My project horse is an 8 year old OTTB, who has been off the track for about 6 months now. He is not forward at all, and has the choppiest stride ever. First we just thought it was because he was used to being tense at the track, but it’s been months and his stride has not stretched at all. I’ve tried using trot poles to encourage him to lengthen, but he just ignores them and trips over them. Help on getting him motivated? Also, he is super lazy. I’ve tried using my seat, leg, crop, voice, etc. and he’s ignored them all. (Keep in mind I’m also only about 80 lbs so my seat is basically nothing to him) but I’ve had other people with a stronger seat ride him and nothing has changed. The only thing I haven’t tried yet is Spurs. Any ideas on how to get him forward? Thank you!
vet?
Vet.
Vet, chiropractor, farrier. Make sure he isnt in pain anywhere. Does he move freely when lunging or free lunging? If so, maybe the tack doesn’t fit him correctly.
The vet says he’s fine, and he doesn’t appear to be back sore. His saddle fits him perfectly, but I think I’m going to ride him bareback next time I ride to see if it really is a saddle fit issue. He doesn’t move that much more forward in turnout and goes slower while lunging so I’m still not sure why he’s so slow.
A new vet perhaps?? Jenarby had one like this a while back. All his joints were dry, he was so stoic he didn’t appear lame, just would. not. go. even chasing after him in the round pen with a whip didn’t work.
Don’t give up on him!
Our OTTB was like this for a long time at first. We were tenacious with vets, chiro, massage and saddle fitter. It turned out to be a few things:
He needed more energy in his diet. The magic formula for him includes lots of fat and fiber, a performance feed, coco-soya oil, yeast (to help him metabolize the food with his raging metabolism) and a few flakes of high quality second cut along with his regular hay.
X-Ray revealed an old injury that produced significant soft tissue damage; hence the choppy stride. Saddle fit, chiro and massage took care of this.
It was a long road, but for four years now we have had a very healthy, happy, competitive athlete who has earned more than his share of championships in 1.10 jumpers at rated shows!
He gets regular chiro/massage for maintenance - every six months when not competing and every six weeks when competing. It makes the world of difference! We always know when he is due for an appointment because he gets short strided and starts to lock up.
I wish you the best of luck! Don’t give up on him and don’t get mean. He is trying to tell you something. Patience and professional care will make him blossom into your dream horse.
This photo is for inspiration:
I don’t know why the photo didn’t load.
Make sure your saddle fits AND is sitting in the correct place. I (unknowingly) was putting my saddle too far forward on one of my horses and restricting his shoulder. Moving it back about 1/2" or so made a big difference.
But if he doesn’t move out in turnout or while free lunging, I’d also have a second opinion from another vet and have a chiropractor out. How thoroughly did your vet go over him? Just palpating his back or doing flexions may not reveal much compared to a full adjustment and having xrays done.
What is the footing like? How do his hooves look? Possibly in pain there? Barefoot or shod on all four? Good farrier? One of mine had sensitive soles and a crappy hoof wall for a while. A farrier I’d had for years (that kept all off my other horses sound) couldn’t get him really sound. I had to give him a lot of time off because nothing we do could make him truly comfortable trotting (but he wasn’t “lame”). I switched farriers, got him on some good hoof supplements to increase circulation to the hoof and strengthen the wall, and was careful about the footing I rode him on for a while until he was going right again.
Good luck!
My OTTB had no go except when leaping through the air and short, choppy strides. In his case, too, hooves were part of it. He was also Mg deficient which caused tightness in his muscles. In his case, we had to go barefoot (and booted) so he could get trims every 2 weeks to have really minor trims and help reshape/rebuild his hooves, and the magnesium supplement made it so he could really BUCK. So not all positives there. 
Now he has people drooling over his (dressage) movement, and a lovely big stride.
Point being, it sounds like either something physical is up, or you have to actually teach the horse how to respond.
When I first got my mare, she was very green and no go, especially in the ring. I started just trail riding her. I would use the mounting block in the ring, walk around a few times, recheck my girth, and then off we would go. I got her in the winter, so the trail rides were mostly at the walk, but she would be much more forward out. It seemed for my mare that she had a harder time with her balance doing circles in the ring. As she gained more muscle and did more trail riding it helped her balance in the ring.
Well, I think I found what’s up (not really but we’re going somewhere) I applied pressure along and around his spine before our ride today (kinda like a massage I guess) and he was way less choppy. I also figured out he goes way more forward when he’s really paying attention to me, which I thought he was before, but Aparrently not. (Serpentines helped with this a ton) Thank you guys for all your help!
Regular massages for my lazy WB did wonders for him. That guy got more massages in a year than I’ve had in my entire lifetime! It really made all the difference. If you’re in the southeast look into Louis Wilde. He’s out of Athens, GA but he travels a lot.
- Rule out a physical/nutrition issue
- Get a good trainer who can assist in developing him as a riding horse
