! This trainer rode her just a few times, switching her
to a French snaffle bit that she liked better, and taught her
self-carriage, something that I had never been able to do successfully,
despite the dressage work. He was, simply, a far more advanced rider,
one who could ride a horse well without interfering at all with the
horse's movement, and thus, enabled my horse to get a feeling of
self-carriage and balance. Once that was established, the stumbling
problem disappeared. It sounds so simple, but it's true. Some horses
just don't have good self-carriage and will repeatedly stumble for
seemingly no logical reason.
Ruth