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Interesting day for me today - I now understand why Dino looks so perturbed when the osteopath is twangling his neck vertebrae - it does feel funny!!
First things first: We had a nice ride this morning. He's been going pretty well and I've started working on achieving canter in the school. More experienced and less impatient people would probably feel it could be left a bit longer but I really want to get it going - even if only for a few strides. He's fine out on the 'canter spot' of the bridlepath and will pop forward with no bother but he has a real hang up in the school. He was going nicely on Saturday so I asked from walk and did one stride and then had a bucking fit :sad: so we went round and try again and in the end got 5 strides nicely on the left rein. The right rein is more tricky but we did get a stride or two. Today tried again and got 5 strides on the left rein without much fuss, but the right I really don't think that inside hind is strong enough to push himself off properly, an opinion the osteo agreed with as this morning was my turn to be assessed!
After Dino I popped myself down the road for my assessment with David and it was very interesting. He thinks my hips and lumbar spine are ok - pelvis is a tiny bit wonky but not very far out and probably not causing serious issues. What he did find though is that my right shoulder (I'm left handed) and neck on that side is very jammed up. Just like my pony! This is probably due to using a mouse a lot at work and getting into a habit of clenching my shoulder on that side. David did a bit of treatment to loosen it all up, and I'm going to have a couple more of those sessions. I do get a bit of shoulder pain on that side but I was quite surprised to find it's actually quite uneven.
Interesting to think what effect this might be having on my riding - I often find Dino is bent right when we're hacking although I feel like my seat is even. It probably is, mostly, but I might well be putting more weight on the right rein and tipping my head slightly to the right as everything is very stiff that side. Fascinating! I must get M to take some video in a while.
I think what I'll do now is keep doing the transitions, flexion, leg-yield, shoulder-in work I've been doing with Dino but try to add in some in hand, or lunging work over raised poles to strengthen get his right hind moving better. I'll keep with the little bit of canter we have in the school, so just 5 strides or so down the long side on the left rein but not worry too much about the right for the moment. He can sometimes get right canter outside although I think M gets it more consistently than I do probably in part as I'm loading that side of him more by being crooked.
ION I treated myself to an SLR camera. First attempts at working out where things are, LOL:
Dubious horse is dubious and thinks you should work out how to turn the flash off:
First things first: We had a nice ride this morning. He's been going pretty well and I've started working on achieving canter in the school. More experienced and less impatient people would probably feel it could be left a bit longer but I really want to get it going - even if only for a few strides. He's fine out on the 'canter spot' of the bridlepath and will pop forward with no bother but he has a real hang up in the school. He was going nicely on Saturday so I asked from walk and did one stride and then had a bucking fit :sad: so we went round and try again and in the end got 5 strides nicely on the left rein. The right rein is more tricky but we did get a stride or two. Today tried again and got 5 strides on the left rein without much fuss, but the right I really don't think that inside hind is strong enough to push himself off properly, an opinion the osteo agreed with as this morning was my turn to be assessed!
After Dino I popped myself down the road for my assessment with David and it was very interesting. He thinks my hips and lumbar spine are ok - pelvis is a tiny bit wonky but not very far out and probably not causing serious issues. What he did find though is that my right shoulder (I'm left handed) and neck on that side is very jammed up. Just like my pony! This is probably due to using a mouse a lot at work and getting into a habit of clenching my shoulder on that side. David did a bit of treatment to loosen it all up, and I'm going to have a couple more of those sessions. I do get a bit of shoulder pain on that side but I was quite surprised to find it's actually quite uneven.
Interesting to think what effect this might be having on my riding - I often find Dino is bent right when we're hacking although I feel like my seat is even. It probably is, mostly, but I might well be putting more weight on the right rein and tipping my head slightly to the right as everything is very stiff that side. Fascinating! I must get M to take some video in a while.
I think what I'll do now is keep doing the transitions, flexion, leg-yield, shoulder-in work I've been doing with Dino but try to add in some in hand, or lunging work over raised poles to strengthen get his right hind moving better. I'll keep with the little bit of canter we have in the school, so just 5 strides or so down the long side on the left rein but not worry too much about the right for the moment. He can sometimes get right canter outside although I think M gets it more consistently than I do probably in part as I'm loading that side of him more by being crooked.
ION I treated myself to an SLR camera. First attempts at working out where things are, LOL:
Dubious horse is dubious and thinks you should work out how to turn the flash off:
