Ok walk, pokey as heck trot, nice canter...ideas to improve the trot?

[CHT]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjY9GJKaCk8

The above is a video of the horse in question well before we bought him. You can hopefully see though, that even in this video, he moved out much better at the canter than the trot.

History on the horse: OTTB that the above trainer worked with to sell. horse did not sell, and badly hurt an ankle. Was ran through auction with meat horses, bought by someone who then sold him to a client. Our vet “passed” the horse, noting that his one pastern was fused, but thought the toe drag was badly neglected hooves. (it wasn’t, he still drags his toe at the trot at home, but better off property…not hurting though, as moves the same when blocked)

We got him home and right away did his teeth…the poor horse had a blind wolf tooth on the bottom, that likely was the cause as to why he was considered difficult by previous owners. He was very fussy with his mouth at first (worried when he felet a lack of contact) But has gotten progressively better.

But…he trots around like a dopey beginner lesson horse. he just will not move out with or without contact. leg yields ok but you have to be pretty obvious with your aids, but all the leg and pushing in the world will not get a forward trot. A tap with a crop will just get a canter or a passagey trot. Will not reach out for trot poles.

The canter is a completely different story…it is lovely. Very adjustable. Nicely into contact. lovely lead changes. Nicely sensitive to leg.

Trot sometimes improves after cantering, but not always.

Ideas on how to improve trot?

[GoneAway]

I might sound like a crazy person with all the stretch work suggestions I make, but he looks like he’d benefit a lot from it as he looks bottled up in the front. Ditch the draw reins completely. Ask him to stretch forward and down into the the bit from behind. You need his back to come up to improve his trot. Start at the walk, and until he starts working over his back at the walk, don’t bother trotting. You should probably try lunging him with a chambon to help teach the stretch in the trot, and once he gets the concept on the lunge, transition to working on stretch undersaddle.

The more the horse pushes from behind into the stretch and the more his back comes up, the better he will step under himself. I agree he has a lot more to offer in the trot, but the focus needs to be on his hind end, not his front. There are a lot of (probably unnecessarily long) posts in my blog about this, as well as a video critique of my own TB gelding. He’s a lot like your guy - works well over the back in the canter, but has a pokey trot. You can see in the course of the video how much better the trot gets with the stretch work. Improving a gait doesn’t happen overnight - it’ll take months of pretty concentrated work to see a difference in the horse’s gaits and topline.

[CHT]

The video is of his old barn/trainer. We do not use draw reins on him, and have him in a softer bit (happy mouth d-ring French link). I do have his owner sometimes use a german martingale, but more for the consistency of contact than head set. (so fairly loose). He seems to like the weight of it and it helps the kid keep him from inverting at the trot if he is peppy.

If you watch the old jumping videos you can see how over draw reined and afraid of contact he was!

He will walk, longish and lowish, but not really use his back. Hard I think with his fused pastern to get him to reach up and under and push…or am I just making excuses for him? He really has limited mobility in his left hind. At trot (now) he travels in a fairly relaxed frame. not using his back, but not inverted either (unless he gets nervous)

I just do not get how a horse can be responsive to leg at the canter, yet dead sided at trot.

[GoneAway]

I’m guessing then that video taken well before the pastern fusion? I’m no vet, but perhaps you want to consult one about what he can really do with/on that hind.

All the more reason to teach him to do a lot of stretching if he is inconsistent in the contact, as it helps reinforce it. Ideally if it’s done long enough, you develop a swinging trot with an active hind end, and over time can raise the poll by shortening the reins, and keeping the quality of trot.

My guy is very similar in that he has that very responsive, elastic, easy canter, but pretty dead at the trot. If the horse is physically capable given his injury, that type of work would be beneficial.

[Luna]

What is his trot like on the lunge (or can you not do any of that on account of the injury)?

Have you tried opposite or lateral leg aids (using one leg at a time, corresponding with the hind leg that is moving forward–either as straight pressure or ‘rolling’ to encourage the back to lift).

[CHT]

He is pokey on the longe at trot. Or he passages with his head in the air (if he is fresh). he is kind of all or nothing…either dopey as all get out, or springy in the air like Pepe Le Pew (but still not moving out).

