[JBandRio]

I agree, she does look quite stiff. This very likely goes back to her driving days when the shafts prevented any sort of lateral bend in her body. IMHO she needs a lot of ground work to teach her how to be supple in all parts of her body, as supple as a body part can be. Her stiffness could be due to other issues as well, such as a sore back, or sore feet, or any number of things.

A good book for this point in time would be Mike Schaffer's "Right From the Start".

[dotgotcalm]

I think the videos in this series might be very helpful to you. You don't have to have cones, BTW, any kind of makers will do.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/...lid=1390872008

[Goonhorse]

Originally Posted by sarahhowen

Have you had her back checked at all recently? To me she looks ever so slightly uncomfortable and almost as though she is trying to keep her back straight and just bending her neck when you are working on the circle, that has got me thinking does she have some tension through her back or hind quarters that is making her reluctant to bend and thus throwing her off balance, causing the problems that you are experiencing.

How is she on the lunge? does she bend and balance herself on this? She is towards the end of the video starting to bend her whole body a little better so I wonder if she has some muscle tension that is like I say making her uncomfortable.

I would suggest getting someone out to look at her, maybe a chiro or a massage therapist and just ruling out tension, I would also try and incorporate some carrot stretches with her daily (all mine do these daily just to keep them supple - they love it)

With regards to balancing her, I would do a little more work on creating a better outline, she certainly isn't tracking up fully in the video and of she is qworking in a better shape it will help her, incorporate circle work with her on a daily basis but dont overdo it! also things like serpentines are great for getting her more balanced, keep it varied.

She looks in fabulous health by the way, she has a really shinney coat. Congrats on the pregnancy and fingers crossed for a healthy foaling!

You know, the more I watched the video the more I thought she looked stiff or something. Recently I've been watching my sisters Arab trot, though, and I thought maybe I'd gotten used to her floaty trot, and now Breez's sledge hammer trot looked funny.

But I think you're right about her looking stiff. Is there any chance the saddle fit could be an issue? I should get a video of me riding bareback and see if it's any different.

Another thing that I've noticed (I think there was something about this in a recently Horse Illustrated) is that she does keep her tail off to one side at least when she's standing. Which can be a sign of back pain, if I remember correctly.

She does not balance herself when I lunge her. Sometimes she'll go about a half circle bending nicely, but then she ends up bracing her head against the lead rope (long lead rope) and her butt swinging out.

Are there any other ways of determining whether she has back stiffness/pain? She does carrot stretches fabulously. She folds herself in half even if I don't watch her to stretch.

I doubt there's an equine chiro or message therapist anywhere close around here. We kinda live back in the sticks.

Thanks!

[JBandRio]

Originally Posted by Goonhorse

You know, the more I watched the video the more I thought she looked stiff or something. Recently I've been watching my sisters Arab trot, though, and I thought maybe I'd gotten used to her floaty trot, and now Breez's sledge hammer trot looked funny.

She may never have the floaty trot of the Arab, but the way she's moving she is a leg-mover only, she's not moving through her back.

But I think you're right about her looking stiff. Is there any chance the saddle fit could be an issue? I should get a video of me riding bareback and see if it's any different.

Until ruled out, saddle fit is always a possibility

Another thing that I've noticed (I think there was something about this in a recently Horse Illustrated) is that she does keep her tail off to one side at least when she's standing. Which can be a sign of back pain, if I remember correctly.

It depends. Might or might not be. It can simply be due to stiffness more on one side than the other. My horse tends to carry his shoulders to the left, AND carry his tail a hair to the left (so he's slightly bent to the left). After I work on a lot of shoulder in to the right, the tail straightens.

She does not balance herself when I lunge her. Sometimes she'll go about a half circle bending nicely, but then she ends up bracing her head against the lead rope (long lead rope) and her butt swinging out.

Very typical of a horse who hasn't been taught how to do this properly. The concave form to her inside (when she's "bending nicely") is likely directly related to her convex form (when she's bracing) due to her preferring to be in the area where her body is convex. For example, when she's "bending nicely" going to the right, she'd rather be in the areas to her left (to her outside), and on that same circle, when she bulges in, she's bulging torwards the same area which is now on her right (to her inside). Very common. Not acceptable

Are there any other ways of determining whether she has back stiffness/pain? She does carrot stretches fabulously. She folds herself in half even if I don't watch her to stretch.

When she bends her neck around, how vertical does her head stay? The more she lays her head to the side, the more that's telling you she's still through her poll and opposite side of her neck. So, don't let her do that. Put a halter on her for her carrot stretches so that you can guide her, from the other side, in keeping her head vertical when she reaches around. If she can only go halfway, that's as far as she goes. Quality over quantity

I doubt there's an equine chiro or message therapist anywhere close around here. We kinda live back in the sticks.

Thanks!

That stinks. It would really help, I'm sure.

[sarahhowen]

Saddle fit could definitely be an issue and it is always worth getting this checked out although if she is still stiff on the lunge without her saddle on then I would hazard a guess that this is not the root cause of the problems. JB raised a really valid point, what with her being driven previously she may not know how to bend, and you may infact need to re-educate her to this end

I have also posted a link below to a video which may be worth trying, it is a technique that you can use yourself to detirmine if she has a tension, I would say it isn't foolproof but its worth a try just to see if it raises a areas of tension that could be causing her reluctance to bend

http://www.yourhorse.co.uk/Improve-y...-introduction/

Her tail carriage to one side could indeed be an indication of a problem, but it is not a foolproof method to detirmine of indeed there is a problem, generally a diagnosis would be made based on a variety of symptoms.

Have a look at the video and see what you think, I tried it with my horses and I was able to detirmine a number of Tight spots that I could help release although if I am honest it was a poor substitute to the work that a massage therapist did with my mare Sorry!

It could also be worth doing some hind end stretches, these are good for stretching out her tendons but also stretching her whole topline also, if you need some guidance in how to do these just shout.

[sarahhowen]

Infact just found a instruction on the interne how to do hind end sretches which I thought might be helpful

"Stretching the Hind-End Muscles Stand next to the horse just like you were picking out his feet, lift the leg up and bring it forward under his belly, be sure you only go as far as he can bend comfortably gradually increasing how far forward and up you can bring his leg. Hold for 5 then put his leg back down repeat 5 times each side and work your way up to 10 times. He will eventually be able to put his hoof right up under his belly. This really helps loosen the hind end and lengthen the stride"

[Goonhorse]

When she bends her neck around, how vertical does her head stay? The more she lays her head to the side, the more that's telling you she's still through her poll and opposite side of her neck. So, don't let her do that. Put a halter on her for her carrot stretches so that you can guide her, from the other side, in keeping her head vertical when she reaches around. If she can only go halfway, that's as far as she goes. Quality over quantity

I'm not sure, I'd have to do it again to see how vertical she stays.

Thank you for all your help. I'll check out the video soon, but I don't have time right now. Thanks again!

[Goonhorse]

Another thing that I've thought of is that I THINK she has a negative P3 plane (or whatever it's called, I always forget). I made a thread about it a while back, but I was planning on making another thread because I still have some unanswered questions.

That can definitely cause stiffness/pain, especially through the hindquarters.