Yesterday, I put my plan in action. I arrived a few minutes late (thanks, Dad =/), but went right out and grabbed Zan. I ran a brush over him and clipped the lunge line to his halter (no bitting rig today, I wanted him to be able to stretch ALL of his muscles, including his neck muscles), then got him moving. I let him warm up with a trot. As soon as he took the first trot step with his right hind, I just knew that this wasn't something that we could cure with just lunging.
After trotting around a couple times, I noticed that Zan was slowly loosening that leg at the trot. Joy! I thought. At that time, I thought maybe things would be okay. But when I asked him for a canter, he started with that leg really stiff. I asked him to canter around as much as possible, and slowly he used his back legs halfway normally, if not 3/4 normally. I let Zan walk and trot some more going that way, and then asked him to reverse. We worked the other way, and boy, is his canter jacked up going his bad way. He does exactly what Erica described: he hops up and down with his back legs, will hold his right back leg up for a few seconds, trip, and then go back to hopping and start over. What is going on?
I got him to stretch a bit, and I decided to hop on and ride. I didn't want to canter, so I asked Zan for lots and lots of walk/trot work. We did circles (lots of them!), serpentines, one figure-8, and even walked and trotted over trot poles without protest! I don't trust his back legs enough to jump him over a real jump (however little it may be), because I don't want him to hurt himself. Still, he did pretty good.
My ride was pretty much a 15-20 min ride; don't ask me why - I think its because there's only so much you can do with an injured horse at the walk and trot. Anyways, I stopped riding after a particularly awesome trot - he was low and stretchy, but I could feel just a bit of stiffness in his back legs. He was softening to my hands and happily trotting along like nothing's up. Since Tarzan is just a total champion at halter, I wanted to practice some more.
We spent a good 15 minutes practicing responding to halter cues without any tension on the lead shank or chain. It took a few minutes for Zan to warm up to it, but he finally figured out that when I stop, he stops (and if he doesn't, he gets to back up a few steps), and when I go, he goes slowly. When I'm training a halter horse - especially one that has amazing ground manners and basics already - it is just completely unacceptable for me to simply take a step forward and have the horse dance around or take off at a trot or even not go at all. It's just unacceptable. Zan picked up on all of this quite quickly; I think he's a very smart horse. =)
After doing halter, I turned Zan back out and got Sonny out of his stall (the lesson Erica was teaching used him, so they just left him inside for me when they were done). No, I didn't bother to brush him, but I checked his feet and was careful to examine him (once again) for any injuries. Quickly, I saddled and bridled and brought him into the arena to ride. I had an hour before Erica had another lesson, so I had an hour to do whatever I wanted without interruption.
I started out with a nice, stretchy walk. He'd been a butt in the lesson, so as I was getting him to trot and do some nice trot circles with energy, along with many sidepasses and changes of direction across the diagonal. See, Sonny was trained in dressage, hunt seat, western pleasure, barrel racing, eventing, jumping, and pretty much everything you can think of. The only thing I think he can't do is saddleseat.
After trotting, I let him walk for a minute before asking for a canter.
He. Exploded.
Son took off at a speedy, uncontrolled canter complete with lots of head shaking, and not so much prettiness. I pulled him to a stop and made him back up across the arena. I then walked him to the rail - where he threw a fit and started shaking his head and backing up and turning in tight circles. I jabbed him with my heels and told him to cut it out. We walked back to the rail and I asked him for a canter without missing a beat. He exploded again and, again without letting him take even 10 strides, stopped him, backed him up, and then walked him to the rail and asked him again. This time, he was a good boy. He was slow and almost collected. I asked him to bring his head in and he tucked his head nicely, only to start shaking it around the corners, where I'd ask him to collect it again.
I let him walk and we repeated the walk/trot/canter exercises the other way. I asked him for lead changes across the diagonal - we're going to work on flying changes soon; I know he can do them but he hasn't been asked for one in quite a while. We worked quite a bit at the canter and trot, only walking when he started sweating or breathing hard. During our walks, I always asked him to collect and tuck his head. Thankfully, the ride was an overall success.
After our ride, I groomed Sonny and gave him a peppermint, telling him what a good boy he is. He didn't even show very much interest in the peppermint. He was so exhausted, but I think it's good for a horse to be exhausted every once and a while. I turned him back out and called my dad to tell him I was ready to be picked up.
As soon as I hung up the phone, a big red Ford with a shiny silver gooseneck camper-trailer pulled up. I learned quickly that this was the new boarder, and the owner had yet to get here. The truck and trailer was the horse hauler delivering the horse.
"Lynx" is a very sweet buckskin Quarter Horse gelding. He has an adorable face and the sweetest eyes. He wasn't even phased by his new home. He walked off the trailer confidently and happily, and when he was put into his stall, he circled once and then calmly ate his hay. I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, but I will next week. =) Lynx is a reining and pleasure horse!! This is new; I've only done reining once, and it was FUN. Maybe I'll be able to ride Lynx? He's only 8.
What's funny about Lynx is that all summer, he didn't have a single scratch on him. As soon as his new owner said she wanted to buy him, he ran through a fence and cut up his chest, legs, sides, and belly. ='( Poor guy! Oh, well. He seems fine and like he'll settle in with the other geldings quite nicely.
That's all for now! Go hug a horse!
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