Since I last wrote there have been many ups and downs. Fortunately the ups have outnumbered the downs and I feel we are making progress.
Fillys' hooves have now nearly grown a complete new hoof capsule since the start of her time at Rockley farm. Now the new hoof is very close to the ground we are beginning to see rapid changes in the shape of sole. At the moment it looks like she has a badly flared front right hoof, but actually looking at the hoof more closely shows this not to be the case. What looks like flare near the ground is the remaining hoof wall from when she used to be shod. We can tell this because farriers often smooth the hoof wall with sand paper to "make it look nice". The surface of the "flare" is very smooth and is clearly a vestige of the shod hoof wall. This is starting to break of and the true shape of her hoof is starting to emerge.
This is all helping with her gait. She now trots very nicely on a pretty tight circle on both left and right rein. None of her old head nodding. In fact she holds her head pretty low and even. This is getting better and better with time.
I'm not achieving this using side reins or other constricting devices as I believe that this gives a false impression of how the horse is moving.
What I'm actually do is moving with Filly on the circle abeam zone 3 (hind quarters) and using a flag or stick and string to just ask the inside hind to step under her body as she trots. Timing the ask with the stick or flag is pretty important. I try and get the signal in time with the inside hind foot leaving the ground so that it is able to move under her whilst in its' swing phase.
After a minute or so of this she tends to really flex her body and neck laterally and then the neck vertically. As a reward I then allow her to go onto a bigger circle and relax for a circle or two. I'm increasing the time I ask for the flexion slowly and we can now do two or three circles of flexion before needing a rest.
This was a technique James Roberts used to call "online engaging indirect/direct rein" and it is only now I really begin to understand it. The step under is an indirect rein move but the way it applied tends to engage the hind quarters rather than disengage them. The direct rein is when we go back onto a relaxed circle and hopefully retain the engagement for a stride or two.
So all in all things are progressing well. A vet from the USA came and saw her a few days ago (flu jab) and passed comment that she was starting to get nice frogs. This is particularly significant as he is and ex farrier :)
Fillys' hooves have now nearly grown a complete new hoof capsule since the start of her time at Rockley farm. Now the new hoof is very close to the ground we are beginning to see rapid changes in the shape of sole. At the moment it looks like she has a badly flared front right hoof, but actually looking at the hoof more closely shows this not to be the case. What looks like flare near the ground is the remaining hoof wall from when she used to be shod. We can tell this because farriers often smooth the hoof wall with sand paper to "make it look nice". The surface of the "flare" is very smooth and is clearly a vestige of the shod hoof wall. This is starting to break of and the true shape of her hoof is starting to emerge.
This is all helping with her gait. She now trots very nicely on a pretty tight circle on both left and right rein. None of her old head nodding. In fact she holds her head pretty low and even. This is getting better and better with time.
I'm not achieving this using side reins or other constricting devices as I believe that this gives a false impression of how the horse is moving.
What I'm actually do is moving with Filly on the circle abeam zone 3 (hind quarters) and using a flag or stick and string to just ask the inside hind to step under her body as she trots. Timing the ask with the stick or flag is pretty important. I try and get the signal in time with the inside hind foot leaving the ground so that it is able to move under her whilst in its' swing phase.
After a minute or so of this she tends to really flex her body and neck laterally and then the neck vertically. As a reward I then allow her to go onto a bigger circle and relax for a circle or two. I'm increasing the time I ask for the flexion slowly and we can now do two or three circles of flexion before needing a rest.
This was a technique James Roberts used to call "online engaging indirect/direct rein" and it is only now I really begin to understand it. The step under is an indirect rein move but the way it applied tends to engage the hind quarters rather than disengage them. The direct rein is when we go back onto a relaxed circle and hopefully retain the engagement for a stride or two.
So all in all things are progressing well. A vet from the USA came and saw her a few days ago (flu jab) and passed comment that she was starting to get nice frogs. This is particularly significant as he is and ex farrier :)
2 comments:
Hi Tim, It's About the Horse keeps freezing up on me so I came here to read your latest news.
Like the way you described the task of getting the hind foot to step under. I do that with Boots and it certainly helps overall suppleness. You mentioned 'watching when the foot leaves the ground' to know when to ask for increased hip flexion. Just recently came across some info that suggests looking a the hip starting to lift the foot rather than the foot itself. It gives the handler a wee bit longer to give the 'foot under please' signal. Does that make sense?
Total sense Hertha. Mark Rashid talks about watching the barrel of the horse and timing the ask to that.. You can also feel it when riding. Marks' "Understanding Footfall" DVD has lots of information on this, but make sure you have a pot of very very strong coffee to hand before watching it ;)
Post a Comment