Sore back?

StarFell

StarFell

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When I was schooling my pony yesterday he started to do little "skips" as I was trotting him. It kept throwing me onto the wrong diagonal, and Im wondering if it may be because he might have a sore back? He is very excitable, so I cant work out whether he was just being silly and trying to strike off into canter, or whether there really is a problem. He was also switching legs quite a lot in canter in my lesson on Saturday, but my instructor seemed to think it was just lack of balance with him only being young and quite green. Any thoughts?
 
My horse switches legs in canter when his pelvis is out. It might just be that he is unbalanced, but if he doesn't do it normally it seems unlikely. I'd have his back checked just in case - it's not going to hurt and at least You'd have peace of mind, then
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My mare used to deliberatly throw me on to her right diagonal purely because she found it more comfortable, she got out of it as she got older!
 
Young/Green horses can often develop a "skip" when unbalanced and rushing in trot. If hes changing legs during canter, he is probably very unbalanced. Schooling work and transistions will help but i'd also have him checked just to make sure there isnt a problem there, especially with him being young.. Its easy to imprint behaviour at this age!

Hope this helps and you solve the problem xxx
 
I dont think his back is tender at all, he doesnt seem to mind me touching it. When I first got him his poll was out and that was causing him to change legs in canter, that was about 18 months ago and he has been fine up until now. We've just started to teach him to work in an outline, so could the different head carriage be unbalancing him a little? He used to run along with his nose poked out really bad, so will his muscles be under-developed?
 
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