Dressage prospect: Bunny hops

[cattywampus]

Eh, she’s cute, she’s young, she’s all ramped up in a wee spot–many a horse will bounce and prop in that situation.

My (otherwise lovely and nice moving) driving pony has been known to impersonate a pogo stick when turned out in a round pen, which is apparently more exciting than the large field he actually lives in… the hoofbeats in the night are probably not a zebra, the little mare is probably not abnormal, and it sounds like she’s about to land on her feet regardless.

Regardless of discipline or competitive goals, dressage training (be supple, be forward, use your body effectively) is helpful.

Plan to enjoy the creature. Don’t borrow trouble, especially not from the interwebs. Best of luck and open roads to you and all the mustangs.

[AltersAreUs]

Just to give you something to compare it to, my arab used to do that bunny hop all the time when she was young & stupid. Wasn’t anything physical, she just hopped every time she lost her balance at the canter when she was up and if she did enough hops in a row, it’d become a bucking fit and then back to bouncing & flinging her head around. Didn’t happen under saddle with a slow start and a lot of strengthening work at the beginning and I always just put it down to being young, unbalanced, and excited.

That said, my girl is a short backed little arab who occasionally thinks she’s part jackrabbit. Her canter is NOT her best gait and, conformationally, getting enough energy into it to do a decent collected canter or changes was all but impossible. She was built for distances, not dressage gaits, and all the training in the world couldn’t fix that. We hit a hard wall, score wise, at 2nd & 3rd level. I see a similar build and possible wall with this mare.

[Gesaffelstein]

.

[Timex]

gotta say, my WB mare did the same thing this morning on the lunge line, with the wind whipping, the snow coming down… needless to say, she was a bit tense. lol. so who knows with this little mare. it could be something, it might not be. too hard to really tell from that video. but if you’re willing and able to take the risk, and feel it’s worth a shot, them why not? good luck with her and the others - whenever you get them! (the gelding is pretty cute too, be sure to give us updates on all of them!)

[NO-CTRL]

Very hard to comment based on that video. Could be something. Could be nothing.
My green mare would bunny hop on the lunge to the left for 12 months. She is not naturally balanced despite being a purpose bred performance pony. Needed a lot of balancing under saddle in the canter. She just couldn’t balance her self on the lunge to her weaker side.
For what it’s worth, she stopped doing it once she worked out some balance for her self and got stronger.

[eightpondfarm]

I PICK HER UP TOMORROW!!! She finally got transported from NV I need to leave the farm at 4am to be at the BLM facility in Ewing IL by 9. Doubt i’ll get any sleep…(does warm milk work?) It has truly been an ordeal securing her. Do not know what happened, how she ‘got lost’ or why. But if it was an injury (HOPE NOT) i’ll have my answer. Anything else as a reason, i’ll never know.

[merrygoround]

Late to the party! I did not read all the posts but did watch the video. Yes she uses both hind feet simultaneously there, and the few trot steps looked a bit odd as well.

Good luck !

[AltersAreUs]

@eightpondfarm

does warm milk work?

No but scotch does. Good luck and here’s hoping for an easy trip.

[YankeeDuchess]

I can see why you thought she had good physicality and gaits. She gets her hind legs well under her in both trot and canter, and the trot has suspension. If the two-hinds-together in canter is due to excitement and the small pen, you may get the last laugh. I hope you do.

[Rackonteur]

Hopeful, I’d say, if your dressage coach is like some dressage coaches I’ve worked with who know nothing about mustangs! Good luck with her if you decide to get her; good luck to her either way!

[Rackonteur]

Hahaha because COTH.

[YankeeDuchess]

Your post was seriously condescending, referring to her as “hippie dippie” and a possible animal hoarder. I think she was genuinely looking for outside feedback and opinions, just not the condescension and insults.

That’s why she was “arguing” with you.

[eightpondfarm]

wellll, to quote

@Rackonteur

Hahaha because COTH.

hahahaha because COTH? (yes, but not in the way i think you meant!) There are plenty of gatekeepers on here. The good news is i’m not easily insulted. Or flattered for that matter.

I got that mare yesterday! I took a few vids of her movement today for y’all to scrutinize if you feel like it, but haven’t loaded them yet… meanwhile here’s a short clip of my wildchild unloading herbadself:

video000000

[SadieRidingHorses]

@eightpondfarm so happy that you picked her up and excited to watch your journey together!

[YankeeDuchess]

I still like the trot — not much of it on that clip and not the best angle, but I like the suspension.

[eightpondfarm]

I didn’t want to push her too much, (actually i shouldn’t even have done this. I’ve never done something even close to this aggressive with a new one, but i was curious about her canter. I’m afraid it might take as many as 10 days to recoup from this little video episode --we shall see. As fresh mustangs go, she is one of the amazing, sensible types. She watches my interactions with other horses, makes eyecontact, and actually approaches a few steps. Or she did approach until i made her runaround for video. I still have high-hopes for her…maybe even more than before. She doesn’t throw-away her legs - that canter is underneath. For the most part, her trot is also. That’s one of the things i’ve noticed about them, they have economy of motion, effort isn’t wasted.). Wasn’t easy to get a canter out of her, but she produced a few steps a few times, i edited the video to cut out the canter parts. Here is one of the clips. She has a canter, it’s pretty buried in her trot as she seems to have a rheostat for that trot of hers. No name yet.

canter

[LilRanger]

She looks great too me! And if she is observant shell learn fast! She wasn’t so wigged out that she couldn’t take a glance at the others, just at the end there. And great suspension, congratulations!

She’s a bay-call her Bae!

[eightpondfarm]

I like Bae Seems pretty feminine, which i do not feel she so much is. (if we were discussing dogs, she’d be called a ‘doggy bitch’) I’m thinking more warrior-class would work better(?)…dunno. Need to spend some more time with her… She was pretty responsive to my lunge cues. So she has ‘relativity’ to human interaction already. Which is one-of-those-things that tells you if she’ll make a quick mount or a long one. Eventually, they can (most) ALL get there, just that some are naturals. And i feel she is…to me anyway. There is a good ‘nick’ here with us. I’ve been searching for a horse like her for quite a while. (And have a pasture full of not-quite-what-i’m looking for to prove it!)

[LilRanger]

Good on you for being so patient.

And Bae can mean “Before all else” or short for babe. So do with that as you will.

She looks sharp and i think she’s going to be a fun horse.

[Scribbler]

I like that she’s just giving you a big trot. She’s not so wigged out that she needs to gallop mindlessly.