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RunFarAway · Sep 19, 2020 6:31 AM

So back in June I found out that the horse I sold 10 years ago was back up for sale and I was in a good position to buy her. So I did! She arrived in July and was doing well other than short stepping in the front at the jog. About 3 weeks later we went to a show where we went in 4 walk-trot classes - 2 western pleasure and 2 western horsemanship that was railwork only. The judge love her and said she moved consistently with her head properly level. The judge also said that she couldn't believe we hadn't been a team for 10 years! The show was maybe my 10th ride since she arrived - I wanted to give her time to adjust to new surroundings after an 8 hour trailer ride and being in a completely different area of the country. The judge did give me something to work on though which is to get her nose tucked in.

Since I've shut her down until next show season, she in part to taking the time to figure out why she is short stepping which looked almost limplike at times. I'm currently working with my farrier to get her back to feeling 100%. The people I bought her from spent the first 9 months of the 2 years they had her correcting her feet after the people they bought her from royally messed her up by doing her feet themselves. At 16 I just want her to be as comfortable as possible to do her job which she loves - being a show horse.

When I start getting her under saddle again I know I need to work with her on tucking her nose at well as getting her to collect. She's heavy on the forehand with a very pretty lope, just needs to drive from behind.

She had all sorts of buttons put on her 10 years ago, but almost none of them have been used since then. I ride her in a low port correction which she's been in since she was 4 - the owner/breeder I bought her from at 4 already had her in the correction.

Does anyone with training experience have recommendations on training aids or exercises I could use to achieve these goals?

BlaxkDiamond · Sep 19, 2020 8:53 AM

For the short stepping I’d have her checked for navicular. Another thing to try would be a massage, chiropractor, acupuncture or PEMF all are alternate therapies that can help with a lot of things. The only one I haven’t tried personally is acupuncture, but have heard it’s highly beneficial. The other three can make a night day difference in a horse.

Personally I always start with ground work to try to fix different problems I come across before I ever try tackling them in the saddle. I watch a lot of different trainers and pick and choose what I take from each trainer, to fit what me and my horse needs. So instead of trying to give you exercises that work for me, I’ll give you the names of the trainers I get my excises from so you can pick and choose.

I use Clinton Anderson’s fundamental method as the foundation on a lot of the exercises I do, however I don’t follow his stuff to the letter. I use his book Establishing Respect and Control for English and Western Riders, since it is a lot cheaper than his dvd set and still has plenty of exercises.

The guy I’ve been watching the most right now is Pat Puckett. To me he seems to be the perfect middle between too firm and too soft with a horse, so currently he’s my favorite to watch and try to learn from. He has a lot about collection and preparing his horses for it. Here’s a video on YouTube on a older mare he’s teaching collection too, https://youtu.be/rhaEfa57ASU

Other trainers are Craig Cameron, and Martin Black
The best book I’ve read on training is True Horsemanship through feel.

I hope this helps, but if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

RunFarAway · Sep 19, 2020 2:34 PM

@blaxkdiamond my farrier noticed the first time he worked on her that her shoulders weren't aligned, but he came back out this past week and said her shoulders are much better aligned. We decided to let her feet grow in naturally for a bit which seems to be working. If she doesn't continue to get better my next call is to a chiropractor and after that is a vet.
She knows how to do both, I'm just giving her a refresher. I'll look into some of the resources you listed.

HTRanch · Sep 19, 2020 6:24 PM

To add onto BlackxDiamond's thoughts - I've been watching a lot of Warwick Schiller's videos recently. He does a really great job of facilitating amazing connections with your horse and breaking the complicated stuff down into teeny tiny steps. He's on the bigger social media platforms and youtube and has both paid and free content.

Other than that, I would suggest not specifically working on tucking her nose in, but instead working on overall drive from behind and total body collection - her nose will follow naturally once her body is in a collected posture. Lots of (good) transitions between and within gaits, and trot to stop to back up transitions. I also do a lot of work with lateral movement - especially hip disengagement and walking with
hindquarters-in on the ground and under saddle to focus on really crossing the back feet over one another to get them engaged and driving the movement.

Also, I second getting her checked for navicular. I had a fantastic western pleasure horse who had similar issues - short stepping/limping at the jog - and it did end up being navicular (it was partially his conformational structure, exacerbated by years of poor hoof care before he came to me). However, if your mare's shoulders are not aligned properly it could also be as simple as her not being able to lift her shoulders up to collect herself - causing her to be front-heavy and short strided when she moves.

Good on you for being willing to give her some time off so that she can be the best she can be! You sound like a wonderful owner :)

RunFarAway · Sep 20, 2020 4:10 PM

@HTRanch thanks! I'm just doing what I can! She was giving soft refusals to going into the arena which was when I backed off of working her. She had never refused the arena before so I knew something must be up and the last thing I wanted was to put her through more pain and end up with a ring sour show horse. I let her have some "pasture" time in the arena last night - she gets actual pasture time for several hours every morning. And she was moving very freely, even troting around (a western pleasure extension) with no noticeable short stepping or limp. It's got me thinking that when she goes to "work" she's slowing down to western pleasure pace but because she's not collecting she can't lift her shoulders to step normally.

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