Doc's Introduction
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Doc's Decision

Horse Anatomy Reference

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Doc's Life or Death Decision
A Rehab with a deadline

Week 2, Monday
A good day for Doc. A short bodywork session, with most attention on stretching the nuchal ligament. His neck has gotten so much softer, and I notice he stretches it out and down a bit more when he's just standing around. Makes his whole topline look better - more tone and suppleness.

Today's exercise, to address the strange movement pattern of the hind legs, was simple circles over a pole. I started him in-hand, reminding him to release his throatlatch and shoulder, bend from the ribcage forward and engage his hindquarter. (Here's step-by-step instruction on how to do these releases yourself.) Much easier on the left than the right, where he wants to fall through his right shoulder into a choppy trot instead of track up at the walk. (This goes along with the hitch in the left hind.) On the left, he manages a pretty cohesive bend and push from back to front.

Next, I asked him to carry a circle on a short line, sending him out about half the length of the leadline. Again, reminders to bend at throatlatch, shoulder and ribs and to step under. He has a tendency both directions to fall on the forehand and hurry with short steps, falling in and crowding me. A bit of review of the rock back to go forward exercise and a reminder that his shoulder never, never passes me without permission, helped encourage him to be more aware of staying balanced.

The circles got larger and smaller (classic spiral out, spiral in exercise) and eventually moved to include a single pole - a good heavy one so he got a bit of a rap when he wasn't careful to pick up his feet. Applying a bit of spiral out just before the pole tends to place a horse so he steps across the pole first with the inside fore, assuming he's carrying himself relatively straight on the circle. This allows me to evaluate a horse's ability and inclination to support with his outside hind while stretching and pushing off with the inside hind on both sides, and forms the basis for creating correct bending, lateral and transition work.

Easy to tell Doc likes to jump, because just heading toward a pole got him focused and very interested. He also told on himself a bit, because he tended to get about three strides out and throw himself across on his forehand instead of steadying back onto his hindquarters and lifting over. I'd be very surprised if he hasn't been doing the same thing over fences. Left hind managed pretty nice rhythm, stretch and push. Right hind wanted to lift way up and step short, often landing short of the pole even when the right fore led. A few good attempts, especially when the step worked out so he was taking off close to the pole. But he was quite reluctant to take the long stride when the distance to the pole suggested it. Makes it easy for the beginning jump riders to learn their two-point and release, but it puts way too much concussion on the horse's front joints. Hopefully Doc will make a new choice.

Week 2, WEDNESday
I was so encouraged by Doc's work over the pole in our last session, and focused on overcoming that strange hind hop into the trot, that I decided to bring in my favorite training aid -- the TTEAM bodywrap. Having grown up in the western show world and spent time as a professional hunter/jumper trainer, I have seen and used a lot of gadgets over the years. Learning equine anatomy as part of my bodywork studies finally showed me why so many of the so-called training aids don't really help the horse. Most of them actually act to strengthen the muscle group opposing the action people think they're helping the horse to learn. The bodywrap isn't one of those. It simply brings the horse's awareness to some areas of his body that are key to developing self-carriage. Not only does that seem more effective to me than teaching the horse to work against himself, it fits with my training philosophy.

I was very curious to see how much the bodywrap could help Doc choose to move from back to front. And I was extremely pleased with the result. I used the version that has one loop around the base of the neck, one loop at the junction of his buttock and hind legs and another loop around his girth area. He was completely accepting of the process (some horses can get a little freaked out, especially when the bodywrap goes around their butts).

Within a few steps, I could see a pretty dramatic difference in the way he was carrying himself. At the walk, his topline got longer and more supple looking, and he stepped under a bit more behind. He also seemed to be lifting his forelegs from the shoulder a bit more. And he stopped tipping his nose to the outside of the circle all the time. Maybe the sensation of the soft polo wraps on his body gave him enough to think about to keep him focused inward.

As I look back over the video taken before the bodywrap went on, I see that his head is pretty consistently up. But in the bodywrap footage, he starts looking for another place to carry his head and neck almost at once, and keeps making adjustments (stretching down and out) throughout. This is what I mean by a horse being able to choose self-carriage, instead of having it imposed on him (which I believe doesn't work at all.)

The other breakthrough was that Doc actually managed to do a right-lead canter depart. Generally, he's pretty happy to canter to the left, but that sticky right hind seems to disuade him from even trying the right lead. Today I was just a bit insistant about the right lead with the bodywrap to support his balance choices. He missed a couple of times, picking up the left lead instead. Then he sort of flung himself into the right lead and cantered about a dozen steps, dropped into the trot and went right back up with a pretty clean right lead depart. Then he stuck his tongue out and licked and chewed for about half a circle. Guess it felt good to rediscover that lead.

Week 2, THURSday
Well, rehab is one step forward, three steps back. Today Doc was stiff, stiff, stiff. Even after some warm-up bodywork, he walked out of his pen looking like an old man. It's not too surprising -- he has had two very challenging work sessions this week and he's been asked to carry himself in a way he may not have done for years. Even though I know it's perfectly normal for a horse at his stage to look worse, I must admit I always experience a few moments of remorse and doubt. Did I ask too much of him? Did I make a mistake and miss some sign that I shouldn't have done the work I did? Okay, take a deep breath. And, when in doubt, go back to the groundwork basics. Releases at the throatlatch and shoulder, S turns, rock back and step forward on the left and the right, move laterally a few steps to left and right. After about 15 minutes of that, Doc felt much more supple and we free longed a bit at walk and trot. Lots of transitions to help him rediscover his balance. Then turnout time to hang out and even to roll (though he never takes advantage of that, probably because it's still hard to get up.) Okay, guess I didn't mess him up. He'll have a day off tomorrow, and we'll see how he comes out on Saturday.

Week 2, SATURday
Well, I guess Doc didn't suffer too much from his hard work at the beginning of the week. Today he wanted nothing to do with the bodywork I usually do with him loose in his stall before I take him out to work. He went straight to the gate and was ready to get out and move. Who am I to argue with that?

Our work today was at liberty in the round pen and was all about transitions, similar to the way we ended our Thursday session. Walk - halt - walk - halt - walk - trot - walk - trot - walk - halt. How many transitions can we fit into each circuit of the roundpen? Even with a big horse like Doc, quite a few. I have had to be a bit insistant with him about doing the downward transitions correctly. He tends to want to fall forward into them, but can, when prompted, get his backside underneath himself and rock back into the halt or walk.

At this stage, I think the downward transitions are even more important than the upward ones. He has no hands to lean on -- not even a longe line most of the time - so he might be more willing to choose to balance himself in these transitions, where it's very clear when he's not balanced and needs extra steps to get shut down. If I get in front of his shoulder and enforce the transition at a specific spot, he trips in front if he doesn't get this preparation time. And tripping doesn't feel stable, so he chooses to carry himself better in anticipation of the downward transition. In upward transitions, he can still cheat and just keep falling forward into the next gait without much consequence. (Well, at least until I step forward and ask him for another downward transition.) I think of this exercise as building balanced upward transitions out of balanced downward ones.