As a sidenote, his singletree may be down too low. All pony vehicles are not equal in their dimensions that fit “pony sized” animals. So while the line of trace is straight, raising may be helpful.
There was a time, not that long ago, where folks were hitching VERY LOW on the Marathon type vehicles. Most of that was because they bought vehicles too small for the equine, trying to save weight. I have video someplace where a horse is actually LIFTING the front wheels off the ground each stride of the canter! Singletree was below his hocks!! And if one person does something and gets a ribbon, then you will see copycats trying the same thing. Pretty hard on the smaller equines for a time.
As for his back, it could be improving because your are MAKING him go correctly in his driving practices, training sessions. Unless he was injured, he probably was not being ridden correctly, so that his parts were kept in “the frame” to allow him best use of his body. Animals that are not “ridden” by the rider will ALWAYS choose to go the easiest way possible, often very sloppy in their travels. You NEVER see horses traveling collected for more than a few minutes of play, before they get casual again, head out, nose down. Even horses used on ranches for work, get pushed to give their BEST extended walk, controlled trot for distance so rider is comfortable. They are not all strung out cantering. They don’t go along sloppy, because rider is subtley pushing them along, getting MORE each stride than horse would choose to do unridden. Same with some of the better Trail horses, going distances. They are under light contact, pushed to REACH on each stride just that tiny bit, whatever the gait. It uses their backs and other muscles a LOT different than horse ridden with no contact, unbalanced rider, or unskilled rider. Your horse was probably not “sinking away” from under poor saddle fitting. He just wasn’t being ridden well, to get his back lifted and strengthened during his work.
Lots easier to SEE what horse is doing out on the long lines, out in front of the driver’s seat, to keep his body in the correct posture. You can’t tell what he is is doing under saddle while riding, unless you have the mirrors to check things with. Rider has to learn skills, have gained the knowledge to FEEL when horse is avoiding work, going poorly in his posture, and many folks never reach that stage of riding skills.
You might want to cut his diet to be helpful in aiding his development as an athlete. Carrying lots of fat will hinder his other work, make him work harder than needed, trying to fold fat layers in bending and gathering himself up. Even for fun uses, he will be more able to work well, not having to deal with the fat. And that spring grass is a possible problem for laminitus, which seems to happen to the fat animals and the elderly ones much faster, than the more streamlined, athletic looking equines. Yeah, a bit more work locking him up part of the day, but worth it to avoid dealing with laminitus issues later. Even a “slight” founder, will cause problems forever in the future.
[QUOTE=buck22;6260179]
On an aside however, I feel pretty strongly that I need to find a way to raise my single tree, I think the line of draft is too low and putting unnecessary pressure on my horse’s neck.
Since retiring from being ridden, he’s no longer sway backed… which I found fascinating, and really sad, he’d apparently been sinking his back away from the pain of a rider for a very long time. :lol:[/QUOTE]
I think a change is in order.
