“More whoa then go, has no work ethic, she will make you earn a trot, cantering is something that is really hard from him”
3 years or so ago, my morab started poking down the trail. Getting her to trot was hard and even her walk was flat when she’s always had a peppy walk before. At like 15 years old, it wasn’t age.
Round penning her, I couldn’t find any lameness, but again, she took a lot of motivation. I took her to Chiro, and he couldn’t find anything wrong.
People I knew, good horse people, said she was just getting lazy as she got older.
I didn’t know nearly as much then, but that pronouncement really bothered me. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was off.
After months of this, I asked a new horse person who I had heard really good things about to come look at her for me.
It literally took her 5 minutes to spot the problem.
Her feet were being trimmed so that the outside hoof walls were pushing pressure up into the Coronet band. The Coronet band was waved up in that area. I had not ever been taught to look for that. It’s uncomfortable as heck for a horse, and at higher speeds the concussion makes the pain worse.
There are very few actual, lazy horses out there. There are slower moving horses and faster horses.
Now, maybe your horse is just not in shape. If that is so, you should develop a program that gradually increases their stamina and develops their body properly.
But if you have one that perpetually drops out of speed, and people are encouraging you to use a crop, use the end of the rein, hit her with your spur….
Start really watching the horse when it’s just standing tied or in the field.
Is it standing bilaterally equal? Meaning front feet are in even stance and so are rears?
Is it camped in like a goat on a rock?
Is it parked out?
Is your horse digging holes and standing in them?
Is your horse too fat or too thin?
Are the hooves wearing evenly?
At the trot is it kicking sand puffs from the toe first?
There are 100s of subtle clues that really take years to learn about and good luck ever being finished in that education.
