Having managed to get an osteopath checkout for Billy it was time to start trotting him. I wanted a physical checkout done first to ensure that bouncing around on his back would not cause him pain.
We ran through the plan as usual, the touch all over section now includes a back massage to try and relieve the soreness in his back. In addition the osteopath has requested that I get him confident with gentle tapping down either side of the spine to prepare him for more manipulations.
I am pleased to report that the saddling section went much better. Not perfect yet, and I did have to make him move around more than he wanted to when he tried to move away from the saddling process. In the end he decided just standing still was much the easier option.
To prepare for trotting for the first time I paid particular attention to several laps of trot on the circle. This was to check that he looked confident with the stirrups flapping about, the feel of the girth and the general environment. All passed with flying colours.
I have been banned from mounting from the ground by the osteo until his back problem is sorted out. However I felt we could do more mounting practise from the mounting block. He always presents his right side to me for mounting, but I need to be able to mount from either side. After a short while he did present his left side, but interestingly had a real problem allowing me to mount from there. He continuously moved off as I started to mount thus proving that just because your horse is happy with you doing something on one side doesn't necessarily translate to being happy on the other side. We worked on this for around ten minutes until he would let me put my foot in the stirrup and weight it a little. Eventually I mounted from the right side with no issues at all.
Lateral flexion was not so good today to start with. The tendency to bite my leg reappeared. Worked on this until I got two good flexions on each side, then straight into follow the rail at walk. To test I had brakes for when we started trotting I asked for indirect to direct rein at walk. This involved doing an indirect rein towards the fence forcing him to swing his hind quarters out towards the enter of the school followed by a direct rein to lead him off in the opposite direction. To the right they were very good, to the left just acceptable.
We then did a few circles at walk and once I was feeling confident I asked for a trot. Such a light aid was required and a quiet "kiss" from me. He moved up into a complete mess of a gait. Certainly not a trot, but not a walk either. After a few strides he nearly fell over and so we stopped.
If you are only used to riding schooled horses this may surprise you, but horses have to learn each gait all over again with the weight of a rider on the back. This was so disjointed that it was impossible to try and rise with him, and I complained to Ritchie that it was really making my lower back sore. He did not seem unconfident however, just uncoordinated. So practise was required. Three or four trot attempts later and he had sorted his legs out. We were rewarded with a few strides of very pleasant trot, with me rising (posting).
Stopping him was simplicity itself. A very slight bend to a halt with me "quitting" riding was all it took. All my fears of him tanking off were unfounded !!
His interest in the lesson really perked up at these trot attempts, with pricked ears and loads of licking and chewing. After the balanced trot it was time to reward him by getting off and taking him back to his stable.
As this is the first horse I have backed it is amazing how rewarding it feels to get him to do something as simple as a trot. A seasoned rider on a seasoned horse will think nothing of trotting, for us it was a really big deal. A visit to the pub for celebration was in order.
We ran through the plan as usual, the touch all over section now includes a back massage to try and relieve the soreness in his back. In addition the osteopath has requested that I get him confident with gentle tapping down either side of the spine to prepare him for more manipulations.
I am pleased to report that the saddling section went much better. Not perfect yet, and I did have to make him move around more than he wanted to when he tried to move away from the saddling process. In the end he decided just standing still was much the easier option.
To prepare for trotting for the first time I paid particular attention to several laps of trot on the circle. This was to check that he looked confident with the stirrups flapping about, the feel of the girth and the general environment. All passed with flying colours.
I have been banned from mounting from the ground by the osteo until his back problem is sorted out. However I felt we could do more mounting practise from the mounting block. He always presents his right side to me for mounting, but I need to be able to mount from either side. After a short while he did present his left side, but interestingly had a real problem allowing me to mount from there. He continuously moved off as I started to mount thus proving that just because your horse is happy with you doing something on one side doesn't necessarily translate to being happy on the other side. We worked on this for around ten minutes until he would let me put my foot in the stirrup and weight it a little. Eventually I mounted from the right side with no issues at all.
Lateral flexion was not so good today to start with. The tendency to bite my leg reappeared. Worked on this until I got two good flexions on each side, then straight into follow the rail at walk. To test I had brakes for when we started trotting I asked for indirect to direct rein at walk. This involved doing an indirect rein towards the fence forcing him to swing his hind quarters out towards the enter of the school followed by a direct rein to lead him off in the opposite direction. To the right they were very good, to the left just acceptable.
We then did a few circles at walk and once I was feeling confident I asked for a trot. Such a light aid was required and a quiet "kiss" from me. He moved up into a complete mess of a gait. Certainly not a trot, but not a walk either. After a few strides he nearly fell over and so we stopped.
If you are only used to riding schooled horses this may surprise you, but horses have to learn each gait all over again with the weight of a rider on the back. This was so disjointed that it was impossible to try and rise with him, and I complained to Ritchie that it was really making my lower back sore. He did not seem unconfident however, just uncoordinated. So practise was required. Three or four trot attempts later and he had sorted his legs out. We were rewarded with a few strides of very pleasant trot, with me rising (posting).
Stopping him was simplicity itself. A very slight bend to a halt with me "quitting" riding was all it took. All my fears of him tanking off were unfounded !!
His interest in the lesson really perked up at these trot attempts, with pricked ears and loads of licking and chewing. After the balanced trot it was time to reward him by getting off and taking him back to his stable.
As this is the first horse I have backed it is amazing how rewarding it feels to get him to do something as simple as a trot. A seasoned rider on a seasoned horse will think nothing of trotting, for us it was a really big deal. A visit to the pub for celebration was in order.
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