Lyric 3/13

Well, Lyric officially started his training at Legacy. Today's session was just a "getting to know you" session and intro and fitting of equipment. Thank God for girth extenders! LOL! I set him up in a surcingle, fitted sidereins, double-checked his bridle fit and off we went to the cavellettis!

Make no mistake--that horse knows EXACTLY where his feet are. EXACTLY. He doesn't always have control of his left hind, but he knows EXACTLY where they are at all times. We only lunged briefly so I could get a feel for his cues, balance, reaction to equipment etc. He was a SWEET boy and very, very obedient. A little reactive to things going on around him (i.e. attention span of a cricket when something distracting was going on like feeding field board) but I was able to get his focus back and he listened. He was "looky" without being disobedient. He does react to sounds behind him and things in his peripheral vision, but overall relaxes nicely with a head down command in hand.

Lunging over the cavelettis he offered me all 3 gaits, would happily walk, trot, trot and jump when cued, and canter over them in a gymnastic circle. His lunging manners were perfect--no pulling etc, and his work ethic was VERY good. He didn't tire out as quickly as I expected (not at all, really), nor did he get as bored as I expected. He just kept going, doing what I asked, even though it was boring and repetitive. I did change things up, to test all the configurations I need for gymnastic circle poles. I introduced them slowly at first, leading him over each pole at a walk. Then picked up the pace trotting, and then he took it upon himself to just skip a step and go straight to lunging over them. (no sidereins). He was easy to place EXACTLY where I wanted him (i.e. to the inside of the poles, outside of the poles, centered over them etc) and HE adjusted his stride accordingly to clear each one without tripping and using his stifle and hock. This is KEY. This was a TEST that he passed with flying colors. HE was able to look down, surmise the distance, and adjust his stride ON HIS OWN in walk, trot AND canter. He compacted and extended his stride ON HIS OWN to make it over each pole if his approach was not ideal. THIS HORSE KNOWS EXACTLY WHERE HIS FEET ARE AND CAN CONTROL THEM. He's just missing some strength and some coordination/timing with his left hind. More strength than coordination. His left hind did slip out from underneath him while circling counterclockwise in the canter, and he lost his confidence after that and did not want to canter again (nor was I going to push him). I asked him to just trot to get his confidence and balance back and he did. But I definitely saw his problem in the canter. He needs more muscling on the outside of his hindquarter to help "pull" the left hind forward and track straighter. The reason why he is so unconfident/unbalanced on it is because it tracks under his body like a tripod, which gives his body/hindquarters an opening to just tip over to the left, which it does, and then his hindquarters just SWEEP out from underneath of him. He's not supporting his weight on the left hind the way he needs to. So, he has to develop the muscle set and range of motion to step (to the left) a bit on his LH and track it straight underneath his body. This is why he catches his right lead fine--comes from the LH and he can step UNDER his body fine--a little TOO fine! But the left lead is a problem b/c the LH comes underneath his center and makes it difficult to balance for the RH strikeoff. I assume half-passing to the left will be interesting at best, but good therapy for him to learn how to put the LH out and away from his center and STEP. In-hand and lateral work at walk/trot will be key to getting him the strength and muscle memory he needs.

I hooked up the sidereins VERY loosely and he was happy enough to try the poles again at w/t/c both directions. He was soft at the poll and had a wonderful back, in a very loose frame, well in front of the vertical. He was clearing the cavellettis at 6-8" fine, clearing them with NO problem and jumping them easily too. His hock engagement/lift underneath his body was even and fine. At 1', since he tends to overachieve and lift higher than he needs to already to clear the poles, he tried even harder and was having trouble--we'll be working on getting that lift and condition.

Leading back down to his pasture, he was a little pacey. Half-halting him and putting him "in frame" in his halter, while asking for hind end engagement and keeping him from falling on his forehand as he walked was key in getting him to correct himself to a 4-beat gait. Even walking on the lead, I could see the obvious deficiency and tracking to the center of the LH. So, that will be the focus of his training! Once he has control of that, everything else will fall into place.