misbehaving horse

[Chelle Sherman <cms@fluent.com>]

Hi - I discovered something interesting about extended trot this Winter
- one of those things that people can tell you time and again, but until
you see it, it doesn't sink in! True extended trot is a function of back
strength and ability to round the topline. My mare is an ex-racer and
more of a natural canterer than a trotter. I've been working on this,
and this Winter, I brought her to an indoor arena so we could do some
ground work, stretching, etc. We did a lot of work on a long lunge line
with sliding side reins (a really useful tool and much less restrictive
than traditional side reins). These reins encourage her to put her head
down and round her topline, and combined with keeping her actively
moving forward, it was easy to teach her how to round over, tuck her
belly in, and stretch her back. The result of three months of this work,
combined with lots of transitions and a lot of stretching on the ground,
is a horse with a nice steady trot and much more athletic movement
overall. I have never asked her to extend her trot from the ground
before, and under saddle, her idea of extension has been to just move
those legs faster. The surprise I got the other day is that when I asked
her to extend in the sliding side reins, I got a true extension - big,
booming, and joyful. I am no expert, and just beginning to work toward
doing endurance, but I would guess that asking a horse to do a lot of
extension without the proper position and back strength would result in
a lot of wear and tear on the horse, and might not be a good thing.
Perhaps this horse doesn't want to extend because he doesn't feel that
he can? Maybe some dressage and ground work will help you figure out
what's going on with his body? Best wishes to you.

Chelle and Dy


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