lucy_108
Well-Known Member
This is an odd one, so I'm here because I genuinely have no idea!
I have a rising 4 year old (he's 4 in two weeks) who I've had since 11 months old. He is a real canny little dude and we got him from a rescue center with 0 expectations. He is a cheeky chap who needs plenty of things to do to keep him out of mischief. I started ''working'' him in hand at 2 years old and we've just carried on from there. When I say ''worked'', I mean groundwork exercises, in hand hacking and long reining - nothing taxing, always in short bursts and never repeatedly (a couple of times a week).
I backed him very very lightly last year as a three year old and he took to it like a duck to water - no issues whatsoever. Rebacked him about 6 weeks ago, same again - easy breezy, quite happy.
I don't plan on doing much ridden work with him this year, he was quite successful in hand in the show ring last year so I'd like to do a bit more of that but this is where my issue is - he is very responsive in hand. I really worked from the ground up with him so if you change your pace, he does to. Stops without pressure, turns without pressure - he's very ''in tune'' when it comes to handling. BUT, if you ask for any upward change in pace, specifically up into trot - he pins his ears and sometimes snakes his head. He never bites and nothing ever comes of it, but it makes for an awful 'picture' when he's moving. He moves beautifully, but the ears and the face tell a different story.
He has had his teeth checked, sees a physio regularly and had a vet check before backing for soundness, including palpation of back/neck and flexions. All absolutely fine, no issues raised. My first call would be pain related behavior - but I have nothing to present to my vet, apart from a pony that looks bad tempered when he trots. The only thing I haven't done is scoped for ulcers, but I will be getting him scoped just to be sure. That said, he doesn’t present as the typical ulcer type (before anyone pops off at me - I know there isn’t a true type and any horse can get them, but he is an unlikely candidate let’s say) and this is the only “symptom” he shows.
Any thoughts or ideas gratefully received!
I have a rising 4 year old (he's 4 in two weeks) who I've had since 11 months old. He is a real canny little dude and we got him from a rescue center with 0 expectations. He is a cheeky chap who needs plenty of things to do to keep him out of mischief. I started ''working'' him in hand at 2 years old and we've just carried on from there. When I say ''worked'', I mean groundwork exercises, in hand hacking and long reining - nothing taxing, always in short bursts and never repeatedly (a couple of times a week).
I backed him very very lightly last year as a three year old and he took to it like a duck to water - no issues whatsoever. Rebacked him about 6 weeks ago, same again - easy breezy, quite happy.
I don't plan on doing much ridden work with him this year, he was quite successful in hand in the show ring last year so I'd like to do a bit more of that but this is where my issue is - he is very responsive in hand. I really worked from the ground up with him so if you change your pace, he does to. Stops without pressure, turns without pressure - he's very ''in tune'' when it comes to handling. BUT, if you ask for any upward change in pace, specifically up into trot - he pins his ears and sometimes snakes his head. He never bites and nothing ever comes of it, but it makes for an awful 'picture' when he's moving. He moves beautifully, but the ears and the face tell a different story.
He has had his teeth checked, sees a physio regularly and had a vet check before backing for soundness, including palpation of back/neck and flexions. All absolutely fine, no issues raised. My first call would be pain related behavior - but I have nothing to present to my vet, apart from a pony that looks bad tempered when he trots. The only thing I haven't done is scoped for ulcers, but I will be getting him scoped just to be sure. That said, he doesn’t present as the typical ulcer type (before anyone pops off at me - I know there isn’t a true type and any horse can get them, but he is an unlikely candidate let’s say) and this is the only “symptom” he shows.
Any thoughts or ideas gratefully received!
