Big Win/Big Lose

Well today, we had both a big win, and what I would consider a big loss.

I hadn't been out to the barn in a few days (3) and figured rather than drilling dressage, I would play around with some poles/random stuff and see if I could challenge Zim's brain in a more fun way.

The arena at the barn has three entrances, 2 of them are pretty normal gates, but the entrance from the upper barn is actually a ramp into the arena, about 3.5/4ft wide, with a 6" drop step into the arena. Its rather dark, somewhat spooky and I figured we would walk that way into the arena today. Zim was a superstar. He was nervous, snorted a bit and definitely gave me the look of "uhm, no way in hell". But I was persistent with him. I've quickly realized that pressuring him heavily does NOT work. He shuts down, backs up, spins around and just stops listening if I try the "get yer ass over here" method. Instead, he really succeeds when I am slow, paitient and encouraging. We walked up to the step, I gave him a pat as he smelled around and snorted. Then I faced forward and just walked. He stopped and tried to go backwards, but instead of correcting him, I asked him to stop, waited for him to relax again, and then asked him forward again. This time he sort of scrambled down the ramp and hopped down the step, stopped in the arena and looked at me like "whoa".

I praised him like he had just won Rolex and marched him up and down a couple more times (until he walked calmly next to me). Each time I praised him and gave him a head rub.

I'm still not 100% I trust him to be left tied, so I am going to start cross-tying him and then walking around the corner (where he can't see me) for extended periods. He seems to grasp the concept, and hasn't tested it yet, but I don't 100% trust him not to pull back and try to test the bounds of the cross-tye. This is one thing he really needs to learn, as I often have to run to my car, etc.

Tacking up I noticed he was standing semi-funny, compared to how he normally stands. He usually rests a hind, but this:

Is a bit different than he normally stands (excuse the one boot).

I decided to tack him up anyways, but paranoid me (with two previously injured horses) was definitely watchful. I tacked up and hopped on. I know many people lunge first, but for some reason I always feel lameness/stiffness better from up top first.

I don't know his trot very well, and I don't know this horse very well, but something in his trot didn't feel right. It wasn't bad, not really head bobbing, but his hind end just felt, disconnected.

I hopped off and threw a lungeline on him. Trotted to the left, I could see something wasn't really right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnjOIaTi-CY

I'm not an expert by any means at lameness, but to me, it looks like he is moving funky up high in the left hip/stifle. (Oddly the stifle that we didn't find anything in - though he does have a bone spur in that hock).

To the right, he looks better:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzzYiOpZuao&feature=related

But I still see something. Maybe I am paranoid, maybe its something minor, but I can still feel the pit in my stomach. What the hell am I going to do if I just put myself into financial strain to buy my dream horse and less than a month later he is lame?

*deep breath*

He was out in the big pasture, and its entirely possibly he just tweaked it funny being a dork and its nothing serious. Or is he stiff because I hadn't ridden? Maybe I should have ridden him through it? I'm not entirely sure. But hes getting tonight off, and I'll evaluate on Wednesday what the hell to do.

:(

I didn't want the night to be a wash, so I decided even if he was sore, I'd still work on something mentally with him. Enter:

I know, its terrifying right? Zim considers these ground poles cause for snorting, and avoiding at all costs. Which is going to make his life as a jumper difficult (though maybe he won't touch much eh?).

We walked up to it, and I stood on the pole, my boots make a loudish tapping nose, so he immediately got snorty, put his head down and stared at the horse-eating wooden obstacle. I ignored him (as long as he did NOT move backwards) and tap-danced my way along the pole. When that didn't seem to bother him anymore, I rubbed his head and asked him to step forward, he immediately dropped his head and snorted again (2 inches closer...within striking distance you know). We did this a few times until he seemed bored (remember: as long as he didn't move back, I didn't do much). Less than a minute later, he hurriedly stepped over the pole, and received his forehead rubs.

We did this a couple times (immediately he didn't stop at it, just looks and then rushes over). I wanted to make sure he wasn't nervous, so I walked him up and asked him to whoa as he was halfway over.

^proof

I made him stand like that and relax, both directions. From there he was walking over it like an old pro, so I let him be done for the night.

Coming soon: We tackle the striped and even more terrifying poles.

So while his lameness makes me really nervous (I'm going to tell myself not to stress just yet), I'm really proud of him listening to me, and learning that when I ask him to move forward over something, he doesn't get an option. Surprisingly, I think its less that he is nervous and more that he doesn't want too, and doesn't realize there is no option.

*fingers crossed for Zim*