Riding Dutch

Just to perfectly solidly their odd couple status, Dutch is the exact opposite of Uno.  He is a looong Gumby of a horse with a very quick mind that wants to do what you ask SO BAD!! He is naturally very light in front but tends to be slow with his front legs.  Even super unfit he naturally has great reach behind.

Just being a goober in the field and you can see hoe he reaches behind.

Just a quick soundness check after new shoes.  He still moves OUT.

Our current work is two-fold - trying to increase his ability to carry his weight on his hind legs and to calm down and control the power when he does.  Even though it is HIGHLY unlikely that we will go above green bean eventing or training level dressage, we are focused on really increasing his ability to sit.  The thought behind this is that the more we weight his hind legs the faster he will lift the fronts.  This should make him less likely to pull shoes or cut up his front legs. He has a long history of shredding his front legs with his hinds, even when his backs are shoeless.

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We also want to build as much topline strength and stifle strength as possible.  One of the things you can do to protect s horse with compromised tendons (or really any horse) is to build the supporting muscles. This eases the stress on tendons and joints.  We will hit a balance point where he has enough work to strengthen/ maintain that helpful muscle without pounding or overworking his compromised areas.  The goal is to approach that point as slowly as possible, then stay there as long as we can.

Front legs, back legs, we smash them all!

Currently, this means a lot of manipulating his angles on a circle, moving the haunches out, the moving them in.  Focusing on really engaging the hind end without moving the shoulders or neck, or allowing him to increase tempo.  We are also working of controlling his canter.  He is a big slow mover so when unfit he has a hard time balancing in our little arena.  Right now the goal is to focus that power of holding not pushing.  

This is an OLD (like 2010 ish) picture of hubbs and Dutch.  <3 <3

His weekly work looks something like:  Monday - lunge w-t with side reins or over poles.  Wednesday - lesson (2 jumping, 2 dressage each month) plus 1 or 2 more works Friday - Sunday.  Usually one of those will be through a gymnastic grid or over fences.  I wish the ground was firm enough for him to go out conditioning on the trails - a few hours walking hills each week would be so helpful, but it is a muck pit and he is too clumsy. 

Spending most of the summer on Dex due to allergic reactions, KILLED his appetite.  He probably lost 150 pounds. 

This has been great for him mentally - he is less fussy about his food, he is eating more hay, and he is less grumpy with the other horses.  I am not saying that horses need or like their jobs, but he is clearly happier now than he was earlier in the fall.

We will be back to this level of muscled up and sexy soon - but maybe not quite as fat!