The alternate aids would be similar to a leg yield…only back and forth every step…have not tried that…will see if the owner can coordinate that!

His trot DOES open up when aimed at a jump (not rushy…nice).

[jetsmom]

Is that ring where he is ridden mostly? He seems sucked back at the trot and canter. Not in front of the leg.

I think the poster that talked about ditching draw reins (saw you did that), and working on getting him stretching down and over his back made some good points. I’ll just add that in a small ring (especially indoor), it encourages them to back off/suck back. If you can get out on some trails with good footing/large areas, and do some trot work there, it will open up his trot naturally.

[CHT]

Again, that video is with his old owner, but regardless, it is winter, so no riding outside anytime soon! Now that his teeth are fixed he is less sucked back, I just wanted to show his movement pre-injury. The combo of a strong bit, draw reins and bad teeth sure didn’t help him previously! That was all changed almost 2 years ago though…thought I would keep seeing improvement, but we seem to have hit a progress wall when it comes to trotting.

My ring is a little bigger that the one in the video, and in the summer we are in a bigger ring, and he is still pokey at the trot. Even in the summer though, we don’t have access to trails with footing suitable to do more than a slow trot, so not really helpful.

Trot poles/cavaletti do help open him up, but do not help get him more sensitive off leg. Hopeful about the idea of alternating leg aids.

[Starda01]

If the horse has shown that he can open up in certain situations, then you know it is possible for him to do it. To me, his ability to open his stride and his not being sensitive to your leg aides are different issues. I agree with the other posters about stretching him down and into the contact will improve his gate.

Here is a good video critique of a horse and rider combo where the horse is also an OTTB.http://http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-CKP4YjSRts.

My horse is also a very stiff bottled up TB, with arthritis in his neck, and I’ve been riding him long and low, or trying to, and it has opened up his stride somewhat. It is a slow process but worth the effort.

My horse was also a bit dead to my leg, and I found by taking him back down to just doing the walk/trot stretches has helped get him in front of my leg. For the stretches to work the rider, handler has to keep the horses back end active. First you get the walk, then the trot. When the horse does fall behind your leg, or slacks off, he gets a bump up with the leg, or a tap with the crop. I personally use a spur.

Perhaps doing some lateral work would help with too.

He’s a very cute horse, good luck with him.

[EvieG13]

Just a quickie suggestion that no one else has mentioned. You could try irritating him with the crop. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, until he moves forward and then immediately reward by stopping. In fact, I’d try it on the lunge first with a whip under the point of buttock. Obviously this may just piss him off and have him kick out or buck but it may also get him going. Easy to spend a couple minutes and try.

The previous suggestion of alternating leg aids is good. What you want to do is push when the hind leg is leaving the ground; for riders who can’t feel the hind legs push with your leg when the shoulder is furthest extended and front foot on the ground. When you get some extension going leave off and see if he will maintain and then ask again. He will have to work up to the new way of traveling.

I also second/third/fourth/whatevereth the stretchy working over the back suggestions. Have you guys had body work done on him? Chiro or massage therapy? A body worker can show you how to do proper full body stretches with him on the ground if you don’t already know how.

Best of luck. Sounds like the injury is a bit of a PITA but not paining him so hopefully a work around can be found.

[alto]

@CHT;7412948

That was all changed almost 2 years ago though…thought I would keep seeing improvement, but we seem to have hit a progress wall when it comes to trotting.

Is he on anything such as Recovery EQ HA (I’ve seen remarkable improvements with OTTB’s on this supplement, start up is more costly, but then maintenance dosage is generally ~$1.50/day) - of course adequan etc would also likely do the trick, re “treating” general body stiffness/soreness/arthritis … I realize it’s an old video, but it is all we have to go on & that horse is very stiff through the back, holds himself very carefully, is very short strided, etc.

Equine Therapy?

Thorough vet exam to rule out soreness?
(some vets are much better at this than others, so depending on what’s available & what the budget will allow … eg, I can get several sessions with an outstanding ET for the cost of a single vet visit with exam.)

I suspect he is more comfortable at the canter so aids are more successful there.

