Not sure I did the right thing, what do you do?

S

Seahorse

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Yesterday and today Axey was really horrible to ride in the school.
He was fine to start off with in walk and trot, but as soon as I went in to canter he hollowed and went stiff was really unbalanced and way too fast. He was also incredibly heavy and leaning on the left.
I did some shoulder-in and leg yielding but on the left rein he refused to bend and was throwing his head up, stopping dead and doing little rears. He refused to go forward and was doing this hollow choppy trot. The right rein was fine.

I persevered and managed to get some half decent work and called it a day......an hour and a half later
frown.gif

When I untacked him I noticed he had a sore on his mouth like the bit had been pinching him, but this was on the right. He has a KK ultra. I was using my Wintec Isabel saddle.

Today I changed his bit to a hanging cheek french link and rode in my GP saddle and he was exactly the same as yesterday
frown.gif

So I plugged on and on again for an hour and a half, eventually getting 1 circle of fairly decent canter on the left rein. So left it there.

Anyway...........my question is was I right to keep going until he did it correctly?
or should I have just got off?
Because at the moment I feel like I didn't actually achieve anything at all, just got very cross with my horse
frown.gif
My left arm and shoulder are aching like anything and I feel a bit disheartened about it all.

Sorry for rambling on so long, but would love some advice

thank you
 
I wouldn't be looking at the mouth, I would be looking at his back and anatomy. Sounds as though it isn't a nappy thing but a pain thing, however you did the right thing IMHO by ensuring it wasn't nappiness. Hope you get to the bottom of what is up - try him on the lunge tomorrow x
 
Personally I would have got off and tried him on the lunge to see if it was still happening there - perhaps without the saddle? Sounds like a similar thing my mare was doing and it was the saddle that was the problem which had then resulted in back problem. Hope you get to the bottom of it xx
 
Depends on the horse - if he's prone to working badly & this is just another case of it then I'd perservere. If however it was out of character, then you should consider pain & in which case, IMO at least, shouldn't have continued.

As a starting point, I'd check on the lunge & a trot up, plus give him the once over. If I couldn't find anything, I'd probbly give him a couple of days off & then hack for a couple of days if he seems happy hacking. Then I'd try again - if I got the same response, I'd then look at calling someone in based on where I thought the prbome may be...
 
No its not out of character for him to be like this sometimes, but he hasn't done it for so long now I was rather hoping he had stopped it for ever!
I feel awful now as thinking back the last time he was this bad his teeth were sore
frown.gif
they were done only a few months ago. A dentist is coming to the yard soon so I'll have him checked out then.
Both saddles have been done about 2 months ago, and I had the physio up about 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Will hack tomorrow and see what he's like then, then maybe try again in the school. I lunged him thursday and friday and he was fab - on both reins!!

Thanks xx
 
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