Pre-work photos, Sorry, Lighting wasn't great and Homie was not feeling cooperative ;)
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/ZPchwWhnSMFG2V9QWYJikYKy5hfciSxg5vZtu4WX9K2?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy Note the habitual left lean, both at ground level (you can tell behind him because gravity makes his tail fall straight down) and overhead, even though in the ones on the ground he is actually weighting right feet because he is shifting! All horses have a lean, just like we are right and left handed. With training and consistency we can teach them to decrease it and become "habitually ambidextrous."
Homie's Work for the day
Today I just required Homie to tolerate some saddle fitting palpation (finding positions of scapula, 18th rib, cranial nerve and location of longissiumus Dorsi). Then do some lunging over ground poles. Ground poles were placed every 1/4 circle on a 22' lunge. His whole topline musculature is wasted and needs built up. It is actually to the point where it is hard to palpate where the division between the spinal ligaments and his logissimus Dorsi are (I found it of course, but it is much easier on a more developed horse).
*** I do not own these images, I just found them in a google search and they have no copyright info I can find.
When saddled we want to sit the panels on the longissimus and the gullet must clear the spinal ligaments to avoid hurting the horse. The gullet provides this spinal clearance, it isn't just for the bones! This is the same for English and Western saddles.
-He did 5 min walk/ trot over poles to the left and actually got about 4 or five instances of nice self carriage and 2 good stretches.
-About 5 min break standing and being rubbed on and scratching itches
-5 min walk/ trot the opposite and thus harder direction over poles. He kept treating the top pole as a jump until I realized he couldn't see it because he had to cross it with the lead up being directly opposite a door and thus bright light compared to the indoor arena. (You can see the door behind him in the front-on pre work pictures).
We then moved away from the ground poles for about 2 min break and then canter work of 3-4 circuits on the lunge. The length of the work at the canter wasn't the point, he was finished when he went balanced, even for a stride or two and tried to bend along the circle even a little. He has a tendency to drop a shoulder and lean to turn which causes him to slip, his reaction to that is to speed up. This tendency, I feel, is a major contributing factor to his back/hip/hock/stifle issues. He never learned how to carry himself properly let alone a rider. I will NOT be riding this horse at a canter until he can balance without a rider! It would be unsafe for both of us! He will have a lot of work once he is regularly under saddle that focuses on functional carriage with a rider so he doesn't constantly feel like he is about to topple over! With his long/tall physique it is a lot easier for him to lose his balance than a smaller stockier horse, adding a rider raises his center of gravity further complicating things for him.
Post work photos, better lighting and a happier horse :)
Just to be clear these were taken about an hour after the first ones. Note he is more willing to stand square and holds himself differently. What we think of as conformation is a dynamic thing because horses have good and bad posture too! Also notice what a coopertive horse and good lighting can do ;)
