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Discussion on Exercises for Weak Right Rear Leg/qtr
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 9:14 am:
I am hoping for responses from those of you who ride/teach dressage.
Cody is a 9 year old gelding. He does wonderful with gait control at the walk and trot. I can speed those gaits up and slow them down. Good control of all body areas as well as I can do them. I haven't had any formal lessons, and my knowledge of "dressage" is from reading only.
Last fall, Cody "bobbled" his right ankle while cantering around the pasture. He had some heat and swelling for the first week, treated him with Bute, cold water treatment, stall rest. Because I had only been trimming the horses myself for a few months, I thought it was because I had trimmed his heels too short and caused some damage. Don't know if that was the case or not.
Over the winter months, he did stand with that foot/leg at rest but now he seems fine with standing on all 4 legs equal although he does stand with that leg under him at rest.
We have never mastered the canter to be consistant. He will canter, but does this stop, spin, plant his front feet thing after a few strides. (I was letting him find himself on a loose rein, I won't do that this year as I think he needs to be between my legs/hands)
What I see when he is moving at liberty, is he seems "off" with that right hind leg. It's not a lameness, but I don't feel he is bringing it under him as far as the other leg at the trot, and maybe a little stiff at the canter.
I have someone monitiering my trimming, and we feel his hooves are fine, he's in balance.
So, my questions:
What can I do to help get him even? And stronger?
Lunging with side reins? I can do that.
I can ground drive.
I am not very good at posting at the trot, but I do it pretty well on him as he's easy to post on.
Spend more time going around the arena one direction and one diagonal than the other?
What about the "fancy" moves...I don't know the terms but he will do what I think you call shoulder in, side passing, etc. Probably not done correctly, but I have a basic understanding of what we are aiming for. I know we'd never get a ribbon in a class!
I just want him to be strong, comfortable and to keep moving forward in his training. He's only going to be a trail horse but I believe in variety so I love seeing what we can do in the arena.
Thanks in advance everyone!
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Member:
stevens
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 9:38 am:
Angie,
If you're sure that it's not a physical problem other than weakness, I think what you're asking about is leg-yield or shoulder-fore. The point is to get the horse's weaker leg to work harder by making sure it is under the horse's body.
If you are walking along the rail, track right, and move his shoulders to the inside slightly (like a couple of inches is all) and bend him around your inside leg, it's shoulder fore. Shoulder-in is a greater degree of bend and a more advanced movement. Anyway, by moving his shoulders to the inside you're setting him up to step under his body with his right hind.
If you're going track left, you can do a leg yield with his head to the wall on the long side of the arena. Cut the corner and approach the rail at about slight angle, put him in a slight counter flexion (poll flexed to the right) and push him sideways and forward at the same time. Again, this will set him up to step under himself more with the right hind.
Start slow and small, only a few steps at a time so he can strengthen. A good reference book is Cross Train Your Horse by Jane Savoie. I'd had it for years and still pull it out periodically. It's a great investment.
Good Luck.
Chris
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 9:49 am:
Hi Angie,
All horses tend to be crooked in their movement, even with no prior history of injury. They, like us, do not develop perfect posture or straight movement all on their own! So I don't know if your horse has a lameness, and if he struggles with the work you will, of course, want to check that out.
The fancy moves can help, but they need to be ridden with timing (to the footfalls of the gait), proper rhythm, and understanding. If you are not 100% confident in riding them absolutely correctly (and it sounds like it isn't your interest), then I'd skip them. Every fancy move has obvious (to the horse) evasions that will have the opposite effect to what was intended.
Hill work is the classic hind end strengthener for any discipline. Walk and trot up hills asking for a consistent and contained rhythm in each gait, and allowing him to stretch over his topline (long reins, if it's safe).
For an arena, lots of transitions between gaits (walk/trot, etc.) but they need to be ridden straight-- use your leg to keep him from swinging his haunches, and ride them in both directions.
Properly spaced ground rails and cavaletti will also require him to travel straight (if you steer straight!), and can be wonderful, especially if you don't have hills.
I am just not a believer in lunging with side reins. They do not release appropriately (IMO) and can encourage the horse to lean stiffly onto the inside shoulder. I only ever use them for a few sessions if I have some very specific problem that needs addressing. And those problems are usually easier fixed onboard with a trained horse.
If you have any secret desire ever to make him a dressage horse, you will want to stop speeding up/slowing down his walk and working fancy moves until he has more solid basics. Otherwise, enjoy! I hope this is helpful.
