A little update and centre line woes

JustKickOn

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Things have slowed down a bit with the horse and I now the darker evenings have set in, but am still managing to ride most days and fit everything in which is a bonus.

There has also been a bit of a slow in the work we have been doing. My trainer has stripped everything right back, and we are now perfecting all of the basics with K, as I had gotten a little complacent! We also started doing the leg yield a while back, and she seems to have gotten the hang of it, sort of...

A month or so ago, rachaelstar and I had a pony play day, and she came and saw K. Having only seen us out at competitions (where K tends to be very difficult and rather naughty), she couldn't believe the difference in her, and how calm she is at home! Well, that was until I asked for a simple change, which K did as a flying change and proceeded to do her biggest and best impression of a bucking bronco!! Stayed on, but jarred my back so struggled to ride for a few days after other than hacking. The following week, K did it again when going into canter. :( She was due to have the physio out around that time, so we got that booked and did some gentle work till then.

Physio found that her left hip was about 2 inches lower than her right, which she said would have been uncomfortable when cantering. So that is the buckaroo explained. All fixed, and apart from a slight decrease in hock activity, all is ok. For a horse who is approaching 20, she doesn't look too shabby and certainly doesn't act her age they way she can throw herself around the field! We have been advised to carry on what we are doing, as it is helping to keep her young.

Anyway, she has been working lovely in the school since, and I don't feel like she is towing with her forehand as much anymore. Her back legs are really stepping under and pushing, and she is working a lot more uphill. We are entered at a local unaff to do prelim 7 and novice 34. We've not been out to a comp for quite a while, so I'm a little dubious to how she will behave, especially as we are bringing the other mare with us too, so there may be every chance it will be catastrophic, with the two screaming to each other the moment we go into the indoor.

So enough rambling and onto the centre line woes...

During our schooling sessions, I work a lot on straightness, and very rarely ride her on the track by the fence, mostly off the track so she cannot fall out to it. When we change the rein B/E, or across the diagonals she is fine, and if I change the rein C to A, she is fine. But recently she has started skipping on the turn at A, off both reins. I don't ride her any differently, but it's almost like for every stride she takes in front, she does two behind, and then throws her head in the air, or down to snatch the reins, and beggars off in canter. Turning her down the CL in walk she will do a couple of little jigs and then walk the whole length. We have mirrors at C, so I like going down that way as can check our positioning and what her legs are doing. Turning at C she doesn't do it at all, and it turn down both the exact same way. (She did spending one lesson skipping her legs in all of her trot for the majority of the lesson. It took 40 minutes to work her through it, but she hasn't does it since. My trainer said is was her being difficult and trying to get her own way, and she hasn't done it since as she probably realised teamwork is better than fighting.)

When she goes off in canter, I have tried two things. One is turning her in a circle and abandoning the movement, doing something different, and trying again. The other is just making her stop and stand, before asking her to tend go forwards again. This has resulted in her threatening to go up a couple of times.

She usually does it near the end of a session, doesn't matter if I am sitting or rising. I never ever let her finish on this behaviour, so end up working an extra twenty minutes in order to get her down the CL that way how she should. She doesn't do it in every session, and doesn't do it during our lessons, which is frustrating, as it is easier if somebody on the ground can see what's going on.

During tests, she does sometimes go off down the centre line like somebody shoved a firework up her backside, and then sometimes doesn't. There is no rhyme or reason for when she does it. She does it if I relax more, if give her more rein, if I take up the rein more, if I really put my seat into the saddle.. I keep my cool and patience with her the majority of the time, but on the odd occasion have shouted at her to 'blooming well trot you tit' This also has no effect. :eek:

ETA- back has been done, saddle fitted not so long ago and looks and feels fine on her when I have done checks saddler showed me how to do, teeth due in Jan, but she doesn't usually have any issues with them. She lives out 24/7 with a field shelter if she wants it. Been on the same feed of top spec cool balancer, unmollassed chaff and beet and some salt for the last year, no problems. Did have her on agnus castus and it didn't seem to make a difference in her at all.

Any suggestions, or similar experiences to how you would approach it? I have run out of ideas! (Have got a lesson Saturday morning, hoping she does do it then, as at least we can try to tackle it!!)

Thanks, L :)
 
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PolarSkye

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Nobody at all with any advice!?

Just to check that isn't you . . . you might not think you're doing anything differently, but you might be anyway. When Kal was stopping on front of the first fence, Z was brave enough to consider that it might be her - after all, it didn't happen at home . . . and when we got a trainer in, it turned it it was in fact her. Ditto, she has been feeling sore in her back when she rides in her jump saddle after she's ridden in the dressage saddle (she rides very long in the dressage saddle) . . . today she said that she realized that she tenses a little through her seat when she first gets on in the jump saddle after being in the dressage saddle - particularly if she hasn't ridden the other two (her sister's youngster and a former fellow livery's horse) in between . . . and that can translate to Kal being a little tight in the canter in reaction to her back/seat.

P
 

JustKickOn

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I don't think it is me, I never know if she is going to start up doing it, so go with what I have with her. Schooled today after hacking and she worked fine, no inkling she was getting her jogging pants on. Obviously when she does start doing it, my riding changes slightly, but rarely before. She does it on lazy days and slightly more excitable days. It's difficult to explain, but it's almost like she says "right, I'm done now" and starts misbehaving. She's done it 20 mins into a session when we first start the trot work, and at the end too. It's totally random.

I shall try to stay more aware of what I am doing though, to see if there is a trigger for it at all. Thank you.
 
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