The canter is a completely different story…it is lovely. Very adjustable. Nicely into contact. lovely lead changes. Nicely sensitive to leg.

He’s obviously a nice boy that tries & wants to please; he’s that sticky in the trot due to discomfort - & this may be old injury related/tightness etc rather than actual soreness.

Has he done a course of Robaxin? or Voltaren/Surpass?

Stretches (be sure they are effective rather than intuitive) & lunge work should go a long ways to improving the trot.

[CHT]

I doubt the owners will finance a lot of extras without obvious reason (for example if he hadn’t blocked looking the same they would have injected, but diagnostics show no reason to assume pain). We KNOW he was in pain in the video as his teeth were a mess and he had a blind wolf tooth right where the bit sits…I imagine that left him stilted and afraid of the bit. He is no longer afraid of the bit, but still stilted. We have done chiro work, but he is surprisingly body sound considering his uneven lower limbs.

The horse does NOT get training rides, so any ideas need to be something the owner can do, or I can do in a short ride during one of her lessons.

I think the kid is having a lesson today, so will put some of these ideas to the test. Likely will start with the alternating leg aids first, and try the irritating whip second. She sometimes carries a crop at the trot, but not sure if she uses it, or just taps her thigh for effect.

[EvieG13]

Let us know how it goes!

[Ambitious_Kate]

I would look for any kind of physical problems, but in general cavaletti - trot poles - would get him to pick up his feet, let him stretch out his neck and down, reach, use his back. Also, transitions, canter-trot. There are other exercies, but the trot poles came to my mind.

[Frivian]

In addition to the other suggestions to get him to move off your leg better, I would suggest using cavaletti… start with them on the ground set as trot poles, then place them in the 6 inch position off the ground so the horse really has to pick up his feet and stretch his stride out to get over them. I used to do this with my OTTB when working on lengthening his trot stride. He has a beautiful trot now.

[Scratch_N_Dent]

I would suggest you post a more recent video given that some of what we see in this video may have already been addressed.

[pryme_thyme]

I know you said you have tried poles but they are the best in my opinion. Wamr up in canter both directions since it is the stronger gait and less stressful for your horse. Bring it back to trot and set the trot poles according to your horse’s level of reach. Gradually increase as the horse becomes stronger at poles.
I will also, raise one side of each, alternating, one left up, next one right up, etc to give you raised poles.
When the horse is actively working through the poles, increase the distance for more reach. This will help with balance and impulsion.

My mare was young, unbalanced and slug like in her trot. She leaned on me for support but couldn’t carry herself. This helped her tremendously. Plus, the poles reinforce straightness.

[alto]

[QUOTE=CHT;7415002]

I think the kid is having a lesson today, so will put some of these ideas to the test. Likely will start with the alternating leg aids first, and try the irritating whip second. She sometimes carries a crop at the trot, but not sure if she uses it, or just taps her thigh for effect.[/QUOTE]

Current video would help a lot :yes:

he still drags his toe at the trot at home, but better off property…not hurting though, as moves the same when blocked

I’m assuming they only blocked the lower leg? foot?

We have done chiro work, but he is surprisingly body sound considering his uneven lower limbs.

It seems likely he’s been moving this way for a long time so I’d be surprised if he wasn’t affected (& I’m sticking with my analysis of very stiff through the back in that old video, he may be avoiding contact with the bit but that doesn’t negate/account for the stiffness) - any other Equine Therapists you can try? someone that offers more than just chiro?
Apologies if it seems like I’m harassing - you asked for ideas, & mine just won’t move away from the conviction that he knows the aids very well, he’s just being protective of something that hurts or is just really tight/stiff.

Trying something such as Recovery EQ HA (under $70 for 4-6 week trial) just seems very reasonable to me … on the downside, without supportive stretching/massage (done by ET initially who then teaches owner) it may be difficult to do an effective trial (of Recovery or other).

Owner might start with this stretch tutorial from Dr Hiilary Clayton.

[purplnurpl]

let go of him and let him stretch.

If he’s been trotting like this for a long time it’s going to take a while to teach him to use proper range of motion.

And sadly, it’s not going to happen in a small indoor with other horses. Not sure what your current indoor is like…

Best place to open up the trot stride is on the trail.