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Member:
stevens
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 10:14 am:
Elizabeth,
I respectfully disagree with your last paragraph. Controlling the speed of a horse's walk, shoulder fore and leg yield are basic skills. Certainly they are more basic than transitions between gaits and cavaletti. Leg yield is the classic straightening exercise. Don't take my word for it, it's easy to verify in any classic dressage text.
If the horse is avoiding fully using that hind leg, I don't think that hill work is going to help in that regard. I do agree with you that shoulder-in and half-pass are "right out" for now.
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 12:04 pm:
Hi Chris,
We can agree to disagree on the walk. The walk is the most easily ruined of all gaits for dressage, and the hardest to fix. I made an assumption based on Angie's comment about posting that she is not in the habit of tracking footfalls while riding. Adjusting the walk w/o being very aware of the footfalls and timing of the aid can very easily produce a lateral or lateral-tending walk, which is a huge (and common) fault in dressage, and very hard to correct. My take away from that is that it's better to leave it alone than take the chance of introducing a problem (especially since walk movements always have a coefficient, and are expensive to blow in the show arena). So that was my thought process.
Leg yield of course works, but needs to be ridden correctly w/o over-bending, poor leg timing etc.. So yes, but maybe not if a person is unfamiliar with how to tell when it goes wrong and how to fix it. I skipped it because I was trying to offer things that would not likely backfire if the timing was off....
I've rehabbed many a horse butt on hills, which is why I suggested it. Different strokes I guess-- Angie can pick and choose what works for her!
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Member:
stevens
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 4:08 pm:
Hi Elizabeth,
Fair enough! Of course, one way to address a lateral walk is, drum roll please, the leg yield.
I agree that hill work is great for building hindquarter strength.
Cheers!
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 4:44 pm:
Thanks Ladies,
First, I'll never go in a ring to show a horse for any reason, so remember this is just for my fun, and to help this horse get balanced, strong and stay that way. We "train/play" in the arena, and trail ride.
Second of all, I am not sure what the problem is, and unless he obviously breaks his leg, I won't know; I am assuming it's muscle weakness. If you have a horse with 4 legs, which we all do of course, and he spends months resting one leg, the other 3 are affected, as is his whole body.
My biggest positive response I saw with improvement with him was after I gave him a few self taught massages based on a DVD I bought. SO...I feel one leg is weaker, or one haunch is weaker. I wish I could say he always stood with that right hind leg as his choice for being under him, but I don't know that, never paid attention. Maybe it's been a life time weakness; maybe the "bobble" had nothing to do with any of this.
I have the book "Cross Train Your Horse" haven't read it all, so far all I am getting is "IN MY SECOND BOOK, I explain this..." and "Dressage in Lightness" (love that one) and those 2 books are what got me thinking there is LOTS I can do to help...if I do it correctly of course. Hard to do without someone watching, but that's never stopped me before!
Timing of the footfalls is not something I've got down pat although I know it's very important. Last year I worked a lot on just feeling him move at a loose swinging walk with some contact for a few strides, then loose reins again. He has a wonderful loose walk, as far as I know anyhow, at least he's the best I've ever owned. Nice medium trot, nice western jog that I can sit too also.
No hills around here.
If I lay out rails to ride between to stay straight, how far apart?
I am interested in the fancy moves; I've always tried to do them but what I've come to realise is there is a lot to it I DON'T KNOW. I am sure I am guilty of over bending for example. I will try to get it in my head what I am trying to do and be take it slow, ask very little, reward a lot.
I can ride him on the "X" as I call it...riding a diagonal across the arena. (my old cowboy mentor told me that was important to do; he didn't know dressage terms but he rode dressage!) It feels fine to me, no clue what it looks like. But his was last year before he got hurt.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. At least now I have a plan.
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Member:
erika
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Posted on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 - 6:51 pm:
Angie, I know from whence you come (whence? wherest?, whatever--I can relate!). As a kid I read everything about horses, riding, and training. I did pretty well on my little App! We learned to jump, sidepass, do some "rodeo action", and lots of dressage moves--all out of books.
When he finally went to new owners, Domingo became an eventer. They marvelled at how "well trained" he was for the dressage portion! All this and never a lesson. Of course, as a teenager I never left the saddle (or the bareback)so the poor horse had no choice but to do my bidding!
If you aren't worried about showing, and you plan to keep your horse for life, why not have fun and teach him anything you want?
I realize this could be the undoing of a future dressage prospect. But like I said, have fun if he's going to stay yours.
As for the leg issue, nothin' to add here! Sorry to get off topic...
Erika
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