I know I should be grateful to have a sound happy horse but......

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Pidge

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do I give up on the flatwork as when we take one step forward we seem to then take 10 steps back
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After Pidge had his back done last Sunday after an ace time at Somerford Park in the day he had Monday off, and then hacked tues and wed, thurs off as I was working and had a brill lesson on the Friday where he did some amazing work and dropped and lifted in trot so so so so much better than he ever has before
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however since then he has been a sod
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rode him tonight and he was leaning worse than ever on the left and just wanted to canter. So eventually gave in and did some canter and every time we turned up the long side of the school he was off
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and he was still snatching at the bit in order to pull me forward and him to take charge
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the only saving grace was that he hadn't forgotten to trot when I said "trot" as I was too tired to give the aids.
Friend has given me a myler to try has anyone had any experience of these? and do I give up on the flatwork and concentrate on his jumping or just give myself 20 lashes of the whip for being such a crap rider
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Non of the above
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Is it possible that he is being naughty because he is feeling well? If he was in pain before then maybe he is just revelling in feeling well and playing with you. Keep on keeping on.
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he is feeling too well that's the problem
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before his steroid jab in his hock he couldn't do lateral work but now he can
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just feeling a bit down cause of hassle at the yard and I'm missing Dave
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I've been schooling May in a bungee, its much less of a fight and actually get some nice work out of her, only paid about £7 for it on ebay - very worthwile investment, you know what my Madam is like!!

Even if you just wanted to stick with the fun things, he still needs to be schooled for the jumping, I'm sure he will come right with a bit of perseverence!
 
I agree with York, He is probably feeling well in himself. With all the rain recently then the sun, the grass is as sweet as ever, so he could simply be showing you how well he really is feeling, which is good considering his hock spavin etc.
Keep going with the ground work as this is the basis of everything, there will be good days like your lesson, and bad days like today. But everything you do he will remember for the future, so even though it didn't feel like it today, your are improving every time you ride. Whether its his work or yours or you both in unison so to speak.
Sorry for long reply hope some of it made sense x
 
thanks Lisa, what is a bungee? did ride him in the equivalent of a market harborough for a while until he really threw his dummy out the pram and he just doesn't do naughtiness , its not him
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does it really make that much of a difference then?
and yes I know deep down I need to perservere (SP?) with the schooling but just when I feel like I've achieved something we take a few steps back
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would the myler be any good as he only leans on the left?
 
thanks Smurf, not sure about the improving each time you ride bit, that at least made me grin
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yes it just worried me a tad though if he feels this well now what will he be like in the winter?
will see how he goes tomorrow as may well give the myler a whirl! could be interesting
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Schooling can be tiresome at times, I hate it personally and would much rather go on a hack lol!!
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It can feel like one step forward three back at times, honestly perseverence is the key.
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I can talk though, I tend to give up and go on a hack, so you are far better than me in that respect.
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Try thinking of it like him having been banging his head against a brick wall! Feels lovely when you stop. So now his hocks aren't playing him up and he just wants to go go go! Don't panic about what he'll be like in the winter (I'm still hoping we might get some summer yet) because by then he'll be used to how he feels now!

When we tried our little cob barefoot he found road work hard - wasn't even keen to trot in the field. We persevered for some weeks but it didn't get any better. When he got his first set of shoes back on we took him out on the road and he sort of grunted as he went into trot because he was expecting the pain. When it didn't hurt he just gave it more and more knee action till he was pounding up the road and I couldn't stop him. He was so happy just like a kid with new "special" shoes and I guess Pidge is feeling a bit like that too.

Aim to go with it, enjoy him feeling comfy and excited and try to get him to concentrate for a short time only.

Hope he's really superb for you tomorrow
 
My boy used to use the menage as a race track at canter, it was sooooooo hard to pick him up at canter but he's got it, and if I knew what I did to pick him up I'd tell you but I've got no idea!!!!
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We still end up a bit long and low and we're having problems striking off on left lead but we'll get there in the end. My whole ethos on training him has been that we will achieve everything we want to achieve but in his time, not my time scale and that has worked wonders, especially if you could see his lateral work. So I school out hacking so that he doesn't realise he's being schooled and the difference it has made to what we do in the menage at lessons or in the shooling area in the field. My instructor said on Saturday that I shouldn't be as stressed out as I am about his canter because in whole it has improved tremendously. I think, maybe, its the practicing transitions, it gets him to listen to me and he can't plough on ahead because he never knows when I'm going to ask him to come back to me. On Saturday we practiced trotting then walking for 5strides, then 3 then 1 then half halt. My boy did amazingly well. All I can say is stick with it, in my experience it always comes good in the end.
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Flatwork = A super day which means you are high then followed by a pants day which can make you cry.

However on the pants day just concentrate on basics, walk to halt transitions, walk serpentines etc ... by keeping it simple you arent setting sky high targets which on a pants day you wont reach! By keeping it simple you can achieve them, also achieve schooling and feel happy.

After having his back done he is obviously feeling rather well
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you could try cutting his energy intake to make it easier for you?!

Chin Up!

Hb
 
thanks Michelle, I think he tends to get fed up of lateral work or transitions as he puts up with it for so long then makes it quite clear he feels the need for speed
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and then we lose the braking system
 
HB
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I like your definition of flatwork
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Sometimes I school with no intention of doing any canter work but then Pidge just breaks into canter from trot when he feels like it
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I assume he feels like a new rejuvenated horse now since his hock treatment and back, full of the joys of "everything"
Can't cut his feed down as he is on the bare minimum - his feed balancer and a small handful of alpha a to mix his powders in
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