Opinions on movement please!!!

walk is just about tracking up so could do with alittle more impulsion.
Looks alittle stiff behind as again in the trot not quite tracking up, this culd be because she is afree position.. with no collection.

Canter is lovly, she is loose and happy in her carridge and i think this show when you look at her movment as she is much happier to step under and power forward!
Lovly horsy!
Wish mine looked like that.. lol
Lou x
 
im not an expert but looks ok to me
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Think the lunging is wonderful so responsive to your voice. Mine just wazzes off and does his own thing most of the time. Agree with previous comments more activity would be good maybe use a lunge whip to encourage more movement form the quarters. Nice horse and lovely coat.
 
He is just a happy hacker these days. When i first got him i used to do riding club level HT ODE and SJ.... fairly sucessfully (came 7th at Tweseldown hunter trials out of an entry of 50 od).

Will update why he is now a happy hacker later
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Thanks Hadleigh,

He just goes and goes on the lunge, he will go up the gears really easily but slowing down to walk is really bad.... he just keeps on trotting. Just a brrp and he is off to canter. Really funny thing he keeps looking at me when lunging (think towards the end of the vid he does it) and then he squeaks and carries on!!!! weird.

He is a bit funny about the lunge whip, I always have one but never need to flick it or he gets worried (if i cracked it he would go into orbit), not sure why, dont think he has ever been badly treated. The same with a schooling whip, he spends the whole time watching it out of the corner of his eye and not concentrating so I dont carry a whip at all.

I put the coat down to the sunflower seeds he has :-) great tip Tia....
 
So would you all say that merlin looks sound, I worry that he doesnt always track up in trot even though his walk and canter seem good.

There is a specific reason for asking that will be posted later.......... a very good reason for looking for lameness that may give a bit of hope for a few worried posters at the moment!!!
 
He looks sound to me. Has an action not dissimilar to Patches, so I'm going to say that he's a happy hacker due to Spavin. (Just a guess from your comments.)

However, looking at his video, I would assume you don't just hack and you're referring to him being retired from competing? He's lovely. What a credit to you and a lesson to us all on how our horses should behave on the lunge.
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honestly, he needs a lot more go in trot, he's just not forward.
Left rein.....maybe slightly unsound, but on a scale it'd be lesss than 1/10
 
OK...... he was retired from competing due to severe arthritis in the left hind fetlock...... so full marks to eventing-chick :-)

He has not got any spavin changes (have had both x-rayed last oct) but his cranial phase of his movement (the bit where he brings his hind legs underneath him to propell him forwards, to you and me) is not very good either, not sure why this is but has always been the same. His right hind fetlock is absolutely fine also, so we assume the arthritis is due to a catastrophic accident or infection sometime before I had him.

We did compete the first couple of years we were together, but having been told he would never work again we no longer jump other than a pop in the school on our good surface.

He was treated last year with IRAP therapy which uses the horses own blood product injected back into the fetlock to 'mend' the arthritic changes. He was the second normal horse to be treated (top racers and sjers were done previously) and it has had some pretty impressive results.

He is just on cortaflex but no bute or painkillers etc of any kind.

I kind of put this on here to show what can happen after a horse is effectively given an extreemly poor prognosis for the future, I know vets give a guarded prognosis but on the strength of the x-rays, my vet (who specialises in arthritis and movement problems) said he would probably never be useful again.

So never give up all you out there who have had a similar diagnosis.... think of what they still can do rather than what they cant!!!
 
thanks, have read a bit about the IRAP treatment can you give me some more details please? PM if you prefer?
 
Thanks to Patches for your nice comments on the lunging.... he is very responsive to the voice on all the upward transitions, but only on the downward ones if he is out of puff!!!! Trot to walk is only achived prior to collapse!!!
 
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